We now come to another unique book of the Old Testament: the Book of Job. We shall be using the LXX or Greek version, which is one-sixth shorter than the Hebrew version, and includes the important statement in chapter 42 “it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.”
Job is an easy book to draw lessons and lines from, but it is harder to read, let alone understand it as a whole. It commences like this, with the language updated just a little:
There was a certain man in the land of Ausis, whose name was Job; and that man was true, blameless, righteous, godly, abstaining from everything evil. He had seven sons and three daughters … and a very great household, and he had a great husbandry on the earth; and was most noble of the men of the east. (1:1-3)
It goes on to speak of how pious he was. Then the scene shifts to the court of heaven.
And it came to pass … that … the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came with them. And the Lord said to the devil, “From where have you come?” And the devil answered the Lord, “I am come from compassing the earth, and walking up and down in the world.”
And the Lord asked him, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a man blameless, true, godly, abstaining from everything evil?
Then the devil answered, “Does Job worship the Lord for nothing? Have you not made a hedge about him, and his household, and all his possessions round about? and have you not blessed the works of his hands, and multiplied his cattle upon the land? But put forth your hand, and touch all that he has: verily he will bless you to your face.”
Then the Lord said to the devil, “Behold, I give into your hand all that he has, but touch not himself.” So the devil went out from the presence of the Lord. (to 1:12)
So the devil goes out and destroys Job’s property and animals, and slays all of Job’s children and their families. Job’s reply is famous, he says:
I myself came forth naked from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: as it seemed good to the Lord, so has it come to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord. (1:21)
It is said: “In all these events that befell him Job sinned not at all before the Lord, and did not impute folly to God.” (1:22)
If all we had was chapter 1, we would have one third of the story of the Book of Job: that God allows the devil to bring suffering on Job, but Job refuses to blame God. It would be a tale of heroic faith, hope and how love for God is the highest duty we owe. This alone would explain why in the Maronite Church we have readings from the Book of Job in the Week of Suffering, or as it is known in the Latin Church, “Holy Week,” the week before Easter. But there are two other significant matters: the arguments put by his friends about the justice of God and suffering, and the reply of God when he speaks to Job. Let us, then, continue the story:
And it came to pass on a certain day, that the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came among them to stand before the Lord. And the Lord, said to the devil, Whence comest thou? Then the devil said before the Lord, I am come from going through the world, and walking about the whole earth. And the Lord said to the devil, Hast thou then observed my servant Job, that there is none of upon the earth like him, a harmless, true, blameless, godly man, abstaining from all evil? and he yet cleaves to innocence, whereas thou has told to destroy his substance without cause?
And the devil answered and said to the Lord, Skin for skin, all that a man has will he give as a ransom for his life. Nay, but put forth thine hand, and touch his bones and his flesh: verily he will bless thee to face. And the Lord said to the devil, Behold, I deliver him up to thee; only save his life.
So the devil went out from the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from feet to head. And he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge, and sat upon a dung-heap outside the city. And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, How long wilt thou hold out, saying, Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance? for, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows; and thou thyself sittest down to spend the nights in the open air among the corruption of worms, and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours and my pangs which now beset me: but say some word against the Lord, and die.
But he looked on her, and said to her, Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things of the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things? In all these things that happened to him, Job sinned not at all with his lips before God.
Now his three friends having heard of all the evil that was come upon him, came to him each from his own country: Eliphaz the king of the Thaemans, Baldad sovereign of the Saucheans, Sophar king of the Minaeans: and they came to him with one accord, to comfort and to visit him.
Apart from her very first comment, everything said by Job’s wife belongs to the Septuagint version: this is another place where it adds material. The effect of it is to present, in poignant and touching terms, the argument that because they have suffered so much, there is nothing left for them but to curse the Lord and die. The fundamental assumption here is that all their woes have come from the hand of God. Job of course rebukes her, saying that they must accept the bad along with the good.
But we know that behind all this is not the active hand of God but rather His giving permission to the devil to take action against Job, testing him. In other words, God sets a sort of protective band around people, but can raise it when He sees a reason, and then the devil can act. I am not certain that this is still the case since the coming of Christ. But we do not need to come to a decision about that in order to pursue our understanding of this book.