I’ve learned to like the book of Job. I know it’s not everyone’s favorite. In fact, I have a pastor-friend who places it at the bottom of his “like” list. But here’s the secret. We have been reading the book incorrectly. We’ve projected our own emotions and we often listen to the wrong voices in the book. So here’s the secret: read the book backwards (sort of).
For those who aren’t familiar, here’s the chronological synopsis of Job’s story: He’s a wealthy man and much praised by God. Satan claims Job is only faithful because he has wealth and health. Those are taken away from him. Friends come to sit with him and encourage him to confess the unknown sin for which he’s being punished (“Job, we know everything you’ve done that’s bad since you learned to crawl. What did you do when you were in Vegas that we don’t know about?”). Job says he’s innocent. After many days of discussion, God shows up and recounts all the things Job can’t do. Then He restores Job’s wealth and gives him a new family. And they lived happily ever after.
By reading it backwards, starting in chapter 42, you immediately learn that God is not angry with Job. He’s angry with the three friends. If God’s not angry with Job, then how should we read the previous chapters that we would read as anger: “Who is this that darkens my wisdom without knowledge?…Stand up and brace yourself like a man! I will ask you questions and you will answer.” Let’s stop here and reconcile 38.2 with 42.7: being without knowledge but speaking accurately about God.
A lot of Job’s discourse is wondering what’s going on, why has his fortune been stripped away without any provocation or cause. I think those are the words “without knowledge”. Job doesn’t know the behind-the-scenes story of God’s dialogue with Satan. And Job won’t learn it now either. God doesn’t reveal it to him. So Job’s lack of knowledge is not a problem. God’s question, like the many that follow, is rhetorical, not requiring an answer.
If we take “Stand up like a man” and substitute a few other biblical images, we could hear, “Get up out of the dust from which you are created, you who bear the image of Me, of God!” An invocation of the Creation story and thus the rest of God’s recitation can be put in this light. Job—or any person—is not capable of doing what God does: setting stars in the sky, determining tides and weather. Nor is Job has swift or powerful as other creations such as a horse, Leviathan and Behemoth. But that doesn’t change who Job is: he is still made in the image of the Creator; he is still the highest creature of creation; he is still the one creature with whom God communes.
Now if you want to continue reading, skip all the chapters and passages where the three/four friends are talking. God doesn’t think what they said was any good. Read only Job’s words and you’ll learn this lesson from his words and his story: God’s favor or love for you cannot be determined by evaluating your circumstances. “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away,” Job says. “I feel hedged in by God” i.e. my circumstances are not going to change. Good things happen to the ones God is angry with and to the innocent, the obedient, the faithful. Bad things happen to both categories of people also. I’ve known people who have lost faith when bad things happen—prayers aren’t answered, miracles are delayed, people die. I’ve heard similar responses from others who have known people in pain. Too many people assume that having good things happen means we’re in God’s will and we’re not in God’s will when bad things happen. That’s what the three friends kept contending. And it’s contrary to the whole history of Abraham’s people up to, and past, he history of the first century church.
Even when bad things happen, keep the faith. Follow Job’s example. Redemption is coming.
Note: I think there are also some interesting theological questions the book of Job raises, such as redemption of others. Job sacrifices for his kids in case they have sinned. He is commanded to sacrifice for his three friends by God at the end of the book. How much of a part can we play in redeeming others?
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