The Trial of Job

“You have heard of the perseverance of Job,” wrote St. James, “and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

The Trial of Job: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Job, by Patrick Henry Reardon

In this book, Reardon offers a chapter-by-chapter look at the book of Job. There are a handful of seemingly “problematic” books and episodes in the Old Testament, and this certainly is one of them.

Reardon starts with this verse from James, as it points directly to the theme of the book: a just man who is tried in his faith. The context of this passage from James is in reference to the prophets who offered examples of suffering and patience. Job is the only figure explicitly named by James in this passage.

James is returning to a theme from earlier in his letter:

James 1: 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Christians have long looked at Job as just such a man: loyal, longsuffering, godly, put on trial for his faith. This perspective has been the case even in the first and second centuries. Job’s sufferings were occasioned by Satan. In other words, his fight was not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of this dark age.

The last chapter of the book, chapter 42, offers not only the resolution to this drama, but also provides the key to Job’s character.

Job 42: 7(b) …the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”

They do as the Lord commands, and Job prays for these friends. From this, Job receives double of what he had before. Job is seen as an effective petitioner, as the friends are restored to God’s favor because of Job’s prayers. Further, Job is restored because he prayed for his friends.

A side note on the doubling of all that Job lost (and I heard this interpretation elsewhere): God did not grant Job twice as many children. Further, children aren’t cattle, that by replacing their number (or double their number) a parent can be considered made whole.

Through the lens of eternity (and what other lens would a righteous man like Job look through), Job did receive double of his children. He had ten children, now he has twenty. Nothing of the suffering goes away, nothing of the pain. However, this is how the restoration of his children might be understood.

Returning to Reardon, Job’s intercessory prayer at the end of the book reflects his intercession on behalf of his children in the first chapter. Reardon sees the events of chapters 2 through 37 as a kind of Satanic interruption to Job’s life of prayer.

The book of Job is considered a wisdom book, not like Proverbs, more like Ecclesiastes. The book of Proverbs offers themes of fidelity to inherited standards, respect for the teaching of parents and elders, adherence to historical legacies. A book of practical prudence, conveyed by short, pithy sayings, easily memorized. All four of Plato’s virtues can be found in these sayings.

The book of Proverbs does not raise theoretical reflections on the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life. The books of Job and Ecclesiastes are not this type of book. These address the meaning of human existence, how to reconcile evil and suffering with the existence of an all-good, all-wise, and almighty God.

How to deal with the suffering of those who do not deserve to suffer. Job lived the wisdom of the Proverbs in an exemplary manner. This didn’t protect him from all manner of evil. His friends would try to “comfort” him via this wisdom found in Proverbs, but they brought no comfort.

Throughout the book, Job struggles with what he perceives as his own righteousness, but by the time God comes into the story directly to explain to Job their relative positions, Job recognizes the folly of his self-view.

This is the whole Bible’s definitive word, in fact, about the prospects of human righteousness: that it won’t work. One finds salvation only in faith, repentance, a healthy contempt of self, and a saving trust in God’s fidelity to His promises.

The same themes one finds in the epistles of Paul.

Conclusion

Reardon offers that this is not a commentary to be placed on the same platform as the commentaries on Job from Gregory the Great and John Chrysostom. Instead, this commentary is “a plain book for plain readers.”

Nowhere on these pages will anyone discover the faintest trace of scholarship.

Just like my blog!

Next follows a chapter-by-chapter review of the book of Job. Certainly, I will cover a few chapters at a time while working through Reardon’s book.