Questions in the Book of Job

Job’s Questions

"6Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." 8And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" 9Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason? 10Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face." 12And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD."

The passage above from the first chapter of Job highlights the way in which the drama and great themes of Job will unfold – via a series of questions. Reading through Job, one should pay particular attention to the questions being asked, and of course the answers being given as well.

‘Why is light given to those whose way is hedged in?” – 3:20

“Can mankind be just before God, can a man be pure before his Maker?” – 4:17

“Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men?” – 7:20

“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?” – 11:7

“Who can make the clean out of the unclean?” – 14:4

“If a man dies, will he live again?” – 14:14

“How then can a man be just with God? How can he be clean who is born of woman?” – 25:4

These are just a few crucial examples. Let us not forget that the book also reaches its climax with God asking Job a few questions of his own!

“Who is this…where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” – 38:2,4

“Will the fault-finder contend with the Almighty?” – 40:2

“Will you condemn me that you may be justified?” – 40:8

Over the next several days we will consider Job and the vital questions asked in the course of his sorrows and restoration. By way of introduction, the LXX (Septuagint – the Greek version of the OT) translates ‘Uz’ in 1:1as “Ausitis”. The LXX contains additional verses to Job (42:19-22) that supply biographical data and locate Ausitis as a land located on the border between Edom and Arabia (42:19). According to these extra-canonical verses, Job’s wife was also from Arabia, and he was a descendent of Esau, in the fifth generation from Abraham (42:20). That would make Job a Gentile, one of the ‘God-fearers’. By the way, the book is famous for translation difficulties and textual problems. None of this takes away from the central thrust of the questions being asked in the book and the overwhelming devotional and pastoral help offered by its sublime poetry.

And what of Satan (Hebrew – ‘Adversary’) showing up in heaven? A lot of the Patristics believed that heaven was inaccessible to the enemy, and that he had entered among the angels, but could not approach the throne of God. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote of the episode, “He was in the Lord’s sight, but Lord was not in his sight. When a blind man stands in the sun, he is bathed by the sun’s rays, but he still does not see the light by which he is lit.” That said, Satan does seek to accuse the brethren, and is thrown down out of heaven by Michael the archangel (Revelation 12), while we also see the devil making accusations in God’s presence in the vision recorded in Zechariah 3:1ff.

In the case of Job however, the accuser is not raising issues with Job, but with God himself. His accusation goes something like this: “Job? So what! He serves you because of how good you are to him – the same reason that my servants cling to me. Yahweh, you and me are just alike and so are our followers.” Not so, of course. We do not cling to God because of how good he is to us (and he is, eternally so!), but rather because of who God is – our Creator and Redeemer. Job lost all, and fell down to worship God (Job 1:20-22), openly exposing in his trial the vicious accusation of the enemy to be false.

And then come the questions!