Who was Job in the Bible?
Job appears in the Bible as a wealthy man from the land of Uz, praised by God Himself, and then stripped of everything he owned in a single day. His story raises the hardest question a believer can ask: why would God allow a good man to suffer?
A real man, outside Israel
Some have argued the book is only a poem and Job only a character in it. Writers point to how other parts of the Bible speak of him:
Walter ScottVolumes have been written to prove (as if that were possible) that the patriarch never existed, and that the book is merely a page of Arabian romance. Ezekiel among the prophets (Ezek. 14:14, 20), and James among the apostles (James 5:11), guarantee the life, trials, and death of Job, while Paul confirms the divine character of the book by quoting from it, introducing the quotation with the usual formula "it is written" (1 Cor. 3:19, with Job 5:13).
What makes him remarkable is where he stood. He was not one of Abraham's descendants, and he lived before the law was given through Moses.
William KellyBut there is the heart and beauty of the book. It was about a living man, if we are to believe the prophet Ezekiel and the apostle James, and a man outside that chosen people, yet a man in whom God had graciously worked, to the admiration of heaven and the provoking of Satan.
What "blameless" meant
Scripture calls him blameless and upright, a man who feared God. That does not mean he was sinless.
Truth & TestimonyWe may say that none of us is perfect, but that is not the kind of perfection Holy Scripture means when it speaks of a man being perfect, even in the Old Testament. It means a man of integrity. When a believer's path is set in the way of obedience to God, that is integrity. When a man of godly integrity sins, it does not destroy his integrity, because he goes to God in confession and self-judgment, as David did.
His wealth mattered to the story too, and so did the timing of God's verdict on him:
C StanleyHis possessions were very great, for God had blessed him with earthly blessings in earthly places. It is important to notice this before Job is put into the furnace. The genuineness of his character is a settled question, on the testimony of God.
Who started the trial
The book opens the curtain on a scene Job never saw. God, not Satan, raised his name first.
J. N. DarbyJob was a perfect and upright man, who feared God and turned away from evil; but he had begun to take pleasure in himself. He did good, but he was occupied with his goodness. It was hidden self-righteousness, and it marred his piety. God does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous. He saw Job's danger, and drew Satan's attention to him. It was God who began it all. Satan, the accuser of the saints, insists that Job should be sifted, and God permits him to test Job, to do as he would with him, but sets a limit to his malice.
The enemy he could not see
Job lost his property, his ten children, and then his health. Yet the deepest problem was closer to home.
F. A. HughesJob had a greater enemy than either Satan or men — it was himself. He suffered intensely under the hand of the adversary, and through the misunderstanding of men, but his real difficulty was the pride of the flesh, whose workings gave him importance before men. It was something that had never been judged in the presence of God.
Faith in the dark
Even while he could not explain his suffering, Job spoke of a living Redeemer.
A J PollockIf he knew that his Redeemer lived, that could only be true of a divine Person. He believed He would come to this earth. He did so, and will do so again. Then again, Job knew that he himself would be raised in the body should he die. He had no doubt or scepticism about resurrection.
Commentators differ on how much Job himself grasped here. One writer suggests that in Job's own mind it was confident trust that God would deliver him, while the Spirit who inspired the words looked beyond that to resurrection.
How it ended
God restored Job — but only after Job prayed for the three friends who had accused him.
William KellyIt was not merely that He turned their punishment away when Job prayed, but He turned Job's own captivity when his heart went out on their behalf. Job himself was now consciously delivered. Up to this time he had felt himself a captive held in a vice. His heart was active in grace; he had seen grace, and now he expressed grace, and this for the very people who had wounded him most.
Summary
- Real. Ezekiel names Job alongside Noah and Daniel; James holds him up as an example of endurance — he is a man of history, not a legend.
- Chosen. God opened the trial by naming Job to Satan, and set a limit on what Satan could touch; the sufferer never knew the reason at the time.
- Sifted. Losing wealth, children and health did not break him; the friends' accusations exposed what disaster had not — a quiet confidence in his own goodness.
- Shown. The turning point was not an explanation but a sight of God: he had heard by the hearing of the ear, and then his eye saw Him.
- Restored. Grace received became grace given — God turned his captivity when he prayed for the men who had wounded him, and blessed his latter end more than his beginning.