Nothing made sense. Job was a good man, wealthy, pious, loved, and busy being righteous. And suddenly he lost everything. Sooner or later, most people who think about faith and suffering turn to the Bible’s book of Job. In his tragic life and difficult faith, Job symbolizes all people across time and circumstances. Job wasn’t even a Jew. He is described as living in the land of Uz, outside of the territory associated with Israel.
Virginia Woolf wrote to a friend, “Last night I finally read the book of Job. I don’t think God comes out of it very well.” The happy ending, in which Job regains everything he lost because of his faithfulness, seems to have been added, perhaps to soften the less flattering light cast on God.
Despite his great faith, Job found himself on a heap of ashes, plagued by futility and terrible pain. In Stephen Mitchell’s translation, Job cries out, “Oh my God, the day I was born,” but this is not exactly an expression of “Job’s patience.”
However, the central question of this story is not why bad things happen to good people, the so-called “mystery of evil,” but rather why good things happen, the mystery of goodness. Why is it worth dying for beauty and love? Courage, kindness and laughter? Why does music exist despite everything? One poet said: “To make injustice the only measure we pay attention to is to glorify the devil.”
The story of Job challenges our tendency to project our moral order onto the world and blame God for breaking the rules. Proud people are rarely humbled and evil often prevails. It is not because of any failure on God’s part, but because the world is not designed to conform to our moral expectations. Retributive justice is our system, not God’s system. The story of Job asks what it means to be human when God is truly understood to be God.
By pointing out the complexity of creation, it is as if God were telling Job, “If you don’t like the way things are, do it your way – and if you rid the world of evil, I will praise you.” ” seems to be saying.
At the end of the day, Job is grateful to be humbled, happy to be a human being, a creature made of dust, and happy to live before God without the dopamine rush of denial. Unable to close his heart to unjust suffering, Job faced a sense of emptiness made worse by his own desires. In the face of a mysterious sovereignty greater than any law, Job discovered that absolute judgment is mercy.
Robert Frost imagines God saying: “That was the nature of the trial, which you were not supposed to understand at the time. To be meaningful, it had to seem meaningless.” Job’s friends kept coming up with various explanations and justifications. turmoil, but no one brought peace.
As I read about Job’s friends, I couldn’t help but think of the night our family’s adopted son, Tony, died in a motorcycle accident. It happened so fast that two cars hit him at once. My friends had their own reasons, their own explanations. They always told me how lucky I was that Tony had me, like an absentee father. I just let them talk and nodded when needed.
Job’s words resonated. “If only you were silent! That would be wisdom to you” (Job 13:5). (I often scoff at anything that looks like it!)
You already know that after you lose someone, or your health, there is a point where words no longer mean anything, but gratitude remains. What matters is something simpler and more physical. Just knowing someone is there to hold your hand or give you a hug.
Music can also help. You’ll know what to play. For me, it’s “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers. The global hit transcends sentimentality with a timeless message of unity in difficult times. Withers wrote this song out of admiration for the community he left behind after leaving his small mining town and moving to Los Angeles. He later said: In my experience, there are actually people like that. Even in the rural South, they will help you. There were people who helped me regardless of race. Someone who is probably standing in the mob who might lynch you if you anger them will help you in another way. ”
Withers later performed his song alongside Stevie Wonder and John Legend at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here in Cleveland. (Video 4:54)
Sometimes you don’t know what to do or say and just being there can make a big difference. As the song goes, “It won’t be long until I need someone to lean on too.” Job forgave his friends. After all, just like God’s mercy, mercy became his final act of grace.
notes and reading
”God’s Word to Job” from mask of reason Written by Robert Frost (1945). A comedy play performed as a fictional 43rd chapter of the Book of Job, which traditionally only has 42 chapters. Frost, a sentimental fan, was a master of irony. Irony is not just a tool, it’s the truest way to say things as they are.
Virginia Woolf’s words appear in a letter she wrote to a friend (April 7, 1933). Woolf had a lifelong interest in religion and theology, but was often critical of traditional religious doctrine. The letter is part of Virginia Woolf’s Lettersa collection that captures her thoughts on a wide range of subjects.
book of job – Stephen Mitchell (1987). Mitchell is a noted translator and independent scholar whose works include: Tao Te Ching, epic of gilgamesh, Bhagavad Gitaa poem by Rainer Maria Rilke.
music despite everything… “To make injustice the only measure of our attention is to glorify the devil.” – Jack Gilbert”Preparatory documents for the defense,” reject heaven (2005). Gilbert (d. 2012) is an American poet known for his meditative poems based on his own life experiences.
“Persue the justice of retribution – it’s like a message from God…” – Excerpt from “The Sense of the Book of Job” – Alan Cooper (Indiana University Press), 1997. Cooper is the president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and previously a singer in a doo-wop band. Sha Nana, The song became famous when Jimi Hendrix opened for him at Woodstock in 1969. Cooper holds joint professorships in Biblical Studies at both Union Theological Seminary and JTS.
bill withers – Photos and interviews, song facts“The humble Bill Withers is a soul music legend, revered for his elegant songwriting and passionate yet gentle voice.”
Job forgave his friends. – Although the text does not explicitly mention “forgiveness,” Job’s prayer to his friends can be seen as a gesture of reconciliation, in which Job, vindicated by God, apologizes for his friends’ previous troubles. It is implied that he allowed such advice. (Job 42:7-9)
Approximately 2+2=5: https://williamgreen.substack.com/about – revision
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
