God in the Dock: Reflections on the Book of Job

    The book of Job goes like this. A prologue introduces the book’s readers to Job and describes decisions made in a parallel universe, that of a celestial court in which YHWH holds ultimate power (chs. 1-2). The heart of the book consists of a series of dialogue cycles between Job and three friends in which Job appeals to YHWH for vindication (chs. 3-31), followed by YHWH’s responses to Job’s appeals and a brief response by Job (chs. 38-41; 42:1-6). Speeches by a young interloper, Elihu, serve as a kind of intermezzo before YHWH’s responses to Job (chs. 32-37). An epilogue ties up all the loose ends of the book (42:7-17).

    The book describes a titanic struggle of “one against all.” It is not until the book’s conclusion that Job experiences God as an advocate rather than as an enemy. Job’s response to the experience of undeserved suffering is the focus of the book. The book’s resolution of the problem of Job’s suffering, the role assigned to God in bringing about Job’s suffering, and God’s reply to Job’s charges against God, have challenged and baffled generations of interpreters. Interpreters who believe in the God of the book of Job and those who do not have praised the book as a literary and theological masterpiece. “Read him,” said Kierkegaard, “read him over and over again.” The influence of the book of Job on art, literature, drama, and philosophy, wherever Judaism and Christianity have been potent cultural forces, has been far reaching, and shows no signs of abating.

    In the prologue of the book of Job, we the readers are made privy to the fact that Job, a man of exemplary behavior, is meted out suffering through no fault of his own. One of God’s angels (“the Satan” or “the accuser” in the original Hebrew) has cast aspersions on Job. God takes up Job’s defense. The matter is put to the test. If Job suffers every manner of affliction but does not thereby hold God in contempt, Job will be vindicated. God allows the Satan to empty Job’s life of whatever gives it meaning, but the Satan must also act as Job’s guardian angel and save Job’s life from a premature conclusion: “He is in your power, but his life you must protect” (Job 2:6).

    No one in the Job story - neither Job, nor Job’s wife, nor Job’s friends, nor Elihu - knows about God’s wager with the accusing angel. We the readers know, but despite this knowledge, an explanation for Job’s suffering is not thereby given to us.

    Strange as it may seem, Job fails the test. He cracks under the pressure of his suffering. He begins by speaking of God approvingly, even after he loses his children and all that he possesses (1:13-22). “The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” But when the suffering literally gets under his skin, Job maligns God again and again, directly and indirectly. “Let there be darkness,” exclaims Job (3:4). Job colors the world and God’s relationship to it with the same dark hues that have invaded his personal existence (7:17-20; 9:21-24; 10:8-19; 16:9-14). He now considers God to be his worst enemy, and the enemy of all humankind. Job’s accusations in 21:7-33 and 24:1-24 are particularly harsh.

    When Job puts God in the dock, Job’s friends defend God from Job’s charges by maligning Job. Job must have done something to deserve his fate.

   Job is incensed by his friends’ accusations. So malicious are their words that Job ends up contradicting the God-accusing thrust of his early speeches (through ch. 24). Given his friends’ accusations, he needs God to be a righteous Judge; otherwise, his friends will not be condemned and he will not be justified. Job refers his case to God (chs. 26-31).

    In Job 28, Job sorts out what he knows and doesn’t know. He doesn’t know why he suffers – he never will, according to the plot of the book. The wisdom that rules the world is unsearchable, for Job as for every other human being. But Job does know and holds fast to the wisdom that it supposed to rule his ethical behavior: he is to fear God, the principle of justice and truth, and shun evil.

    After a comic intermezzo provided by Elihu’s speeches – who nevertheless anticipates more than one theme in the ensuing divine speeches - God replies to Job out of a whirlwind.

    God is furious. How dare Job darken God’s counsel! Does Job even know what darkness is? Only God, of all living beings, has walked in the recesses of the deep (38:1, 16).

    God confirms Job’s worst fears. God’s counsel, or design, really does include unimaginable terror. The world God has created is not anthropocentric at all. Man is not the measure of all things. The world is full of awesome creatures, useless or inimical to human beings, creatures in whom God takes immense delight (chs. 39-41). The subtext: man lives in a world that is not at man's beck and call. God the Creator commands the sea and the waves. He himself is commanded by no one. A lesson, one might add, the modern world has yet to learn.

    Indirectly, God rebuts Job’s most awful insinuations. In distress Job claimed, “He mocks as the innocent fail” (9:23). Not so, implies God, who “hunts prey for the lion, and satisfies the appetite of the king of beasts,” who “provides food for the raven, when his young cry out to God (38:39, 41).

   God’s knowledge and power, not God’s justice, are the foci of God’s reply to Job. We sense the bewilderment of Job, who has suffered without cause under God’s hand. “I am of contemptible worth; what can I answer you? I clap my hand to my mouth” (40:4). “I recant and I change my mind amidst dirt and ashes” (42:6).

    Now the plot thickens. God acquits Job and vindicates Job before his friends. Job was right to defend himself before God. Job was guilty of putting God in the wrong in order to put himself in the right, the point of God’s reproof of Job before acquitting him (40:8). But Job’s forthrightness before God is ultimately held to his credit (42:7).

    God instructs Job to pray for his friends, because they, not he, risk God’s displeasure. Job, though he is furious with his friends, accedes to God’s request. Job thereby signals his recommitment to exemplary words and deeds, and God responds by giving Job twice what he had before. He goes on to live a life of legendary proportions and delight in his children’s children (42:8-18). God's justice is a matter of both word and deed.

    A theodicy is an attempt to justify the ways of God to men. The book of Job is an anti-theodicy. According to the book of Job, unjustifiable suffering takes place in the world. Those who claim otherwise “do not speak the truth about [God]” (42:8). Defense of man before God (anthropodicy), not defense of God (theodicy), is appropriate when suffering occurs. Job’s friends should have defended Job against God rather than God against Job. Theodicy, as Dostoevsky also knew, is a misguided enterprise.

    The apologetics of Job’s friends do not do justice to the status of the sufferer in God’s sight. If the book of Job is taken as a model, the right response to undeserved suffering is to vindicate the sufferer even if that means calling God’s actions, or inaction, into question. The God of the book of Job vindicates Job. Before doing so, that same God puts an end to Job’s revolt against him.

    As Michael V. Fox points out, the book of Job is not skeptical literature (“Job the Pious,” ZAW 117 (2005) 351-366; 363). It is not about approaching the world with questions and no expectation of answers. But does the book of Job demand “unqualified faith in God’s goodness” (“Job the Pious,” 364)? A bolder claim is hard to imagine.

    In my view, the opposite is true. The book of Job justifies the sufferer’s lack of faith in God when darkness colors all. Faith is a characteristic attitude of a virtuous person. It is also something a virtuous person may expect to lose in a time of despair.

    Faith in God’s goodness, or more precisely, acquiescence to God’s sovereignty, is not demanded of Job so much as given to him in and through the fact that God replies to him out of the whirlwind. Job accepts God’s reply even if God does not answer all of his questions. His acquiescence is a kind of faith, more precisely, a form of obedience, without which Job could not have gone on living.

    Leo Purdue among other interpreters finds Job’s acquiescence implausible. Purdue imagines a Job who is defiant to the end, and a book of Job in which God is weighed in the balances and found wanting. Properly qualified, the latter statement seems correct, but the purchase price of a Job who remains defiant to the end is an improbable construal of Job 40:4 and 42:6.

    The book of Job does not resolve the problem of evil so much as rehearse it within the context of a broader set of reflections on the dvine-human interface. Other works of ancient literature in and beyond the limits of the Jewish Bible do likewise. Examples include the “Babylonian Theodicy” and “I will Praise the Lord of Wisdom” from Mesopotamian literature, Psalms 37, 49, and 73, Proverbs 30, Qohelet (“Ecclesiastes”), and 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch from Jewish literature of the Roman period. I would argue that the book of Job served the same needs in ancient Israel as Ludlul did in ancient Mesopotamia.

    A condensed version of the above appeared in the Encyclopedia of World History (ed. Mark Whitters et al., New York: Facts on File, 2007).

Comments

[C. Stirling Bartholomew]

never been able to figure out why people who find themselves drowning in troubles go to the book of Job to find comfort. There doesn't seem to be much comfort in the book. On the other hand,when atheists like Bart Ehrman talk about "God's Problem" one appropriate response is the problem has already been addressed, thousands of years ago in some of the oldest poetry in the canon. I have friends and family who have left the faith over the problem of evil. I can't answer their questions. Personally I have never resolved the issue other than looking to Jesus and Cross, where we see God's participation in our predicament. The treatment of the problem in Job and also St. Paul doesn't give any comfort to a humanist, like you said, man is not the center of the cosmos. Just some rambling thoughts.

[Praying with Lior 10]

I never found the book of Job to be comforting either. I feel like Job is definitely relatable though. I know too many people who have strayed in their faith because of evils in the world, including my mother. This book is definitely helpful in dealing with the inevitable things in life, I just don’t find that it gives any form of comfort to the reader.

[Aron Wall]

I disagree that "Job fails the test", or that "God is furious" with him. The accuser confidently asserts that Job will curse God to his face (1:11, 2:5) and Job never does. Instead his harsh speeches are bracketed both before (1:22, 2:10) and after (42:7, 8) with the assertion that Job spoke rightly about God. In fact, he is so righteous that, like Moses, only through his intercession can his friends be spared punishment.

On the other hand, God also rebukes Job with his series of questions. How to reconcile these divine judgements? Rather than try to sort Job's statements into an aspect for which "Job was guilty" and another aspect that was "held to his credit", I would accept the text's commendation of Job's words as blameless (taking them as a whole according to their overall spirit), and say that God was correcting Job for ignorance, not for sin.

[JohnFH]

Hi Aron,

Thank you for pushing back on this. I find your interpretation of Job to be problematic for the following reasons.

First of all, it is no use appealing to 1:22 and 2:10. From Job 3 onward Job's speech moves from indirect (he curses the day on which he was born) to direct accusation ("God has deprived me of justice" - 27:1). In 1:22, Job blesses the Lord. From Job 3 he does not. Instead he accuses God of injustice. Job's friends understand this. They hear him correctly; Job no longer blesses God; quite the opposite. But Job's friends draw the wrong conclusion.

On your reading, however, Job's friends must be wrong about everything. They take offense at the way Job impugns God's justice. You seem to deny that he actually does. Job comes to the same conclusion that biblical atheists do, "God doesn't care." Except that in Job's case, his godlessness = sense of abandonment by God.

Job himself notes that he has lost it. Why shouldn't I? he asks (21:4). He knows himself to be blameless even though he loses it. God vindicates Job in this respect. But that doesn't change the fact that Job loses it.

I agree with you in this sense, that Job does not sin when he maligns God's justice while bleeding in the jaws of suffering. But it is fair to say that Job, as he himself admits, cracks under the pressure of his situation.

[Aron Wall]

There is a difference between cursing or blaspheming God (as Job's wife would have had him do) and what Job says. If justice means human justice, rewarding the righteous and punishing sinners, then God certainly did not treat Job this way. He admits to Satan that he "ruined him without any reason" (2:3). Thus it is indeed true--in a sense--that God punished Job unjustly. Job correctly says that God has done this thing which he did not deserve, and is correctly understood by his friends as denying that God treated him fairly.

His friends mount the defense that Job must have sinned and this is why God's act is just. This takes two forms: Most obvious is the assertion (e.g. 22:4-11) that Job must have engaged in blatant factual sin; or else a sort of doctrine of "total depravity" that insists that even the seemingly righteous are wicked in God's eyes (4:17-19, 16:14-16, 25) and therefore cannot object to being punished. Job responds to the first by alleging his factual innocence (e.g. 31), and to the second, not by asserting his total sinlessness, but by denying that God ought to respond to youthful or minor transgressions with such severity (7:17-21, 13:23-14).

But there remains the (theodicial) possibility that God is just because he has some greater justification for his act. Job does not simply state that God can have no such defense. Instead he complains at the inaccesibility and incomprehensibility of God's judgement (9:32-10:2, 13:20-22, 31:35). Although Job starts out fearing that God would simply crush him in a dispute (9:14-20), he winds up concluding that God would vindicate him (23-24:1). Job is convinced that if only he could have an audience, God would either relent or explain himself to Job's satisfaction. This suggests a certain underlying faith in God's justice even as he accuses God of injustice.

I see Job's position as more complex and faithful than an atheist saying "God does not care". It is worthy of the divine approval which it receives.

[JohnFH]

Hi Aron,

I agree with much of what you say. But what I think you are missing is plot development. Yes, Job begins by doing the opposite of what his wife advises, to curse God and die. He begins by accepting evil from God's hand (2:9-10). But he goes on to curse the day he was born. He goes on to malign God's justice. At first he does not "cast reproach on God," but then he does. In my opinion, to deny this plot development is to deny the obvious.

I think it is true that Job remains faithful to God throughout. But his faith takes many forms, including doubt and accusation.

Doubt, accusation, and reproach of God are also recurrent in the Psalms. God, it would seem, handles all of these things. His would-be defenders, Job's friends, because they are unable to challenge God, turn out to have a false faith, one that would be incapable of challenging God from the jaws of undeserved suffering, and unable to intercede on behalf of others in those jaws.

It is a long-standing exegetical strategy, in both Jewish and Christian circles, to take the edge off of biblical depictions of God and the narrative's chief protagonists. Since God by definition according to many is not only slow to anger, but never gets angry, or if he does, does so calmly, all biblical description to the contrary is glossed over.

Since the righteous in the Bible according to many ought to come up to certain standard, when they don't, as Abraham, Jacob, Job, David, and Elisha do not, biblical description to the contrary is explained away. In the end, these are unhelpful maneuvers.

The other thing I think you are missing is the book's avoidance of mounting a theodicy. It is Job's friends who try to justify God to Job. This is utterly inappropriate on their part, as anyone who works with people who are suffering for no fault of their own ought to know. It is essential in such cases to embrace someone's anger and resentment in the first instance, to challenge it only if it continues indefinitely, but in the challenge, refrain from offering false assurances.

In a sense, God changes the subject in his reply to Job. He draws Job's attention to the cosmos. The cosmos is full of creatures of no use to Job, of creature and phenomena that pose great danger to others. God obviously delights in them all. Awareness of the world as a place where the wild things are, wild things however that we simply cannot tame, contextualizes Job's experience of the withdrawal of so many of God's blessings (= protection from the wild things).

God's answer is not a comforting answer, but it is a healing answer. I reach that conclusion, not so much from the book, but from experience. There is no better way for a sufferer who has become "incurvatus in se" - curved in on herself, to attain healing than to *withdraw from herself* and look out into the world of wind and storm and hail, of a world full of the wild and uncontrollable, to come to terms with that, and then, by analogy, come to terms with her history of suffering.

[Aron Wall]

John,

Thanks for your reply. I agree with most of your recent comment, especially why God's answer is healing. But I deny all of the charges against my own view. I don't deny that there is a progression in Job's thinking, but I think that any progression within 3-31 is generally from worse to better, so that Job had even more of what God regards as faith towards the end of 3-31 than at the beginning.

I also deny that I am taking the edge off Job or God. Rather my strategy is to read Job's words without watering down their doubt and despair, and then to take God's commendation of these harsh words seriously as a revelation I would not have come to on my own. Nor do I water down God's wrath, but I reserve it for those against whom God explicitly directs it--Job's friends. The theophany desolates Job, not because God is angry with him, but because of what it is like for flesh and blood to encounter the numen. God never says to Job "You were wrong". Instead he says "Who is this?"

Nor did I ever say that the book of Job provides a theodicy. I merely said that the possibility that God might have a justification is important in understanding Job's desire for an audience with God. Job also wants God to be justified, but unlike his friends he won't twist the facts to do so.

If Job says that the thing he wants most is an audience with God, and then he receives it, then the anti-theodicial rebuke (that leaves him repenting in dust and ashes) is a reward, not a punishment. Job questions God, but ultimately declares his righteousness. God questions Job, but ultimately declares his righteousness.

[JohnFH]

Thank you, Aron, for the conversation.

I understand your point of view better now. We read the book along similar lines. It sounds as if you still have trouble imagining that the Satan wins the argument with God in the book. To me it remains clear that the accuser wins the argument, but, more importantly, he does not win in the sense of forcing God to abandon his doubting, despairing, no longer blessing, and accusatory servant.

I happen to take that to be a common occurrence in the Bible and life: God loses arguments, but wins in the sense of procuring salvation in the strength of his enduring commitment.

I took you as making insufficient room for plot development, but I see that you are willing to have the book contain a number of surprising developments.

[Ryan H.]

This conversation leads me to think of THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY, G. K. Chesterton's odd, enjoyable novel, which was written, in part, as a musing on the Book of Job. It responds to suffering differently, but not without a certain air of mystery, all building to a deafening question: "Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of?"

But anyway, in dealing with Job, I think we must seriously reckon with Elihu, who does not get repudiation, and does engage in theodicy, at least more than God's speech does. Indeed, that at least seems to be part of Elihu's stated agenda.

[Nobunaga]

Hi John

can you elaborate what you stated in your address to Aron and explain it to me ?

"wins in the sense of procuring salvation in the strength of his enduring commitment."

Are you saying God is faithful to people who have accusatory fits in suffering, and will not abandon them or cast them off with the unfaithful ?

[JohnFH]

Hi Nobunaga,

Yes, the Psalms of complaint, Lam 1-2, the confessions of Jeremiah, Habakkuk 1:2-4.12-17, the book of Job, are now, according to Jewish and Christian tradition, not just words of men to God, but the word of God to us.

All of the above are examples of challenging, accusatory prayer Jews and Christians are expected to emulate. It comes as no surprise then that Jesus is reported to have prayed the opening line of Ps 22 from the jaws of death: "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

Jesus did not say, "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord." There is truth in that, but the truth God is said to want as the focus of prayer and action, when injustice and undeserved suffering are the order of day, are injustice and undeserved suffering.

A "life of intercession" is a partial description of the prophetic calling according to the Bible. For discussion and a list of relevant texts, go here:

http://ancienthebrewpoetry.typepad.com/ancient_hebrew_poetry/2009/03/the-prophet-habakkuk-as-intercessor.html

[The Mission 4]

I have always been intrigued by the book of Jobs. Maybe because it has such a short title or maybe because it tells a story of something I struggle with every day. In Job 28 as you stated Job is trying to figure out why he suffers. I have always wondering about the same thing. If I believe in Christ and I do my best to follow his way, then why is my life so hard sometimes? Following up on this some time it is hard to follow what god tells you to do in addition to making you wonder why he is sending you in this deration. Maybe that is why I like this book in the bible so much. It has a follower of God go through these common christen parallels of asking yourself is this all real? Making faith that much harder to maintain. I find it is not just something that you get once it is something you continual have to work at through ever struggle that comes up in life. The book of Jobs’ makes me feel confided that I am not alone in my constant struggle to follow a mam that I can never see but feel thought my life. I also like the section that you pointed out from Jobs about man not being the only thing that matters on earth. Like you said God took as much pride in making me as he did the other entire creature that rome the world. What I get out of Jobs is this faith is something that is not just achieve in one day but achieved throughout ones life, and along the way we learn that we are not the only one in the world that deserves god’s love, but every creature that was created during those first few days of earths life.

[Nobunaga]

Thank you for your reply John, it was very helpful.

[True Grit 2]

It is selfish to think you are the only one with struggles like in Jobs because everyone goes through struggles. I think thats why many people can relate to this scripture. It's hard times when you feel that it's you against the world. I know because many times I have felt this way. I wondered why I was the one who was suffering. Why was my luck so bad that everything I wanted was unreachable. It's nice to read a scripture that shows the same thing I was going through. I know all my answers won't be answered but I know I just need to keep my faith.

[BK.Mitchell]

Thank you John,

I enjoyed this post, very much. I found it to be a bit of a paradigm shift for me.

The literary role you have assigned to Elihu is not something I have every thought about before. I going to read Job again while looking at your analysis.

If, you haven't seen the article below before, you might find it to be interesting as it touches on Job's wavering responses:

David Kummerow, "Job, Hopeful or Hopeless? The signigicance of גם in Job 16:19 and Job's changing conceptions of death.
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_44.pdf

[Mitchell]

I put down Jacques Ellul's 'The Politics of God and the Politics of Man' after reading Ellul's very challenging treatment of Naaman's case and Joram's case, and now I read this!

In the Bible's willingness to give questions without answers, it shows itself supremely realistic, but also incredibly frustrating if one's goal is to take verses and truth-claims and line them all up correctly so that the Bible comes out as the sort of systematic theology I often imagine it should have been.

[shawshank1]

The Book of Job is one of the most celebrated pieces of biblical literature, not only because it explores some of the most profound questions humans ask about their lives, but also because it is extremely well written. The dominant theme of Job is the difficulty of understanding why an all-powerful God allows good people to suffer. Job wants to find a way to justify God’s actions, but he cannot understand why there are evil people who “harm the childless woman, and do no good to the widow,” only to be rewarded with long, successful lives (24:21). I think the book of job sums up a lot about the bible and many people can relate to this book. There is so much trouble that people go through on a day to day basis and a lot of times people point fingers at the lord. I find this reading interesting because job follows god but at the same time he finds himself questioning him.

[Pulp Fiction 4]

I agree completely with True Grit 2. Everyone in life goes through different struggles. A lot of people should be able to relate to this scripture because of the struggles they go through. I have been through many tough struggles in my life. I have felt like I was the only one that was fighting against this big world. Losing my big brother to cancer was one of the worse struggles I have ever gone through. I wandered why my brother, why my family? Reading this scripture is very confronting because I can really relate, and it helps me wrap my mind around the fact that I am not the only one who has tough struggles in life.

[Breaker Morant 5]

The story of Job is one that many people can easily relate to. When things go wrong it is easy to blame it on God and lose faith. At first, Job does a good job of standing by the lord after he loses his family. “The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” However, the suffering gets worse and he turns his back on God. This is a very human reaction to a devastating situation. We look for something or someone to blame. The important thing is to not lose hope and to remember that everybody goes through trials big and small.

[Nell 1]

Although the book of Job may not always seem happy to the readers, it gives the message that God is there for us in all of life’s trouble and problems. It should be comforting to know that even when life seems to get rough, God will still be there for us if we are willing to seek his help. The world is full of sin and we cannot conquer everything the world throws at us by ourselves. We have to recognize we need God’s help to get us through. Just as Job remains faithful, we too need to remain faithful to God and his promise to help us in all troubles, regardless of the doubt that may be forming in our minds. Faith is not an overnight process, faith continues to grow and increase each day of our lives. There are struggles every day of our lives and we can’t escape them. Even when our minds cause us to doubt, we need to stay true in faith and trust God. What He does for us is the right thing, even if we don’t always see it right away.

[True Grit 4]

The book of Job is always one that intrigues me and scares me at the same time. It intrigues me because it shows just how strong ones faith can be. Job was able to go through all of this horrible stuff and still believe that God loved him.
The reason the book of Job scares me is because I think sometimes when I go through trials and troubles what if I am going through the same thing Job is. What if God is allowing Satan to do this to me. It also scares me because I see how things just kept getting worse for Job. Even when you think things are really bad you are always worried about how are they going to get worse. It also scares me because I feel I would not be able to pass a test like this that I would fail.

[Chariots of Fire 2]

I think the Book of Job is really interesting because it is so different than the other books in the Bible. I agree with many people in this post because I also think that it is very relatable to people. A couple years ago I had Bells Palsy which made my whole face paralyzed for two months and I had terrible pains in my legs and joints. I randomly woke up with it one day and I thought to myself, what have I done for this to happen to me? I thought maybe God was punishing me for something. Later on I realized that everyone goes through struggles in their lives. It made me realize that things could be a lot worse and that I was lucky just to have a temporary virus. I learned to be patient and have self humiliation. I think that God tests us and it helps maintain our faith in Him and even make it stronger. The Book of Job shows that people won't always understand why things happen to them, but having faith will help them through it.

[Dead Man Walking 5]

I also believe that many people can relate to the book of Job. I think that is the main reason this story is in the bible. I personally believe that this book has the greatest message from what I have read of the bible so far. I feel that it is saying, at the worst times in our life our faith should be the strongest. I feel that God has helped so many people because of their strong faith. I have witnessed this first hand in my life. Last year my high school principal, James Debroux, had been painting his cabin over the summer and while he was painting the ladder he was son suddenly became unstable and fell. Mr. Debroux was immediately rushed to the hospital because he could not feel from his neck down. They did not think he was going to make it.
When we came back to school from summer break we had a school assembly about it and the teachers and staff informed us about everything that had happened and we were devastated. Mr. Debroux also belonged to the church I attended, St. Pauls. After this had happened our pastor informed the church about the events that had taken place. He asked everyone to pray for him to help him through this and we did every Sunday for months. One day at school we heard news that he had recovered a small amount of feeling in his arms and was able to speak. The day after we had another assembly and his wife came and spoke to us. She told us that the first words that came out of his mouth were; how are the students doing? Are they okay? Instead of caring about himself or his circumstances, he was concerned about others. To me, this man has the best heart and the most faith in God I have ever seen. Today, Mr. Debroux is getting better with every day and hopefully soon he will be able to get feeling back in his legs and walk again.
I believe that, like Job, Mr. Debroux was put through a test of faith and succeeded. That is why this is one of my favorite books of the bible because it has so many connections to my life.

[The Truman Show 4]

Everyone who commented previously on this blog has the same attitude I do. Job, as odd as it seems, is quite comforting. It forces us to all realize that everyone goes through their own struggles, and deals with them their own way. Also, all our problems and struggles in life can test our emotions and even make us start to question everything, including God's plan. The book of Job also reminds me of a quote I recently heard in a movie, that when you are going through a tough time and you feel all alone, and then you know you're all together in that too.

[TheraP]

Two thoughts. Well, after I express my delight at the original post itself, which to me is a tour de force analysis of a book I too am intrigued by.

1. I have often told patients of mine: "It's ok to be angry with God; God can take it." Nice to have this confirmed!

2. A theory related to the "healing" power of God's words to Job based on my experience working with victims of trauma. The very fact that God answers Job is an indication that God cares, that God keeps us in mind, that God, as he said to Moses (and elsewhere), hears his people's cry. Yes, God encourages Job, and all who read Job, to consider that God's ways are not our ways. Yet the Presence of God in Job's life is now a FACT: God's Presence in Mystery yet deigning to answer Job on a personal level. Wow! To me that is exactly what victims of trauma really want. They want to be valued, to be heard.

[Pulp Fiction 1]

I wonder how many people turn to the book of Job in times of struggle. It seems to be a good text to help one understand suffering. I think it takes a lot of faith to overcome struggles or suffering in life.

[chariots of fire 3]

I thought the article was great, very interesting and a lot of interesting comments in the article as well. I completely agree with pulp fiction 4 and True Grit 2, this article is very easy to relate to because no matter who you are or where your from you are going to have struggles or obstacles in your way to where you want to be. It may be true that when things get tough it is easy to blame God and lose faith, but you have to realize that nobody ever got what they wanted by giving up and putting the blame on somebody else.

[breaker morant 2]

Going off of the previous statement, it's very easy to relate to this article. We can all agree we have found bumps in the road and obstacles to over come. When we find it near impossible to move on, we give up on faith and turn away from God wondering why he brought us here in the first place? This article is a great way to remind you that you're not the only one suffering (per say) and God will get you through it, just have faith.

[Shawshank Redemption 4]

The book of Job is a great read. I found many things in my life that i could relate this too, especially all the hurdles that life throws at me. Especially the ones with school this year, but in the end you always find a way to handle it. I agree with Breaker Morant 2, it is a great article to remind you how good God is to you and how thankful you should be everyday for everything you have.

[Pulp Fiction 4]

The idea that God allows bad things to happen to some people more than others, just because He can, is really unsettling and confusing. What I wonder about the book of Job specifically, though, is why God would allow Satan to talk Him into punishing Job like He did? God has his own plan for running the world, so it strikes me as strange that He would agree to something like that, just to see what would happen.

[The Mission 2]

A big idea in the world today is karma. That bad things happen to people who “deserve” it and good things happen to people who “deserve” it. But the book of Job and a story of a blind man in the New Testament contradict this idea. Job was one of the richest men in the world in his time, but he was also faithful to God. God blessed Job with a great life and a great family, but after the devil made his “bet” with God, Job’s life crumbled. It wasn’t karma because karma would need Job to do something terrible to justify what was happening to him.

The same thing happened to a man born blind during the time of Jesus. Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus if this man or this man’s parents had committed a sin so bad that the man was born blind. But Jesus answered “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (John 9: 3). God allows things to happen so that His ultimate plan will be achieved. Sometimes it’s hard or even impossible to understand why He does it, but we need to trust that He knows what’s ultimately best for us and let Him do what He needs to do.

[the Mission 21]

I think that the book of Job is a god book to read if you want a perspective into ones struggles. The thing I like the most about the book is how he was tested with all these unfortunate things. But what I do not like is how once he got the skin disease and he immediately came at God at how and why he deserved all of what was coming to him. Life is very rarely the way we want it and it really shows character when your back is against the ropes and you find a way to persevere through the pain. In his defense, it would be extremely hard if we were in his shoes. And I think he feels remorse when God asks where Job was when He created the earth and all the creatures in it.

[The MIssion 3]

I like the book of Job because it shows how much God cares even if someone gives up in life. God put Job through many tough tests and Job found his way through the darkness at the end. If any of us today were put through as much as Job, I feel that it would be very hard for all of us to still keep a good focus on God because we would feel a little forsaken by Him. We are put to the test everyday and we may not even know it. Sometimes the tests are tougher than others but God wants to see how much we love him.

[Breaker Morant 2]

I believe that it is important to look at the Book of Job for what the message of the story is. It's like the story of a man walking on a beach, and when he looks behind him, there is sometimes two sets of footprints and sometimes there is one set. The one set of footprints were some of the hardest times in the man's life and he asked God, "Why did you leave me in my time of need" and God replied, "I did not leave you. I was carrying you." This is what I think of when I remember the Book of Job. Yes, God makes your life horrible every once and a while. But if you remember that he is there with you through everything then you can take the strength from him and move forward through the rough patches into a new part of life.

[True Grit 5]

When I first read Job I just kept dragging through it because all I could think was that Job was a cry baby. Throughout the entire time Job just kept throwing himself down saying that nothing ever good happens to him, that all God wants to do is make him suffer. Then my favorite part God tells Job enough, telling Job how he has any right to complain. God asks Job if he knows things that only the Lord our God would know and be able to do, and Job just has no answer for God. Job reminds me that in our suffering God truly is listening but we just need not to worry because He is all powerful and knowing and plans are made for our lives, we just need to be patient and thank the Lord in everything.

[Nell 2]

The book of Job is really interesting to me, as a Christian. I feel that it investigates some really philosophical questions that people have been struggling with for a very long time. The book of Job is so well written and I feel is easier to read then many parts of the Bible. The question of the Lord letting His people suffer is an interesting one. I have struggled with this at many times throughout my life. Why can a God who is so powerful, sit back and watch his followers endure hardship. I think it is easy to relater ourselves to Job. We want to know things, such as an explanation to validate God's actions towards us. I think deep down, many Christians questions God and events that take place in their lives. This makes the book of Job so relatable to everyone.

[True Grit 4]

I remember being directed by my pastor to read certain passages of Job during High School when I was having a rough go of things. What really stood out to me was exactly what True Grit 5 said, when God asks Job if he has ever experienced what God has had to experience. That puts it into perspective for me. God is so big and so powerful, its hard to imagine that he has the time to hear our problems when he faces billions of prayers every day, but somehow he finds the time. As it says in Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".

[Pulp Fiction 3]

There is so much trouble that people go through on a day to day basis and a lot of times people point fingers at the lord. I find this reading interesting because job follows god but at the same time he finds himself questioning him. It forces us to all realize that everyone goes through their own struggles, and deals with them their own way.

[breaker morant 6]

The book of Job is an interesting book as it deals with suffering and God's reason for it. Life is suffering, that is the reality of life. We cannot have a "perfect" life, nearly everyone planned to, however, God do have a plan for everyone yet that plan does not mean that all of us will have no suffering in life. Suffering such as physical suffering can come into our lives without reason. Just imagine if one was born into poverty or with a disease, no reason for it. It could have been genetics, but where did the disease originate? A Theological answer would be because of our sins. That is exactly how Job's friend attribute to his suffering. On the contrary, there are people who did not sin but was born with it. We often idealized life to be what we want, forgetting the reality of life. God does have a plan, a better plan for believers, but its not here on earth, only in heaven will life be perfect.God has his purpose of using suffering, and think for a moment of Jesus; the most sinless person, according to the Bible, even have to suffer too! Look at the Joseph, who suffer also; in the end he became great and powerful. Suffering chisels out the bad parts of our lives, and test our genuineness of faith in God, who works all things for good. No one wants sufferings, questions abounds and answers are not coming. God has his way of doing things, and all Job, Jesus, and Joseph could do is trust in the goodness of God to truimph over their suffering.

[Shawshank 4]

This book is in an amazing representation of literature as an art. The book of Job really shows the trials and tribulations of pretty close to all of the torments a person might experience in this life. I also find it amazing that God allows human beings to commune with Him. We are taught, like the “friends” correcting Job, that all of God’s judgments’ are righteous, and therefore if terrible things are occurring, it is likely because of sin. This book allows human beings the ability to see God in a new light, as well as see the spiritual realm where God and the Devil are talking.

[True Grit 1]

The book of Job is a interesting book. Suffering is what most people do right now still. Nobody wants to be suffering at all but that is how life wants us to be. I think the reason why God sometimes makes us suffer is that we maybe curse at him to much or doubt him to much. That he cant help us with anything or like when you do something wrong and you think God is not there to help you, and you decided to curse at him. From what I think is that God loves us with all his heart but maybe the only time when we are suffering is when God wants us to know what we did wrong. But to God he will never wanted to see anyone suffer. But Job did what he had to do because he is a strong believer in God. Even though he is in so much pain he doesnt say a word to God about him complaining why God put him through that. Sometimes God also test us human in many ways that we may see it. Sometimes it can be in pain like Job or something that we have to answer about him. But life is all about suffering.

[Truman Show 2]

I have always been interested with the book of Job. The book of Job can be related to everybody’s life because everyone at some point in time has struggled with something, and with many Christians the struggle tests their faith in God. The book of Job shows me that as a Christian I need to keep my faith even when everything seems to be going wrong for me because everything that happens is a part of God’s plan.

[Shawshank Redemption3]

I like the book of Job a lot. It is an inspiring book because even through the hardest times Job never doubts God! He should be an inspiration to all people. Doing great things because he wanted to, without rewards in his hands! The devil didn’t like that he was such a great man so he attacked Job like he does too many believers today. We just need to stand through the storm and our blessings will come!

[The Mission 5]

I think the story of Job is something that everyone can relate to. Sometimes it feels like really bad things happen to really good people. It doesn't always seem fair, and I can relate to Job asking why things are happening to him. I often wonder why there's so much suffering in the world.

[True Grit 3]

I think the book of Job is inspiring. All the things Job goes through, yet he does not turn away from God. His wits are tested again and again. Job does go through normal ups and downs that you would imagine any person would go through when dealing with struggles, which makes him more relatable. Overall theres a lot to learn from the book of Job.

[Praying with Lior 3]

I really like the way Breaker Morant 2 describes this. It is spot on. I think the book of Job is to show us that even though it may seem like God just keeps piling it on us and sparing others, we can see that if we stay faithful, it will always pay off. I think of this book in comparison to my situation as a single mom sometimes. I get so frustrated to always turn the other cheek to my ex husband and “do the right thing,” and sometimes think I am just going to be nasty. But then I wonder what God thinks and what kind of role model I am being to my son. God only gives us as much as He knows we can handle, not as much as we think we can handle. Sometimes it takes me a minute to sit back and see all that God has already provided and remember just how blessed I am.

[True Grit 12]

In a different class this semester, we read the book of Job and viewed the movie "A Serious Man," which is heavily paralleled with the book of Job. I find the story of Job to speak universally. It may not seem so on the surface, because not everyone has had their entire livelihood and loved ones taken away from them. However, there has most likely been a point in everyone's life when things are going horribly wrong and they either question the existence of God or challenge God and ask why these bad things are happening to them. The moral of this story, it seems, is that God will take care of us, no matter how difficult life gets. And to me, that is more comforting than thinking that righteousness begets a good life.

[Pulp Fiction 5]

I agree with the post and all those who say that a good Bible is not necessarily easy to understand. The more than we translate and add simplicity to the Bible, the further away from the true message we go. The original writings obviously had to be translated to English as Hebrew is not a common language, but translating the Bible doesn’t mean the meaning had to change. Too often we tend to go for the easier route in order to save time. This seems to be the case when people want the Bible to be made simpler so that anyone can understand it. This also begs the argument that the Bible means different things to different individuals based on their life experiences. Who is to say that a simple understanding of the Bible is the right one?
Session 27
I find the book of Job as one of the most inspiring in the Bible. Job was given a good life in the beginning but was put to the ultimate test by God. Although he struggled at first and had a hard time accepting what God had done to him, he eventually was able to forgive God and was rewarded with a better life than before. I think we can all learn from Job and try to incorporate his strength into our everyday lives. At times it will help to take a step back and realize that everything is a will of God and not blame him or anyone else for what is happening. A lot of times we hold ourselves back when something bad happens to us because we feel sorry for ourselves rather than trying to move on and make the best of it.

[prayingwithlior1]

After reflecting on the session I’m starting to realize why Job’s friends should have been praying for Job rather than assuming it was God’s way of handling it and that it was the best way. Lately if something happens I believe that it Gods test or has he has a way of making good out of it. Rather this session has not reversed my thoughts, but given more thought to praying for the helpless.

[Chariots of Fire 1]

I don’t believe Job failed the test. He never turned away from God; he just was angry and confused with God and wished God would let him die so he wouldn’t have to suffer anymore. It never says that Satan won the bet; in the end God is the winner, Job has made it through the suffering and God blesses him for staying faithful to Him. If Job had failed the test the end would have been different.

[Dead Man Walking 6]

The story of Jobs is one of examples about when things go wrong, people seems to blame in on God and starts losing their faith. The book is easy to relate to most of us because this is a very human reaction to devastating situation. I know that everyone in life goes through different struggles. Some people are able to relate to this scripture because it has happened to them. I have been through many tough struggles in my life. I have felt I was the only one that can fight against those. The important thing is not loosing our faith and hopes; plus remembering there are people out there always help us through difficult times.

[Breaker Morant 3]

Job is a wonderfully encouraging book, as well as a sad one. When I try to imagine myself in Job's place, I'm not sure what I would do. I think he in fact handled his trials better than most people would. My mom has always said that Job is her favorite book and that when she passes she wants the song "It is well with my soul" sang at her funeral. She says because Job went through so many extremely horrible situations, the least she and our family can do is praise God even when she passes. I feel a special connection when I read Job.

[Praying with Lior 2]

This is the one of the few times that I have ever heard about the Book of Job. The Book of Job sounds like a good story. It was described as “one against all,” a underdog story. Everyone loves the underdog. It is always a good, heartfelt story and that every can get behind. I look forward to reading more about the Book of Job.

[breaker morant4]

I like the book of job to because every one can relate to feeling like they are against the world and every thing is just happing to them it nice to see this in the bible because its a very common feeling.

[Truman Show 4]

To me Job is kind of a recess from the rest of the Old Testament. It's a story that surely includes excellent and heavenly passages, but it isn't like any of the other books of the Old Testament. It's a story where God and Satan have a conversation and make a sort of "bet". This only makes it stand out to me. It gives God a humanly characteristic that isn't present in many of the other books in the Bible. It's much more relatable to everyday life than the earlier books. It doesn't give a long genealogy about who begat who, and it contains much more dialogue too. These traits coupled with some of the greatest verses of the Bible (like "I know that my Redeemer lives" Job 19:25).