The book of Job is a part of the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, but it stands alone in its form and theme. The subject is as relevant today as it was in Job's time. If God is just and good, why does he let righteous people suffer?
Job was a faithful follower of God, yet he lost nearly everything — his possessions, his family, and his health.
While Job never learned the reasons for his suffering, at the end of his ordeal, he was given a new understanding of God. And as a result, he gained a new perspective on himself, his suffering, and God's power and sovereignty.
What does it say?
Job records one of the best known examples of undeserved suffering. All of a sudden, with no warning or discernible reason, Job suffered the loss of all his material wealth (which was very great), all his children, and his health. His wife gave him no support and suggested he simply curse God and die. A circle of Jobs (so-called) friends come to help, but their logic drives them to condemn Job rather than console. They find it rather obvious that Job's hidden sin has brought this suffering from God.
Job cannot agree with them, for what he knows of no sin from which to repent. Job asks God to answer his cries and to explain this awful life he has been cursed with. The book comes to a dramatic close when God does speak to Job. God offers no explanation to Job, no clever solution to the dilemma. He simply confronts Job with the fact that he is God. And Job willingly submits to the righteousness and the wisdom of God.
Faces & Places
This book is named for its central figure, Job. We know that Job was a man of outstanding righteousness as well as tremendous wealth.
The three friends with whom Job dialogues for most of the book are Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. We know little about these men other than what is revealed in this book. Eliphaz, from the town of Teman in the land of Edom, is apparently the oldest of the three friends and acts as their leader (42:7). Elihu is a fourth counselor and is younger than the other three.
The location of Job's home is stated in the opening verse as the land of Uz. Uz is a large territory east of the Jordan River which includes Edom in the south and the Aramean lands in the north.
Key Verses & Themes
Sovereignty:
Job 38:1-2 "Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said: '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."
Suffering:
Job 2:7-9 "So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him: 'Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!'"
Suffering as a Righteous Person:
Job 19:25-27 "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!"
So what?
Job is about the problem of human suffering. Listen to Henry H. Halley, author of the widely respected HALLEY'S BIBLE HANDBOOK, as he grapples with this troublesome issue:
"Very early in history men began to be troubled over the awful inequities and injustices of life: how a good God could make a world like this, where there is so much suffering, and so much of the suffering seems to fall on those who least deserve it.
"And I don't know that we understand the problem one bit better than they did in Job's day. We come into life, having nothing whatever to do with bringing ourselves here. As we grow up, we open our eyes, and look around, and we are just a great big question mark: What's it all about? And the older we grow, and the more we see of the world's inequities and injustices, the bigger grows the question mark, How could a good God make a world like this.
"But even though we may not understand the problem any better than they did in Job's day, we have more reason to be reconciled to it. For, in the meantime, God himself came down here, and, in the person of Jesus, became a partaker with us of our suffering. The story of Jesus, the world's most righteous man, and the world's greatest sufferer is an illustration of God suffering with his creation. And we ought not to have any difficulty in believing it is all for some good purpose, even though we cannot now understand. And, one day, when all is come to fruition, we shall never cease our hallelujahs of praise to God for having given us such an existence." (Henry H. Halley, HALLEY'S BIBLE HANDBOOK, 24th edition [Zondervan, 1965], p. 242).
