Lessons Learned from the Book of Job
I used to think of the Book of Job in a very shallow way. I viewed it as a story about how if you allow God to allow you to arbitrarily suffer for long enough, you will be rewarded. I imagined it as God wanting to win a bet against the devil with Job as collateral damage who ended up getting reimbursed for said damages at a very favorable rate.
But in reading the story again, in light of recent personal events, I connected with Job on a much deeper level and identified three major themes I’d missed previously:
- The empathy the text gives to those who suffer.
- The underlying assumptions about good and evil a just society must rest on.
- That Job’s suffering was not arbitrary but a gift.
First, I saw Job’s humanity. Much of his dialogue is simply a perfect description of the thoughts and feelings of a human who has lost pretty much everything and is laying on their deathbed due to excruciating illness and injury.
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and are spent without hope. (Job 7:6)
Remember that my life is wind; my eye will not return to see good. (Job 7:7)
The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more; set Your eyes upon me and I will be here no longer. (Job 7:8)
Just as a cloud is consumed and goes away, so will one who descends to the grave not ascend. (Job 7:9)
He shall never again return to his house, neither shall his place recognize him again. (Job 7:10)
Neither will I restrain my mouth; I will speak with the anguish of my spirit, I will complain with the bitterness of my soul. (Job 7:11)
Job depicts powerful universal human emotions. I didn’t realize it until I experienced those same emotions recently. It’s an important text for us to have because suffering is difficult. It’s as isolating for the average person as it is for Job. I would encourage anyone suffering to read this text because it makes you feel less alone like God knows exactly how you’re feeling and perhaps your suffering has a purpose.
Much of the problem with Job’s friends is their lack of empathy and compassion. It is annoying to be in agony on your deathbed describing your final thoughts and feelings while the people around you tell you you’re wrong and continually pressure you to confess to sins you did not commit.
Yet Job maintains a firm grip on his reality, which is incredibly difficult to do on your deathbed. He has a high level of integrity. He knows his truth and refuses to lie. For that matter, he knows THE truth and refuses to discard his accurate, yet contrarian views on what makes a person good or wicked as well as his assessment of how he measures up to those core values.
This difference in beliefs between Job and his friends is one of the most valuable takeaways from the story. In some ways, the Book of Job illustrates the dangers of allowing the wicked to shape common assumptions on how society ought to function while silencing contrarian voices of reason via economic and physical violence.
Let’s take a deeper look at the implications of both Job and his friends’ belief systems when spread to a societal level.
First, what do his friends believe? Their assumptions regarding Job’s wrongdoing stem entirely from observing his suffering. Their basic arguments can all be boiled down to the following format:
- The punishment for X iniquity is Y.
- You are suffering from Y.
- Therefore, you are guilty of X.
Based on this logic and way of observing the world, their internal models necessitate a belief that:
- Economic Prosperity = Moral Goodness
- Poverty = Inherent Wickedness
This creates a society where the wicked are allowed to prey on the most vulnerable populations and feel morally superior because the resulting economic gain = increased moral goodness and they view the vulnerable as deserving to suffer because being economically and socially vulnerable proves they are wicked.
Job’s contrarian views, on the other hand, use a very different system for evaluating moral goodness vs wickedness: the effect one has on other humans, especially the most vulnerable populations and the wicked who prey upon them. Instead of judging an individual by what they HAVE, Job observes and thinks critically about what they DO, or their behavioral patterns.
When he describes the behavioral patterns of the wicked, much of it centers around oppressing the most vulnerable through economic violence, like robbing them of what little money and food they have, making them harvest your crops without paying or feeding them with a share of the literal fruits of their labor, or stealing their clothes, all of which cause them to starve to death and/or perish naked outdoors from the elements.
They lead away the orphan’s donkey; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. (Job 24:3)
They make the needy turn off the road; the poor of the land hide together. (Job 24:4)
Behold, [as] wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking prey; the wilderness yields bread for his young men. (Job 24:5)
In the field, they reap his produce, and the wicked gather the plants of the vineyard. (Job 24:6)
They make them lie all night naked without clothing and without a cover in the cold. (Job 24:7)
From the stream of the mountains they become wet, and without shelter they embrace the rocks. (Job 24:8)
They rob from the breast of the orphan, and they take a pledge from a poor man. (Job 24:9)
They made [him] go naked without clothing and [from] the hungry they carried off the sheaves. (Job 24:10)
Between their rows they make oil; they tread the winepresses but they are thirsty. (Job 24:11)
From the city people groan, and the soul of the slain cries out; yet God does not impute it for unseemliness. (Job 24:12)
On the flip side, Job recognizes his own moral goodness because he evaluates his behavioral patterns critically. For example, before he lost everything and nearly died, he fought the truly wicked tooth and nail to prevent abuse toward, and took care of (feeding/clothing), the most vulnerable populations, especially orphans and widows.
For the ear [that] heard praised me, and the eye [that] saw bore witness for me. (Job 29:11)
For I would deliver the poor who cried out, and the orphan, and one who had no one to help him. (Job 29:12)
The blessing of the lost one would come upon me, and I would make the widow’s heart sing for joy. (Job 29:13)
I put on righteousness and it clothed me; like a coat and a turban was my judgment. (Job 29:14)
I was eyes for the blind, and I was feet for the lame. (Job 29:15)
I was a father to the needy, and a cause that I did not know, I would investigate. (Job 29:16)
A society in which each person is judged solely by their behavioral patterns and whether they abuse/oppress or protect/care for others, especially the most vulnerable populations in the community, is extremely difficult for the wicked to manipulate, which brings us to the third important idea in Job.
Job’s suffering was not arbitrary. Nor was it intended to simply prove a point or win a bet. It was a gift from God which allowed him to do more of the good work he loved. The increased wealth was not simply a personal reward for enduring suffering but rather an investment by God meant to help Job scale his internal model and spread his good works throughout the community.
It’s true that fine clothing and increased wealth sounds nice, but if Job had a behavioral pattern of using his wealth and influence to help the poor and the downtrodden, what would God expect him to do with the increased wealth and influence given to him after his suffering?
And if Job had a behavioral pattern of fiercely protecting the vulnerable at the expense of the wicked, what would God expect him to use his newfound “superpowers” for?
I broke the fangs of the unjust, and plucked the prey out of his teeth. (Job 29:17)
Just as fire is necessary to break gold down to a malleable enough point to be shaped into its most valuable forms, God tricked the devil into breaking Job down to his most malleable form in order to re-shape him into the most fearsome warrior of wickedness imaginable. This was the ultimate gift because it allows him to fulfill his life’s work/passion at a greater level than he could ever have dreamed of on his own.
On the dust there is none that rules over him, which is not made to be dismayed. (Job 41:25)
I like this description as it shows what the rest of Job’s life looked like. I also like the alternative translation in my grandmother’s Catholic bible as it encapsulates why the rest of his life looked that way.
There is no power upon Earth that can be compared with him who was made to fear no one. (Job 41:24)
