Judging Job

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JUMPING IN TO JUDGE JOB AND JUSTIFY SUFFERING

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The story of Job provides the reader with a profound statement on the subject of the justice of God in the light of human suffering. Some describe the Book of Job as a "play" but quickly add that Job was someone to really existed. There is much debate among Biblical scholars as to whether Job actually existed. The Book of Job is considered the first of the poetic books of the Bible and is renowned for its difficulty in both translating and understanding.
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The story of Job introduces a new element into the plight of human suffering. Early Israelite understanding concerning the justice of God was very simple - if healthy, wealthy, and prosperous - your were blessed of God. If you suffered illness, or lived in poverty then you had received punishment for sins committed.
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The Book of Job takes this sort of abstract thought that has concrete evidence, ie., prosperity for the good person versus poverty for the "bad" person and turns it on its head. Now we could all perhaps rush in and say that we know people who are ‘bad" and deserve what ever terrible lot in life they have received and perhaps wish more bad things to happen to them. However, the Book of Job deals with the fact that Job was a good person, blameless and upright, yet, he suffered terribly. First the lost of his wealth, then the loss of his children, and then the loss of his health. He suffered great poverty - yet he was a good man.
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The Book of Job also adds another aspect to the problem of God’s justice in the light of human suffering in that the ‘play’ introduces another player in the form of Satan, who bragging that he goes to and fro across the earth unhindered.
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Now the story has many players, the first we are introduced to after God and Satan have their ‘conversation’ and Lot has been reduced to a pile of boils festering all over his body is his wife. She tells Job "to curse God and die".
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Job answers with a response that has rung loud down through the centuries, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
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Satan had effectively backed God into a corner by insinuating that Job was only blameless and upright because it suited his purposes. Take away his wealth, health and prosperity and Job would effectively curse God like all the rest.
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Of course, as the "play" unfolds, Job’s three friends are quick to jump in and ‘accuse’ Job of some great, perhaps even unknown, sin against God. They were of the old school that equated suffering as a punishment for sin. Job’s perseverance, not his patience, finally wins the battle. Job’s perseverance and refusal to curse God eventually silences those closest to him, his wife and three friends, and finally Job’s perseverance silences Satan.
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M. JOB 1 ....A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY PLAYS OUT.
T. JOB 2 .....THOSE CLOSEST TO JOB DON’T HELP.
W. JOB 6 ....JOB SPEAKS OUT IN ANGUISH.
T. JOB 38 ...GOD SPEAKS - BIT IS NO HELP.
F. JOB 42 ...ALL IS WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
S. JOHN 9 ...JESUS SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT.