Job 1:6-22, 2:1-10, 16:1-21
“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil”. ( Job 1:1)
And Job was very healthy, wealthy and wise. He was a happy man blessed with seven sons and three daughters. But days of evil were soon to come upon him.
In the book of Job we hear his cry of anguish of the godly man when tragedy strikes him. We learn something of the nature and cause of suffering.
The heavenly drama
Satan asks to test Job (Job 1 1-22)
One day the angelic beings are before God and Satan also appears.
God: Where have you come from?
Satan: From roaming through the earth and going to and fro in it.
God: have you considered my servant Job – there is no one like him, blameless and upright
Satan: Why shouldn’t he be good? You pay him well enough! You have fenced him round with a hedge of protection - look how rich he is. No wonder he “worships” you! But just take away all he has and, you see, he will curse you to your face.
God: Behold – all that he has is in you power Satan, but don’t harm him physically.
And so a series of tragedies hit Job, one after another. In one day, according to the book of Job, he received the news that:
· the Sabeans had taken all his oxen and asses and killed his servants.
· his sheep had been struck by lightning, along with the herdsmen.
· the Chaldeans had taken all his camels and killed the servants.
· a freak storm had hit the house where all his children were feasting and they had all died when the house collapsed.
How did Job react to all these disasters?
Job arose and rent his robe in grief, fell on the ground and worshipped God. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord ( Job 1:20-21)
And so Job did not curse God.
Round one is over - Satan has lost this one. What about round two?
Satan asks to test Job again (Job 2:1-1)
God: Where have you come from?
Satan: From roaming through the earth and going to and fro in it.
God: have you considered by servant Job – no one is like him blameless and upright – he still maintains his integrity even though you incited me to ruin him without any reason.
Satan: Skin for skin (ie. a man will be prepared to lose even his loved ones to save his own skin). A man will give anything for his life. Just touch his body with sickness and he will curse you to your face.
God gave Satan permission for this: “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
And Satan went forth and struck Job with “Egyptian boils” – a particularly foul illness which inspired horror in all who saw it . Like leprosy, or like AIDS today it was thought by many to be a sign of God’s judgement. And so Job is sitting on the ash heap, scratching his boils. His wife says, “Curse God and die!” But Job will not curse God.
Job’s sorrow
Job’s three friends came to comfort him. When they saw him they did not recognize him. They wept, tore their robes, threw dust on their heads and sat with him on the ground for seven days, in accordance with the custom of that day. No one spoke a word to him for they saw that his suffering was very great. (This is the best thing, and sometimes the only thing, to do in situations of tragedy.)
At last Job opened his mouth and he cursed the day he was born. He asked God why he had not died at birth. He cried out in his agony. The speeches of Job , which last many chapters, reveal a soul in torment. He can not understand why. “Why me, O Lord?” he says, “I know I am not sinless, and yet I have tried to live a godly life. O why does God punish me?”
Part of Job’s suffering stems from the fact that he does not know about the heavenly drama, he has no idea of what has been going on behind the scenes. He does not know that God has allowed him to be tested by Satan. It’s not because of his sins, but actually because of his righteousness, that he is suffering. However, Job does not know that.
Job’s “comforters”
Job’s comforters now speak – and with friends like this, who needs enemies! The speeches of Jobs friends reveal a complete lack of understanding, sensitivity and imagination. They can not put themselves in his shoes. They assume that he must be a gross sinner or all this would not have happened to him. Why doesn’t he repent and beg for mercy, then surely everything will go well with him. One after another they imply that God is punishing him for his sins.
By the end of their “comforting” they are making direct accusations against him. If only those three friends had remained silent. They did well then – when they sat in the dust with Job and just empathized with him. But the moment they tried to make sense of what was happening they increased his sorrows greatly.
Job in his reply becomes sarcastic. No doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you ( Job 12:2) Now he is really scathing – and who can blame him?
I think there is nothing crueller than to say to a person in pain that it is their own fault, or the result of their sin. And this applies even when you think it might be true – it might indeed be their own fault. It might actually be the result of their own sin. Even if that is the case, you can never say it to the person who is in anguish. In Job’s case it definitely was not true – the pain was not the result of his sin and he was suffering illness and bereavement as well as poverty. It was particularly cruel for his friends to speak in this way.
In some sections of the Christian Church you find the doctrine of health and wealth. “God want’s you rich: God want’s you healthy. If you give financially to his work you will never be poor. If you pray with faith you will always be healed.” The corollary of this is: if you are poor, or if you are not healed, then it must be your own fault; you don’t have enough faith; you are not right with God. This doctrine is not only untrue, it is cruel. It was exactly this kind of teaching in which Job’s comforters believed.
Job cries out
Job feels that it is so unfair – he needs someone to mediate between himself and God: If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both. (Job 9: 33)
Job is asking for the seemingly impossible – an umpire between himself an God. Someone who could bridge the gap between the human and the divine. Can such a thing be possible? Yes, there is one such person, who is both human and divine, and can lay his hand on both. Job senses the reality of this, even though he does not know the name of his Advocate.
Even now my Witness is in heaven, my Advocate is on high. My Intercessor is my friend, as my eyes pour out tears to God. On behalf of man he pleads with God as a man pleads with his friend. ( Job 10: 16-21)
(These are amazing words for something in the Old Testament.)
Yes, Job there is an Advocate – his name is Jesus Christ, our High Priest, Son of God and Son of Man. He pleads with God as a man. He atones for our sins and bears our sorrows.
· “a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3)
· He has been tested in every way as we are, and yet without sin ( Hebrews 4: 15)
· There is one Mediator between God and Man – the man Christ Jesus ( 1 Timothy 2: 5)
God’s answer
When Job and his three comforters have had their say Elihu comes along. He is a young man who thinks he knows all the answers. He attempts to portray the wonders of God’s creation to Job. Nevertheless, all he has to offer is words.
Then God himself speaks – out of a whirlwind.
Who is this who darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man, I will question you and you will answer me.
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand…
Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place…
Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? …
Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? …
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. (Job 38)
And so on, for several chapters. As one commentator says: God doesn’t explain, he explodes
Job is quite incapable of knowing the answer to these questions. How then can he hope to know why he is suffering? And God gives no answer – not even to explain Satan’s role in all this. He simply points to the wonder of his creation, so that Job is astounded.
In the film Keeping Mum, Rowan Atkinson plays a vicar who has to address a conference on the theme: God’s Mysterious Ways. He ends his address saying something along the lines of: “When it comes down to it God says to us: I am mysterious – live with it!”
It’s quite funny when said in Rowan Atkinson’s voice - but it is so true also. And this is what Job found. Even with all this sorrow he found he could live with the mystery of suffering. Job is satisfied with his encounter with God – even though God gives no explanation
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. ( Job 42:3-6)
Job’s reward
Job had found satisfaction, not in the logic of his friends’ arguments, but in an encounter with God himself. God does not reprimand Job after his repentance – but he does reprimand Job’s friends:
After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. ( Job 42: 7 -8)
Here is a reprimand to all purveyors of the health and prosperity teaching.
Although, in the end, Job was richer than before and had more children. “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first”, we are told. (Job 42:12)
Our reward for patient endurance may not be the same as Job’s. God does not promise to reward us in this life. Job knew very little about the hereafter. For him, the reward in this life was a vindication of his righteousness, after all he had suffered. We know that in the life of the world to come all will be put right. There will be vindication for those those have been treated unfairly in this life. In the life of the Resurrection: [God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:4)
Job did not know all this, but even in the depth of his sorrows and grief he grasped some inkling of it:
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him with my own eyes— I, and not another. (Job 19:25-27 )
This is our hope also!
As the Apostle Paul says: this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:17)
