The Traditional Figure of Job
1 Job, a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil, once lived in the land of Uz.
2 He had seven sons and three daughters.
3 Owner of seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys and a large number of servants, he was considered the greatest man among the people of the East.
4 His sons used to take turns holding banquets in their homes and they would invite their three sisters to dine and drink with them.
5 After each series of banquets, Job would send for his sons and daughters and have them purified. He would rise early in the morning, offer a holocaust for each of his children, thinking, “Perhaps they have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts.” This had been quite a routine for Job.
6 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan came with them. 7 Yahweh asked Satan, “Where have you been?”
7 Satan answered, “Going up and down the earth, roaming about.”
8 Yahweh asked again, “Have you noticed my servant Job? No one on earth is as blameless and upright as he, a man who fears God and avoids evil.”
9 But Satan returned the question, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 Have you not built a protective wall around him and his family and all his possessions? You have blessed and prospered him, with his livestock all over the land.
11 But stretch out your hand and strike where his riches are, and I bet he will curse you to your face.”
12 Yahweh said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power. But do not lay a finger upon the man himself.” So Satan left the presence of Yahweh.
13 One day, while his sons and daughters were feasting in the house of their eldest brother,
14 a messenger came to Job and said, “Your oxen were plowing, and your donkeys were grazing nearby
15 when the Sabaeans came and carried them off. They killed the herdsmen. I alone escaped to tell you.”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came, “God’s fire fell from the sky and burned all your sheep and the shepherds as well. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
17 He had hardly finished speaking when another messenger arrived, “Three raiding teams of Chal deans have killed your servants and carried off your camels. I alone have es caped to tell you.”
18 He was still speaking when another messenger came and said to Job, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking in the house of their eldest brother
19 when suddenly a great wind blew across the desert and struck the house. It collapsed on the young people and they
all died. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 In grief Job tore his clothes and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshiped,
21 saying,
“Naked I came from my mo ther’s womb,
naked shall I return.
Yahweh gave, Yahweh has taken away.
Blessed be his name!”
22 In spite of this calamity, Job did not sin by blaspheming God.
------------------------------------------------------------
34 / 34
Comments , Chapter 1
• 1.1 Job lives in a foreign pagan land (Uz would be in the southern part of Palestine) in ancient times. His position is enviable: he is a leader of nomads, somewhat like Abraham, and lacks nothing. Yet he is only a pawn in world politics, or better, in heavenly politics. God holds a council with the heavenly beings, namely, the angels, and looks at things which escape Job. In this case, God is challenged by Satan, the enemy, the spirit who promotes evil, and in spite of himself God has to test Job in order to defend his own honor.
And so, from the very start, humans are put in their place. They are not the center of the world, nor can they demand that God stop the course of history for their sake.
This intervention of Satan is one of the means to which believers spontaneously resort to justify God. Because, in the final analysis, that is where the problem lies. As long as we live without God, no one is responsible for evil except ourselves. If we have good and evil gods, we know whom to blame. If there is only one God, he is responsible for both good and evil and Job’s words in 2:10 also apply to him.
Curse God and die! (2:9) Job’s wife speaks foolishly, with reproaches to God which are always hopeless.