The Book of Job, why bad things happen to God's people

Many people need to believe that all the stories in the Bible are absolute history. For those if that is what you need great. I would not tell anyone what to believe.

In reality, Job is not history. It is inspired by God and has an important message, but is not literal history. Who would have been taking notes as the story developed:

6 One day the heavenly beings a came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Job 1.6-12 NRSV

The Hebrew understanding of Satan is not the red-horned-spike tailed-hoofed-pitch fork monster throwing transgressors and backsliders into the lake of fire. Satan is like a policeman and prosecuting attorney. Satan means in Hebrew, Accuser. As the scripture suggests he has been seeking people to accuse of wrongdoing at the Lord’s court.

To make a long story short the Lord holds up Job as a righteous man and Satan agrees saying that Job is righteous because Job is rich, has a house full of children, servants and hired hands etc. Take that away and he will curse you. So God and Satan enter into a wager of sorts and the Lord tells Satan to do what you want with Job and we will see if he curses me.

We must again understand that this story is inspired by God but is not a true story. It may be an allegory without a moral.

Allegory:
1. a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.

2. a symbolical narrative: the allegory of Piers Plowman.

Many authorities say Job is the oldest book in the Bible. The book addresses the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people or why do bad things happen?” It shows us how long we have been asking this question.

It is very important to understand that this is a story and God would never make a wager that involved the taking of lives. In the story of Job all of Job’s children are killed. In addition he loses all of his wealth and tangibles assets.

We can all identify with the death of someone wonderful, someone we love dearly like a child, spouse, parent or dear friend. If we have not experienced that loss personally we know someone that has or we can imagine what it would be like and we fear it happening to us. The fear of losing a child or grandchild is ever present in our lives.

Job loses everything dear to him except his wife who later says to him, “Why don’t you just curse God to his face and die.”

Job sat by the fire in unbearable physical and emotional pain. Three friends came to support him and sat with him in silence for 7 days and so ends chapter 3. The three friends are doing exactly what we should do when someone is in such pain. We just need to sit with them and say nothing.

Many authorities on the Book of Job say that in its original form Job was a very short story of the first few chapters and the last few chapters.

For the next 30 + chapters Job’s friends point out his shortcomings and reasons why God is punishing him. This is quite a clever ploy by those that added these statements in the following decades after the original was written from oral stories. It is what we tend to do, try to find rationalization for suffering. The writers are setting us up for God’s final answer that is: We humans are in error when we try to explain why bad things happen to ourselves or to those we love.

God speaks in Chapter 38 and 39. I will not print it here. I suggest the reader spend some time in your own Bible or look those verses up online reflecting on those chapters.

We humans tend to think of ourselves as the center of all creation. God has created the entire universe and holds it in balance. Everything is important to God from the conception of a sparrow to the death of your loved one. There is a balance of good and evil in creation. A loved one dies, a baby is born. Hurricanes destroy and humans restore with divine help and inspiration.

There are no words or actions than can quickly heal a broken heart that is suffering the loss that Job and zillions of other humans have suffered. With the gift of being God’s highest creation we have the curse of suffering loss and the curse of long memories. In the story of Job, Job’s fortunes are restored and God provides him more children. In real life, no such thing can heal the loss of his original family. This is an allegory however and the restoration reflects that faith is rewarded and through faith in a loving God we can heal. Not overnight, and not perhaps for years. But it does get better. God works for good in the lives of those that believe.

We are not required to be successful, but we are called to be faithful.