The book of Job is generally considered to be the oldest book of the Bible. The central figure is a real, historical person but little is known about him apart from what we learn in this book. It has been called ‘a dramatic poem framed in an epic story.’ The poem is the debate between Job and his so-called friends or comforters about why Job has suffered so much. The epic story is what is going on in the heavenly places – in the drama between the devil and God, and God’s final intervention and declaration. It shows that man is not always aware of what is going on in the heavenly places affecting what happens on earth. Job is normally considered to be about the question why good people suffer. That is true, but it also addresses a deeper question – where do we find real wisdom? And there is a third question about how man can be justified before God.

Why do good people suffer?

The book of Job records how a good and ‘righteous’ man suffers terribly and how he and others respond to that. Unlike the characters in the drama, the reader has the advantage of having witnessed the opening scene in heaven so that we know some kind of testing and ‘proving’ is going on. We are not meant to see this exchange between God and Satan as a debate between two equals, or that God is into gambling with the devil. The point is that. although the devil may be allowed to cause suffering to people, he is on a leash. He cannot do any more than God allows him to do and so we can have confidence that, in the end, even these works of Satan will be made to serve God’s purpose. What the devil means for harm God turns to good

Job’s so-called comforters, who are finally rebuked by God, want to give a clear and simple explanation as to why Job suffers. They assume that Job must have done something wrong. He is suffering because he has sinned. His suffering is punitive. Elihu’s understanding is a little different. His point is that Job is allowing the suffering to cause him to say foolish and unworthy things. He sins because he is suffering. His suffering is corrective and Job is not allowing it to do its work. Job feels of course that he has not done wrong. That his suffering is undeserved and that he wants to present his case to God, though he never actually curses God. When God finally speaks, he does not give an answer. He simply asserts his power, authority and wisdom and calls Job to trust him. Man has tried to put God on trial but the tables are turned and man is put on trial, cross-examined by God. Job repents, finding that an encounter with God’s presence rather than a philosophical answer is what he needs. God rebukes his friends and restores Job.

Where do we find wisdom?

This whole reflection on suffering leads to a deeper question about where do wisdom and understanding about the nature of life come from. Where is it found? Is it in the  reasoning and simplistic answers of man? Or is it in the ultimately unfathomable God? Can man ever really know and understand it in his mind?

The question of where wisdom is found is answered not only in terms of God alone but also by silencing all human voices that would insist that God must explain himself to them. (Fee & Stuart)

There is a great chapter on the nature of wisdom right in the middle of the book. It is this chapter which it at the heart of Job and which the question about suffering serves to highlight. This is why the book of Job is the first book of what is usually referred to as the ‘Wisdom literature’ of the Bible.

How can we be right before God?

When Job is complaining to his friends about what has happened to him, and also to the observable fact that the righteous do suffer while the wicked prosper, he expressed the desire to present his case to God as if in a court of law. But as he does so he realises that this would not be possible because God is almighty and does what he likes. Nevertheless, according to his then limited understanding, he feels unfairly treated, and while wondering how he might be made right with God he also expresses a longing for a mediator.

All of this is pointing to the fact that, although Job is relatively righteous, no one is absolutely righteous before God. All have sinned. And the only way for a man to be made righteous before God is by the intervention of a mediator. This is exactly what God provides in Jesus. But Job must learn, as we all must, that you cannot justify yourself before God. The ability to accept the work of Christ, the mediator between men and God, is to acknowledge that we have sinned, to repent and to put our trust in him. Once again, and Old Testament book is pointing to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

A helpful overview of the book of Job can be found here at the Bible Project.

Tim Keller explains how we can see the gospel in the book of Job here at Gospel in Life.