The Book Job or Why do bad things happen to good people?

The Book Job or Why do bad things happen to good people? RP1080, The Bible as Literature, Craig Ho, HKBU

約伯記 (Job) • Authorship: anonymous; Jewish tradition attributed it to Moses but is no more than a pious pronouncement and should not be taken seriously. • Date: not sure, between 600 - 250 B.C. • Form: a drama in the form of a debate written in poetry with some prose at the beginning and the end. • Theme: the justice of God or Why does the righteous suffer? Job

The problem of injustice • What kind of man is Job and why does he suffer? • Righteous, blameless • Satan’s test with God’s approval: Is Job’ s piety motivated by self-interest? • What is Job’s first reaction to his suffering? Why does he behave like that? • desires his own non-existence • suffering is pointless, suffering is absurd, death is better than unended suffering Job

Job’s understanding and his wife’s response • How does Job explain the cause of his suffering? • it is from God • but he does not deserve it • How does Job’s wife respond to his suffering? Job

Eliphaz ’s explanation • How does Eliphaz explain Job’s suffering? • he doubts Job’s piety • it is a punishment for his evil • it is God’s trial and he will heal • What is Job’s response to Eliphaz’s theory? • he is being unfair and unjust • Job maintains his righteousness Job

Bildad’s explanation • How does Bildad explain Job’s suffering? • God is just • Job is punished for the sin of his children • God will not forsake a righteous man and will not help an evil man • What is Job’s response to Bildad ’s theory? • no man can be perfect in God’s sight • Job maintains his righteousness • The end of good and evil men is the same • God is the ultimate cause of human injustice Job

Zophar’s explanation • How does Zophar explain Job’s suffering? • Job is arrogant • Job should repent immediately instead of boasting about his righteousness • What is Job’s response to Zophar ’s theory? • Job insists his integrity. • There is nothing new in the friends’ theories • The defence for God’s justice will not suceed Job

The main issues • What are the main issues in the debate? • Is Job a sinner? • Is God just? • Why bad things happen to good people? • Why do the innocent suffer? Job

Summary of the dialogues • Job’ s friends: We can’t expect God to tell us what we are being punished for. We are accountable to him not he to us! Nobody is perfect and God knows what he is doing. • Job’s reply: I am not perfect but God cannot be just if more wicked people remain unpunished and the innocent suffer! • Friends: You deserve what you are suffering from because you are proud, arrogant, and impatient, and blasphemous! Job

The logic of the debate: theodicy • The logic of the argument of the whole book – the following three statements (p. 37) cannot be true at the same time, at lease one of them has to be denied: • God is all powerful and causes everything that happens in the world. Nothing happens without His willing it. • God is just and fair , and stands for people getting what they deserve, so that the good prosper and the wicked are punished. • Job is a good person. Job

The points of view • Which one do Job’s friends deny? • Which one does Job deny? • Which one does the author of the book of Job deny? • Problem of denying (c): “blaming the victim so that evil doesn’t seem quite so irrational and threatening. ... It makes everyone feel better – except the victim, who now suffers the double abuse of social condemnation no top of his original misfortune.” (p. 39) Job

... • Problem of denying (b): it makes ethical decision meaningless because “we live in an unjust world, from which we cannot expect fairness. There is a God, but He is free of the limitations of justice and righteousness.” (p.41) Job

... • Problem of denying (a): we lose the assurance of being ruled by an all-wise and all-powerful God • The idea of a non-ominpotent God : • The constancy of natural law. • The experience of chance and luck. • The experience of human autonomy. • => All necessary ingredients of an open universe. => God cannot be omnipotent with respect to justice and suffering. • The idea of a powerless / suffering God => Jesus as the suffering innocent man (Luke 23: 47) Job

The Book Job or Why do bad things happen to good people?