http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=13&article=4573
The Historicity of Job
Over
the last several centuries, many have attempted to fictionalize the
Bible. Atheists vigorously attack the Genesis account of Creation,
calling it nothing more than a fictitious story that should be placed
alongside myths such as the Babylonian creation account. Skeptics scoff
at the biblical account of the worldwide Flood, calling it an altered
copy of the uninspired
Epic of Gilgamesh. Liberal theologians
labor to make Scripture conform to secular sources, claiming that the
Israelite religion is a mere “Yahwization” of pagan religions (i.e.,
attributing to Yahweh what pagan religions attributed to their gods).
Certain professors at Christian colleges have even cast doubt on the
historicity of Jonah. They have referred to it as “just a short story”
that “might even be regarded as historical fiction.” “[A] lot of books
today” may “have a ring of historical accuracy,” they say, “just like
the book of Jonah,” but “[d]oes that make it history? Well, no. No, it
doesn’t” (Pemberton, 2002, 22:26-22:44). Such attempts to fictionalize
Scripture or cast doubt on the true nature of its historical accounts
represent a blatant attack upon God’s Word and should be refuted with
all diligence in “meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).
Some believe the book of Job is little more than a fine piece of
non-inspired literature. Others contend it is inspired of God, but, like
happenings in Genesis and Jonah, the book of Job is said to be a
fictional story about imaginary people, places, and events, told for
spiritual purposes. What do the facts reveal? Are there good reasons to
believe that this story is a real, unembellished account of events that
occurred long ago?
JOB, THE MAN
In a single day, the patriarch Job was informed of the loss of all 10
of his children, all of his livestock, and many of his servants. In
chapter 1 of the book of Job, we learn that as one of Job’s servants was
telling him about a group of raiders (the Sabeans) that had stolen all
of his oxen and donkeys, and killed all the servants tending to the
animals (except himself), another servant arrived even as the first “was
still speaking.” This second servant told Job that fire came down from
heaven and consumed his sheep and servants. Again, while this servant
was talking, a third servant came and related to Job that another group
of invaders (the Chaldeans) had stolen all of his camels and had killed
all of the servants except him. Finally, while this third servant was
talking, a fourth servant came and bore even worse news—Job’s 10
children had all perished when a great wind struck the house and caused
it to crush them. His 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500
female donkeys, several servants, and 10 children were all gone in the
blink of an eye. And, as if being stripped of his worldly possessions
and children were not enough, Job’s body then became diseased from head
to toe, his wife urged him to “curse God and die,” and the comforting
counsel of his “friends” quickly gave way to judgmental accusations.
Based upon the extent of his physical destruction and mental suffering,
as well as the limited time frame in which it all occurred, some
critics doubt that Job was a real person. They believe that he simply
was fabricated to teach a lesson about human suffering. Perhaps, they
say, he is to be valued like such parabolic figures as the good
Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), or the rich
fool (Luke 12:16-21), but not like those who actually lived and died
upon the Earth.
I will never forget having a discussion about Job with a Christian
gentleman several years ago, who, with a skeptical expression on his
face, informed me that he did not believe the story of Job was real
history. The idea was: “No one has ever gone through that much pain that
quickly.” Up to that point in time, however, I do not think this
brother had ever considered the overwhelming evidence for Job’s reality.
Job’s Humanity
Unlike the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the rich fool, and other
parabolic figures, the suffering patriarch of the Old Testament, whose
story is recorded in forty-two chapters of the most beautiful language
this world has ever known, was given a name—Job. The book begins: “There
was a
man in the land of Uz,
whose name was Job”
(1:1, emp. added). He wasn’t just an obscure man in a far-away land who
was the main character of a “once-upon-a-time” kind of fairytale. He
was a real, “mortal” man (cf. 4:17), of whom his Creator said: “[T]here
is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who
fears God and shuns evil” (1:8). He “was the greatest of all the people
of the East” (1:3). That Job was a real person is stated explicitly by
God in his second speech to Job, when He declared that the mighty animal
called behemoth was “
made along with you” (40:15, emp. added).
In the book of Job, the patriarch’s wealth is catalogued, his homeland
is identified (cf. Jeremiah 25:20; Lamentations 4:21), his father is
referenced (Job 15:10), his children are numbered, his wife is quoted,
his friends are named, his speeches are recorded, and his suffering is
described in detail. Job spoke of his birth, and even his conception
(3:3), and longed for death in order to escape his severe distress
(6:8-10). His suffering was not here one day and gone the next, nor did
it go on endlessly. It lasted for “months” (7:3; 29:2) and was
specifically characterized by boils (2:7-8), bad breath (19:17), loss of
weight (19:20), disfiguration (2:12), blackened, cracked skin that was
infested with worms (30:30; 7:5), and bones that burned with piercing
pain (30:17,30). Job’s suffering was as real as Job himself.
Job’s Descent
Still, some may contend, “We know that Eliphaz was a Temanite, Bildad a
Shuhite, Zophar a Naamathite (Job 2:11), and that Elihu was called,
‘the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram’ (Job 32:2), yet
Job has no revealed heritage.” “Who was his father? Where is his
genealogy? Why don’t we know more about Job’s heritage, if he was a real
person?”
The Bible is replete with real, historical men and women who have
little, if any, background information given about them. Are we to
assume that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego (Daniel 1:7), Theophilus
(Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1), Diotrephes (3 John 9), and Lydia (Acts 16:14) were
all fictional characters because we have no information about their
families? And what about Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18), who was “without
father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of
days nor end of life” (Hebrews 7:3)? Was he an imaginary character? In
truth, Melchizedek is as historical as Abraham, who paid him tithes
(Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:2), and as real as Jesus, Who was a priest,
“according to the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7:17,21).
Similar to how Melchizedek’s ancestry was intentionally omitted in
Scripture in order to illustrate the perfect type of priest that Jesus,
the great High Priest, would be, the little information that we have
about Job was no doubt intentional. Admittedly, patriarchs are often
introduced in the biblical text with at least some genealogical
information (e.g., Genesis 11:26-29), while Job is not. We know neither
his family nor his race. We do not know for sure when he lived or
exactly where he lived (i.e., precisely where Uz was cannot be said with
certainty). However, as Perry Cotham concluded: “[T]his in God’s wisdom
is all the better for the purpose of the great book because it makes
Job a universal man, a representative, as it were, of all mankind in his
relationship to God” (Cotham, 1991, p. 40). People of all colors,
classes, clans, countries, and kingdoms can find great strength and
encouragement from the real, true-life story of Job.
Job’s Name
Let us also establish the fact that the name “Job” (Hebrew
Iyob or
Iob in
the Septuagint) was no literary invention; it was an actual name worn
by various ones throughout history. Jacob had a grandson named Job
(Genesis 46:13; or Yob/Iob, ESV, NASB). Furthermore, as Francis Anderson
noted in his commentary on Job, “The name [Job—EL] is attested several
times throughout the second millennium BC as an old Canaanite name
sometimes borne by royal personages. It occurs in an Egyptian execration
text of the nineteenth century BC…. Later the Ugaritic
ayab agrees with the South Canaanite name
A-ya-ab
in Amarna letters” (Anderson, 1974, p. 78). Although some believe that
Job means either “object of enmity” or “he who turns to God” (Genung,
2006), the eminent and respected archaeologist W.F. Albright believed
these ancient references support the explanation that the name
originally meant, “Where is (my) Father?” (Hartley, 1988, p. 66;
Anderson, p. 78). Such a meaning fits perfectly with the book of Job,
considering (1) no father or genealogy is given for the patriarch, and
(2) throughout his speeches, Job longs to speak with God, his Father by
creation (10:2-3,9; 13:3,20-22; 31:35-37).
Job’s Anonymous Wife
Some have suggested that since the patriarch’s wife is referred to but
never named (Job 2:9; 19:17; 31:10), the book of Job falls in line more
with a parable and not a literal story (cf. Cunningham, 2011). Such a
claim, however, disregards two important points. First, several of the
leading characters in the story
are specifically named,
including Jehovah, Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu, as well as
three of Job’s daughters: Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-Happuch. Simply
because someone in a story is not called by name, in no way relegates
that story to a parable, especially when so many other individuals in
the story
are named. Second, there are
many real,
historical women in the Bible whose names are also unknown to us,
including, and especially, the women of patriarchal times. Adam and
Eve’s daughters are never named (Genesis 5:4), nor are Lot’s (Genesis
19). The wives of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth are omitted in Scripture
even though they were crucial in God’s plan for mankind to repopulate
the Earth. Other men living in patriarchal times whose wives’ names are
not mentioned by name in Holy Writ include Cain, Lot, Laban, and
Potiphar. Furthermore, the names of many women in New Testament times
remain unknown to us, includingJames and John’s mother (Matthew 20:20),
Peter’s mother in law (Matthew 8:14), Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9:18),
the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), and many others (Luke 8:3).
Obviously, then, the fact that Job’s wife, who is only mentioned three
times in the book of Job, is not referred to by name has no bearing
whatsoever on the historicity of Job.
Other Citations of Job in Scripture
Not only are there several indicators within the book of Job that the
suffering patriarch was a real, flesh-and-blood human being (and not
just a parabolic figure), Job also is mentioned in Scripture outside of
the book that bears his name. In fact, Job is mentioned in three
different verses in Scripture (outside the book of Job), none of which
lead one to believe that Job is a fictional character. Rather, he is
considered an actual, historical figure.
The first two places his name is found (aside from the book of Job) is
in Ezekiel 14, verses 14 and 20. In verse 14, the prophet stated: “Even
if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would
deliver only themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord God.”
Verse 20 is worded nearly the same way: “[E]ven though Noah, Daniel, and
Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would deliver
neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their
righteousness.” Ezekiel’s point in both verses was that the ungodly
conditions in Babylon were such that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job lived
in that city, no one else would be saved. Ezekiel spoke of all three of
these men as being real, historical people, not legendary characters.
If one recognizes Noah and Daniel as being real people of history, then
there is no reason to think otherwise about Job. Yes, Job’s story is
written in beautiful, poetic language and grouped with other poetic
books in the wisdom section of the Old Testament. Still, God’s inspired
prophet Ezekiel believed Job’s life was as real and genuine as Noah’s
and Daniel’s. [NOTE: Numerous real people and places are noted and
described in the poetic books of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and
Song of Solomon. It would be unwise and inconsistent to disregard Job’s
historicity merely because it is written largely in poetic language.]
The last place the suffering patriarch is mentioned in Scripture (and
the only time he is mentioned in the New Testament) is found in the
latter part of the book of James. The brother of the Lord wrote: “My
brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an
example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who
endure.
You have heard of the perseverance of Job and
seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate
and merciful” (James 5:10-11, emp. added). James was not writing through
inspiration about an imaginary person. Rather, he considered Job as
real as Abraham, Elijah, and Rahab—historical individuals whom James
also mentioned in his epistle (2:21,25; 5:17).
JOB’S “UNBELIEVABLE” SUFFERING
More than anything else, what causes the most skepticism about Job are
the intense losses that he endured in such a short period of time. How
can a man learn of the loss of 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of
oxen, 500 female donkeys, numerous servants, and, most tragically, 10
children
in one day? It simply is too much for some to believe.
Job and Evolution
Yet, some of the same individuals who doubt the historicity of the suffering of Job maintain that the theory of evolution is a
fact.
Both atheistic and theistic evolutionists believe that over billions of
years of time, a multi-cellular creature evolved into a worm, which
evolved into a fish, which evolved into an amphibian, which evolved into
a reptile, which evolved into an ape-like creature, which evolved into a
human. Allegedly, an amazing human being with functional eyes, ears,
arms, legs, fingers, toes, lungs, etc., could evolve given enough time,
mutations, and
random chance processes. Supposedly, the
unnatural, unproven, law-breaking theory of evolution is believable—but
not the story of Job. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”
(Shakespeare, 2011, III.2).
Others Throughout History Have Suffered Greatly
It maybe that no one in world history has ever suffered as much as did
Job in one day. However, there have been many tragic stories throughout
history. Since likely everyone would agree that there have been
innumerable true accounts of individuals and families throughout history
losing virtually all of their wealth in the blink of an eye due to
fires, floods, thefts, bankruptcies, depressions, stock-market plunges,
etc. (e.g., Charles Prestwood, see Hundley, 2002), there seems little
reason to document such financial losses. What’s more, even if we did
document many such unfortunate happenings, it would be greatly
overshadowed by the loss of all of Job’s children. When the life and
death of those whom we love dearly comes into focus, often even the most
materialistic among us see that financial ruin does not compare with
the loss of loved ones.
But Job was also not the only one ever to have to deal with a great
family tragedy in a short period of time. I know a woman who lost her
mother and one of her two sons within one week of each other. She then
buried her husband a year later. Portland, Oregon mother, Marva Davis,
lost two sons on the same day—January 29, 2010. Her 23-year-old son died
of heart and kidney failure in the morning, followed by her 25-year-old
son being shot by a police officer later that night (“Oregon Woman…,”
2010). Alicia Appleman-Jurman was one of countless Jews who experienced
heart-breaking losses and difficulties during the Holocaust. In addition
to her suffering and surviving ghettoization, imprisonment, starvation,
a trip to an extermination center, and a firing squad, all within a
four-year period, she lost every immediate family member. The Nazis shot
her mother, father, and two of her brothers. One brother was hanged,
while another died needlessly in a Russian prison. Alicia was the only
member of her immediate family to survive the Holocaust
(Appleman-Jurman, 1989).
Many Faithful Believers Have Experienced Great Pain
The Bible is full of faithful men and women who suffered greatly.
Imagine the sorrow that Noah and his family felt as they watched and/or
heard innumerable souls (perhaps millions of people) perish in the
Flood—many of whom, no doubt, were relatives. Consider the heartache
that Lot, his wife, and daughters must have felt as their family
members, friends, and home were destroyed with fire and brimstone—and
then as Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:24-26).
The apostle Paul was “in prisons...frequently” and “in deaths often.”
Five times he received 39 lashings. Three times he was beaten with rods.
Once he was stoned. Three times he was ship wrecked (2 Corinthians
11:23-25). In addition to being in all kinds of “perils” (2 Corinthians
11:26), he was “in weariness and toil…in hunger and thirst,” as well as
“in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:27). Paul was a persecuted
apostle, who suffered greatly, in addition to being in continual pain
with some sort of “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). The
apostles as a whole were “made a spectacle to the world,” were
“dishonored…poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless” (1 Corinthians
4:10-11). They were “reviled,” “persecuted,” and “defamed” (1
Corinthians 4:12-13). They were “made as the filth of the world, the
offscouring of all things” (1 Corinthians 4:13). In addition to
inspiration informing us that the apostle James was killed with the
sword (Acts 12:2),
Fox’s Book of Martyrs indicates that Matthew
was slain with a halberd, Mathias was stoned and beheaded, Andrew was
crucified, Thomas was killed with a spear, Paul was beheaded, and Peter
was crucified (most likely upside down) (Forbush, 1954, pp. 2-5).
Faithful men and women of God have been “tortured” (Hebrews 11:35).
“They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth”
(Hebrews 11:38b). “Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings,
yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in
two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom
the world was not worthy” (Hebrews 11:36-38a). Job is certainly one of
the greatest examples of steadfastness in the face of suffering, but he
is far from the only one to suffer severely.
A Modern-Day Tragedy
One of the most heart-rending, instant, unexpected tragedies to happen
to a family in recent years occurred near Milwaukee, Wisconsin on
Tuesday, November 8, 1994. Scott and Janet Willis were traveling with
six of their nine children on Interstate 94 to Watertown, Wisconsin to
visit their older son, Dan, and his new wife, and to celebrate two
upcoming birthdays. Before ever reaching Watertown, however, the Willis
van struck a piece of metal that had fallen off of a truck. The metal
pierced the gas tank, which quickly caused gas to leak. “Seconds later,
sparks caused as the metal bracket dragged against the pavement ignited
the van” (Backover and Lev, 1994). The van “exploded in flames”
(“Parents Bury...,” 1994). Five of the children in the van died almost
instantly in the fire. Another escaped with burns covering 90% of his
body, but died later that night at the hospital. Scott and Janet were
hospitalized for several days with first and second degree burns. Such
physical wounds, however, did not compare with the “indescribable” pain
they felt at losing six children in one freak accident (Gillmore, n.d.).
What are the odds of something like this happening? Sheriff’s Sergeant
David Lushowitz commented on the accident, saying, “I’ve never seen an
accident like this before….
The odds are astronomical” (as quoted in Backover and Lev, emp. added). According to
Chicago Tribune
staff writers Backover and Lev, “Highway statistics support the
characterization by Milwaukee investigators that the van accident was a
freak occurrence” (emp. added).
Remembering the Circumstances of Job’s Suffering
Although man has documented many cases of severe, instantaneous
suffering throughout history, some still refuse to believe the events in
Job (especially chapters 1, 2, and 42) actually could occur. In an
article titled, “Could the Story of Job be a Parable?” Chuck Cunningham
wrote: “Four calamities result from Yahweh talking to the accuser. There
is one survivor in each calamity to tell the story of Job. What are the
odds of this happening?... Job begins with seven sons and three
daughters, which all die. Job ends up with another seven sons and three
daughters. What are the odds of that happening?” The idea is: “It’s too
much, too soon—all of which is too ironic” (2011).
Admittedly, even in light of the cases of acute suffering that secular
history has recorded for us, Job’s affliction does seem somewhat
inconceivable. However, there is one important point to remember:
Job’s story does not begin in Job 1:13
(when the Sabeans first came and stole all of Job’s oxen and donkeys
and killed all of the servants in the area). The story of Job’s
suffering begins in
Job 1:6, on the day Satan came
before the Lord. When God mentioned His faithful servant to Satan, the
wicked one arrogantly implied that Job did not serve God for nothing
(i.e., the Lord allegedly is not innately worthy of faithful service).
God had blessed the patriarch and apparently had not allowed Satan to
harm him as the devil went “to and fro on the earth” (Job 1:7), “seeking
whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). For reasons that God does not
reveal, He allowed Satan temporary access to “all that he [Job] has”
(Job 1:12), which later would even include his health (2:4-7). In ways
unknown to us, Satan orchestrated the murderous raids of the Sabeans and
Chaldeans, the fire from heaven, the great wind, and the physical
suffering that Job endured (1:13-19; 2:1-7). The same Satan who tempted
Adam and Eve to sin; the same devil who sought to ruin the perfect life
of Jesus at His weakest point (Matthew 4:1-11); the same wicked one who
“bound” a woman with “a spirit of infirmity eighteen years” (Luke
13:11,16) and “oppressed” many others in the first century (Acts 10:38),
also afflicted Job immensely. Taking into account Satan’s personal role
in Job’s acute, virtually instantaneous suffering, the “unlikely,”
“improbable” events become plausible.
HOW COULD GOD DO THIS?
Some discount the historic reality of the book of Job, because they
cannot reconcile an all-loving God with what He allowed to happen to Job
and those around him. According to Cunningham, “This is not our
Elohim,…but more like a Greek Yahweh who plays with the lives of men.
These accounts contradict the rest of Yahweh’s Word and Yahweh cannot
contradict Himself…. We have taken the Book of Job literally instead of
taking it as a parable” (2011). Similarly, Kelvin Stubbs asked, “God
allows this man to have all that matters to him taken away, his family
killed…and we’re supposed to be inspired?... How can you love a God who
treats one of his most devout followers in this manner?” (2009).
Did God Cause Job to Suffer?
In truth, it was
Satan who “did this.” Yes, God did
say to Satan: “[Y]ou incitedMe against him [Job], to destroy him without
a cause” (2:3), and later, the book does speak of “all the adversity
that the Lord had brought upon him” (42:11). The fact is, however, these
statements are examples of the idiomatic language found throughout
Scripture, which actually express “not the doing of the thing, but the
permission of the thing which the agent is said to do” (Bullinger, 1898,
p. 823). The Bible writers often alluded to God’s allowance of
something to take place as having been done by the Lord. For example, 2
Samuel 24:1 indicates that God “moved David…to number Israel,” while 1
Chronicles 21:1 says that it was
Satan who “stood up
against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.” The meaning is:
Israel suffered as a direct result of Satan’s workings in the life of
King David, which God allowed.
Consider also that Moses recorded how “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”
(Exodus 7:3,13; 9:12; 10:1; etc.). But God did not directly force
Pharaoh to reject His will. Rather, God hardened his heart in the sense
that God provided the circumstances and the occasion for Pharaoh to
accept or reject His will. God sent Moses to place His demands before
Pharaoh, even accompanying His Word with miracles, but Pharaoh made up
his own mind to resist God’s demands. God provided the occasion for
Pharaoh to demonstrate his unyielding attitude, but He was not the
author (or direct cause) of Pharaoh’s defiance (see
Butt and Miller, 2003 for more information). Similarly, God
permitted Satan to afflict Job, but He did not directly cause Job’s suffering. It was “
Satan” who “went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job” (2:7).
Would a Loving God Really Allow Job and Others to Suffer?
Regardless of whether God “allowed” Job’s suffering or “caused” it,
some do not believe that a loving God would remove His providential
protection from a faithful servant, bring his name up to Satan for
consideration, and allow Job and so many others (i.e., his wife,
children, and servants) to suffer and even die. Such God-allowed
suffering has led atheists to reject Job and God altogether, while
causing certain professed Bible-believers to interpret Job as a
parabolic drama. Since the “the evil, pain, and suffering argument”
against God’s existence has been thoroughly and logically answered many
times in the past (cf.
Miller and Butt,
2009; Warren, 1972), we will only respond to the professed Christian’s
accusation about Job—that the book must be parabolic because God would
never treat someone like He treated Job, his children, and his servants.
How is a
parabolic story about God allowing Satan to
destroy Job’s children and servants, as well as cause great physical
pain for Job, somehow acceptable, but not a
real-life story? A parable may be a fictitious story, but it has a moral or spiritual meaning. The Greek word
parabole (from which we get the English word “parable”) means “to throw alongside.” It is “a story by which
something real in life
is used as a means of presenting a moral thought” (Dungan, n.d., p.
227, emp. added). Even if Job was a parable (which the evidence is
decisively against), how would that immediately solve the “problem” of
God allowing Job and others to suffer? Whether a true-life story about
God or a parabolic story, any God-inspired story about Himself is going
to properly reflect His perfect attributes. Turning the book of Job into
a parable in no way means that “nothing in the book as it relates to
God is really what it seems to be.”
The fact is, God’s actions in the book of Job are real, and consistent
both with His nature and with the rest of Scripture. God
is
all-loving (1 John 4:8), but such love is not contrary to God allowing
His faithful followers to suffer. Even though He will not tempt His
children to do evil (James 1:13), God will test us (Genesis 22:1; Exodus
20:20) and discipline us (Hebrews 12:3-11). He will even allow us to
die, knowing that a much greater life awaits us on the other side of
physical death (Hebrews 11:10,16; John 14:1-3). He allowed John the
Baptist, Stephen, James the apostle, and many others, including the
Messiah, to suffer and die. We must keep in mind, as Thomas Warren
observed: God created the world, not as man’s final and ultimate
destination, but as “the ideal environment for soul-making” (1972, p.
16). The difficulties that God allows or even brings about in this life
“encourage people to cultivate their spirits and to grow in moral
character—acquiring virtuous attributes such as courage, patience,
humility, and fortitude (James 1:2-3; Romans 5:3-4). Suffering can serve
as discipline and motivation to spur spiritual growth and strength. It
literally stimulates people to develop compassion, sympathy, love, and
empathy for their fellowman” (Miller and Butt; cf. Warren, p. 81).
But why did God allow Job’s children and servants to die? Why did He
not spare their lives as He spared Job’s? God does not give us the
answer to these questions. He does not tell us everything He knows, or
that we might like to know (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9; Deuteronomy 29:29). What
we can know is this: God always has a good reason for what He does.
Perhaps He was rewarding Job’s 10 children and all of the servants with
an early entrance into Paradise (cf. 2 Kings 2:11; Philippians 1:21,23).
Or, if the children and servants were wicked, perhaps God used the
occasion to punish them with physical death, just as He has done many
times throughout history (Genesis 6-8; 19; Leviticus 10:1-2; Numbers 16;
Acts 5:1-11). The fact is, one cannot assume that God’s allowance of
Satan to kill Job’s children and servants is inconsistent with His
loving nature.
CONCLUSION
Although much about the book of Job remains a mystery (exactly when Job
lived, who wrote the book that bears his name, where the Land of Uz was
located, etc.),
we can know that he was a real person
who suffered greatly—perhaps like no person has ever suffered—and yet
remained faithful to God. And therein lies one of the main purposes of
Job’s preserved story: the patriarch is an inspiration to every child of
God who is determined to follow the Lord “in the paths of
righteousness,” even while walking “through the valley of the shadow of
death” (Psalm 23:3-4). Knowing that Job persevered through all his
trials and tribulations gives us hope that we can do the same when
similar trials of less magnitude come our way (James 1:2-4; 5:10-11).
REFERENCES
Anderson, Francis I. (1974),
Job (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press).
Appleman-Jurman (1989), “Alicia Appleman-Jurman: Survival and Heroism of a Young Girl During the Holocaust,”
http://www.datasync.com/~davidg59/alicia.html.
Backover, Andrew and Michael Lev (1994), “6
th Child Dies After Van Wreck,”
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-11-10/news/9411100233_1_van-wreck-duane-scott-willis-gas-tank.
Bullinger, E.W. (1898),
Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1968 reprint).
Butt, Kyle and Dave Miller (2003), “Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart?” Apologetics Press,
http://www.apologeticspress.org/scrspeak/2003/ss-03-22.htm.
Cotham, Perry (1991), “A Dialogue of Heaven and Earth,” in
There Was a Man Named Job (Memphis, TN: Getwell church of Christ).
Cunningham, Chuck (2011), “Could the Story of Job be a Parable?” Teleios Ministries,
http://www.teleiosministries.com/pdfs/Understanding_Yahwehs_Word/the_book_of_job.pdf.
Dungan, D.R. (no date),
Hermeneutics (Delight, AR: Gospel Light).
Forbush, William Byron (1954),
Fox’s Book of Martyrs (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Genung, John Franklin (2006), “Job,”
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Electronic Database Biblesoft).
Gillmore, Mark (no date), “The Fiery Crash,”
http://logosresourcepages.org/SavingGrace/firecrash.htm.
Hartley, John E. (1988),
The Book of Job (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Hundley, Kris (2002), “Enron’s Crushing Blow,”
St. Petersburg Times Online,
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/02/10/Business/Enron_s_crushing_blow.shtml.
Miller, Dave and Kyle Butt (2009), “The Problem of Evil,” Apologetics Press,
http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=12&article=890, May2.
“Oregon Woman Loses 2 Sons in Single Day” (2010),
Boston Herald,
http://bostonherald.com/news/national/west/view.bg?articleid=1230028&format=text.
“Parents Bury Six Children in Eerie Freeway Fire” (1994),
Los Angeles Times,
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-11-20/news/mn-65246_1_older-children.
Pemberton, Glenn (2002),
Advanced Intro. to O.T., Oklahoma Christian Univeristy, CD 22:26-22:44.
Shakespeare, William (2011),
Hamlet, The Literature Network,
http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/hamlet/10/.
Stubbs, Kelvin (2009), “My Path to Agnosticism,”
Meditations,
http://uctaa.net/articles/meds2/med39/med752.html.
Warren, Thomas B. (1972),
Have Atheists Proved There is No God? (Ramer, TN: National Christian Press).
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