Job
“Persecuted or object of enmity”
Summary
A patriarch of the land of Uz, renowned for his righteousness and for his patient endurance through extreme suffering, whose story addresses the profound question of why the righteous suffer and demonstrates God's sovereignty over all things.
☩Character and Prosperity
Job was a man of the land of Uz (possibly in northern Arabia near Edom), described as 'perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil.' His wealth was immense—seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses, and a very great household—making him 'the greatest of all the men of the east.' He had seven sons and three daughters, for whom he regularly offered burnt offerings, saying, 'It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.' This priestly function he performed as a patriarch, there being no reference to a separate priesthood—consistent with the early patriarchal period before the Mosaic legislation. Ezekiel groups him with Noah and Daniel as examples of eminent righteousness.
☩The Divine Wager and Trials
In the heavenly council, Satan ('the accuser') challenged the genuineness of Job's piety, insinuating that he served God only for the blessings received: 'Doth Job fear God for naught?' Given permission to test Job, Satan first destroyed his property and children in a single day, yet Job responded with sublime resignation: 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' When further permitted to afflict his body, Satan smote Job with painful boils from head to foot, yet still he did not sin with his lips. His wife's bitter counsel to 'curse God and die' drew only the rebuke: 'Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?' Job's extreme suffering seemed to mark him as a visible example of divine wrath, yet he maintained his integrity.
☩The Debate with Friends
Three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—came to comfort Job but sat in stunned silence for seven days at the sight of his misery. When Job finally cursed the day of his birth, they entered a prolonged dialogue defending the traditional view that suffering is always punishment for sin. If Job was suffering so terribly, they reasoned, he must have sinned greatly—perhaps secretly. Their theology of exact retribution could not accommodate innocent suffering, so they increasingly accused Job of hidden wickedness. Job, while never claiming sinlessness, steadfastly denied their charge that his calamities proved secret guilt, and demanded an audience with God to present his case. A fourth speaker, the younger Elihu, emphasized suffering as divine discipline and preparation, not merely punishment.
☩God's Response and Restoration
God answered Job 'out of the whirlwind,' not by explaining His purposes but by overwhelming him with questions demonstrating divine omniscience and omnipotence in creation. Through vivid descriptions of natural phenomena and creatures—from the foundations of the earth to the behemoth and leviathan—God revealed Job's utter inability to comprehend or control even the physical world, let alone the moral government of the universe. Job's response was not intellectual satisfaction but humble submission: 'I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' God rebuked the three friends for not speaking rightly like Job, requiring Job to intercede for them. In restoration, God gave Job twice his former possessions and ten more children, and he lived another 140 years, seeing four generations of descendants.
Related Verses74 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Job," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Job," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Job," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Job," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).