Day 021 - Job 1-3

After the length of time it took me to get through Genesis I've finally made it to the next book in the order which is Job. I really want to make an effort to be diligent with this reading plan and stick to it day by day.

So Job, the holy man of God who could do no wrong, who Satan is allowed to inflict terrible sufferings on to try and make him crack.

Today's passage is rather different from most of the book in that it begins with prose and only when we get to chapter three does the main poetic content of the book begin. Obviously divine inspiration is involved as we are privy to God and Satan having a couple of meetings. It's clear that God is in complete control and isn't at all threatened by the presence of his enemy. It's also very clear that Satan is not able to act unless God allows him to, which brings up the thorny question of why he allows him to do anything, a question which even if I could answer it fully would take more than a few blog posts to get to grips with.

As with Genesis, during which this story takes place somewhere, the cultural elements are a little difficult to get round, but by chapter three we have the equivalent of 4 blokes in a pub where the suffering one is surrounded by his mates.

Whilst Job does eventually crack, he doesn't blame God (as his wife would have had him do), but instead laments the fact that he was ever born and then reflects on the peace that 'the grave' would bring him. One thing that stood out for me was where he says in verse 19, "Everyone is there, the famous and the unknown." Death the great leveller, the event that will precipitate us standing before God's judgement, and all the fame and wealth in the world will not change our status. It seems that even in the midst of his sufferings Job is able to make profound statements about the world.

It's a while since I've read Job, but it's structure is familiar to me with it's series of dialogues between Job and his friends. I wonder which of their arguments will resonate with me the most and what my conclusions will be as I read it this time.