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DAY 11 – JOB

Among the books of wisdom literature in the Bible, Proverbs describes how living rightly and cultivating godly character will generally lead to health, success, and prosperity. The book of Ecclesiastes complements this teaching by observing that none of these rewards are actually guaranteed, even to those who live rightly, and that they should therefore not become the ultimate goal in life. The book of Job takes the investigation one step further by exploring the situation of righteous people who not only aren’t rewarded, but who actively suffer, through no fault of their own. It addresses this situation not by collecting time-honored sayings, as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes do, but rather by using another literary form that is well-attested in the literature of the international wisdom tradition. It presents an extended conversation, set within the framework of a story, between people who take turns giving poetic speeches. 

The book begins by introducing its central character, Job, as a man who was “blameless and upright” and who “feared God and shunned evil.” It then gives us a glimpse into the councils of heaven, where “the adversary” (the term is satan in Hebrew, but here it’s more of a title than a name) points out what he thinks is a problem with God’s moral government of the universe. If goodness is always rewarded, how can it be known that anyone is ever good out of love for God, rather than out of a desire for reward? In other words, even though this challenge eventually leads into detailed discussions of the “problem of evil”—why do people suffer in a universe governed by a good God, and how should they respond when they do?—the book is originally about the “problem of good.” Can genuine goodness exist and be recognized? God allows the adversary to bring loss, sorrow, and suffering into Job’s life, but Job still doesn’t curse God to his face as the adversary had predicted. 

Nevertheless, Job has a great many questions. He raises them in an exchange of speeches with three of his friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who come to “sympathize with him and comfort him.” Unfortunately, their rigid view of the moral universe keeps them from offering much sympathy or comfort. They’re convinced that goodness is invariably rewarded and wrongdoing is invariably punished, and so they conclude that Job’s sufferings must be the result of something he’s done wrong. They therefore try, gently at first but then more insistently, to convince him of this. In his replies to their speeches, Job acknowledges that what they say is generally true, but he insists that his case is an exception. God has brought suffering into his life, but for inexplicable reasons. 

The friends speak in turn, always in the same order, and in eloquent poetry. However, they don’t finish three full rounds before they have nothing left to say. Job is then allowed to speak his piece, which he does even more eloquently than they do, insisting to the end that he’s done nothing wrong and deserves a hearing before God. 

PRAYER: I will trust in You, Lord, no matter what happens in my life.