What Does Job Teach Us About Suffering?

A Few Thoughts to Consider

What is the Book of Job all about?

Some believe Job is the oldest book of the Bible. “However, the theological emphases of the book of Job seem to indicate that the concerns the book is addressing are much later, perhaps from the exilic period, and addressed to Israelites. So, while the book may contain information about events that happened long before, the book seems to have been written much later than Genesis was written.”^[1]

Commentators are likewise divided on whether Job was a fictional or literal character. As Gerald Wilson writes, “The book of Job is by far one of the most difficult Hebrew texts in the OT.”^[2] Wilson adds, “The difficulties do not undermine our confidence in the message of the book as a whole, but they do render precise interpretation of many passages difficult, if not impossible.”^[3] Based on this, Wilson concludes, "The difficulty of the text ought to recommend caution and humility in our interpretation of this book.”^[4] In the opening three verses of Chapter 1, we find a nice summary of Job.

¹  There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of complete integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil. ² He had seven sons and three daughters. ³ His estate included seven thousand sheep and goats, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east.

As the narrative goes, during a celestial assembly, Satan challenges Job's faith, arguing that his piety is solely due to his abundant blessings. To test Job's integrity, God permits Satan to strip away his wealth, children, and health but forbids taking his life. Job endures immense losses—including the death of his children and the destruction of his property—yet he refuses to curse God. In his affliction, his wife urges him to abandon his faith, but he rebukes her, maintaining his devotion.

This sets up an exchange between Job and his three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—who arrive to comfort him.