Lessons From the Book of Job: Part One
The biblical book of Job was distressing to read. Had it been a movie, I would have skipped it as I do not like sad stories. Life is tough already, so comedy and romance are my preferred cinematic fare.
As told in the Bible, the story of Job is about a man who loses everything in a series of back-to-back misfortunes. His wealth is plundered by thieves within hours, and all his children are killed when the home they are in collapses. Days later, Job is stricken by a chronic and painful ailment.
Job’s misfortunes arise from a series of conversations between God and Satan. God boasts about Job's faithfulness while Satan insists it is only because God has blessed him. To test that theory, God permits Satan to strip Job of everything that he has, save his life (and wife).
To an onlooker, Job appears cursed by God. His wife tells him to blaspheme the Most High and then die because there's nothing left to live for. (Probably dealing with her own trauma from losing her children.)
But what fascinates me about the scripture is, it doesn’t paint a simplistic view of good and evil. Rather, it showcases the internal conflict people face when "good" folks suffer and "bad" ones win. It zeroes in on how we can lose faith in God, and struggle to accept he is just in the midst of great pain.
In this article, I will share my learnings from the Book of Job.
Three Friends
Job's three friends - Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar - mourned with him silently for seven days. Nowadays, we scarcely honor grief with the same type of respect. There is an ache that cannot be met with empty platitudes. It is too heavy and so demands silence.
But, Job’s friends seem to have had a limited worldview. Life was black and white to them, and so, the only logical reason they could adduce for Job's troubles is that he had sinned. You then see the confusion and accusation that follow from this ideology.
If you've ever experienced misfortune, your friends may have mouthed the same things as Job's friends:
Eliphaz: Disaster does not plague the innocent. So, you must have done something to deserve this. It's your fault. You are presumptuous in proclaiming your innocence, as no one is blameless before God. For this calamity to have happened, you did something evil and you got your wealth through ill means.
Bildad: If you are a man of integrity, plead your case and God will restore you sooner than you think. This event is just a trial to test your faith.
Zophar: You're in this mess because God is punishing you.
Green Horn of Envy
In reading Job, I struggled to understand where his friends' bile was coming from, and eventually settled on envy. For instance, they proposed that he lent money to a friend; demanding unfair collateral. But since they are his closest friends, who among them borrowed from Job, without them being aware of it?
They've also known Job for years. Could he have been so spectacularly wicked without them noticing?
While grasping for a "logical" explanation, they became illogical, and their envy shined through. They barely disguised their schadenfreude.
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A Younger Voice Speaks
What the elders could not explain, a younger person, Elihu, attempted to interpret.
In Elihu's opinion, evil visited Job because God was trying to get his attention. He became angry that Job was refusing to admit that he had sinned, or that God was right to punish him. Elihu was also annoyed at Job’s three friends, because they did not properly defend God by countering Job’s arguments.
Thus, Elihu reminds me of the self-righteous who cannot countenance the thought of God doing anything outside of their religious frameworks. They blame people for what they cannot explain. Here are Elihu's self-assured proclamations:
"Everyone knows that God doesn’t sin!
The Almighty can do no wrong.
He repays people according to their deeds.
He treats people as they deserve.
Truly, God will not do wrong.
The Almighty will not twist justice."
Job 34:10-12 NLT
In short, as God can never be wrong, Job was to blame for his misfortunes.
Monochromatic Life
Perhaps, the main issue for Job's friends was they had no existing context for the current state of affairs. There was no framework to understand it with.
The friends had not been present during God's first conversation with Satan. They were not privy to the full picture or plan and only had the "facts" they could see. Like many people, they judged Job by his outward appearance.
In their estimation, Job was embroiled in sin and so, had been punished. Or maybe he had generational curses in his ancestry. If not, then God was unjust to afflict him, and that was not something they could contemplate.
In Part 2, I look at Job, the Complainant and the Problem With Justice. I end with a Summary of Lessons Learned.
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Head of ICT/Computing at The RiverBank Schools, Victoria Island, Lagos.
1moA completely new dimension to Job's story. This is awesome. Sometimes we judge people based on our limited knowledge of whatever. I just learnt not to judge anyone because I have no idea why they are going through what they are going through. Thank you.
Tech Leader | Growth Architect | Entrepreneur
1moA crucial point here is that God seemed to have taken a bet on Job. This is a concept that Job's friends were unfamiliar with. Very many people today will also struggle with what the bible says led to this whole episode. As we read our bibles with open hearts, may we know God for who he is, and not who we want to paint him to be.