In the End, It’s All Good, Or Is it? —Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 23B (Job 42)

William Blake, "Job and His Family Restored to Prosperity"

 Job 42:1-6, 10-17 New Revised Standard VersionUpdated Edition

42 Then Job answered the Lord:

² “I know that you can do all things
    and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
³ ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me that I did not know.
⁴ ‘Hear, and I will speak;
    I will question you, and you declare to me.’
⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
    but now my eye sees you;
⁶ therefore I despise myself
    and repent in dust and ashes.”

¹⁰ And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends, and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. ¹¹ Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. ¹² The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning, and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. ¹³ He also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵ In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. ¹⁶ After this Job lived one hundred and forty years and saw his children and his children’s children, four generations. ¹⁷ And Job died, old and full of days.

                ***********

                Our four-week journey through Job, where we hit some of the highlights (or is it low lights?), comes to an end. As they say, “All is well that ends well.” For Job, it seems like he lands on his feet. Yes, he’s somewhat humbler than at an earlier point, but everything seems to work out for him. For many readers, the end of Job is a bit of a letdown. We start with a wager that leads to the death of Job’s children, the destruction of his lands, and an attack on his own body. Then, we have the so-called friends who, at first seem to treat him with some respect and empathy, but then later turn on him when he won’t admit to being the cause of his misfortune.

                In the previous chapters, a portion of which we looked at the week before, God responds to Job’s complaints. In doing so, it appears that God puts Job in his place. When Job finally gets to respond, all he can say is “I know that you can do all things.” Yes, God had made it clear that no one could do what God can do. That went for Job as well. So, Job throws up his hands and affirms God’s potency. Yes, “no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” It’s true, God made a good case. God had challenged Job to put up or shut up, and all Job could do was shut up. He had been defeated, or at the very least he admitted his ignorance when it came to the things of God.

          Job, now humbled by God, admits that he “uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” He had heard of God but now had seen God with his eyes. As a result, Job tells God that he despises himself and repents in dust and ashes. Yes, Job had been defeated. God won. That’s the way it is supposed to be is it not?

                Job’s confession that there was much that he didn’t know or understand is appropriate. There is much that I do not know or understand about God, the world, the universe, and my self. I’ve reached the point in life where I must admit that I’m numbered among the senior citizens. I now draw Medicare! I’ve lived the better part of my life span. I will admit that I still have much to learn. Perhaps that’s what Job is saying here. He had discovered that he might know some things but not everything, especially the kinds of things God knows since God’s experiences are much greater than those of a human being.

                What God impressed upon Job is what Isaiah revealed about God. Job is reminded that God sits on a throne, high and lifted up, surrounded by the heavenly host singing God’s praises (Is. 6:1-3). Who can resist such a God as this? Yet, the picture painted of God at the beginning is of a somewhat petty monarch, who permits a staff person to torment Job just to prove a point. Yes, Job is a righteous man, but even he can only take so much suffering without pushing back. Thus, what we see here is somewhat anti-climactic.

                After Job humbly repents of his temerity to question God’s greatness, God turns on Job’s friends/tormenters. The lectionary skips over these verses, but they are intriguing. The friends served as God’s defenders. They wanted to defend orthodoxy, at least as they saw it. They didn’t appreciate Job questioning their belief system. No one does. This is why heresy trials have been undertaken regularly. While Job gives in to God’s self-defense, God has a word to give to these defenders of orthodoxy. They either misrepresented God or took on a role that wasn’t necessary. As we’ve seen, God is quite capable of putting up a fitting defense. Even Job gives in. 

                It is possible that the book of Job originally ended in verse 6, nevertheless, in verses 7-9, which the Revised Common Lectionary omits, God lays into Job’s companions. The author speaks of the wrath of God being kindled against the three friends. In that state, God tells Eliphaz that he and his two friends have misrepresented God in their response to Job. Job is the one who spoke the truth about God. So, God tells Eliphaz and his two friends to take seven bulls and rams and offer up a burnt offering with Job presiding. One must assume that the sacrifice didn’t involve the entirety of the animals, so perhaps Job got to benefit from this. As for Job, his responsibility would be to pray for his inquisitors. If Job prays for them God will receive his prayers. As a result, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did as God instructed, and God received Job’s prayer. 

                The Book of Job ends much like a fairy tale. The final section (verses 10-17) tells us that Job and his family lived happily ever after. Disney couldn’t have provided a better conclusion to this challenging book. After a series of unfortunate events (permitted by God) that wiped out Job’s family and fortune and even caused him great suffering, everything seems to go back to some form of normality. After Job prayed for his friends, God restored his fortune. God gave Job twice what he had accumulated before disaster struck. That’s landing on your feet! The author even describes a family reunion with Job’s brothers and sisters, along with everyone who knew him, joining in a meal at Job’s house. His family and his friends showed compassion and sympathy for all he had suffered. Oh, and each person gave Job some money and a gold ring. He had suffered greatly and went up against his friends and God, but now he’s being blessed. After all, he was a righteous man.  Thus, Job was not responsible for the calamities that came upon him, even if that was the message his friends tried to impress upon him.

One person who isn’t mentioned to this point in the “happily ever after” portion of the story is Job’s wife. I have to wonder where she is. Last we saw of her; she was telling Job to curse God and suffer the consequences. While she is not mentioned, it appears she did play a role in the aftermath of Job’s trials. You see, the narrator lets us know that not only was Job blessed financially, but he got a new family as well. Yes, he was blessed with seven sons and three daughters. The daughters were the most beautiful women in the land. It’s interesting that the narrator doesn’t name the sons but does name the daughters. Job had three daughters, Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-Happuch, of whom it is said that “in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters.” In another break from tradition, not only were the three daughters named, but they got to share in the inheritance along with their brothers.  While these are unusual revelations, perhaps the message is that his children got to share in Job’s blessings. That seems to fit with how Job was described in chapter one. He took good care of his children (his first family). For example, he offered sacrifices for them in case they fell short of righteousness. Even if not stated, we can assume that his wife got to share in the blessings!

More good news, for Job at least, is that after all his trials and tribulations, he got to live a long life of one hundred and forty more years. As we read elsewhere in the Old Testament, especially the genealogies, lengthy lives suggested divine blessings. However, it has been pointed out that  “all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years, and he died” (Gen. 5:26). He lived longer than anyone but apparently had little to show for it. Nevertheless, things went well for Job after his trials and tribulations came to an end. He was blessed with thousands of sheep, donkeys, and oxen. He even got to see the birth of four generations of descendants. Then he died, “old and full of days!”

Job gets celebrated for his “patience” and “integrity.” While we can sympathize with him, the story itself is troubling. At one level it does seem to respond to the retribution doctrine in that blessings flow to the righteous, while the wicked are punished or cursed. That’s the message the friends offered Job, but here in chapter 42, God tells them that they got it wrong. Thus, there is something positive to say here about the message of this book. However, the book offers a problematic picture of God. Here is a God who makes wagers with one of his employees, allowing that agent of God to torture this servant of God, just to see if he’ll stay faithful. Thus, the picture we get here at points is a God who is something of a bully. In God’s lengthy response to Job, God almost seems to be a narcissist. Look at me, God tells Job. I can do great things, so be quiet in my presence. There is more to the story of Job than this, but questions do get raised that require careful analysis and response. One way of looking at the story is to focus not on God’s true nature, but on how we understand what it means to be righteous or faithful. It’s worth pointing out again that in the section omitted by the Revised Common Lectionary, where God speaks to the friends, God lets them know that Job was right about what caused Job’s misfortune. It wasn’t Job’s wickedness or unfaithfulness. It’s just the way things worked out.

The story of Job, whether intended or not, is a form of theodicy, a defense of God in the face of evil and trauma. From time immemorial people have been asking why bad things happen to people. While we may reap what we sow, too often the question is why bad things happen to good people. Lutheran theologian Deanna Thompson devotes considerable attention to the story of Job in her book Glimpsing Resurrection. In that book, she addresses the reality of trauma that many face in light of Job’s story. She writes that what she finds most intriguing about the story of Job, especially in light of serious illness (something she has experienced dealing with cancer) “is the way in which it can be interpreted as an antitheodicy. Rather than answering the question of God’s justice related to Job’s suffering, the story offers something else; a realistic story about Job’s undoneness that refuses to validate tidy explanations of sufferings and, in the end, opens a way to continue on in the aftermath of great suffering, even when answers are not forthcoming” [Glimpsing Resurrection, pp. 89-90]. As someone who has found attempts to create theodicies unfruitful, this is a helpful word. She continues, writing:

And perhaps most important, the book of Job models a relationship with the Divine that allows for anger, grief, complaint, and protest, a relationship that may not yield clear answers regarding the reason for suffering but one that can move between tragedy and joy, and one that dares to include laughter even when the risks of living are intimately understood. [Glimpsing Resurrection, p. 99].  

While Job is often offered up as a theodicy, perhaps that’s not what it does for us. This story doesn’t give us a full answer as to why bad things happen to good people. It raises questions but doesn’t tell us who God is. Yes, the God who speaks in the book of Job talks a lot about what God can do, but who is this God who has allowed Satan to torment Job? As we reach the end of the story, it becomes clear that we might have to look elsewhere for an answer. After all, if love is part of God’s identity, we don’t see that side portrayed in Job. Power yes, love, not so much. In the end, the book leaves us with no easy answers as to why people experience suffering and trauma.  

The story ends on a high note with good things flowing to Job. It’s almost as if everything that transpired before that moment in the story is meaningless. With that, the story might have ended, but the creators of this story have chosen to end on a high note. Of course, that’s not the way life always turns out. I know too many good people who have suffered great tragedies, including deaths. I think back to when I was nine years old. One of my classmates, Jill, a girl I had a little boy’s crush on, died on the way to school when a train hit the car she was riding in. As a result of that crash, Jill and her father were killed. That happened nearly sixty years ago, but that memory stays with me. So, maybe it’s best to end with verse 6, and simply kneel before God in sackcloth and ashes and ask why, even if no answers are forthcoming.    

 Image Attribution: Blake, William, 1757-1827. Job and His Family Restored to Prosperity, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57710 [retrieved October 19, 2024]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Job_and_His_Family_Restored_to_Prosperity_Butts_set.jpg.