We have deep respect for the author of Job. This guy, some 2500 years ago, understood those things we understand, and wrote a book about it. He did, indeed, tell it like it is. He told it as an allegory, because that’s the way they all gave their opinions and expressed their beliefs at that time. If he had been blunt about his beliefs, as we have been, he probably would not have lived very long. He or she was able to tell it as a story, and it is marvelously well done. Whether it is a story told by Job, by Jesus, or Jonathan Swift, the well-written allegory hits home. We understand that it is not just a story about one person. It is a story that is about all of us. The question that is asked is still one that is asked today: “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
There was this man named Job, who was a good man and who was prosperous. Then, for reasons which were inexplicable to him or any of his friends, bad things started to happen to him. He lost his health, his family, and all his possessions. The good forces of the universe (God) and the evil forces of the universe (the Devil) were fighting, and Job was the loser pawn in this struggle. As his condition worsened, each of his friends told him in multiple ways how he had messed up, and told him that was why he was losing everything. Job kept insisting on his innocence and steadfast belief in his Lord. Finally he had more than he could take, and challenged God himself. God told him in no uncertain terms that he was all-powerful, that Job was insignificant, and should accept whatever happened to him. Job finally gave up, agreed that his life carried minute importance, and returned to dust; that is to say, he died in disease, poverty and solitude. Precisely.
First of all, it is a literary masterpiece. Job/author first uses the literary ploy of God and the Devil arguing about which is most powerful. They are used, in other words, as the personification of Good and Evil in our universe. They each state their cases, puff themselves up, then stand challenging each other. God says that he has an example of how good a human life can be; he has this guy Job who is wise, loyal, loving, conscientious, hard working and steadfastly faithful to his Lord. The Devil says that this is pretentious. Just strip him of all his wealth, his possessions, and his health, then see how faithful he will be. God says: “You’re on!” From that point on, Job lives a life of hell. Job/author then uses the literary ploy of all Job’s friends telling him one by one and many times more than once where Job went wrong. Those arguments are the same ones we use yet today trying to answer this age-old question. His friends tell him that he has either committed a sin, has not been steadfast in his belief in the Lord, or has committed an error in his action. They tell him that these are the reasons everything is going wrong for him. Even though these concepts were expressed 2500 years ago, they are exactly the same reasons we hear people giving today in as effort to explain evil. We find ourselves deeply puzzled as to which of these friends has it most right.
Throughout it all, Job continues to maintain his faith in the Lord. He repeatedly proclaims his innocence. He states that the Lord should be trusted no matter what happens to each of us. This eventually disgusts his friends, who are sure that Job must have done something wrong to have landed in this horrible predicament. Do you notice anything familiar in the way your friends tell you where you went wrong then desert you when you are most in need? Finally comes the piece de resistance. Job himself has finally had enough, and complains to God. He says: “Why Lord? Why me?” Do you notice anything familiar in the way humans of this generation address their calamities? What follows is a marvelous piece of poetry, which in multiple tumbling examples brilliantly proclaims the total power of God over everything everywhere. Job has finally gone through the final stage of calamity or Death. He has gone through denial, through anger, through bargaining, through depression, and finally comes to acceptance. Voltaire could not have written allegories any better, and Kubler-Ross could not have more eloquently expressed the five stages of Death adjustment.
The epilogue to the Book of Job does not belong there. Biblical scholars are agreed that the language of this epilogue is different, the logic dissimilar, the phrasing foreign to the rest of the book, and are rather unanimous that this short piece was added at a later date by someone who didn’t like the ending. This is terribly unfortunate, in that it spoils this marvelous piece of literature. It is fortunate in that it convinced the Nicean Council to keep it in the Bible, allowing this marvelous piece of literature to come to us over time. We are dumbfounded to discover that someone 2500 years ago was saying the same things we are saying today. Job/author completely understood God and religion, and was acutely aware that this understanding was not at all popular at his or her time. Not much has changed, has it? So what does the book of Job really say: what does Job/author understand that we understand? First, he or she understands that there is a balance of Good and Evil in our world, that sometimes one and sometimes the other has the upper hand, but that neither ever permanently gains an advantage. Second, there is a God to whom we should be mindful, loyal and faithful, no matter what amount of good or evil that God gives us. Third, the God to whom we should be obedient at all times is capricious and impersonal, doling out good or evil to us without regard for our welfare. Fourth, our life is ephemeral, minute, and virtually insignificant in the bigger scheme of things. Fifth, that we should take whatever life God gives us, and make the very most of it we can while we are here on earth.
Wowww! Job/author, you have our immense respect. You understood that there is a balance of Good and Evil in our world. You understood that there is one God who has power over all things. You understood that we should at all times respect that God. You understood that this God is capricious, and will on whim pass out good and well as evil. Although disguised by allegory and victimized by a false ending, you still proclaim to us your understanding that this is the world of an impersonal God.
“What’s good or bad depends on whether you are a man, a frog, or a mosquito. To the man, the frog is good because he can eat the frog, but the mosquito is bad because the mosquito can eat on the man. To the frog, the man is bad because the man will eat him, but the mosquito is good because he can eat the mosquito. To the mosquito, the man is good because he can eat on the man, but the frog is bad because the frog can eat him. So what’s good or bad depends on whether you are a man, a frog, or a mosquito.” – William Edelen
“Teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the archaic doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up the source of fear which has only placed vast power in the hands of the clergy and priests. Such a doctrine is not only unworthy, but fatal, and has done incalculable harm to human spiritual progress.” – Albert Schweitzer