Suffering and The Book of Job
The concepts of suffering addressed in "The Book of Job" have no relevance to the ideas of suffering expressed in eastern religions such as Buddhism and Jainism. In fact, for Buddhists, the cause of suffering was discovered some 2,500 years ago by a prince from India named Sidhartha Gautama. This man, who was known as the Buddha, taught that suffering was caused by the craving for material things; ergo, cessation from suffering could be attained by detaching oneself from the things of this world (Ianuale). Had Job been exposed to these strictly eastern concepts of suffering, his outlook on his vicissitudes would have been quite different indeed.
"The Book of Job" is an epic
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Job argues with each man, never wavering in his insistence that he is guiltless. This great debate continues until Job becomes tired of his friends' ill advice and expresses his desire to argue his case with God himself. His friends fall silent, knowing that they cannot sway Job from his self-righteousness. God then appears to Job as a powerful whirlwind and questions Job, unmercifully, as to whether he could perform the works of God. It is through this barrage that Job comes to accept, without question, his lot, and the awesome power of God.
The end of the story has Job restored to his former state, living a long and prosperous life. As for his friends, they are not so lucky. God punishes them for misrepresenting Him, and asks that they give burnt offerings to Him, while Job prays for them.
Alas, poor Job is left to ponder why such misfortunes were heaped upon him, for God never really answers this question. Moreover, throughout history, people have been pondering the very same question. Many books and essays have been written on "The Book of Job" in an attempt to try to explain the cause of suffering, but the theories that have been extracted have had primarily western theological overtones.
In "God Has Need of Man", Archibald MacLeish dives head-first into the question of suffering. MacLeish finds that the meaning of suffering lies in the idea that God needs the love of man to exist.
Job is the central figure in the Book of Job from the bible. In this biblical story, God takes up Satan's challenge and overwhelms Job with many tragedies in order to test his faith. Job becomes victim of the plague and marauders. Through all this suffering Job had three friends that would visit in an attempt to comfort him, but only made things worse. They agreed Job must have been guilty of some evil and that is why God is punishing him. However, at the end of the story instead of turning to sin Job confides in a false comfort. The biblical allusion to Job characterizes Rebekka’s own suffering. She too is suffering, in this case from smallpox, and takes comfort in her imaginary friends. These imaginary friends, or spirits, are welcomed by
The view of fate the book of Job expresses, though similar in that it originates from God, differs in a few important ways. In Job, situations are predetermined to occur, but the personal choices of the people involved determine the outcome of the situation. The story of Job opens with Job's fate of suffering being planned. Satan presents himself in an audience before God. God makes example of Job, and Satan rebuffs, stating that Job's constancy is only because of God's preferential treatment. Satan tells God, "But put forth thy hand now and touch all he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."(40). In response, power is given to Satan to torment Job as a test. Job's life and finally health are viciously mangled and destroyed by Satan. Though Job does not know the reasons behind his great suffering, we are told that "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."(41), and "In all this did not Job sin with his lips."(41). Self-pity creeps into Job's thoughts and words, but there is no disenchanted turn from God. Instead in Job the reader sees a turn to God for relief and
Later in the book Job’s friends tell him that he must have sinned very badly in order to have such terrible things to happen to him, Job’s
making him suffer. Job had always been true to the Lord's word and had never
The theme of the Book of Job is the perseverance of the human spirit. Job loses everything but he does not lose his faith in God. “Job refuses to curse God” (Book). Job has not done anything to deserve this, but it is a test from God and Satan to see if Job is actually as
The Book of Job is of wisdom genre. Job was a righteous, rich man. God and Satan have a confrontation regarding Job’s faith in God. God allows Satan to test Job by taking away his family, sheep, camels, and servants. Job was passed the test. Job was tested again. This time it was his health that was taken away. Job speaks to his three friends and curses the day he was born. The four of them have a lengthy conversation as to why Job is being punished. Elihu enters the conversation and becomes somewhat angry with Job’s lack of faith in God. God speaks to Job in question form. Job repents. God speaks the three friends and advises them to sacrifice a burnt offering. Job was them made prosperous and was “given twice as much as he had before” by God.
Job is a man very limited by God. As illustrated, he has only a negligible amount of agency to begin with. By the time God and Satan finish with him, he has virtually no control over his own life. The fragment of agency he does cling to is his ability to choose whether or not to curse God. No one, except himself, could prevent Job from cursing God. Yet, he refuses to curse God, even though He is responsible for his suffering.
As we have seen, God promises a blessing to those who trust in His word and strive to live by it. Christians do not want to miss out on God’s blessing, especially those waiting for Him to reveal something. Now reading any book of the Bible, even Job, one begins to understand that God will bless you as you strive to study and practice His way of life. The Bible prophetically warns of even more pain in many different forms then what is done here Job, and through this we begin to portray God in a different light (Janzen 2012). However, the book of Job reveals God’s level of intervention during such a violent time. Due to the context and dire situation it would be difficult to imagine anything more then the pain for the members of Job’s family and the community at that time. They needed encouragement and the assurance that the trials Job faced would soon be over. The evil powers of Satan that governed Job’s life for a moment would be destroyed, and a triumphant sense of peace would be reestablished. The message of Job was intended for those in a particular time and circumstances of pain. Christians familiar with other violent writings would understand the book's symbolism, for practically everything Job went through was a test that other biblical figures felt during similar times of persecution. Job’s story was written to all people that may face the same trials, and find peace after their
Zaphar tells Job that he must put away his sins and then God will restore him to former form.3 By saying this, Zaphar claims that once Job repents for the sins he has committed, God will heal Job and he will be well once again. Similar to Zaphar’s speech, Bildad asks Job if he should be blameless and that surely God will awaken in him and restore him to his former domain.4 After these speeches Eliphaz tells Job “Call now! Will anyone respond to you? To which of the holy ones will you appeal?”5 By saying this, he is telling Job to call for help and pity from God and religious officials. He is also claiming that Job does not appeal to anyone in his current state because of his leprosy and distorted state. After all of these accusations and claims against Job, the thought that he may truly be innocent never crosses any of the friends minds.7 And after his friend’s speeches, Job’s other friend Elihu cannot hold his thoughts in any more and begins a tirade against Job.
Job’s departure is a lifestyle departure. Living his life splendidly fulfilled, Job’s life is suddenly a desolate, horrid mortality. First, savage thieves take Job’s livestock and servants, a fire claims his children, and finally his health deteriorates. “Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.'; (Job 3:25-26) This dismal new condition leaves Job
In stark contrast to God’s presence in Genesis, the character of God in Job strays from the ideal perfection of the divine. The concept of the ideal manifested in Genesis is embodied in God’s moral, reasonable, and rational behavior. In Job, on the other hand, rather than being reasonable, methodical, and creating life, God displays more human characteristics and plays the role of both creator and destroyer. The book of Job begins with God’s boastful bargain with Satan, which subsequently leads God to allow the total destruction of Job’s family and livelihood. Job is even attacked physically with “loathsome sores… from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). In an uncharacteristically immoral decision, God gives Satan the power do
Job trusts God no matter the circumstances, and though he might question, it is simply because he wants to know what he has done wrong so he can correct it and show God that he still loves him.
The concept of suffering plays an important role in Christianity, regarding such matters as moral conduct, spiritual advancement and ultimate destiny. Indeed an emphasis on suffering pervades the Gospel of Mark where, it can be argued, we are shown how to "journey through suffering" (Ditzel 2001) in the image of the "Suffering Son of Man" (Mark 8:32), Jesus Christ. Although theologians have suggested that Mark was written to strengthen the resolve of the early Christian community (Halpern 2002, Mayerfeld 2005), the underlying moral is not lost on a modern reader grappling with multifarious challenges regarding faith in the face of suffering. In his article "A Christian Response to Suffering", William Marravee (1987) describes suffering
“Suffering helps to transform Christians into persons who are ready to live in God’s holy presence” (Sharpe, 2016). Theodicy deeply explains and defends why God allowed evil and suffer in the world. Suffering strengths our Character and helps us prove to ourselves that we need to love and trust God when we are in trouble and not only when everything is good. It also makes us more compassionate of others. Suffering, also keeps us dependent on Christ.
Firstly, Job seems to be just a regular human. Many of the Old Testament characters are prophets and perform miracles through the will of God. I think this is still possible, but just does not happen to the magnitude today that it happened in The Bible. Job does not perform these miracles or share prophetic messages. The only thing that sets him apart from the regular population is that he follows God closely and has a very successful family. He has thousands of sheep and camels, hundreds of oxen and donkeys, hundreds of servants, and ten successful children all because he follows the Word of God very closely. He fears God, loves Him, and wishes only to follow