The book of Job is considered by many scholars to be the oldest book in the Bible. The author of Job is unknown. What does the book of Job tell us about God and his dealings with humankind?
Who was Job? Job 1:1,5 tells us:
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Job was an upright and perfect man. He feared God and avoided evil. He was diligent in his concern for the wellbeing of his ten children. He would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings (to God I assume) just in case one of his sons (but not his daughters?) had sinned. The Bible says Job did this continually.
There are numerous questions raised by these verses. Since Job likely lived before Abraham, Moses and the like, according to what religious precept was Job sacrificing on behalf of his children? What was Job’s religion? Who or which God of Gods was Job sacrificing to?
What follows next is one of the most bizarre and problematic passages in the entire Bible. The reader is taken from earth and transported to wherever God is. (it is often assumed the place is Heaven but we are not told this) Evidently the writer of Job is too since he records a conversation between God and Satan.(1)
The sons of God(2) had come before God (The Lord=Jehovah) to present themselves to Him.Who are the sons of God? Angels? Fallen angels?(3) It seems reasonable to me that the sons of God were angels. (which proves to be a difficult problem for Christians since Christians are called sons of God)
On this presentation day Satan appeared before God along with the sons of God. Interestingly, the omnipotent,omnipresent God had to ask Satan where he was coming from. Didn’t God know? Satan told God that he had come from walking back and forth on the earth.
God asked Satan if he had noticed God’s servant Job, a perfect man that feared God and eschewed evil? God told Satan there was no better person in the whole earth than Job.
Job was the epitome of what it meant to be a worshipper of God. In the Christian world he would be called a sold out, Spirit-filled follower of Jesus Christ. He would have been the poster child for what a Christian should be.
Satan had this to say about Job:
Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Satan told God the only reason that Job was a perfect, righteous man was due to God protecting him and taking care of him. Satan told God to remove his hand of protection from Job and then see what kind of man Job is.
On one hand this is pretty standard thinking among those who follow the God of the Bible. God protects them. He has promised to never leave or forsake them. But what happens next is quite astounding.
I should note that Satan desired to do great harm to Job. I suspect he had wanted to do this for a long time but couldn’t. He couldn’t? I thought Satan was the god of this world, the prince and power of the air? What does text before us say? Satan couldn’t touch Job unless God gave him permission to do so. God even set the parameters for what Satan could do to Job.
While Satan was the second cause on Job’s affliction, the order and the power to execute that order came from God. God is directly responsible for the afflictions and loss Job faced:
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
Job had a lot to lose:
And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
Satan returned to Earth and set about destroying Job. In Job 1:13-19 we find the following:
And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
In one swift moment Satan God took everything away from Job. All of his children were killed. He lost his all his livestock. In but a moment he was reduced to poverty. All God left him with was a nagging wife. (that’s enough to make anyone an atheist)
How did Job respond to this?
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
It is hard not to say what a man. What a devoted worshipper of God. I wonder if Job had been privy to the discussion between God and Satan would he have been so understanding? I wonder if he might have questioned God? After all, there was no better man in all the earth. What did he do to deserve such treatment from God?
God and Satan weren’t finished with Job yet. Job 2:1-6 says:
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
God took the responsibility for what happened to Job. Speaking to Satan God said “thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.” Did Satan force God to do this? What did Satan have over God? What should we think about a God who destroys a man without cause?
Satan told God he was still protecting Job since he wouldn’t let him attack Job himself. So what did God do? Did he say enough is enough? Oh no, he gave Satan the authority and power to afflict Job. God only had one stipulation…don’t kill him.
Satan didn’t waster any time. He returned to earth and afflicted Job with boils from head to toe. The story depicts Job sitting in an ash pile scraping the boils with shards of pottery. Job’s wife suggested that Job get it over with…curse God and die. But Job didn’t curse God. The Bible says:
But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Job chapters 3 through 42 record Job’s interaction with three friends of his and God. If read carefully the reason for God afflicting Job becomes somewhat clear. It seems Job thought more highly of himself than he should. He had a pride problem. Regardless of the exact reason for God afflicting Job, the Bible makes it clear God was justified in his actions towards Job. No matter how righteous Job was he still harbored sin in his heart. No matter how perfect he was he was not God-perfect.
In Job 42 we find the chastened Job saying the following to God:
Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Job abhorred himself and repented.(4) God accepted his act of contrition and, over time, blessed Job with more material wealth than he ever had before. God even gave Job exactly 10 more children to replace the one’s he killed.
What are we to make of the story of Job? If taken as a mythical story, as Jews take the story, meant to show the power of God juxtaposed against the puniness of man, all well and good. However, millions of Christians believe the story is a literal story and is absolutely true in every detail. Evangelicals in particular generally believe Job was an actual person and what happened to him r-e-a-l-l-y did happen. That’s what I believed for many years. I preached numerous sermons from Job. It was one of my favorite books.
If taken literally, the story of Job is a story of the collusion of God and Satan to ruin a man that everyone knew to be a righteous, perfect man. A good man who worshipped God and avoided evil. Yet, because of a secret sin, Job was taken to death’s door and stripped of all his material wealth and his ten children.(5)
Many Christians say that the story of Job is a reminder of how God chastises, corrects, and teaches his followers. It is considered a badge of honor to be brought low by the hand of the Living God. The more suffering, the greater God is, and the better a Christian the person being afflicted becomes. This seems quite perverse to me. It is as if God is a sadistic father who beats his children so they will love him more. (a love born our of fear is no love at all)
As I look at American Christianity in general, if I am to take the story of Job literally, I must conclude that most American Christians are no Christian at all. If God did what he did to Job because of a secret sin, how much more should he be doing to the Christians in America? American Christians are quite comfortable with sin. Make a sacrifice every day like Job? Hardly. American Christians thinking having to go to church for 90 minutes is a big enough sacrifice. Why isn’t God opening a can of whoop-ass and using it on American Christians? Surely they need every bit as much correction, if not more, than Job. Why doesn’t the God, who we are told is the same yesterday, today, and forever, deal with the intransigence of his current followers? It seems, by all accounts, that God has either given up whooping his children or he has decided to let them live any way they want.
If taken literally, this story makes it is very clear that God is behind all the good and evil that happens to those who worship him.(and I think it is safe to conclude this applies to everyone) Away with this notion that God should only get credit for the good things that happen in the world. He has all the power. The very god of this world can’t do anything without God giving him permission. Simply put, Satan works for God.
Is there anything in the story of Job that would make you want to worship such a God?
(1) Or God directly told the author
(2) It is is interesting that the word Elohiym (the plural noun for God) is used to describe the God Job worshipped and to describe God in the phrase the sons of God. In the discussion with God and Satan the noun Yĕhovah is used. Was Yĕhovah just one of several Gods? Was he THE head God?
(3) It is difficult to determine who the sons of God actually were. Was Satan a son of God? Were they just sexless angels? What do we make of Genesis 6 where the sons of God marry the daughters of men, have sex with them and produce children who are called “giants in the land?”
(4) God you are great, I am nothing. What would Christianity be without this kind of thinking? Even after salvation, the Christian is still a vile worm deserving the wrath of God. According to the substitution theory of the atonement, even now Jesus stands between the Christian and a God who wants to eviscerate them for their sins. Without Jesus they are dead meat.
(5) Let’s not forget all the servants who died too.The Bible teaches that each person is punished for their own sin but it seems in this story the servants, animals, and Job’s children were punished for his sin. Again, since God is in charge he can do whatever he wants. Don’t like it? Tough.
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