When was the Book of Job written? All we know for certain is that it is ancient, written in a land and during a time when people thought differently about God. The Book of Job is at least several thousand years ago. Moses may have written it (here). Or it may have been written latter during the reign of King Solomon (see here).
The story begins when the angels present themselves before the Lord God. With the angels comes Satan. God asks Satan if he knows of His servant Job. God praises Job, but Satan complains that Job is His good servant only because the Lord has treated him so well. To prove otherwise, God delivers all that is Job’s into Satan’s hands.
Satan then proceeds to take from Job his wealth, his servants, and his children. Left destitute, Job does something surprising. He falls to his knees and worships God.
When Job remains loyal to the Lord, the scene repeats itself. Satan and the angels again present themselves before the Lord God. God again praises Job. And Satan complains.
“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (from here)
In response, the Lord delivers Job over to Satan, demanding only that Satan spare his life.
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. (from here)
So it was that the first two chapters of Job left me more in awe of Job than God. Job remain stubbornly loyal to God, but look what had God had done!
I continued to read and learned that Job’s three friends visited him. They cried over him and comforted him. Then Job began to pity himself and regret the day of his birth, and his friends began to counsel him. This began a debate.
Job’s friends chastised him. The fault must be with him. They asked Job to admit his sin (whatever it might be) and repent. Job expressed his belief that he had done nothing wrong and his desire to make his case before God. The debate continued until God intervened. Job and his three friends humbled themselves before Him.
Then Job replied to the LORD:
”I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.”You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.” (from here)
What did God intend? In the end, I finished the story awed by God. Even with the God’s eye view that allows us to watch God hold court with his angels, we cannot know His mind. We can only gain small insights here and there.
Why did God deliver Job into Satans hands? In his notes on the Bible, John Wesley observed the following.
It seems strange, that, God should give Satan such a permission as this. But he did it for his own glory, for the honour of Job, for the explanation of providence, and the encouragement of his afflicted people in all ages. (from here).
God honored Job by causing him to suffer immensely? Such is a curious thought and one that left me shocked. When we look upon each other, we honor those with wealth and power. Are those the people we should honor? It was when Job was penniless that God honored him. After God had finished honoring him, God restored to Job all the trappings of honor.
Was Job a real person? Perhaps. What is certain is that Job asked a question we have all been known to ask: why me? And so Job suffered unaware of the pride that the Lord took in him.
Love this entry! Job is one of those books people read when they are having a rough time or are thinking about why there is so much suffering in the world.
A few things come to mind right off. First, people often get closer to God (or their spiritual entity) and their core beliefs when things are worst. In times of crises, our beliefs are the things that get us through. Perfect example: the rise in patriotic fervor post 9-11. Essentially, Job was under attack. His faith and hope kicked in so he could get through it. It makes sense to me he would turn to his God at that time and believe, no matter what, that God would get him through. What is amazing about Job isn’t necessarily his turning to God in crisis, but that his faith endured throughout his compounded miseries.
And yes, Job, a survivor whose story has inspired us for thousands of years, is indeed blessed. He has become immortal. We admire survivors, strong people who find ways to make life worthwhile even when we (and they themselves) might say, “Why stay alive when all we seem to do is suffer?” We look at people who are less fortunate than us, people who make the best of bad situations, and we can say, “If they can do it, so can I!” And that gives us courage to carry on. Without role models like these, I think we all would have just ended it a long time ago.
As to the why’s and how’s of God honoring Job with pain, I tripped on that as well. As I noted above, I get it in a way. But I’m not sure we should be glorifying pain like that because surely, it would be nice to have strong faith without having to endure such misery. I prefer to think of Job as an inspiration and role model to help us continue on, keep our faith, and make it good in the end.
I am not one to believe God would try to teach us lessons by inflicting pain on us because that’s not the kind of God I believe in. I believe pain is just life, part of the growing and evolutionary process. I think the God in Job really is a different, Old Testament version of God. It is one “face” of God. In fact, this version of God reminds me of the Greek Gods believed to control mortals, bringing on pain or wealth, sadness or happiness at will for some reason we humans cannot understand. There is a striking cultural resemblance to the Gods of the Greeks and this Old Testament version of God in the book of Job. And of course, there are connections between Greek and Christian philosophies that are commonly accepted, so why not this God of Job’s as well?
kgotthardt – We each have the capacity to see many aspects of God. Nonetheless, we are somewhat limited; we only see of God what we can see — and what we are willing to see — from our point of view.
I believe Christianity is the one true religion. That is why I chose to become a Christian. Nevertheless, I believe it is possible to be saved without choosing to become a Christian. As Paul said in Romans 2:12-16, God Law is written in our hearts. We know both when we are doing right and when we are doing wrong.
PS — Thank you for your comment and your praise.