Job’s affliction served as a discipline and worked to transform him into an even more righteous man. The entirety of God’s answer to Job is designed to emphasize man’s utter weakness and inability to comprehend the things of God. In Islam, Job (Arabic: أَيُّوْب‎, romanized: Ayyūb) is also considered a prophet. Whether during pain, suffering, or agony, the Lord will sustain His people through it all for His purposes and glory. Rather than a theoretical solution to Job’s problem, there is an ineffable [indescribable] self‑manifestation of deity to the individual in his particularity. In German it would be Hiob, which might be somewhat nearer to the Hebrew, but it is still an imprecise rendering. “It would be a grave error to interpret [the book’s] denial of divine retribution as constituting a legitimate excuse for man from his obligations to establish justice on earth. Satan accused Job of honoring God only because God had blessed him. As God begins to question Job, He reveals Job’s ignorance and limitations of understanding: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4). It would be imprudent though to take this argument and use it to escape the command to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). A principle of automatic reward and punishment would, in fact, be a form of coercion, leaving no special realm in which man could exercise his moral freedom by doing the good from purely disinterested motives. Job explores the difficult question of God's relationship to human suffering and invites us to trust God's wisdom and character. It was a Semitic name. Rain falls on the desert, whereas it could have been directed only to the cultivated land where it is needed by men (38:26‑27). The Book of Job and the Paradox of Suffering, Read the full text of the Book of Job in Hebrew and English here, Why Tisha B’Av is Not Really About Mourning, Yom Kippur FAQ: All About the Day of Atonement, Rosh Hashanah FAQ: All About the Jewish New Year. But the story isn’t about what Job had and what he lost. While Christians should be cautious about claiming to identify God’s purposes behind specific incidents of injustice and suffering, the Bible does reveal insight into how God uses evil and suffering. “What cannot be comprehended through reason must be embraced in love.”. Copyright © 2020 BibleWise.com. “Hebrew ‘iyyób , traditionally related to ‘óyéb , ‘enemy’ [perhaps with passive meaning, ‘object of ill-will, persecuted’], but more probably the same name as Akkadian Ay-yabum , ‘where is [my] father?’). Accordingly, God’s speech can be construed to imply that material prosperity and misfortune do not constitute divine recompense or chastisement. Could you please clarify this subject (Job) in a footnote from a Bible;  The problem of theodicy is resolved through just this means in post-biblical Judaism. The Real Purpose of Job The Book of Job calls Christians to trust in the Lord humbly. Several scholars have turned to an earlier chapter of the book for the key to the divine speeches (chap. Job also intervened for his friends and God had mercy on them, despite their horrible advice. Therefore, God uses evil and suffering to facilitate the believer’s moral and spiritual maturity. Noun איבה ( 'eba) means enmity. At the core of Lamentations is an expression of faith in the human capacity to survive in a broken world. It is what Job learns about God through his suffering. Christians are indwelt and empowered for the mission of making disciples who make disciples with the full authority of Jesus (Matthew 28:16-20). God] keeps his cosmic wisdom from human beings, giving them instead a “fear of God” as their own precious and proper concern. Job is not finally given an answer to the problem of evil, nor is his question of why everything is happening to him ultimately answered. The author of Job may be denying one fundamental assumption of the narrative and prophetic books of the Bible, but his denial is consistent with another, even more fundamental assumption: that it is up to man to carry out God’s commandments and that this primary task must be done in society and actualized in the course of history. He is destined to suffer. job job ('iyobh, meaning of name doubtful; some conjecturing "object of enmity," others "he who turns," etc., to God; both uncertain guesses; Iob): The titular hero of the Book of Job, represented as a wealthy and pious land-holder who lived in patriarchal times, or at least conditions, in the land of Uz, on the borders of Idumea. A major difficulty in understanding the meaning of the book is, what insight leads Job to submit so humbly to God at the end. And he receives an answer from God. It is about what he learned through his suffering. He had ten children and was a man of great wealth. Amid our suffering, we look to Jesus, the author, and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). A quite different interpretation has been proposed by Matitiahu Tsevat in his essay, “The Meaning of the Book of Job.” Tsevat suggests that the content of God’s speech is intended to convey a picture of the universe deliberately at variance with that held previously by Job and the friends. Vol. First, that the divine voice does not answer Job’s complaint directly, but instead describes the wonders of creation, pointing to natural occurrences that surpass the limits of human understanding. The book reaffirms Job’s trust in God‑-and God’s trust in Job. An ambiguous divine speech is the subject of great scholarly debate. Job feared God and shunned evil, he stood witness for God during his trials, he earned God’s praise and blessings, and he lived out a worthy and meaningful life which is much admired by us today. The Book of Job calls Christians to trust in the Lord humbly. In this case, that could refer to someone who is a thief or a powerful man. Most people would think Job had it made. All rights reserved. Most interpreters agree that the ultimate theme of the book is the nature of the righteous man’s faith in God. Bible readers can inspect Job’s example and should conclude that justice prevailed in the end because God not only made restitution to Job, but he found himself more abundantly blessed than he had been before his suffering. It might not even be a Hebrew name. All rights reserved. The Bible tells us that one day Satan presented himself before God and God asked Satan what he thought of Job. The Armana Letters (Akkadian) (14th century BCE) refer to a Prince Ayyab. A Question about Job's Name. Relations between African Americans and Jews have evolved through periods of indifference, partnership and estrangement. However, even though the name doesn’t exist in Hebrew annals, scholars have found forms of the name in sources outside the Bible. They argue for a passive meaning. 17, Job 1-20. pp. You can follow him on Twitter at @davejjenkins, find him on Facebook at Dave Jenkins SOG, Instagram, read more of his writing at Servants of Grace, or sign to receive his newsletter. That word generally means, “return or repent.” It would, therefore, have the meaning of one who is penitent. When Elihu began to answer Job on behalf of God in chapters 32 through 37, he pointed out that Job had been wrongly focused during much of his trial. Documents from Alalakh (Akkadian) (18th century BCE) and Mari (Sumerian) (16th century BCE) include the name Ayyabum. The Lord’s speech to Job could be used to construct a theodicy based on the sovereignty of God; the clay has no right to question its potter (Romans 9:20-21). 1 Clines, David J.A. “Who is this that darkens counsel,” he asks, “by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2). Job’s affliction served as a discipline and worked to transform him into an even more righteous man. Job was not only righteous, but also wealthy. Job is the central figure of the Book of Job in the Bible. YHVH [i.e. Additionally, the Lord’s infinite knowledge is contrasted with Job’s limited human perspective. So it would be a reflection of how Job was thinking about God. One alternative that the author of Job did not consider was that the sufferings of the innocent might be compensated in a future life. Suffering exists because we live in a post-Genesis three world, where the Creation is cursed, and people are sinners by nature (Psalm 51), and choice (Romans 3:23; 6:23), and in need of the Lord who alone can save (Ephesians 2:8). So perhaps its meaning is something like a powerful or persistent foe. Nothing is explained, nothing adjusted; wrong has not become right, nor cruelty kindness. While there may be many Theodicies (from the Greek word Theos (“God”) and the root dik (“just”) found within its pages, Job has more to say about how the problem of evil and suffering are dealt with than the problem itself. ), Walther Eichrodt writes, “In the speeches of God in the book of Job, this God of men’s construction [the traditional theodicy of the friends] is opposed to the incomprehensibly wonderful Creator God, who cannot be caught in a system of reasonable purposes, but escapes all human calculation.”, Also taking note of the preoccupation with the beauties of nature in the speech from the whirl­wind, but drawing a less extreme conclusion, is Robert Gordis, who sug­gests that the author implies that there is an analogy between the harmonious order of the natural world and the moral order. Wild animals do not observe the tenets of human morality (38:15‑16). Renowned theologian Gesenius agrees with Jones and reads "object of enmity". All Rights Reserved. As the writer of Hebrews declares, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons” (Hebrews 12:7). The Book of Job is one of the most problematic portions of the Bible and has called forth a variety of interpretations. This name might have been derived from the Hebrew word for “persecution,” thus meaning “persecuted one.”. Job was humbled by the Lord when He revealed Himself to Job (Job 42:5-6). Considering the format of the prologue, where God wagers with Satan about Job’s health and response, this is an easier interpretation to accept. Reprinted with permission from Jewish People, Jewish Thought, published by Prentice Hall. But what God says to him does not answer the charge; it does not even touch upon it. The Book of Job serves more as a critique of theodicy than a source of theodicy. Rather, the focus is on what Job learns from his suffering. As Leon Roth states, “The book of Job turns on the question of the nature of religion: Can man serve God for naught?…When Job says, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him’ (13:15) [The second half of this verse may also be rendered, “yet will I argue with him.”.ed. The assuring guarantee for the Christian is that God does not allow evil and suffering to come into their lives without producing a greater good. The question Job faces is this: “Will Job serve the Lord for nothing when evil comes upon Him?” Job is never told why he is suffering or going through what he is — even by the Lord when He speaks to Job.