The Reading
Job 1:1-22
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This
man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven
sons and three daughters and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand
camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large
number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would
invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of
feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be
purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of
them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their
hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
One day the angels came to present themselves before the
LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you
come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going
back and forth on it.”Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my
servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a
man who fears God and shuns evil.” “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan
replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything
he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds
are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike
everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to
Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man
himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the
LORD.
One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and
drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said,
“The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans
attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am
the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another
messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up
the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and
said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels
and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only
one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, yet another
messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking
wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from
the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and
they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
At this, Job got up
and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship
and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.The LORD
gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” In all
this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing
The message
Today, we begin our 6 week series on the book of Job. Each week, I am going to start with a simple
truth, which is that everything we know about God does not come from the book
of Job. The history of God’s
communication with the world is ultimately a story of love, care, forgiveness
and grace, one fully told through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
When we hear God’s actions in Job that are uncomfortable or appear to be
extremely unfair or cruel, we have to look again, understand the context and
history of the story or even put those things aside and remember our God is the
one who loves us, forgives us, invites us to live better lives and promises us
eternal life.
Many people are familiar with this book or are at least
aware of the basic idea. There is a
meeting of angels and other beings in heaven. The Satan is there. Coming from the Hebrew word ha’satan, meaning
adversary or obstacle, the Satan is a part of God’s court with a very specific,
nasty job. Satan’s role was to question, challenge, persecute and provide an
alternative view. God boasts to Satan
about how faithful and good Job is. At that point Satan does his job and tells
God, “well Job is so good because he has everything and you do not allow him to
suffer or struggle. If Job suffered enough, he would abandon you and not be
faithful”. Now we have the first
extremely uncomfortable moment in Job, which sets the theme for the entire
book. God believes Job would remain
faithful and decides to put Satan’s theory to the test, telling Satan “Very
well, then, everything Job has is in your power, but on the man himself do not
lay a finger.” After a few chapters,
this restriction on harming Job is also lifted and God’s protection of Job
during this trial is reduced to just do not kill him. The book of Job is not really an attempt to
answer the question of why good people suffer in a world created and controlled
by a loving God. The book of Job does
not teach us that good people suffer because God is testing us like unnamed
mice in a research lab. Obviously that question of undeserved suffering must come up as a person goes through this
book but the question the book of Job asks is the same one that Satan asks:
“will people remain faithful without receiving blessings”. When all is said and done, Job remains
faithful. While he curses virtually
everything and protests loudly along with expressing extreme anger with God,
there seems to be a certain line which would indicate losing faith which Job
gets very close to but never crosses.
I wanted to share some introductory information about the
origins and history of the book of Job, well what little people know about that
stuff. The author or authors of the book are unknown.
The dates of its writing or assembly are also unknown. Most
people believe it dates somewhere between the 7th to 4th
centuries bc. That was a time when the
people of Israel were struggling to remain faithful in a time of suffering,
restoration and suffering. The prophets who once told the people they would be
set free from slavery in Egypt, that they would win battles they should lose
and enter the promised land started to condemn the inequality and lack of faith
in Israel. The hope and joy of the promises
in the covenant with God shifted to exposing how badly the people did at
keeping their part of the covenant. The prophets started to warn of great
defeat, destruction, lost wars and a time of exile. As these things happen, the
people struggle and fail to remain faithful.
The main structure of the book consist of an opening and
closing story (chapters 1 and 42) about
undeserved suffering and eventual restoration and of two series of
conversations. First, there are the discussions between Job and his friends. In
their shock and sadness, they try to comfort him but cannot give him
satisfactory answers. They go through all of the conventional philosophical and
religious wisdom of the time that explains suffering. They suggest Job sinned in some unknown way,
they suggest it’s a test, they suggest his suffering will have a greater
purpose and they suggest it could be worse. None of this brings Job any help or
comfort. Second are the conversations
between Job and God, as Job protests, confronts and tries to understand, why is
all this happening to me. These dialogues
with God are complicated and interpreted in different ways. The main two are these dialogues as a
statement that humans have no right to question God or a confrontation of
humans limited ability to understand all things. Either way, the book of Job reminds us that we
are not God and confronts our understanding of the world as a fair place where
suffering is proportional to good and bad acts.
While Job is unique, there are other similar books in ancient
near east literature and the Old testament, which also explore the problem of
suffering and faithfulness. There are books
like the Bablyoian theodicy which revolve around dialogues on suffering. Here the
big difference is that God never speaks or even appears in that book. Other Israelite wisdom books including some
of the psalms, Ecclesiastes and Sirach address this issue of suffering but not
with the same depth, protest or passion. In the Old Testament Poetic and Wisdom books
(of which Job is a part) there were two main schools of though. First, there were books like proverbs which
understood the world as somewhat neat and orderly, sharing wisdom that assumes
a fair, controlled world. They share keys to a good life like “whoever diligently seeks good, seeks favor
but evil comes to one who searches for it”.
On the other side were books like Ecclesiastes, with the familiar
opening verses “Vanity of vanities says the teacher, vanities of vanities, all
is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the
sun” Here the world vanity is the Hebrew
world “hebel” meaning “breath” or “vapor”, things that cannot be grasped, understood, contained or controlled.
Job shows us an extreme version of just how not in control
of the world we are. Job is a book of
extremes. As we are introduced to Job,
we meet a good man who has a great amount of wealth. (that’s a impressive count
of sheep, camels, oxen and donkeys). We
are told he obtained all of these things fairly and cared deeply for this
family and community. There are no
blemishes on his life and he is a devoted follower and servant of God. He is so faithful, he would start everyday
with a burnt offering for each of his children to atone for the odd chance that
one of his children had sinned and cursed God in their hearts. He is extremely good. Job’s suffering is extremely bad. All he has, his family, servants, animals,
most of his friends and his health are all taken from him at once due to no
fault of his own. Job is on the very
margins of society. He is the one percent, the greatest man in the East, the perfect model of faithfulness and
obedience and the one who endures the most suffering. Perhaps that is the most important truth that
the book of Job teaches, that God is present in all places with all people.
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