Job 42

By Lou Occhi

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100320.cfm
Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17
Luke 10:17-24

This week’s reading comes from Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17. This covers the ending of the Job story. It does not tell you a lot about the entire story. So I will do an overview of the book.

This book covers the problem of suffering of innocent people. It is written as a dramatic poem and its structure and style place it among the greatest literary masterpieces of all time. We do not know who wrote it. Some believe it was written by Moses and some by Job himself.

It starts by stating that Job is an honest and upright man who feared God and avoided evil. He was blessed with seven sons and three daughters and many animals making him greater than anyone in the East. His sons would take turns having great feasts and would invite their sisters to attend. Every morning after each great feast Job would invite his sons and daughters and sanctify them in case his children had sinned and cursed God at the feast. All this was written simply to establish the sanctity of Job.

One day when the sons of God, heavenly beings, came to present themselves to the Lord the satan was among them. The Lord asked the satan if he had noticed Job, an upright and holy man, as he prowled about the earth. Satan answered that Job was upright, fearing the Lord and avoiding evil only because he was being blessed and protected by the Lord. But if you take away all that he has surely he will curse the Lord’s name. So the Lord tells the satan that all he has is in your power, but do not lay a hand on him. Within a short time all of Job’s animals were killed or captured and taken away, all his servants were killed and his sons and daughters were all killed during a storm. Job’s response was that he was born naked and he shall return to the Lord naked. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. With all the tragedy that had just struck, he never cursed the Lord.

On the next encounter between the Lord and the satan, the Lord said that though much evil had been inflicted on Job, he maintained his innocence. The satan’s response was that all that a man has he will give for his life, but touch his bone and flesh and he will surely curse you. The Lord tells the satan that Job is in your power but that he is not to take his life. So satan left the presence of the Lord and struck Job with boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 

Now Job is scraping his flesh with a potsherd and sitting in ashes. His loving wife asks him if he is still maintaining his innocence. Then she suggests he should curse God and die, that is to kill himself. Job tells her that she is acting as a foolish woman. If we accept good things from God, should we not also accept evil. In all this Job did not sin.

Now we come to a good place to pause and reflect. When we encounter challenges and disasters in our life how do we react. I had a good friend back in college who was married and his wife was pregnant with their first child. One night they were driving somewhere and a drunk driver hit the back of his car. Because his wife was pregnant she did not have her seat belt on. In the accident she was thrown into the windshield and died. His son was delivered at the hospital by caesarian section and was healthy.

The drunk driver was wealthy and had a top notch lawyer. He got away with a basic slap on the wrist. My friend went from a really good man to the most bitter person I have ever known. He remained my good friend but not so much with anyone else. One day we went to eat at a diner. He was rude and insulting to our waitress. On leaving the restaurant she threw his one penny tip at him. This bitterness remained with him for several years. Fortunately, through the grace of God, he met a wonderful woman who gradually brought him back from his bitterness. I have to say that it was a miracle to see the transformation from hatred and bitterness to the man I knew prior to the accident. Truthfully, I could imagine myself doing the same thing had I been in his shoes. Not only did he lose his wife but was also denied justice.

Still, there are others, who have been hit with terrible tragedies that somehow managed to survive. I knew people who lost everything they had in hurricane Katrina and still maintained a degree of sanity and faith that God would get them through their troubles. That is not to say that there were many tears shed and great suffering in the process.

This brings us to Job’s three friends, Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuh and Zophar from Naamath. They had heard of Job’s misfortune and went to console Job. When they saw him they were overcome with grief and wept at his suffering. For seven days they stayed with Job in silence. On the seventh day Job began talking about his suffering. He wished he had never been born, wished that at he had been still born and buried. His misery was beyond belief but he never cursed God. His friends were initially very understanding and tried to console Job. There is significant dialogue by his friends and responses by Job to their comments. In short his friend’s dialogue turned from consolation to inferring that Job was being punished for his sins. Job’s response was that he had sinned but had done nothing to deserve this punishment. Job was unsuccessful in convincing his friends regarding his innocence. In a last attempt Job asks God to intervene on his behalf. In fact, God does respond. He tells Job’s friends that they were mistaken in thinking Job was being punished for his sins and said that his friends must offer sacrifice for their wrong assumptions of Job’s guilt. In the end Job was given back all that he had lost and more. 

God does go on to say that Job did overstate his righteousness but that was not the cause of his problems. We also should note that Job’s friends did travel a distance to visit Job and attempted to console him. Consoling the sick and suffering is what we should do, just as Jesus did.

The lesson here is that all suffering is not a punishment from God. I remember when there was a mass shooting in Las Vegas and hearing that it was a punishment from God because of the depravity that exists there. I also remember hearing that Mississippi was struck with hurricanes because gambling was legalized there. In these kinds of cases, none are the wrath of God. When God decides to inflict His wrath we will know it. Sodom and Gomorrah or the story of Noah are examples of the wrath of God. In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, God said he would not destroy them if there were even 10 good people there.

Sometimes suffering can be a test from God as it was in Job’s case. Many times suffering can make us stronger and deepen our faith. Disaster will strike us, whether it be storms, death of a loved one, rejection by others, sickness, etc. We have the power to decide which path to take. One path is to curse God and life and to continue to live in our self-pity and misery. The other is to join our suffering with that of Jesus on the cross and accept what is given to us. I have seen both and the second option always works out best. God always loves us and what occurs in our lives is part of life on this earth. As John Pearring frequently states, this is the shortest part of our eternity. As strange as it seems suffering can work for our benefit, even though it may not seem like it at the time.