Job

Certain parties have requested I do a blog entry on Job, since I rant about it constantly to my friends and loved ones, extolling its virtues to any who will listen and some who will not. I think the polite thing to do is not reveal who this anonymous petitioner was. It was Caroline.

An even surer sign that I should do this just occcurred, as I flipped open my Bible and it turned immediately to Job. Whee!

So, let’s begin our discussion with a quick overview of why Job matters in the grander sense, how it still applies today, and then I’ll hop you through some of the book’s highlights. This is a long, complex, philosophical piece of literature, and the extended discourse in the center is often a bit overwhelming, so let’s stick to the general ideas the story conveys, and try to avoid getting distracted by the intimidating stuff.

First off, I think it’s clear that the story in Job did not actually happen. The style of its writing, the inexplicable omniscience of its narrator, and the soap-opera events that transpire all say to me that this is a parable, much the same as the kind that Jesus would later grow so fond of. Job is a hypothetical, a summation of the world’s suffering into a single man and an examination of what pain and misery means. It’s also one of the most important books in the Bible, second (in my opinion) only to the Gospels and Genesis/Exodus.

Many people know the overall story here: a God-fearing man loses everything as the Devil torments him, trying to prove to Yahweh that mankind’s decency is provisional at best. In the end, Job holds out, never cursing God despite his misery, and so the Lord restores everything to him twice over, in compensation for his great struggles. The story is so simple, and its resolution so tidy and neat, that it’s almost comical, but that’s part of the point. We’re not dealing with literal events here, where messy gray areas dilute meaning. This is an allegory, an epic poem, and some absurdity is helpful for making its point.

What is its point? That God is a cruel jerk who lets Satan run amuck on His most devoted follower? That every misery will be repaid with joy someday? Many people seem to take these two impressions from the story, but they are far from the real meat of the story. Let’s roll up our sleeves and start reading, and perhaps we will begin to suss out what the anonymous author intended for us with this magnificent parable.

1:1-4–”Blameless.” Notice here that Job is called “blameless.” He isn’t sinless, but he is without blame. That’s an important theological idea, even before Christ appeared on the scene: it is possible to be in right standing with God. We can’t do this because we’re good enough, but because the Lord shoulders extra burden.

1:6–”The Adversary.” This is dramatic, because it’s Satan’s first genuine appearance in the Old Testament; everything before this (and a lot of the stuff after, to be honest) is hazy and half-formed. Here we get several clear things about our enemy: firstly, he has some kind of association with angels, but he is technically separate from them. He can enter their assembly, but the text distinguishes him from their order. This supports later revelations about the Devil being a fallen angel. We can also tell that he has a skeptical view of humanity and God’s relationship with us. Thirdly, and perhaps most mysteriously, we will come to understand that humanity has absolutely zero conception of his existence. This is consistent with the times, when the idea of a Devil was only just starting to come together. This should not surprise you; you may notice that the idea of an afterlife is strangely absent from the early Old Testament as well. Much of what we take for granted was still gestating during this period.

The real question we will have to consider as the story unwravels is this: why, if Satan is doing these awful things, does God take credit for them? Why does He never “correct” Job’s assumption that these troubles come from Him? The text itself does not correct this assumption either. What does this mean?

1:11–”Your Hand.” You see what I mean? “Stretch out your hand?” Satan refers to actions he will commit as being done by God. In God’s reply, He will answer by saying “You may do this” or “You may do that,” and again there is no correction made, by the text or any of the characters. God doing something and the Devil doing something are synonymous. How should we, as modern Christians, interpret this? Are God and the Devil on the same team?

1:13-20–”Divine Comedy.” Let’s face it, this passage is funny. Here sits poor old Job, and round after round of messenger appears, relaying increasingly awful news. That is the basic formula of “escalation comedy:” keep making it worse and worse. The fact that these acts all happen simultaneously, and that the messengers all arrive one after another, is just…it’s comedic, it is.

2:4-6–”Skin for Skin” Again, let me emphasize: there is no distinction between God’s actions and the Devil’s. Why?

2:10–”Lament.” Job’s line, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Great line, and something few of us could boast to practice in our actual lives.

2:13–”Silence.” My mother has a saying: “Advice is overrated.” She meant by it that when people are in trouble, they often need your support and comfort, not your solutions to their problems. Job’s friends, at first, perform this task wonderfully by sitting in silence with him.

4-5–”Eliphaz.” He just couldn’t resist it. When Job finally speaks, he laments intensely, wishing he had never been born. His friend Eliphaz, who up until this moment had been faithful, opens his big mouth and comes out with it: this is somehow your fault. Notice the way he insists that the good prosper and the evil perish. Is that true?

6-7–”Job’s Outcry.” The professor who taught me the value of this book always said that Job’s anger at God was righteous because it was honest. Unlike his friends, who have axioms and wisdom sayings only, Job has a relationship with God, and communicates his frustration through it. Being mad at one another is a basic part of any real relationship where humans get involved, so Job’s fury at God is not sinful, but indeed quite the opposite: a sign of his believe and loyalty.

8–”Bildad.” Again, look at what is being claimed: the good guys win, the bad guys go home disappointed. Is this the truth? Do you ever hear people in the church community talking this way about non-believers? I’ll bet you do.

Okay, so this dialogue continues for awhile. Job grows increasingly positive that he has done nothing wrong to deserve this punishment, and his friends repeatedly insist that he must have, because God doesn’t just do this crap for kicks. He must have deserved it.

But here is what’s radical about the book of Job: we know for a fact that Job did not. In a manner of speaking, his trials and tribulations were just for kicks; God just felt like showing everyone what would happen. I know that’s uncomfortable to accept, I know some of you will resist that, but the book spells it out too deliberately for you to be able to avoid it. That’s why our omniscient narrator took us up into Heaven at the beginning: so we could know why this was happening, and that it had nothing to do with deserving it. Job is not being punished, bad things are simply happening.

So! The conversation continues for awhile, and as the disagreement boils to a head, we arrive at Chapter 38, one of my absolute favorite passages in the Bible.

38–”Entrance.” On the wings of a gigantic thunderstorm, God unexpectedly bellows His way into the narrative, appearing from nowhere and scaring the Hell out of the characters and the reader. His first words are a thundering return-fire, probably the greatest single instance of a character being put in their place in history: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.”

I think it’s essential to understand that God is not whispering these words, He isn’t speaking with His indoor voice, He is shouting. This is a heated argument between two best friends, and there are absolutely no punches pulled. Half-way in, Job throws in the towel (wouldn’t we all?), begging for God to recognize that he is unworthy, and he gets the point. God is not satisfied, He keeps going.

It’s important to remember that as God thunders angrily at Job, every word He’s speaking is really directed at you. I don’t care who you are, you have at some point deserved to have these words spoken to you, so here they are. The book of Job is the all-purpose reply to the insolence of human nature. Every word of His reply is a master stroke of literature, but let me point out some of my favorites:

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions, surely you know!”–Notice that God uses sarcasm. Again, get your head out of reading this stuff like some kind of antiquated poem: this is a shouting match.

“Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty! Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low, Crush the wicked where they stand, Bury them all in the dust together, shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you!”–Again, look at the biting satire, the furious sarcasm. You should use passages like this to remind yourself of the immediacy of God’s voice. Stop thinking that He talks in “Thou Shalt Not…”s only. In general, though, I just love the idea that God is getting at here: you think you’re so freaking great, humanity? Prove it. Let me see you do what I can do. I dare you.

“Would you condemn me to justify yourself?”–God here asks a potent question: would you rather adjust the truth so you can take credit for it, or adjust yourself to know the truth? Too often, humanity is desperate to look like we run things, and we don’t. God is here suggesting that Job cares more about being right than knowing the truth.

“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!”–God sarcastically reminds Job that the longest human life possible is a blip on creation’s radar.

I could go on and on, but the point here is simple: God is God, God will do what He will do. Whether God is “unfair” or not is ridiculous, God invented the concepts of “fair” and “unfair,” and He is no more bound to answer to them than an architect is conscripted to remain in a house he constructs. You should not walk away from the book of Job trying to justify God’s behavior to people, telling them how “It was all so God could give Job even more stuff at the end.” You’re talking nonsense. If God wanted Job to have more stuff, He would’ve just given it to him. God does not have to go through some ridiculous procedure just to have His way.

The truth is, God did what He did, and that’s that. There is no “explanation” for why it’s okay for God to let the Devil screw up an innocent man’s life, because the Sovereign King of Everything does not have to answer to you. If you don’t like it…that really is too bad. Is God just? I believe so. Is there a reason He let these things happen to Job in this hypothetical story? I believe so. But notice that the author never gives you this explanation. Why not?

Because the point of this story was not “let’s find out why God did these things that appeared to be awful.” The point is: God will do as He sees fit, get used to it. Maybe His actions will be explained to you, maybe they won’t, but He does not need to submit Himself for your little inspection, to see if you approve of what He’s up to. The book of Job intends to condition its reader with an attitude of proper reverence for their Maker. If God says it, it goes. That’s it.

But why is it wrong to want explanations? Why shouldn’t we desire to know God’s mind, to understand His motivations? I believe the answer is simple: priorities. Your first loyalty must be to God, and you must not associate Him inexorably with any value or ethic. You can only have one master, folks, and it’s either God or something else. If your conception of God is permanently tied to Him wanting world peace, or civil rights, or whatever, then you are loyal to Him only conditionally.

In our day to day lives, we are conditionally loyal to almost anyone. My wife is loyal to me, but if I started physically abusing her, she would be gone, and that would be the right thing. I love my country, but if the government began compromising our freedoms, I would rise up against it. We associate conditional loyalty with common sense and independent thought, so people are naturally suspicious when it is claimed that you should serve anything unwaveringly.

But God is God. He doesn’t get corrupt, or lose sight of His ideals, and the rules are not the same for serving Him. Obedience to the Lord must be unconditional. Obviously, this is a sensitive subject in modern-day America, since “unwavering loyalty to God” (or more accurately that was the justification) navigated a couple of commercial airplanes into the Twin Towers. I sympathize with the worry that a human being ready to do anything is inherently dangerous.

But God is God. I don’t make the rules here, guys. God exists, and because He exists you either serve Him or you are the biggest idiot ever. This is why the Devil endeavors so rigorously to make people atheists: the only way any sensible human being would ignore God is if they didn’t think He existed. Anything else is lunacy, direct defiance of a Sovereign Deity is borderline funny.

Now the good news is that God IS merciful, does love us, and is almost always in the mood for world peace. Yay! But remember that your loyalty to Him goes top-down, not the other way around: Him first, THEN the ideals you associate with Him.

So.

With that accepted, we now see the final piece of Job’s puzzle fall into place: why are God and the Devil united in action? It’s easy to think this might be because they’re on the same side, but I think something more deft is at play here. Evil does not come from God directly, but I do believe He fully accepts responsibility for it. Technically, Satan was the one who took everything from Job, but God is (as we’ve established many times) a Sovereign Entity, and nothing can possibly occur without Him allowing it. It’s not like bad things happen because Satan tricks God, is it? Therefore God, in His wisdom, does not mind taking responsibility for things His hand did not directly do. I think that is a wonderful gesture on His part.

Whew. Hope you enjoyed our little discussion of Job. Incredible, incredible book.