Job's Lament: Strengthening a Relationship
Shedding Light on the Most Misunderstood, and Often Criticized, Book of the Bible
God: Where'd you come from? (God actually said this)
Satan: Oh, I was just walking to and fro on the earth, minding my own business.
God: Have you seen my friend, Job? There's nobody quite like him.
Satan: He only likes you because you give him everything he wants.
God: Prove it.
God was tricking Satan into doing what He couldn't bear to do Himself: Getting Job to think He hates him.
This is called "tough love." God gave job everything a man could ever want. He had 7 sons and 3 daughters, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of Oxen, 500 female donkeys, and he had a wife who, as you might have guessed, keeps him very happy. But Job had a void in his life that needed to be filled. Job has received a lot from God, but what would Job think of Him if He took it all away? When all was taken from him, even his health, so that he looked like an infected scab, Job cried out that God hated him. Even his friends who visited him told him that he deserves everything he gets. This is where the void lies, for Job to think that God could hate him.
In spite of these circumstances, God showed himself to Job, practically saying, "Job, how could I hate you when I love you so much that I will reveal myself to you?" Then He grilled job on judging God. If Job hadn't suffered as he did, he never would have learned this lesson, that God would never hate him, so now his relationship with God is stronger than ever. In fact, Job was so happy, he no longer cared about his afflictions, even the death of his children, for seeing God is the greatest love of all. Nevertheless, God also restored everything that Job had lost and tripled it, and Job lived a long and happy life, having seen all his sons and daughters grow up with their inheritances.
Published by Cujo
I love going out to eat and seeing movies, and I enjoy shopping more than any man should (note to self: Make sin offering Monday). I am a college freshman and I have a grade point average of 2.5, but that's... View profile
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- Job sees God.
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18 Comments
Post a CommentI understand where you're coming from in that our time on earth should be happier, especially for those who love God. But because Adam and Eve abused their free will by sinning, God had to make a world that is compatible with the choices they made.
A world that is incompatible with sin would restrain us from exercising the freedom of choice, even if they are bad choices. Thus, the universe cries out with death and decay.
I think you and I just hearken from two polar viewpoints on religion. I guess I'm less traditional in that I think God should be viewed more subjectively: if he protects and shelters his people, especially those who truly believe and lead upright lives, then he is a good god. Others such as yourself are more true to the traditional Biblical take on God, which posits His glory and presence as the ultimate happiness. I'm just a bit more utilitarian in that I feel that our time on earth should be happy as well as the untold bliss of Heaven. A more orthodox view may well stand in support of your thesis.
Matt, you're professor doesn't know what he's talking about. You can compare Job to the original Hebrew (particularly the Dead Sea Scrolls) and you would see that it is just the same. Instead of speculating, why won't you investigate? And how could you say that God's presence is a "paltry" gesture? That is both Biblically and commonly unsound. There is nothing greater than the presence of God! The whole point of going to Heaven is to bask in God's presence!
Cujo, what happened to Moses is not the same story at all. Completely different plot and outcome. If you argue that a later story in the bible after Moses is relevant, then yes you are correct. But since only God knew about Moses, Job's story isn't relevant. If anything, Moses drew from Job, not the other way around.
so if God was so good why didn't Job get his family back? Job didn't do anything wrong, he didn't doubt his love for God before it all happened and it clearly says that in the story. God didn't doubt it either. But Satan did.
Also, the book states that God repaid Job and restored everything to him. Did he bring back into existence Job's seven sons and daughters? No. He had more, but his original family was still tragically lost. Also, many scholars (including one of my professors) suggest that the ending of Job was actually modified or addended by later editors, most likely by medieval ecclesiastical scribes. There are many reasons to suggest this modification, such as discontinuities in style, etc. However, what it comes down to is that Job got a very raw deal, and people couldn't bear to see a good man punished, so in the end, his fortunes are restored. All except for his dead children. But he gets new ones, so it's ok.
However, to prove his goodness, God took all that from Job, killing his family. Whether you believe Satan performed the act or God doesn't matter, as it was caused by God's intercession. Then, to make it up to Job, God reveals Himself to him. But what is truly so great about a God who will kill your family and destroy your life? To repay Job by gifting him with his presence is a paltry gesture, and simply serves to restate the awesomeness of God.
Cujo, you explain the story in terms of coming to better appreciate the glory of God, thereby improving one's relationship with him. The problem is that that is all the story has to offer: it is yet another reiteration of God's greatness. If Job was faithful and good and blameless (as the book says he was), and treasured God in his heart, for God to take away all that He had given him to prove how much He loves Job is nonsensical, and simply serves to establish God's glory. And what is that glory, really? To Job, it was being blessed with happiness and a family, because he was so good and faithful.
Thanks for this article!
Time lines are irrelevant. Moses is exactly the same story. There's more to it than Pharaoh, plagues, and the Ten Commandments. God's goal was to bring the Hebrews to the Holy Land so that he could personally rule over them, talk with them, and even touch them.
The only reason why God took away all Job's stuff was so that Job would be ready to receive the same gift that Moses was given: seeing God.
God killed Job's kids, his wife, his servants, He destroyed everything he owned, and He made him look like a monster. This was a good thing because Job didn't only see God, but he was able to compare God to the jewels that he lost, thus making God's love appear even more beautiful to him.
If God had just one day shown Himself to Job, he would have thought, "I have everything and I saw God today," But Job lost everything, so he instead thought, "I saw God and I don't need or even want those things anymore." The sight of God is great as it is, but the latter is full appreciation of God's g