Introduction. Read Job1

Many uncertainties surround Job. Although the story may be set in the time of the Patriarchs it could have been written much later. The author is unknown. It is not even clear whether he was a Jew or a non-Jew. Of only one thing can we be sure. He was a brilliant writer. The location of the land of Uz where Job lived is also a subject of some debate. However there are some clues as to its whereabouts. It was in the east and on the margins of cultivation. Job was mainly a livestock rancher but he also cultivated some of his land. The large number of camels he owned suggests Job prospered in a semi-desert or steppe like location.

I will deal with the first chapter of Job under four headings:

(1) Job was a righteous man.

(a) He pleased God.

Job pleased God because he was:

• Blameless. This means he lived in a right relationship with both God and man. He gave God and his neighbour their due.

• Upright. We might say of him in modern parlance: He was as straight as a die.

• God fearing. This does not mean Job was in abject terror of God but that he honoured, respected and depended upon God.

• Averse to evil. He shunned evil. Job's behaviour was exemplary.

This does not mean that Job was without sin. He was probably a man very much like Abraham whose faith God credited to him for righteousness. However, we know Abraham sinned on more than one occasion. But it does seem as though the author of Job has a more optimistic view of human nature than Paul. Job was not so dead in trespasses and sins that he could not please God. See exposition on Ephesians2v1to10. God approved of Job in spite of him not being a Jew or benefitting from God's providential dealing with his people in delivering them from Egypt and into the Promised Land.

There are other characters like Job in the Scriptures: Melchizedek king of Salem and priest of God Most High in the time of Abraham, Jethro the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses and Cyrus king of Persia who allowed the Jews in exile to return home. These three men, like Job and Abraham, worshipped the one true God of creation and providence.

We shouldn't be surprised if there are today adherents of other religions who fall into the same category as Job.

(b) He cared for the spiritual well-being of his children.

Job was concerned when his children attended banquets which lasted several days and to which he and his wife were not invited that they may have forgotten and and dishonoured God. Perhaps these feasts were birthday celebrations but it does seem strange, if such was the case, that Job was not present. It seems likely then that these parties were wild and extravagant affairs that would not have met with the wholehearted approval of Job.

Job may well in the circumstances have been justified in sending for his seven sons and three daughters and insisting they participate in some unspecified purification ritual. He also got up early in the morning and made burnt offerings for each of his children - ten in all. A burnt offering was made to God in expiation for any sins committed.

There is a reminder here that the first priority of Christian parents should be the spiritual welfare of their children. It seems to me that some Christians are more concerned about the sporting prowess or academic success of their children than their standing with God. It doesn't really matter that much whether a son or daughter goes to university or gets a prestigious job. Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul."

(c) He wasn't corrupted by success and wealth.

The New Testament has much to say about the danger of riches. Jesus famously said that it was harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Job's devotion to God was not diminished by his prosperity. This is evident in three ways:

• Job didn't take all the credit for his success. He wasn't self-congratulatory like the rich fool in Jesus' parable. See exposition on Luke12v13to21. Job undoubtedly worked hard to become the greatest man among all the people of the East but he recognised that without God's help he could not have achieved what he did. His testimony was, "The Lord gave."

• Job's wealth didn't give him a false sense of security. A man who was so anxious to atone for his children's sins would certainly be careful to maintain his own good relationship with God. He would not take God's blessings for granted.

• Job never felt he could do without God unlike so many who live in Western Europe today. Job needed God, respected God and depended upon him.

Job's example has much to teach us. I am pretty sure that the confidence and sense of well being of many Christians has more to do with their good job, material prosperity and standing in the community than their faith in God.

(2) The adversaries observation.

The author imagines an adversary among the angels in the court of heaven. The adversary said what many of us still say, indeed, what I often think, "It's all right for him ...... ."

The adversary makes a two-fold accusation. He accuses:

• God of encouraging a cupboard love in Job. He has blessed Job's work and protected him from serious adversity thereby making it easy for the great man of the east to believe in a God of benign providence. "Does Job fear God for nothing," said the adversary.

• Job of respecting God for what he gets out of it. He has been blessed with success and protected from calamity so it is little wonder he respects and honours God.

If every Christian was healthy, wealthy and wise there is no doubt that people would be attracted to the Faith for the wrong reasons. They would come to Jesus for earthly success and prosperity and not for salvation from sin and a lifetime of dedicated service. The apostle Paul, most influential of all Christ's followers, was poor, dressed in rags, often in chains, beaten up, hungry, thirsty, sick, stoned, shipwrecked, maligned, traduced, undervalued and misunderstood. He looked for his reward - but not in this life.

It is evident that Christians cannot be spared as a group the calamities that befall humanity. This is NOT the way they are different from the non-believer.

(3) God allows Job to experience a series of catastrophes.

The adversary is given permission by God to orchestrate a series of major, devastating disasters. The Sabeans carried off Job's oxen and donkeys and massacred his farm hands. His sheep and shepherds perished in lightening triggered, ferocious, grassland fires. The Chaldeans stole his camels and slaughtered his camel herders. Finally a tornado struck the house in which his children were feasting and killed them all. Job was ruined as a business man and bereft of his family.

Now it must be said that the calamities that befell Job are the sort that befall mankind without any input from Satan.

Evil men through the centuries have pillaged, murdered and raped. Whole Jewish families were wiped out in the holocaust. It is unjust to blame God for human greed and brutality. If God stepped in every time such atrocities occurred mankind would no longer be free. God puts a higher premium on our freedom than upon justice. Nor can Satan be blamed for the sins we commit.

Natural disasters of the sort described here - lightning and grassland fires and tornadoes still take lives iniscriminately - both the good and the bad. Natural disasters are part and parcel of the earth being the way it is. If God stopped volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, earthquakes and avalanches not only would the earth have to be different but so, too, would the universe. I would suggest that man exposed himself to natural disasters when he, perforce, moved out of the safe environment of Eden. Adam and Eve left Eden because of their disobedience and mankind was never safe again.

It is hard for us to know what powers Satan has. They are limited because God keeps him in check. He is obviously able to mount an attack on numerous people all over the world at once. He is not confined to being in one place at a time as, perhaps, the account suggests. It appears that the adversary orchestrated the calamities that befell Job so that they occurred all at once and consequently constituted a devastating blow.

I have experienced what I thought at the time was Satanic timing. When I looked after my father I sent various articles to religious publications. It would have greatly improved my morale if some of them had been accepted. I can recall opening a letter from one such magazine to which I had submitted an article and reading the editor's rejection slip. I was very disappointed. At that very moment I looked at my father who was supposedly eating his breakfast. He was carving a hole in the tablecloth. The combination of these two events triggered an outburst of bitter rage. I am sure Satan got the timing right to tip me over the edge.

The purpose of the calamities Job experienced was to gauge from his reaction whether his high regard for God was genuine and could survive catastrophe.

Job's reaction to disaster.

(a) Job acknowledged that all his previous blessings were a gift from God. He said, "The Lord gave .... ."

Some might argue that Job worked for his success but without his faculties, his health, his fertility and good fortune - all in God's gift - he would never have been wealthy or had 10 children.

(b) The great man of the east exhibits a degree of fatalism. He came into the world with nothing and he is bound to leave with nothing. His severe losses do but anticipate his death when he will lose everything.

I feel this way when an old friend or relative goes to end their days in a residential home. They have to say goodbye to almost all their possessions. It is a kind of prelude to death.

(c) Job praises the God of creation and all good things. He has been wealthy - some never were - or are! On a Saturday in summer when the sun is bright and the sky is blue and the outfield of Brockley Cricket Club gleams like green velvet I feel very frustrated that old age and decrepitude prevents me from playing the game. On such occasions it is time to remember all the pleasure I have had which has been denied to many with no eye for a ball.

Perhaps Job realised that ultimately everyone is treated in the same way. Whatever blessings we have had in this life death robs us of them all.

(d) Job didn't turn against God. He didn't curse God as the adversary said he would. Strictly speaking the raids by the Sabeans and Chaldeans were not God's fault. The disasters brought about by the tornado and lightning were a consequence of the sin that drove Adam and Eve out of Eden. One could also argue that steps could have been taken to guard against the two natural disasters. Job's sons could have built bunkers for refuge against tornadoes. It would have been sensible for Job to have divided his sheep into a number of small flocks as an insurance against grass fires. When all is said and done it was the adversary who orchestrated the calamities to befall Job.

But, if like Job you ascribe your prosperity and well being to God, then you have to hold him ultimately responsible for your change in fortune. At the very least you need a plausible explanation for why God permits calamities to occur. Job neither received an explanation nor was he able to provide one for himself - as we shall see!

Conclusion.

The real and troubling question posed by Job 1 is, to what extent does God protect those that believe in him? Job suffered the most appalling loss to prove to the adversary - and to all like him - what God knew anyway. Was this worth the intense suffering Job endured? It is a grievous blow to lose all your children in a single disaster!

Samuel Medley wrote in one of his hymns:

Though I cannot His goings see,
Nor all his footsteps find;
Too wise to be mistaken, He,
Too good to be unkind.

The encouraging aspect of the story of Job's trials is that God set limits. See v12. I strongly believe that God sets limits on the suffering of his people. Nowhere is this more evident than at the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus did not die along with the two thieves. When his work was done God allowed him to dismiss his spirit. Jesus agony was foreshortened - a truth overlooked by the majority of Christians. Nature didn't take its course! I believe this sets a precedent for doctors to relieve pain in terminally ill patients even if it hastens their deaths.

God does set limits on the extent to which his church is persecuted. Periods of intense persecution tend not to be protracted.

Hereafter He will make me know
And I shall surely find,
He was too wise to err, and O
Too good to be unkind!