Suffering and Justice in the Bible—Job

  • Kinda like a frame tale→discussion b/w God and Satan→Job’s suffering→discussion

    • outside frame is sorta not completely related to inside tale→poetic discussion seems to be a more recent insertion, since main theme from ending seems to be ab Job’s patience, not his questions

  • Mainly philosophical nature→purpose of suffering, justice, kinda life after death

  • Job at beginning of book:

    • very pious

    • large family

    • very wealthy

    • God says he is blameless, weird cause no perfect ppl in the Hebrew Bible

    • lives in Uz→not part of same place we associate w/ Hebrew people

      • not an Israelite, lives East but worships God→maybe supposed to be a Mesopotamian?

  • Satan=! Devil, rn he’s still working w/ God

    • he’s called The Accuser, kinda like the DA, brings charges of sinners to God, who is the judge

  • God brings Job up to Satan, calls him blameless→Satan asks a probing question about how Job is blessed so ofc he’s pious→he has not suffered, no reason to doubt in God

    • God says Satan can take from Job as long as he is physically unharmed

  • Satan kills his livestock, servants, +kids

    • did kids’ lives not matter? Not resurrected, he just has new ones

    • always lots of collateral damage w/ this guy

  • Job remains patient despite his wife baiting him+telling him to curse God and die

  • 2nd round of suffering→ God lifts restrictions→Satan gives Job boils+makes him think he’s going to die

  • Job moves out to garbage dump where lepers would have lived b/c he thinks he’s unfit to be among humans

    • pretty calm in outside frame, even if slightly impatient in dialogue

    • Job says God gave him all this, He has the right to take

  • typically, in the Hebrew Bible, bad things happen b/c someone did something bad or someone connected to them did something bad→Job’s friends follow this viewpoint but Job doesn’t

  • 3 Friends: 3 Cycles of Speeches

    • Eliphaz- believes Job is innocent

      • no one is purely innocent

      • believes Job isn’t truly bad, so his troubles will likely end soon→not as consistent w/ Hebrew Bible but assumes rationality in God

      • says humans don’t know everything so rely on “traditional wisdom” and societal structure

      • God believes humans are tainted, so try to make good decisions

      • Says maybe he didn’t do something wrong but forgot to do something right so keep God in mind→pretty traditional an approach to suffering in Hebrew Bible

    • Bildad- willing to give benefit of the doubt

      • If Job is upright, all will be ok, God won’t punish him forever

      • maybe Job’s children sinned→has happened in Hebrew Bible

      • God won’t reject someone blameless

      • starts talking ab fate of wicked and what happens to evil ppl while alive (not a focus in Hebrew Bible ab what happens when dead)

      • says bad ppl forgotten when dead→drives a lot of ancient mediterranean cultures

    • Zophar- harshest friend

      • believes Job sinned in secret, that he did something wrong and he knows it so he should acknowledge it and repent

      • The wicked die and are forgotten

      • evil ppl suffer

      • like “don’t have sex. if you have sex you will get pregnant and you will die.”

  • Job’s speeches

    • curses his birth, wishes he had never been born

    • actively wishes for death but doesn’t kill himself b/c it would be a sin

    • worried that his pain will cause him to be blasphemous so he wants to die b/4 that

    • asks God to tell him what he did wrong

    • idea of justice more than the cause and effect of evil and suffering

    • if God knows you did something wrong but you don’t, what can you do?

    • God’s so great, if God says you did something wrong, you can’t change his mind

    • does tell God to leave him alone→ closest he gets to cursing God

    • connection b/w sinners and community→says God made him into a laughingstock, took his honor

    • takes it as a given that God knows everything but wants everyone to be able to argue their case against God

    • also says God destroys all hope?→once again close to cursing God

    • says God’s attacking him and he will die w/o justice

    • says he will be deemed innocent after he dies→ wishes for it to happen sooner

    • Wicked ppl live w/o punishment

    • says true justice would be aimed at only sinners, not their families→ against Hebrew Bible’s typical beliefs

  • Elihu

    • wisdom comes from God, only God decides justice

    • Job believes justice is ab individual, Elihu says it’s about all of humanity and community