Job - Suffering of the righteous (1)

Job is a great man who ever lived in the Patriarchal Period. Though the book of Job is placed somewhere in the middle of the Old Testament, for the matter of fact, Job possibly lived during the times of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The name Job derives from a Hebrew word “Iyyob Shemo” which literally mean, “where is the divine father”. When we take a close look at the Old Testament, we can see that it attributes certain synonyms to the great leaders and heroes of the Old Testament. However, it is interesting to note that Job has been attributed the most synonyms comparing to any other great heroes of the OT. He is attributed with 6 synonyms (blameless, upright, one who feared God, one who shunned evil, greatest in the East and none like him on earth – Job 1: 1, 3, 8). Apart from that, we can also see Job as a “perfectly” blessed man. In verse 2 of chapter 1, we see that Job had 7 sons and 3 daughters. In the Hebrew tradition, the number 3, 7, and 10 marks the number of perfection. Thus, we can interpret that the number of children that Job had, marks the perfection of blessing that he possessed. In knowing so much of this man, he would have lived a perfect life, pleasing in the sight of God and man.

However, though being a great man who pleases the Lord, Job was not free from suffering. Have we ever thought why did Job suffer? Was it his sin? Or his unfaithfulness? Or was it because of others? This are the common factors that most of the time contributes to human suffering on this earth. Nevertheless, Job’s suffering was unlike others. The cause of Job’s suffering was God himself. However, this fact may sound contradicting with the understanding of temptation and suffering in the theology of the New Testament. Whatever it is, the fact remains that God was the one who initiated the challenge with Satan to test Job. The rest of the story is history and we know how Job remained in his integrity and did not sin against God. We also know the latter blessing that Job inherited from God.

The question here is not why Job should suffer for his innocence, but instead how did Job responded to his suffering. I think that is the main message of the Book. It is easy for us as readers to appreciate Job for his integrity and preach on his suffering. However, it would have not been easy for Job to comprehend his suffering. The intense suffering that Job went through (lost of all his possession including his children that marks the perfect blessing that he had), totally lost his health. The boils that came upon Job are attributed to the covenantal curse that would come upon those who disobey the laws of the Lord (Deuteronomy 28: 15, 35). Job would have probably felt like being under God’s curse for some unknown reason. He may also have thought that there isn’t any form of remedy from this curse. Job did not have the knowledge of the ‘divine chess game’ between God and Satan as we do today, as readers of the narrative. In spite of all the uncertainty and a feeling of being forsaken, Job remained in his integrity not to charge God responsible for his suffering. Job is a living testimony for us to imitate in times of suffering. The true faith of a believers is seen by his/her response to hardship and suffering and not when he/she in their comfort zone.

We will see further reflection in the coming entry.