The Book of Job is a challenging, but rewarding read. Even people casually acquainted with scripture know it is a story of a man named Job who suffers. Yet the story is only told in a narrative form in its opening and closing; the balance is the poetic dialogue of Job and his friends. Although a lengthy book, it is brilliantly crafted for us readers, and I encourage you to at least once read the book through as a whole in one sitting. As readers we are advantaged with a perspective the characters do not have: we know why Job is suffering; God has allowed Satan to test Job. That being said, as we work through the dialogue we are drawn in to the story in a way that likely finds ourselves sympathising with either Job or his friends. It is not until God shows up at the end that we find neither side has really told us the truth! Job’s friends take a bad case and argue it well, whilst Job takes a good case but argues it poorly.
Something to See:
The Book of Job makes a tremendously important contribution to the bible’s “wisdom literature”. If we only had the Book of Proverbs we may easily come to the conclusion that good things always happen to good people, and bad things always happen to bad people (we will look more deeply at the Book of Proverbs in the future). The story of Job brings us face to face with the tension between the justice and goodness of God, and our life experience. In Job we see a righteous man suffer. We see how wide the scope of suffering may be, even for a righteous man. Job is reminds us that many godly principles stand presently opposed in our broken world. The fundamental question we thus face is whether God is for us, and if he is, how is he for us.