Job’s story starts with a devil of an angel in heaven who seems part lawyer and part thug.
He prosecutes Job in Creation’s Supreme Court, with God as Chief Justice, and then he gets God’s permission to beat Job into the dirt by wiping out his family, wealth, and health.
It’s an odd story that, to some readers, seems to portray God as a good Bad Guy in heaven who has enough faith in Job to allow the devilish angel to decimate Job’s life. This angel, which most scholars say probably wasn't Satan, seemed to be attending a large meeting in heaven.
The writer says this angel, known as the Accuser, had returned from a mission on earth after investigating the behavior of humans. When he got a his one-on-one time with God, apparently to report on his trip, the Lord bragged about Job.
A talk with God
GOD: “Did you come across Job? He’s not just faithful to me, he’s one of a kind. No one on earth is better at telling evil to get lost.”
ACCUSER: “Does he follow you because it’s good for business? Doesn’t he live under the protection of your blessing? You give him a boost in everything he does. And he got rich because of it. Take it away from him and watch him look you in the eye and teach you how to cuss” (Job 1:8-11).
The accuser presumed Job behaved himself because God rewarded him for it—in essence, God bribed him.
God puts Job to the test
God seemed to take that accusation personally. So, to prove Job was a good man by nature and not because of benefits, blessings, and bribes, he let the Accuser send Job:
- A windstorm that blew down a house and crushed to death all 10 of Job’s children,
- Raiders to steal Job’s livestock and kill Job’s slaves,
- An oozing skin disease that left Job constantly itching and in throbbing pain.
Job tells God how high to jump
Job has a reputation for patience. He didn’t earn it. And doesn’t deserve it.
He told God off. Many times over. If Job had a dog and if God came to visit, readers get the feeling that Job would have told the dog to bite the Almighty God.
“Here’s what I’m saying to God:
Stop it. Stop condemning me.
Instead, start explaining yourself.
What’s your problem with me?
Do you enjoy hurting people?
Is it fun to make something and then break it?
Does it make you smile
To watch evil people hurting others?” (Job 10:2-3).“Guilty or innocent,
It doesn't matter.
God kills them both.
Do you know what he does?
I'll tell you what he does.
He watches the innocent die in a disaster
And he has a good laugh about it” (Job 9:22-23).“Give me one doggone moment of peace,
Long enough to swallow my spit.
Tell me this, you People Watcher.
What’s my sin? How’d I hurt you?
Why did you turn me into a bullseye?
What did I ever do to you?
And if I sinned, why didn’t you forgive me?
I’ll be dead in the dirt soon.” (Job 7:19-21).
Job is saying this to three visitors who probably don’t deserve to be called his friends. Instead, they’re his critics. They harass him with threatening speeches promising that if he doesn’t admit his sin and repent God will punish him even more.
God puts Job in his place
But Job welcomes a confrontation with God—a chance to accuse God and reclaim his good reputation.
But when God comes to him on the wind and reminds him who is Creator and who is created, Job silently listens and then apologizes for criticizing God and ripping him a new face.
God does not return the favor, as the story goes. He does not apologize for what he did to Job. He doesn’t even bring up the subject of Job’s suffering. Instead, he gives Job 10 replacement children, as though that’s enough to satisfy Job’s quest for the “why.” God also gives Job double the livestock.
Fact or fiction?
Many people of faith, in churches and in synagogues, say Job was a real person and his story is true.
Others say they doubt it for several reasons:
- It reads like a long parable, with a single point and a shocking end.
- People and places in the story are all unknown.
- There’s a very similar Iraqi story from more than 4,000 years ago called “A Man and His God.”
- Who could take such detailed notes from four angry men making speeches to each other?
- The end of the story feels more pretend that real: Job gets rich again with double the herds and flocks and 10 new children. No word about his wife who had told him to cuss God and die (Job 2:9).
- God gives the okay for the Accuser to decimate a good man. And God never apologizes.
Fact or fiction, there are no heroes in this story. Not even God. He okays Job’s miseries, and then far from apologizing or even explaining why he did it, God belittles Job for questioning him. That’s neither warm nor fuzzy.
Yet many Christians say God is in the right, even with Job. He’s the Creator and he doesn’t need to explain himself.
Writer
Unknown. And that’s too bad because this is some of the finest writing in all of the Bible.
Timeline
Unknown. A few scattered clues put Job in the days of Abraham or earlier. That’s roughly 4,000 years ago. And that’s a millennium before Moses came along and organized the Hebrews— ancestors of today’s Jewish people—into a nation of 12 tribes living under the laws of Moses and the Ten Commandments.
Location
Job lived in the land of Uz. But no one seems to know where Uz was. For all we know, Uz could have been the hometown of Buz, who’s big brother was Uz. Job’s visitor, Elihu, came from the land of Buz. Like Uz, no one seems to know where Buz was.
Purpose
The writer took 42 masterfully written chapters to drive home one point above all: bad things happen to good people through no fault of their own.
So don’t blame their problems on God and say he’s punishing them for sins, because you don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s the message.
Most Hebrew people seemed to believe that God blessed good people with good things, and he punished bad people with bad things. So, when multiple tragedies clobbered Job, most people seemed to presume he had done something terribly wrong and that God was hammering him with punishment.
The story didn’t seem to get its message across, however. For even in New Testament times, disciples of Jesus seemed to still believe what Job’s critics argued for. When they saw a man born blind, they asked Jesus, “Why was this man born blind? Is it because he did something wrong? Or did his parents sin?” (John 9:2).
Jesus said, “This man isn’t blind because he or his parents sinned. He was born blind so people could see. Because of him, people are about to discover what God can do.”
Then Jesus healed the man.
As Jesus taught it, sometimes bad things happen to make good things happen. So, roll with the punches even when you’d like to see your dog bite Almighty God.
