BIBLIOTHECA SACRA 154
(October-December 1997): 436-51
Copyright ©
1997 by
REFLECTIONS ON SUFFERING
FROM THE BOOK OF JOB
Larry
J. Waters
Written
by an unknown author, possibly the most an-
cient literary account in the
Bible,l the Book of Job is a mixture of
divine and human wisdom that addresses a major life
issue:
Why
do righteous people suffer undeservedly?2
The Book of Job is
also a prime example of Hebrew wisdom literature3
that labors
with the concept of theodicy,4 which is a
defense of the integrity of
the justice and righteousness of God in light of
the evil, injustice,
and undeserved suffering in the world. Some writers
have sug-
Larry
J. Waters is Professor of Bible, International School
of Theology-Asia,
1 Ample evidence supports the claim that
the setting of Job is patriarchal. See
Roy
B. Zuck, "Job," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old
Testament, ed. John
F.
Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck
(Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1985),717, for nine reasons the
Book of Job points to a patriarchal period. Archer and others see
the Book of Job as
the oldest book in the Bible (Gleason L. Archer, The Book of Job: God's Answer to
the Problem of Undeserved Suffering [
views are given in Edouard Dhorme, A Commentary
on the Book of Job (
Nelson,
1984); F. Delitzsch, The Book of Job, trans. F. Bolton, 2 vols. (
Eerdmans, 1949); M. Jastrow,
The Book of Job (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1920); and
Robert
Gordis, The Book of God and
Man (
1965).
2 "Undeserved suffering"
does not imply that God unjustly placed mankind un-
der the curse as a result
of the Fall. Rather it refers to suffering that is not directly
traceable to an act of personal sin or
disobedience. This phrase does not imply that
Job
was sinless, nor that he was without sin during the
cycles of debate. Suffering
is undeserved in the sense of being or appearing
to be unfair or unjust.
3 David J. A. Clines, Job
1-20, Word Biblical Commentary (
1989), xxxviii. He points to three
major issues in sutTering: (1) How
do we answer
the why's, how's, and what's of suffering? (2) Is
there really such a thing as inno-
cent suffering? (3) What kind of answers can be
given when suffering?
4 This is not to imply
that "theodicy" is the one main theme of the book, nor that
one main theme can be agreed on. While one may see
one primary emphasis in the J
Book
of Job, it encompasses several related themes. See the review on theodicy in
Konrad Muller, "Die Auslegung
des Theodizeeproblems im Buche Hiob," Theolo-
gische Blatter 32 (1992): 73-79.
Reflections on Suffering
from the Book of Job 437
gested that theodicy is the
theme of the Book of Job.5 If this is so,
then the emphasis of the book is not totally on the
man Job and his
suffering, though he and his suffering are
certainly central, but
also on God Himself and His relationship to His
supreme cre-
ation.
Job therefore is a book dealing with human
suffering,6 even
though the suffering of the innocent7 does
not encompass the au-
thor's entire purpose. It is
also more than an ancient play written
to portray the absurdities of life, the weaknesses
of man, and the
prominence of the sovereignty of God.8
The Book of Job shows that
the sufferer can question and doubt,9
face the hard questions of
life with faith, maintain an unbroken relationship
with a loving
God,
and still come to a satisfactory resolution for personal and
collective injustice and undeserved suffering. These observa-
tions need to be addressed
not only within the context of the suffer-
ing by the righteous man
Job, but also because many believers to-
day suffer and can identify with Job.10
As Andersen points out,
"the problem of suffering, human misery, or the larger sum of
evil in all its forms is a problem only for the
person who believes
in one God who is all-powerful and
all-loving."11 Suffering,
5 For example Clines, Job
1-20, xxxiii.
6
"What
one learns from suffering is the central theme" (Bruce Wilkinson and
Kenneth
Boa, Talk Thru the Old Testament [
7 Matitiahu
Tsevat, "The Meaning of the Book of Job,"
nual 37 (1966): 195. Though
the word "innocent" disturbs some, it is used here in
the sense of innocence of any wrongdoing as the
base for the suffering Job endured,
not innocence in the sense of having no sin or
culpability as a fallen creation. See
Clines, Job 1-20, xxxviii, for a more detailed
discussion.
8
tation?" Evangelical Quarterly 63 (1991): 151. It
would seem that the author of Job
had several purposes under the general theme of
wisdom's teaching about God and
human suffering. While God and His freedom are the
major focus of the book, the
problem of suffering is the medium through which
the book's purpose is pre-
sented. Stressing one subject
over the other would be unproductive.
9 Zuck,
"Job," 715. "The Book of Job also teaches that to ask why, as
Job did (
12,
16,20), is not wrong. But to demand that God answer
why, as Job also did (
19:7;
31:15) is wrong" (ibid.).
10 Wesley C. Baker, More Than a Man Can Take: A Study of Job
(
11 Francis
tament Commentaries (Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1976),64-65. This is not to
say that a nonbeliever does not struggle with the
same questions. But if an unbe-
liever's questions do not lead
to a relationship with God, then they are normally
used as excuses for not believing in God and as
reasons to dismiss divine claims
without struggling with the biblical issues. The
believer, however, struggles with
the seeming inconsistencies and incongruities,
attempting to harmonize these dif-
ficulties with faith in what is
known of God in His Word.
438
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
1997
then, is the prominent issue that forces a
consideration of the
deeper questions posed by this concept, especially as
it affects the
lives of those who have a loving, intimate
relationship with the
true and living God. All the questions that relate
to God, man,
and Satan-justice and injustice, sovereignty and
freedom, in-
nocence and guilt, good and
evil, blessing and cursing-are in-
terwoven within the context of
undeserved suffering. The Book of
Job
and its presentation of undeserved suffering, therefore,
serves as a dependable, useful model12 for
the believer of any
generation in dealing with the problem of theodicy.
Is
God to be held to a strict set of regulations based on human
interpretations of His relationship
with mankind? How does the
Book
of Job handle this question and its connection with unde-
served suffering, while still demanding faith in an
omnipotent,
sovereign, and loving God? This study suggests
several answers
from the Book of Job in an attempt to (a) reveal the
false theologi-
cal method of Satan in regard to human suffering,
and his role as
the cause or "prime mover" of suffering,
(b) show how the three
counselors, while presenting some truth, follow a
retribution13 or
recompense14 theology as a method of
explaining suffering that is
related to Satan's original attack on Job, (c)
briefly present
Elihu's answer to Job's suffering, (d) suggest
God's estimation of
Job's
complaint and suffering, that is, a correction of the three
counselors and Job himself, and (e) summarize the
various
lessons Job learned from his suffering.
12 "By all means let
Job the patient be your model so long as that is possible for
you; but when equanimity fails, let the grief and
anger of Job the impatient direct
itself and yourself toward God, for only in encounter
with him will the tension of :
suffering be resolved" (Clines, Job 1-20, xxxix).
13
"Retribution
theology" is a term often used to explain the "cursing and
blessing"
clauses of the Mosaic Covenant. Here it is used
mainly to describe a misuse of that
theology that attempts to set boundaries on God's
sovereign will and obligate Him
to man's actions and assumptions concerning blessing
and cursing. The term is
also used to represent a theology that assumes God's
blessing is based on how good
a person is or acts and that His cursing is based
on how bad a person is or acts.
While
extended in grace. Conversely the righteous often
suffered along with the unrigh-
teous under the discipline
due them, the nation, and its leaders. In Job, Satan and
the three counselors tried to limit God and His
freedom to act according to their
own standards. They saw this concept as a fixed
formula for judging the life of an
individual and therefore for limiting God to
predetermined actions in dealings
with people. The biblical idea of blessing and
cursing is based on a relationship
with God and is primarily internal in nature. The
satanic counterfeit of blessing
and cursing is based on a relationship with health,
other people, and material
goods, and is primarily external in nature.
14 The term
"recompense theology" suggests the concept of "payment."
Job's ac-
cusers said God is somehow
under obligation to mankind and is confirmed to giving
exact payment to individuals.
Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job 439
Job
is truly a wisdom book. The basic concept of wisdom has
always been connected with skill and
"know-how,"15 for
"wisdom was the art of achieving," and the
"emphasis was on
competence."16 Wisdom (hmAk;HA/MkaHA) challenges readers to dis-
cover the "know-how" presented in the book
so that they might
achieve competence in dealing with the questions
of suffering.
From
the Book of Job readers can learn how to challenge the false
concepts related to suffering and how to maintain
a loving and
meaningful relationship, in the midst of suffering,
with the
sovereign God. Only God "understands the way
to [wisdom] and
he alone knows where it dwells" (Job 28:23,
NIV).
SATANIC MOTIVATION AND
METHOD
AS A CAUSE OF SUFFERING
As
Alden points out, blaming the devil for suffering is an all-too-
common activity of many Christians.17 The message of Job
deals
not with "cause and effect"18
but with coming to the realization
that "nothing happens to us that is not
ultimately controlled by the
knowledge, love, wisdom, and power of our God of
all comfort"19
(2
Cor. 1:3). Certainly he is correct; however, this
principle also
often leads to blaming God for suffering. While Satan
is the
prime mover behind sin, evil, and suffering, it is
also correct to
point out that one cannot ignore the connection
between Satan's
desires and God's permitting him to carry out
those desires. This
friction is clearly demonstrated in the terrible
troubles inflicted
on Job. Satan was the cause, and Job felt the
effect. God, however,
was also at work in Job's suffering. But this does
not mean God is
unconcerned about what happens to His people.
"We must admit
that God plays in a higher league than we do. His
ways are far
above our ways. God is greater in intellect, power,
and knowledge
than we are. So, His ways are usually past our
finding out"20 (Job
28:23;
Isa. 55:9). God does inflict suffering directly and indi-
rectly for many different
reasons: judgment, discipline, refin-
ing, and more, but Satan is
behind much of human misery.
15 L. D. Johnson, Out of
the Whirlwind: The Major Message of the Book of Job
(Nashville:
Broadman, 1971),8.
16 Ibid.
17
Robert
L. Alden, Job, New American Commentary (
Holman, 1993), 41.
18 Andersen, Job: An
Introduction and Commentary, 68.
19 Alden, Job, 41.
20 Steven J. Lawson, When
All Hell Breaks Loose (
1994), 14.
440
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA /
October-December 1997
The
book opens when the Accuser ,21 after
traveling through-
out the earth, went before the throne of God. Satan
challenged Job
in three areas: Job's righteousness, Job's fear of
God, and Job's
separation from sin (Job 1:8-11). Why does Job live
righteously,
fear God, and separate himself from sin? Satan
alleged that Job
fears God only because God protects and prospers him.22
The
prosperity issue and its resultant
retribution/recompense theol-
ogy become a major focus in
understanding suffering throughout
the
book (1:9-10; 2:4; 5:19-26; 8:6-7; 11:17-19; 13:15-16; 17:5;
20:21-22;
of this false theology is therefore found in
Satan's statements be-
fore the throne of God (chaps. 1-2), Job's lament
(chap. 3), and the
three dialogue cycles involving Eliphaz
and Job, Bildad and Job,
and Zophar and Job
(chaps. 4-31). The monologues of Elihu
(chaps. 32-37)23 and the speeches of God (chaps. 38-42)
present a
correction to this theology."
Ancient Israelites24 and others of
the ancient Near East25
21 "The Accuser"
(NFAW.Aha) occurs fourteen times
in eleven verses (Job 1:6-9, 12; 2:1-4,
6-7), always with the definite article.
22 Johnson, Out
of the Whirlwind, 25.
23 A presentation of the
differing views on the authenticity, placement, structure,
and purpose of the Elihu
speeches can be found in David Allen Diewert,
"The
Composition of the Elihu
Speeches: A Poetic and Structural Analysis" (Ph.D. diss.,
the Elihu Speeches (Job,
Chaps. 32-37)," American Journal of
Semitic Languages
and Literature 27 (1910-1911): 97-186; Matthias H. Stuhlmann, Hiob. Ein religioses
Gedicht aus dem
Hebraischen neu ubersetzt, gepruft und erlautert (
Friedrich
Perthes, 1804), 14-24,40-44;
and Gary W. Martin, "Elihu and the Third
Cycle
in the Book of Job" (Ph.D. diss., Princeton
University, 1972),51.
24 "The classical
Judaic tradition toward suffering is expressed in the Talmudic-
Midrashic
writings.
God is seen as the One who punishes the wicked, as well as
the One who brings good and rewards the righteous.
Job is considered by some ex-
egetes to be a Jew while
others believe that he never existed as a person but was
merely an example. Other talmudic writers thought God rebuked Job for his lack
of
patience when suffering was inflicted on Job;
still others excused his outbursts because
they were uttered under duress" (Buddy R.
Pipes, "Christian Response to Human Suffering:
A Lay Theological Response to the Book of
Job" [D.Min. project,
25 There is evidence of this concept in
ancient Near Eastern literature and in the
Old
Testament (see Bildad's appeal to
"tradition" in Job
allels in the Book of Proverbs
and the Psalms). That this was a general viewpoint of
ancient peoples can been seen in the parallels
between ancient wisdom texts and
the Book of Job (Gregory W. Parsons, "A
Biblical Theology of Job 38:1-42:6" [Ph.D.
diss.,
Near
Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (
versity Press,
1950),418-19,589-91,597; and W. G. Lambert, "The Babylonian Theod-
)icy," in The Babylonian Wisdom Literature
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1967),71-89, espe-
cially page 75, lines 70-71.
"The Mesopotamian texts dealing with the problem of the
righteous sufferer give one a glimpse of the
intellectual tradition within which the
book of Job fits. It is a long tradition that
includes an early Sumerian composition
and an Old Babylonian Akkadian text. Its most elaborate literary expressions, how-
Reflections
on Suffering from the Book of Job 441
viewed suffering under the rubric of
retribution/recompense the-
ology .26 This
theology is challenged by Job's own personal strug-
gle with this faulty
theology.
If Job accepted Satan's false theology, as
presented in the dia-
logues, and
"repented" under false pretenses, then Satan would
have proved his case in the court of heaven. When Satan
asked,
"Does
Job fear God for nothing?" he implied Job served God for
"something," that is, some reward. If Job confessed some
nonex-
,
istent sin so he could return to his former
prosperous and healthy
lstatus, then Satan's premise
in 1:9-10 and 2:4 would be substan-
tiated. Also God Himself would
be deemed guilty of blessing Job's
deception and falsehood and therefore would be at
fault.
Satan's accusation was directed toward both
God's justice and
Job's righteousness. Satan basically asked
the question, Is it love
or is it self-serving greed that motivates a
person to be righteous,
to fear God, and to be separate from sin? Satan
wrongly assumed
that since God protected and blessed Job, greed was
the foundation
of his righteousness rather than Job's personal
intimate relation-
ship based on love, trust, and fear of God (1:8-10;
2:3). Tradi-
tional wisdom27 reasoned that since God
is in control of the world
and because He is just, the only way wise people
can maintain
faith in Him is to see all blessing as evidence of
goodness and
righteousness and all suffering as
evidence of unrighteousness
and sin.28 Johnson correctly calls this
viewpoint "pragmatic re-
ligion" and an
"insidious heresy."29 Belief in God and subse-
quent service to Him would
then be reduced to a prosper-
ity/pragmatic religious formula or
system of works.
After the first two chapters, Satan is
noticeably absent from
the story. His presence was no longer a factor, but
his assump-
tions, accusations, and
theology are still evident throughout the
dialogue. In the fabric of retribution/recompense
theology, ex-
pressed by the three friends who interacted with
Job, Satan's pur-
pose was to see God's highest creation curse Him.
Satan's objec-
tive was to turn a righteous
man against the just God (
ever, are found in the long poem 'I Will Praise the
Lord of Wisdom' (Ludlul bel
ne-
meqi) and 'The Babylonian
Theodicy,' a text constructed in the form of a cycle of di-
alogues between the righteous
sufferer and a friend" (James Luther Mays, ed.,
Harper's
Bible Commentary [
26 Clines, Job 1-20, xxxix-xxxx.
Also see Nahum Glatzer, The Dimensions of Job
(
dlc-Midrashic tradition in relation
to Job.
27 "Traditional
wisdom" refers here to what is contrary to God's wisdom (Matt.
15:3,
6; Mark 7:3, 5, 13;
28 Johnson, Out of the Whirlwind, 17-18.
29 Ibid.,
18.
442
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA /
October-December 1997
It
is interesting that God's charge against Satan, "You incited
me against him to ruin him without any
reason" (2:3b, NIV), is a
horrifying, yet enlightening look into the
character of Satan.
Humanity
means no more to the Accuser than a vehicle for curs-
ing God.
THE THREE FRIENDS' FALSE
THEOLOGY
OF RETRIBUTION/RECOMPENSE
Job's
three counselors perpetuated the same satanic false doctrine
of retribution/recompense. They held that the
righteous never suf-
fer and the unrighteous
always do. Each friend had his own ap-
proach to Job's problem, yet
they shared this theology of retribu-
tion/recompense. Therefore their proposed solution was the
same:
Repent
of your sins so God can restore your prosperity." Or, more
directly, "If you want your health, family,
and prosperity back,
accept our evaluation, admit to sin and
wrongdoing."
The avowed objective of the three friends was
"to sympathize
with him and comfort him" (
achieved (except for the first seven days when
their silent pres-
ence may have been of some
comfort to Job). A short summary of
the speeches of these men reveals this fact.
After Job lamented his birth (chap. 3), Eliphaz began the three
cycles of debate (chaps. 4-31). His speeches are
recorded in chap-
ters 4-5, 15, and 22. Eliphaz's questions immediately revealed
his theology, "Who ever perished being
innocent? Or where were
the upright destroyed?" (4:7). However,
experience and history,
Job
said, show that many innocent persons have suffered
(24:1-
12).
Job himself, he said, is an example. Yet based on a wrong
premise Eliphaz sought
to convict Job of his "foolish" response to
misfortune and to urge him to lay his sin before
God (5:8;
35;
22:5-12). His basic message was that Job must be sinning be-
cause he was suffering (
out the benefit of knowing the unseen events of
chapter 1, Eliphaz
saw God as both the initiator and reliever of
suffering (Job
Therefore
Eliphaz wanted Job to see that God's oppression
resulted
from the patriarch's many presumed sins (
Once
Job admitted his sin, God would heal Job and his prosperity
would return (
When Job said to his friends, "If I have
sinned, show me"
(
and in his first speech he appealed to traditional
wisdom ("in-
Iquire of past generations, and consider the things
searched out by
their fathers," 8:8). Bildad
correctly asserted that God is not un-
just or unfair (8:2-3). But Bildad
was wrong in saying that Job.
Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job 443
was totally at fault and needed to repent before he
could be restored
(8:4- 7). God would be unfair to allow undeserved
suffering to
come to a righteous man. Job's insistence on
innocence was an
affront to the justice and rightness of God
(8:3, 20). Bildad
frankly told Job he was evil and that he must
repent so that God
could bring back his laughter, joy, and peace (
reminder of Job's losses). According to Bildad, Job was suffering
because of sin; and according to the principle
of retribu-
tion/recompense, Job deserved to be
punished. Because Job re-
fused to accept this principle, Bildad
said the patriarch did not
know God and had been rejected by Him (8:4; 18:5-21).
Therefore
how could Job claim to be righteous when the
evidence against
him was so strong (25:4-6)?
Zophar continued the attack on
Job's righteousness and in-
tegrity (11:2-4), fear of God
(vv. 5-6), and morality (vv. 6, 14).
Claiming
to have a superior understanding of God and His
dom, Zophar
said Job was too superficial to understand the deeper
things of God (vv. 7-12). This third agitator stated
that God had
even overlooked some of Job's sins (v. 6). While Job
admitted that
God
was the source of his suffering (
had committed no sin commensurate with his
suffering (chap.
31).30
While it is true that God's wisdom, as Zophar said, is unfath-
omable (11:7-9), this was not
the issue in Job's situation. Satan's
original faulty premise was repeated by Zophar: If Job were good,
he would prosper; but since he suffers, he must be
evil and will die
(vv. 13-20). Zophar accused Job of
wickedness (20:6), pride (v. 6),
perishing like dung (v. 7), and oppressing the
poor (v. 19). Like
the other two antagonists, Zophar
spoke of the wicked person's loss
of prosperity (vv. 15, 18, 20-22). He hoped this
would establish the
premise of traditional wisdom and eventually
lead Job to repent.
Job's
irritation at the arguments of these three advisers (and
at God) can be seen in these paraphrased
responses: "When will
your arguments end?" (
this?" (
"No matter what I do, nothing changes"
(chap. 9).
"Why won't
You
answer me, God?" (10:1-7). "I can't take any more of this!"
(
get some answers?" (28:12). "Everything
used to be so perfect"
(chap. 29). "What good is it to serve
God?" (chap. 30).31
30 For an excellent
discussion of Job 31, see Pipes, "Christian Response to Human
Suffering,"
1-18.
31
Mark
R.
Depression (Wheaton, IL: Shaw,
1987), 53-61.
444
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
1997
Soon after his first calamities, Job worshiped
God, saying
"The
Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the
name of the Lord (
(v. 22). But later, under the pressure of his
opponents' accusations
and under the weight of his seemingly endless
physical and
emotional plight, Job said, "For He bruises
me with a tempest, and
multiplies my wounds without cause" (
accused God of being unfair and unjust (vv. 17-20),
since he ob-
served that God punishes good people and rewards bad
people (vv.
21-24).
God does not fit the preconceived claims of traditional
wisdom, so as Job became despondent over the brevity
of life (vv.
25-26),
he sensed that Go~ would never forgive .h~m (vv.
27-31),
and he pleaded for a medlator33 (vv. 32-33). GIvmg up on that
possibility, Job asked God to diminish his suffering
so that he
could meet God in court and plead his own case (vv.
34-35). Even
though Job saw great inconsistencies in the
application of the re-
tribution/recompense doctrine by the three
antagonists (24:1-
12),34 he concluded that God did not really care for
him and that he
was caught in some sort of divine entrapment in
which God's lov-
ingkindness was absent (10:1-13, 16-17).
He lamented his birth
(vv. 18-19) and his coming death (vv. 20-22). Captured by
false
counsel and confused by God's ways, Job was now
ready for a true
counselor.
THE INTERVENTION OF
ELIHU
Elihu began his discourses with a lengthy
introduction and ex-
pression of anger toward both
Job and the three older companions
(32:1-10).35
He felt that both parties had been guilty of perverting
32 Also see
27:2;
30:20; and 31:35.
33 Could this be the role
of Elihu in either acting as a mediator or suggesting
one?
See
H. D. Beeby, "Elihu-Job's
Mediator?" Southeast Asian Journal
of Theology 7
(October
1969): 33-54. Other suggestions include Elihu as a
"forerunner" to God in
chapters 38-42 (Robert Gordis,
"Elihu the Intruder," in Biblical and Other
Stud-
res, ed. Alexander Altmann [
78,
and Elihu as arbiter (Norman C. Habel,
"The Role of Elihu in the Design of the ;
Book
of Job," in In the Shelter of Elyon, ed. W. Boyd Barrick and
John R. Spencer !
[
34
The
fact that God postpones judgment disproves the theory of the three friends
concerning immediate retribution for wrongdoing.
"Job is no more out of God's fa-
Ivor as one of the victims than the criminal in vv.
13-17 is in God's favor because of
God's
inaction" (The NIV Study Bible, ed. Kenneth Barker [
van, 1985], 759).
35 Like the reader, Elihu was dismayed, worn down, and tired of the dialogues
which had solved nothing. Many have criticized Elihu's lengthy introduction, but
both protocol (his youth against the age of the
others), local custom, and his exas-
peration were justly expressed.
Reflections
on Suffering from the Book of Job 445
divine justice and of misrepresenting God (32:2-3,
11-22). Elihu
attempted to correct the friends' and Job's faulty
image of God.
Elihu affirmed that God was not silent during Job's
suffering
(33:14-30).
He argued that God is not unjust (34:10-12, 21-28).
Furthermore
God is neither uncaring (35:15), nor is He powerless
to act on behalf of His people (chaps. 36-37). Elihu presented a to-
tally different perspective on suffering from that of
the three. He
said Job's suffering was not because of past sin,
but was designed
to keep him from continuing to accept a sinful
premise for suffer-
ing, to draw him closer to
God, to teach him that God is
sovereignly in control of the
affairs of life, and to show him that
God
does reward the righteous, but only on the basis of His love
and grace.36 It was as if Elihu were saying, "You insist on justice
and righteousness, but do you really want to be
treated justly?
Have
you really considered what would happen if God took you at
your word?"37
One cannot have a relationship with God as long
as one thinks
that there is something in
oneself which makes one deserve God's
friendship-or for that matter, a
genuine relationship with an-
other human being on such
terms. ...God never withdraws from
the just, no matter what,
no matter how deep the frustration, the
bitterness, the darkness, the
confusion, the pain.38
Elihu identified himself with
Job. He was a fellow sufferer,
not an observer (33:6).39 He helped Job
realize that a relationship
with God is not founded on nor maintained by his
insistence on
loyalty, purity, or righteousness, but is wholly
of God's grace.
Elihu did not see the primary basis of Job's
suffering as sin,
though he did not minimize Job's move toward sin in
the dialogue
(e.g.,
34:36-37; 35:16). Among other things suffering, Elihu
said,
was a preventive measure to keep Job from
perpetuating a sinful,
false theology. God's sovereign control and freedom
of action
over the affairs of Job's life were not restricted
by a theological
system of retribution/recompense, but were acts of
grace and
36 Lawson, When All Hell Breaks Loose, 220.
37 Walter L. Michel,
"Job's Real Friend: Elihu," Criterion 21 (Spring 1982): 31.
38 Ibid.
39 "Elihu appeared on the scene. . . . He confesses that he,
too, is involved. He ad-
mits that Job's problem is
humanity's problem and he realizes that Job's question is
basically the same as his own. In contrast to Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who re-
jected Job, Elihu identifies with him and speaks to him out of inner
solidarity"
(Henri
J. M. Nouwen, "Living the Questions: The
Spirituality of the Religion
Teacher ," Union Seminary Quarterly Review 32 [Fall 1976]: 21). Also see
Marvin
Tate,
"The Speeches of Elihu," Review & Expositor 68 (Fall 1971):
490; and Gordis,
"Elihu the Intruder," 62-63.
446
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA /
October-December 1997
mercy. God therefore rewards the righteous in grace,
not because
"of some human action seeking a deserved response.40
Job was
never the same after his contact with Elihu.
The three counselors intensified their pressure
on Job to ac-
cept the traditional doctrine
of retribution/recompense, thus in-
flicting greater mental suffering
on Job.41 Acting unknowingly
as agents of Satan's philosophy, the three friends
increased the
suffering of an already hurting man. However, even
though Job
found inconsistencies with the application of the
doctrine, he
shared the view of the friends that the world is based
on a reward-
and punishment scheme.42 This position
only added to his frus-
tration.
This quid pro quo premise was contested by Elihu and shown
to be without substance. He prepared Job for God's
response to the
debates and Job's ultimate submission to His
sovereignty. Elihu
brought "perspective, clarity, empathy,
compassion, and concrete
help,"43 thereby preparing Job for
God's words.
GOD'S SPEECHES TO JOB
Speaking
out of a windstorm, God began by charging Job with
darkening His counsel by "words without
knowledge" (38:2; as
Elihu had said twice [34:35; 35:16]). God did not
address Job's suf-
fering directly during this
discourse, nor did He answer Job's
attacks on His justice. After attempting to find
answers to unan-
swerable problems, Job and. his
friends were now forced to return
to God. God spoke of His sovereignty and omnipotence
as
demonstrated in the creation of the
earth, the sea, the sun, the un-
derworld, light and darkness,
the weather, and the heavenly bod-
ies (38:4-38). Animate
creation testifies of God's sovereign power
and providential compassion: the lion (vv. 39-40),
the raven (v.
41),
the mountain goat and the deer (39:1-4), the donkey (39:5-8),
the ox (39:9-12), the ostrich (39:13-18), the horse
(39:19-25), the
hawk (39:26), and the eagle or vulture (39:27-30).
Then He said to
Job,
"Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him
who reproves God answer it" (40:2). Of course
Job could not re-
spond to God's remarks
(40:3-5).
The storm motif continued in the second speech
(40:6). Job
40:8-14
presents the power of God versus the power of man. God
40 Lawson, When All Hell Breaks
Loose, 220.
41 Johnson, Out of the Whlrlwlnd, 30-60.
42 Tsevat, "The Meaning
of the- Book of Job," 97.
43 Michel, "Job's
Real Friend: Elihu," 32.
Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job 447
affirmed His justice without defending or
explaining it. God
said, in essence, that He is and always will be just
and fair to His
creatures. God alone-not Job, nor the three
friends, and cer-
tainly not Satan-administers
and regulates justice. "The ode to
the behemoth" follows, in which God's own
wisdom poetry stresses
His power in opposition to that of man or Satan
(40: 15-24).
The
second poem (chap. 41), "the ode to the
leviathan," represents the
same essential principles. What the behemoth and the
leviathan
represent is contested in scholarly circles, but
the message is
clear: Since man has no power over these creatures,
he can find
strength and power only in God. God is sovereign,
omnipotent,
just, loving, and perfectly righteous.44
God did not tell Job to repent so that his pain
would be ex-
plained, or that he would be
vindicated, or that his prosperity
would be restored. Instead, God brought Job to a
face-to-face meet-
ing with Himself. What did
Job learn from this encounter?
Perhaps the first thing he discovered concerned the
mistaken rea-
son for Job's quest. The
consuming passion for vindication sud-
denly presented itself as
ludicrous once the courageous rebel
stood in God's presence. By
maintaining complete silence on this
singular issue which had brought
Job to a confrontation with his
maker, God taught his servant
the error in assuming that the
universe operated according to a
principle of rationality. Once
that putative principle of
order collapsed before divine freedom,
the need for personal
vindication vanished as well, since God's
anger and favor show no
positive correspondence with human acts
of villainy or virtue.
Job's personal experience had taught him
that last bit of
information, but he had also clung tenaciously to
an assumption of order.
Faced with a stark reminder of divine
freedom, Job finally gave up
this comforting claim, which had
hardly brought solace in his
case.45
Then Job
repented of his misconception of God, not of any al-
leged sin on which his three
friends had focused.46 Still, God
44 Zuck
comments, "The behemoth and leviathan have many similarities, so if one
is an actual animal, then the other probably is
also. As discussed earlier, in the an-
cient Near East both animals
were symbols of chaotic evil. . . . Man cannot subdue
single-handedly a hippopotamus or a
crocodile, his fellow creatures (40:15). Nor
can man conquer evil in the world, which they
symbolize. Only God can do that.
Therefore
Job's defiant impugning of God's ways in the moral universe-as if God
were incompetent or even evil-was totally absurd and
uncalled for" (Zuck, "Job,"
772-73).
Also see Roy B. Zuck, Job, Everyman's Bible Commentary (
Moody, 1978), 180.
45 James L. Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom:
An Introduction (
1982), 124-25.
46 "His emotional world suddenly assumes a
different form.
The clouds of dark-
ness are dispersed. A feeling of infinite confidence
in the world and its Divine
Leader
arises in his soul and he laughs at the thousand questions, the hungry
448
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA /
October-December 1997
commended Job, because even in the face of doubt
and pressure
from false theology, he maintained a personal
relationship with
Him
and brought his doubts directly to Him. Therefore Satan's
hypothesis (1:9-11; 2:3-4) was proven false. Job
finally rejected
human approaches, the approaches of tradition, logic,
and all
wisdom that was foreign to what he learned about God
and him-
self. All attempts to explain God and His actions,
either logically,
historically, or, traditionally,
failed. Job was left with God and
God alone. Job’s prosperity was returned only after
everyone In-
volved understood that all
blessing comes by God's grace alone,
not .because of an individual's piety nor because
of accepting a
retribution/recompense theology.
CONCLUSION
While
God is just, it is wrong to assume that the fallen world, un-
der the rulership
of Satan, is fair. The failure of traditional
dom to answer Job's complaint
reveals that the world operates by
the plan of a fallen being, and only by a personal relationship
with God can fallen humanity find meaning and
purpose within
the injustices of the world. Satan, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and to
some extent Job wrongly assumed that punishment of
the wicked
and reward of the righteous in this life is a fixed
doctrine. But this
limits God's freedom. For example in
retribution/recompense
theology, rain was often seen as a reward, or if
rain were with-
held that was viewed as punishment. Here, however,
"the phe-
nomenon is shown not to be a
vehicle of morality at all-the
moral purpose ascribed to it just does not exist
(38:25-27),"47 Rain
falls by the grace of God on both the righteous and
wicked (Matt.
Is it not conceivable that God wanted to show
that neither
man's piety nor his sin affects how God administers
His plan?
Did
He not then, and does He not now, administer that plan by
grace? As Tsevat wrote,
"Job behaved piously throughout, but his
behavior had, in the narrated time of
compatible with the accepted idea of reward and
punishment."48
His
hope had been in the positive results of a false doctrine, while
his friends had extolled the negative aspects of
that same doc-
trine. First Elihu (chaps. 32-37)
and then God (chaps. 38-41)
wolves with burning eyes, and they disappear from his
soul" (Chaim Zhitlowsky
"Job
and Faust," in Two Studies in Yiddish Culture, ed. Percy Matenko [
Brill, 1968], 152).
47 Tsevat,
"The Meaning of the Book of Job," 100,
48 Ibid.,
104.
Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job 449
stated that these misplaced hopes of
retribution/recompense have
no place in the divine economy. In fact in his
final replies (40:3-
5;
42:2-3, 5-6) "Job acknowledges this fact and is now prepared
for a pious and moral life uncluttered by false
hopes and un-
founded claims."49
This is not to say that the Book of Job teaches
that a person has
no obligation to moral and righteous living nor to
a commitment
to truth and justice in the face of sin and evil.
What it does say, at
least in large part, is that the believer has an
obligation to exam-
ine his motivation in
coming to and serving God, especially dur-
ing times of trial and
suffering. Furthermore the Book of Job does
not support the mistaken idea that all suffering is
for discipline
or that suffering always results from sin and
evil. God does dis-
cipline, teach, guide, and
direct through suffering, but He cannot
be manipulated by a manmade system of blessing and
cursing-
a system negatively called the theology of
retribution/recompense
or positively labeled the theology of prosperity.
God is not obli-
gated to man under any conditions. Once this is
understood, be-
lievers are free to examine
their suffering on the basis of God's
grace. All saints share in the "fellowship of
his sufferings"
(Phil.
3:10). "That the Lord Himself has embraced and absorbed
the undeserved consequences of all evil is the
final answer to Job
and to all the Jobs of humanity. As an innocent
sufferer, Job is the
companion of God."50
The question, "Why do the righteous suffer?"
cannot be clari-
fied by only one answer. The
many reasons given in Scripture
for personal suffering51 must all be
examined in light of God's
49 Ibid.
50 Andersen, Job: An Introduction and Commentary, 73.
51 The most common
examples are these: (1) Suffering is used to test and teach
(Wilkinson
and Boa, Talk Thru the Old Testament,
1:145). The focus is on what Job
learned from suffering, not suffering itself.
Suffering therefore teaches believers
to look to future glory, to be obedient, to learn
patience, to be sympathetic to others
who suffer, to live a life of faith, to understand
God's gracious purposes, to abide in
Christ,
to pray, to be sensitive to sin, to love God, to draw closer to the Scriptures,
to learn contentment, and more (George Washington Oestreich, "The Suffering of
Believers under Grace" [Th.M.
thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1944], 42). (2)
Some
hold that no answer is given to the problem of undeserved suffering. God is
so great that if an answer were given, one could
not understand it (David M.
Howard,
How Come, God? Reflections from Job about
God and Puzzled Man
[
God
to "demonstrate the meaning of full surrender" and to demonstrate the
New
Testament principle of Romans
given for the purpose of preventing one from becoming
arrogant (2 Cor. 12:7-10). (5)
Suffering
demonstrates that God is absolutely sovereign and can do with His crea-
tures whatever He pleases
(Parsons, "A Biblical Theology of Job 38:1-42:6," 151),
with focus on the "sovereign grace of God and
man's response of faith and submis-
450
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA /
October-December 1997
grace. Job was righteous because he had a grace relationship
with I
the Righteous One, not because he had earned it.
Job responded
IwIth humIlIty and godly
fear of God's sovereignty (42:1-2), he ,
acknowledged God's inscrutability
(v. 3), reflected on His supe-
riority (v. 4), refocused on
God's intimacy (v. 5), and repented of
serving God from wrong motivation (v. 6).52 So
why did God put
Job through all of his suffering? Primarily it was
to reveal Himself to Job.
. . . Through this interrogation, God has
taught Job that He alone
created everything-the heavens and
the earth, and all that is
in them-and He alone controls all that
He created. He alone has the right to do with
His own as He
pleases. He is under no
obligation to explain His actions to His
creation. He alone is sovereign
and unaccountable to anyone.53
However, the purpose of the Book of Job should
not be limited to
an expression of God's sovereignty. Can a
community of suffer-
ing saints find other
answers and applications here? Yes, be-
cause Job's struggle and ultimate triumph gives those
who suffer
much more to apply. The following sixteen truths may
be gained
from the Book of Job.
1. God is not to be limited to a preconceived
notion of retri-
bution/recompense theology.
2. Sin is not always the basis for suffering.
3. Accepting false tenets about suffering can
cause one to
blame and challenge God.
4. A retributive/recompensive
theology distorts God's
ways and confines Him to human standards of
interpretation.
sive trust" (ibid.).
Far Away). (6) Another approach
simply suggests, "What cannot be comprehended
through reason must be embraced in love"
(Alden, Job, 41). (7) "Knowing
the answer
\to
the question who, Job no longer needs to ask the question why" (David L.
McKenna,
Job, Communicator's Commentary [
not receive explanations regarding his problems;
but he did come to a much deeper
sense of the majesty and loving care of God" (Zuck, "Job," 776). (8) Suffering is often ,
given for disciplinary purposes (William Bode, The Book of Job and the Solution of
the Problem of Suffering It Offers [
Suffering
is a tempering process (Oestreich, "The
Suffering of Believers under
Grace," 57). (10) Some see undeserved
suffering as providing the opportunity for .
the exercise of faith (ibid., 50). First Peter
mans 8:35-39. (11) Suffering is a testimony to
others of the believer's love and faith-
fulness to God (ibid., 54).
(12) There is also a sense in which believers suffer by be-
Iing a part of God's family (ibid.,
66-71). (13) Believers often suffer because of the
invisible war that is waged beyond human vision
(Job 1-2). (14) God is glorified and
honored by the testimony of the believer in the
invisible court proceedings in
heaven (Job 1-2). (15) Suffering makes believers
acutely aware of the power of evil,
strips them of all their worldly securities, allows
them to see Christ in His glory,
and enables them to bear the fruit of the Spirit (
Away, 116).
52 Lawson, When All Hell
Breaks Loose, 245-48.
53 Ibid.,
240.
Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job 451
5. Satan is behind this false concept and
delights in using
it to afflict the righteous.
6. The devil's world is unfair and unjust, and
even though
people may misunderstand the ways of God and the
"why's" of
life, having a personal relationship with God is the
only way one
can know justice.
7. Life is more than a series of absurdities and
unexplain-
able pains that simply must be endured. Instead life
for believers
is linked with God's unseen purpose.
8. People do not always know all the facts, nor
is such
know ledge necessary for living a life of faith.
9. God's wisdom is above human wisdom.
10. God's blessings are based solely on grace,
not on a tra-
ditional, legalistic formula.
11. Suffering can be faced with faith and trust
m a loving,
gracious God even when there is no immediately
satisfying logi-
calor rational reason to do
so.
12. God does allow suffering, pain, and even
death, if they
best serve His purposes.
13. Prosperity theology has no place in God's
grace plan.
14. Suffering can have a preventive purpose.
15. The greatest of saints struggle with the
problem of unde-
served suffering and will continue to do so.
16. Because God's people are intimately related
to Him, suf-
fering is often specifically
designed to glorify God in the unseen
war with Satan.
Satan, who attacked Job in Job 1-2, was silenced
in chapter 42
because Job's response (42:1-6) proved that
God's confidence in
him was not unfounded (1:8; 2:3). Though God needs
no vindica-
tion, the Book of Job shows
that undeserved suffering, accepted
and borne by a child of God, does in a sense
vindicate God's grace
plan for His saints. "True wisdom, like God,
defies human rea-
son."54 Therefore
true wisdom defies the wrong concepts of tradi-
tional wisdom, and, when
properly applied by God's people during
undeserved suffering, it becomes a living
demonstration of God's
grace and a believer's faith. "I have heard of
Thee by the hearing
of the ear; but now my eye sees Thee" (42:5).
54 Crenshaw, Old
Testament Wisdom: An Introduction, 123.
This
material is cited with gracious permission from:
www.dts.edu
Please report any errors to Ted
Hildebrandt at: thildebrandt@gordon.edu