Job loses all: Reflection on Job part 2

The first chapter of the book of Job is very dramatic. We have cosmic encounters in the spiritual realm, the introduction and destruction of a man marked seemingly by both God and the satan. Job loses everything in a few short lines - in contrast to the slow moving descriptions of the later dialogues that make up much of the book.

Job responds with a physical display of grief. He tears his robe. Then he shaves his head and falls to the ground to worship. This response is quite startling. I find it is easy to read this story and be somewhat immune to the magnitude of Job’s suffering. Perhaps it is because we are flooded with media about suffering, whether it be in the guise of entertainment, or horrible real life events from around the globe. It can be hard to distinguish actual from virtual suffering, unless it touches us personally.

The scene changes, and God and the satan converse again. However, there are a few significant differences. God says that Job has maintained his integrity in spite of what happened to him. The next bit is difficult. God says that Satan persuaded him to harm Job without any reason. Firstly, can God be persuaded? By the satan? Is the word “persuaded” an accurate translation of the original text? Secondly, God is claiming responsibility for harming Job. In the earlier passage, it sounded as though the satan was doing all the work, not God. God's part in it seemed to be allowing the satan to harm Job. Perhaps God is saying that He did it because He permitted it.

The satan does not refer to God in the third person at all this time, unlike their first conversation. He addresses God directly. He says that Job only blesses God because God blesses him – cause and effect. Job has something to gain from blessing God. Using the analogy “skin for skin”, the satan then says that man will lose everything to save his life. Satan ups the challenge. He says that Job will curse God if he loses his health. Again, God gives the satan permission to do what he wants with Job, but again with a limitation. He is not to kill Job. It appears that the satan obeyed God – he did not go against the limits set for him. However, here the satan could be seen to have changed God's mind. At first he is not allowed to harm Job, and then he is. We do not wait for the even the next paragraph to find out what he does. The satan's action is outlined in the same sentence as his leaving God's presence. It suggests the immediacy of the action against Job. Satan gives Job boils, sores all over his body. I wonder how Job would have responded to his tragic losses if he had been party to these conversations.

So, can God be persuaded, and does he permit evil? Open theists would suggest that can and does change his mind, and can cite strong biblical arguments to support this position. At the risk of being cheeky, we probably wouldn't bother to pray if we didn't believe that there was God might choose to act on our prayers. Interestingly, Job didn't ask for God to intervene or undo what had happened- at least not at this point of the story. He simply acknowledged that the God had given and taken away. He saw himself as stripped back, as bare as at birth, and seemed to accept it.

There are substantial issues raised in this passage about the interplay between God and evil, otherwise known as Theodicy. Some view the presence of evil as related to the nature of the fallen world. Evil things happen because of our free will to engage in them. Our nature may be seen as one that left to its own devices pursues evil. However, this perspective still doesn't address why God doesn't intervene. God could have told the satan that he didn't need to prove his point about Job any further. It would seem that Job saw God as responsible for what happened. Job did not say it was the satan who had "given and taken away". Job's acceptance of his tragically altered circumstances are indeed a challenge to us soft Christians in the west, who pray for God to intervene in what can only be considered selfish and small in the face of broader global issues.

These questions are worthy of many hubs in their own right, and I do not intend to address them fully here. The first chapter of Job is very rich in problematic themes, and sets the scene nicely for the rest of the book. And we are not yet done with it!