This year I’ve decided to make it my ambition to read through the Bible, following the Chronological Bible reading plan and I spent much of this month reading through the books of Genesis and Job as part of the plan. The book of Job has always been one of those books in the Bible that has stumped me, as I have sought to make sense of its purpose in the scheme of the other Old Testament literature. So instead of just read it, I decided to do a little more study and here’s my take.
In setting the scene for the book, it is clear that that Job was truly blessed by God, and this in turn becomes the reason for Satan’s interest in testing Job, because he thought that Job’s obedience to God was only in direct proportion to his blessings from God. While Satan is allowed to test Job, I find comfort in the fact that Satan’s actions are limited by God’s sovereign control. Evidence of this is seen each time Satan approaches God to test Job, and in both cases God clearly limits the extent of Satan’s tests, mentioning that Satan could not put forth his hand on Job, nor take his life. Thus God’s sovereignty becomes one of the major themes of the book.
In developing the themes of divine retribution and the sovereignty of God, four messengers of misfortune, come to Job and declare of the calamity that has arisen out of the unseen personal workings in the heavenlies. Upon hearing the news from the fourth messenger, Job is overcome with his grief and gets up, tears his robe, shaves his head and falls to the ground in worship of God.
The tension created by Job’s remarks in chapter 3 also contributes to the overall message of the book, and teaches that it is not necessarily wrong to for a person to be honest before the Lord and to ask the questions of why, as Job does repeatedly throughout the book. It is important to again point out, that none of these questions grow into accusations or cursing of God, and to remember that the point of Job’s questioning is his attempt to try and understand his experience in light of God’s sovereignty. Job nowhere states in this text that he will have nothing to do with God, but through his lament attempts to find God in this experience and therefore appeals to God again and again.
In grasping the meaning of Job, it is also obvious from the text that the author was intending to argue against the theology of divine retribution, which later becomes the thesis of Job’s three friends banter (4:7-1; 8:3,11-22; 11:13-20; 18:5-21). Throughout the book Job maintains his righteousness and steadfastness, and shows us that the person of faith will trust God through adversity or prosperity even when their world doesn’t make sense. In the end, Job passed the test and instead of cursing God, Job acknowledges God’s sovereignty and therefore destroys Satan’s suspicion that he only feared God because of God’s blessing.
