Job is, probably, the oldest book in the Bible as it seems to pre-date Moses and the law. The man, himself, may have been a grandson of Jacob. He was a real man, mentioned by Ezekiel (14v14) and James (5v11), and he lived in the land of Uz (Job 1v1), south of Israel and Edom.
We are told (v1) that Job was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil”. He had much agricultural wealth, many servants, seven sons, three daughters and was known as the greatest of all the people of the East. It seems that he was worried about the behaviour of his children during their regular feasts so he offered up burnt offerings to cover any sins they might have committed (v5).
THE NATURE OF GOD AND SATAN
From verse 6 of chapter 1 we are treated to information about God, Satan and heavenly beings. We are told that Satan had been going (v7) “to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it”. We can see that Satan is interested in things on the earth and he gets around a lot but the question I would like to ask is, what was he doing?
God and Satan continue their discussion but it is not Satan who starts the discussion about Job, but God himself (v8), “Have you considered my servant Job? there is no-one like him….”. Here we see the father heart of God, affirming and proud of one of his children. Satan argued that anybody would fear God if they had received so many blessings. Job had been protected from the hardships of life but if God touched all that he had, Job would then curse Him to His face. We can see, now, what Satan is interested in; he is interested in accusing people and the new testament calls him the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12v10). Satan wants people to reject God, just as he himself rejected God, and he loves to discourage those who trust him.
God allowed Satan to touch any of his family and possessions but not take away his life. We, obviously, wish to know why God did this but, firstly, notice that Job was under God’s overall protection and Satan could go so far, but no further (v12). Satan can only trouble us within the boundaries that the Lord has laid down.
We, then, see the end result of that conversation, for within one day Job had lost his oxen, donkeys, servants, sheep, camels along with all of his sons and daughters. It is very interesting to note how Satan used different methods to trouble him-bandits, fire from heaven, followed by great winds. Some people blame God for so-called “acts of God” but we can see, here, that Satan is very much the power involved; he is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2v2). Job, however, did not sin, as a result, or charge God with wrongdoing (v22). Instead he fell on the ground, worshipped God (v20) and said “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”. These words have a ring of truth about them, for the Lord does not owe us anything and everything we have is dependent on Him, but was Job right? Surely, it was Satan who had taken these things away, not the Lord, and these thoughts may have been the cause of Job’s difficulties, later on. Job’s friends were to confuse him by trying to work out why God had brought disaster on him; it is clear, here, that Satan had done it, and for no good reason (2v3). God had just allowed it but, of course, the question remains, why had God allowed it?
Satan came back to God and notice, he was still walking on the earth (2v1,2). Job’s integrity had stood up; Job had not put family and possessions before God. Satan decided to adopt a different strategy and thought that if he was allowed to afflict Job’s body with sores and disease (v5), then he would surely then curse God, to his face. Even then, we read that Job did not curse God with his lips, despite his wife’s suggestion (v9,10).
WORDS ARE DANGEROUS THINGS
Now Job had three friends and they all set out from their homes, met together and then, went to console him (v11-13). At first, they did not even recognise him and they wept, mourned and spoke nothing for 7 days and nights, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Unfortunately, it was going to be when they opened up their mouths that the trouble really started. The book of James speaks much of the dangers of the tongue and how the religious need to bridle their mouths (1v26).
Job started the conversation in chapter 3, explaining how he felt, very poetically!, and that it would have been better if he had never been born (3v3). Job started to wonder why God gives life to people who go on to suffer so much, like prisoners and slaves (18,19). Long discussions follow between Job and his two friends who offer extensive comments and advice for 28 chapters. A young man called Elihu then has his say for 6 chapters, starting in chapter 32, until God intervenes in chapters 38 to 41. It is easy to lose direction reading all these poetic discourses and I find it helpful to start at the end of the book first. Chapter 42 is a comparatively short and provides a clear end to everything.
WHAT WAS THE MISTAKE OF THE COMFORTERS
The first point to say is that God’s anger was kindled against Eliphaz and his two friends Bildad and Zophar; for He says (42v7) to them “you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has”. Notice God’s criticism was their wrong speech about God and not their accusations against Job. So what had they said that was wrong? The underlying theme of their advice was that there could only be one understanding of Job’s suffering; that he must have done something, dreadfully, wrong to be disciplined by God in this way. We know, of course, that his suffering had nothing to do with punishment. Matthew Henry the great Bible commentator put the error of the friends very clearly: “they had wronged God by making prosperity a mark of the true church, and affliction a certain indication of God’s wrath”. God’s life for us is a blessed life even though, on occasions, it looks as if the wicked get away with it and the righteous struggle.
GOD’S VIEW OF THEIR ARGUMENTS
The approach God took, along with his intervention, is very interesting. He did not try to answer their arguments, but instead asked his own questions: were you there when I laid the foundations of the earth? (38v4), were you there when I created the universe, the animals, the birds and so on?. What God was saying, was that when you touch the subject of suffering, you touch deep things with only He knowing the reasons and answers. We can no better understand suffering with our human minds than we can understand how he created this world out of nothing, so don’t even try.
JOB FOUND FAULT WITH GOD
Tucked right in the middle of God’s speech, we find Him critical of Job (40v1), shall a fault-finder contend with the Almighty? (v2) and verse 8 “will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? “ Job did make the mistake, in the end, of condemning God for he argued that God was wrong to allow his birth and must have had something against him. We have no right to say to God, you were wrong when you did this or did that. What God expects from us is a trust in His purposes, no matter what happens to us. Look at Job’s words which pleased God; they are found in chapter 42 verses one to six: “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (v2) “therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (v3). Job was, basically, affirming his deep trust in the all powerful and all-knowing, loving God.
ELIHU
And what about Elihu. It appeared that God was not so angry with the fourth “comforter” although to be fair he was not praised either. He was much younger than Job’s three other friends and makes his appearance in chapter 32. Elihu had hesitated to speak, out of respect for his older colleagues (v6). He, also, had great respect for the Spirit of God for he knew that it was God’s breath that made for understanding (v8, 18-20). He, also, recognised Job’s error in saying that there was no gain from delighting in God (34v9) and affirmed that God could never be wicked or do anything that is wrong (v10). If God was to take his spirit out of the world, all flesh would perish (v14,15). In other words, it may seem bad now, but if God was to withdraw from the world altogether, nothing would last very long. Elihu was not perfect, but he drew attention to a perfect and righteous Maker. He knew that the friends were obsessed with whether people were wicked or not (36v17), pointed, instead, to God’s power (v22) and greatness (v26) and encouraged Job to consider God’s wondrous works (37v14).
WHY DID GOD ALLOW THE SUFFERING TO HAPPEN?
We come back to our question, why did God allow these things to take place? And I think we see the answer in chapter 42 verse 5 when Job says “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” His understanding of God was very theoretical to start with but by sharing the brokenness of the world, and learning to trust God through that brokenness, he found a much closer relationship with Him. And that is my conclusion to the age-old question of why God allows suffering, notice He “allows” and not “causes” us to suffer. Somewhere in the place where he has put us, somehow by walking with Him along our own path in this troubled and broken world, our relationship of trust with our heavenly Father can grow. James (1v2-4) explains how the testing of our faith produces endurance…so that we may be mature and complete; later he mentions the endurance of Job in 5v11. Yes we suffer difficulties, sadness and disappointments but God’s purposes are too wonderful for us to know. In chapter 23, Job actually had this revelation himself, see verse 10, “but he knows the way I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold”. God’s ways are too difficult to understand but he does understand our ways. In the middle of his suffering, what a revelation Job had (ch19v25), that whatever happens “I know that my Redeemer lives”.
GOD’S PLANS FOR JOB
God had a divine plan for Job to be wealthy. There was to be a time in his life when he suffered but we can see from the end of the book that Job was still to fulfil his destiny. Did Satan destroy it? No, he was not allowed to. Did God fulfil it? Yes, and even more than before his suffering. Chapter 42v10 says that “the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before”. He had the same number of sons and daughters but note that they did not cause him the same worries as his previous children. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters (v15) and we read Job died old and full of days (v17).
FORGIVENESS OF HIS PERSECUTORS
At the end of the day, Job’s heart was right and that could not be said of his comforters. ”Notwithstanding all the wrong his friends had done him, Job is so good a man, and of such a humble, tender, forgiving spirit, that he will readily pray for them”. Job prayed, just as Jesus was later to pray, for his persecutors and is now interceding for us at the right hand of the Father. Notice that Job’s prayer gave hope to his friends who, to their credit, did what the Lord told them to do (v9). Likewise, the Lord Jesus is praying for us so that, despite our foolishness, we will share in that hope.