Who Was Job?

The prophet Ezekiel mentions Job along with Daniel and Noah as examples of godly men, suggesting that Job was a historical person rather than a mere literary figure. Like the Hebrew patriarchs, Job lived more than one hundred years (Job 42:16). The mention of raiding Sabeans and Chaldean tribes suggests that Job lived during the second millennium, perhaps during the time of Abraham or Moses (Job 1:15, 17).

Job is the subject of the entire book of Job, though it would be more accurate to say that the book of Job is about God rather than Job. The book begins with a prologue that informs us of Job’s wife, his ten children (seven sons and three daughters), and most especially, his godliness (three times total: once by the author and twice by God Himself) (Job 1:1–2, 8; 2:3, 9). Acting as a priest to his children, Job fears that birthday celebrations might require a burnt offering for each of his children (Job 1:4–5).

Two accounts of immense trial are recorded in the first chapter: the first when raiding parties of Sabeans and Chaldeans robbed him of his livestock (his wealth), and later, a “great wind” killing his ten children (Job 1:15–19). Job’s immediate response is one of faith: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

In chapter 2, yet another trial befalls Job when he is struck by a deadly disease described as “loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). When his wife tells him to “curse God and die,” a counsel of unbelief and folly, Job again responds with faith: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:9–10). The author makes it clear that the cause of Job’s trials did not lie in any sin of Job’s: “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10).

What Job does not know, and what we are privately told, is that behind these earthly trials lies a cosmic battle between good and evil, God and Satan (Job 1:6–9, 12; 2:1–7). Satan wagers that the only reason for Job’s godliness is that he has not endured suffering. Satan tells God that if Job were to be put to the test through trial, Job would lose his faith and “curse you to your face” (Job 1:11; 2:5).

From one point of view, the cause of Job’s suffering is satanic. But the author of the book of Job wants us to see that this, whilst true, is not the only cause. Difficult as it is to understand, the author wishes us to grasp that the overall reason for Job’s suffering lies in the sovereignty of God. On a day when angels give an account of themselves, Satan is also called to account for himself (Job 1:6; 2:1). And it is God, not Satan, who suggests that Job become Satan’s target: “Have you considered my servant Job?” (Job 1:8; 2:3). We are not given an explanation as to how God is totally sovereign and not the author sin, though that moral issue lies over the entire book.

Following an initial response of faith, we are introduced to Job’s three “friends,” Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite (Job 2:11). Before they issue their counsel, Job descends into a pit of despair, wishing that he had never been born, dark words that Jeremiah echoes following his trial (Job 3:1–26; Jer. 20:7–18).

Job’s friends have only one counsel: the root cause of Job’s suffering lies in his own sin, of which he needs to repent. In this view, suffering is the result of God’s punishment for our sins. It is instant retribution for wrongdoing. It can be summarized in the opening words of Eliphaz, said to be given him by some secret source:

Can mortal man be in the right before God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like the moth. (Job 4:17–19)

Later in the book, we encounter another friend, Elihu son of Barchel the Buzite, who “burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God” (Job 32:2). Commentators differ as to whether Elihu adds anything or merely repeats the instant retribution narrative of Job’s three friends. It does appear that initially at least, Elihu suggests that Job can learn something about himself through suffering that otherwise he might not know, but it also seems that as he goes on, he falls into the instant retribution explanation.

Three times Job speaks of one who understands his innocence, an “arbiter,” a “witness,” and famously (though often incorrectly interpreted), a “redeemer” (Job 9:33; 16:19; 19:25). In each case, Job is not looking for someone to forgive him but someone who will uphold the rightness of his case as one who is innocent. It is not that Job is sinless; it is rather that sin is not the cause of suffering, as his friends (and Elihu) insist.

Job was not privy to the voice of God in the opening two chapters, and it is only in chapter 38 that God summons Job to account for himself. Job has been using “words without knowledge” (Job 38:2). Rather than Job asking the questions and God providing the answers, God turns the tables and asks upwards of sixty questions, none of which Job can answer. At a telling moment, God asks:

Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
He who argues with God, let him answer it. (Job 40:1)

At this point, Job lays his hand over his mouth. However, God is not finished, and more questions follow. At one point, God mentions a land creature, “Behemoth” (Job 40:15), and a sea creature, “Leviathan” (Job 41:1). Commentators differ, but a good case can be made that these are poetic descriptions of an elephant and a crocodile. Why did God create them? The answer is, at one level, “I do not know.” And the problem of pain is like that. Why does one suffer and another not? We do not know. But there is another answer, one that Job accedes to:

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:5–6)

It is not important that Job understand the cause of his suffering; it lies in the unfathomable and mysterious purposes of God. It is only necessary that Job trust God as he initially had done.

The book of Job ends with an account of Job’s prayer for his three friends (Job 42:8–9). Nothing is said of Elihu. We are also told that his brothers and sisters consoled him, that Job’s wealth was restored, and that he had ten more children, seven sons and three daughters, and that he lived to be 140 years old (Job 42:10–16).