The Faith of Job
The Book of Job is a historical narrative as well as a “poetic drama”[1] that is considered to be a wisdom book within the Old Testament. It “addresses the issues of human suffering, particularly the question of why the righteous suffer.”[2] “The book provides a profound statement on the subject of theodicy (the justice of God in light of human suffering).”[3] “Job himself was not the author”[4] but all evidence suggest that “the author was an Israelite”[5] and that it was written between “the reign of Solomon to the exile.”[6]
Job was a righteous man from the land of Uz. He “was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil,”[7] and who continually remained faithful even “through fierce trials and suffering.”[8] In Blaise Pascal’s Pensees (Thoughts) he makes a good point about suffering by saying “that the knowledge of God is of little use to anyone unless it is accompanied by awareness of human misery and of the possibility of redemption in Christ.”[9] Job became very familiar with human misery and the knowledge of God throughout his agonizing life’s adversity. Through it all Job never cursed God, but what seemed more painful than his own life’s misery was the fact that of “God’s apparent alienation from him.”[10]
The Book of Job starts in the first and the second chapters by showing “Job’s happiness, Job’s testing, Satan’s first accusation, Job’s faith, Satan’s second accusation, Job’s continued faith in suffering, and the coming of three friends.”[11] In the first chapter we see the life of Job to be one of many blessings and of great wealth. His life was filled with the many blessings so as is described in verses 1:2-5. Wealth of a man during this period was attributed to how much land and livestock he owned. Job was considered to be “the greatest of all the men of the east.”[12] In verse 1:5 he offers a burnt offering to God for his son’s sins and says, “it may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God...