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Week Thirty-Nine, Day Two

Job

After a one-day journey through the book of Esther, we now are done with the books of history in the First Testament. There is one more “historical” book in the Bible, the book of Acts. We will look at that next year, if you are still with us.

Today, though, we come to the section of the First Testament that contains the literature of the Jews and early Christians. The book of Job is considered by many scholars as the oldest book in the Bible. That, of course, makes it one of the oldest preserved writings of humankind.

While I cannot substantiate the age of the writing, I do know that the subject of this book is one of the oldest struggles for people of faith: Why do bad things happen to good people? This ancient story seeks to offer a kind of explanation, but not really an answer.

The book, which appears to me to be a parable, begins with an introduction to Job’s character. According to the parable, God is bragging to Satan about what a good servant Job is. Satan says, “Of course he is righteous. You’ve given him everything he wants or needs, so of course he serves you. Let bad things happen to him, though, and he’ll turn against you.” God says, “Okay, prove it.” Thus Job begins a season of great suffering in his life.

Now, this story might not be quite so bad if Job had just been this pawn God and Satan played with, but his family is killed along with all his livestock. The death of innocents seems totally incidental to the point of this parable, though, which is the problem with so much of religion … but don’t get me started.

The main portion of the text consists of the discourse between Job and his three friends concerning why Job was so punished, and it ends with God answering Job. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning, and he lived 140 years. Many scholars believe the end was added much later in an attempt to redeem God’s reputation. To me, it doesn’t help.

Actually, though, if you look at it as a parable, which allows you simply to set aside the irrelevant parts, the story is a powerful reminder that when we are suffering and asking why, we are just the latest in the common history of humanity. Apparently, we always have wanted our suffering to mean something, and the message of Job is that sometimes it just doesn’t. When we try to give it artificial meaning, as this author did, we almost always end up making a monster out of God. In Job 40:8, God asks, “Will you condemn me to justify yourself?” If history is any indication, the answer is yes.

Blessings,

Michael
President, Hope for Peace & Justice

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