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| Joe (Joseph and his brothers) and. . . |
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| Jo (Job and his "comforters") |
And I know You bore our sorrows
This week I finished the book of Genesis and began the book of Job. You might be surprised that the chronological Bible "skips ahead" to Job, a book that thematically belongs with the books of poetry and wisdom at the center of the Old Testament. But Job is believed by scholars to be the oldest book in the Bible--actually the first one written--and is believed to take place around the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
I never really thought about it, but there are some parallels in the life of Joseph and Job. Both were good people who suffered unfairly. In Joseph's case he was the victim of jealous and selfish people. In Job's case, he was the victim of the injustice of life. In both cases, the men are vindicated in the end and end up in a "better" place than they started. (I'll talk about those quotes around "better" in a future entry).
Joseph's story doesn't stick in the craw the way Job's does though. Job is a tough read--and in my opinion, the toughest parts are at the beginning of the story and at the end. This week we'll talk about the beginning.
In short Job is living the good life until it all comes crashing down. He loses everything--his wealth, his health, and his children. For me, it's the losing of his children that really stings. As a parent it is the thing I fear most (though I think through most of human history, losing a few kids along the way was almost a sad given. But even in those days, losing them all at once was a sharp blow). Job doesn't realize that he's the lab rat in a cosmic experiment. Satan has argued that the only reason that Job is such a paragon of virtue is because God has blessed him. "Take it all away and you'll see he is not so righteous or so faithful after all," he sneers. And so God, says okay--do your worst but don't take his life. I always assumed that was a mercy on God's part, telling The Adversary that he must spare Job's life. But now I see that as part of the test too. Job would have been only too happy to die--to have to keep living in the face of this suffering was something he resented.
The reason that this opening to the book of Job is so problematic is that God is willing to allow Job to suffer simply to prove a point. It's seems so cruel. The idea that Job (or anyone's misfortune) is the result of a bet amongst supernatural beings is disturbing. But this week I decided to consider what perhaps we think God should have done.
We could argue that God should not have brought up Job at all. What if He'd simply avoided the controversy in the first place by not drawing Satan's attention to Job. Or what if, He'd simply refused the challenge: "Nah, I don't need to prove anything to you. I know Job's heart and that's all that matters. You can think what you want. I will not allow you to harm in any way." Now there's a God of love, we might conclude.
And yes, that conclusion would be great for Job and for those of us looking to be reassured of God's love and fairness. The book at one chapter with eleven verses would be the shortest in the Bible. But it would also sidestep the core question which the book of Job sets out to address. Because, if God had taken this route it would reinforce a view Job's friends, and even many today hold. That God provides a hedge of protection around those who are faithful to Him. It's a kind of prosperity gospel. And that view runs right up against the hard reality that innocent people do suffer. So even if God had not deigned to be baited by The Accuser, only one righteous man would have been spared. What about all the others? Why do they still suffer? Isn't God essentially taking that bet any time someone faces random tragedy?
And what if God extended His net of protection to everyone, so that we only suffered as the consequences of our own bad choices? For the righteous there would be no sickness, no accidents, no natural disasters, but also no murders, no abuse, no thefts (because the wicked would not be allowed to have their bad choices affect the righteous). I mean there'd still be death--but only when people got old (but how old is "old enough"?). But why even have death at all, for the righteous? Why couldn't they just live forever? It sounds like heaven doesn't it? And I suppose that one day, we expect that is exactly the world we will live in. After all, what is heaven if not a place where no one makes bad choices and God protects us from random tragedy? Of course the question of who is righteous "enough" to qualify for God's Eternal Insurance Policy is a whole other discussion.
But the author of Job isn't interested in wishing for a world we don't yet live in. The book is focused on the world we live in now--where the innocent suffer. And it's primary goal appears to be to dismantle the assumption that if something bad happens to you, it's because you somehow deserve it. It is upending a simplistic understanding of the reason for suffering and replacing it with something that is more complex and unsatisfying, but also more honest.
The Highlights of Genesis 40-50, Job 1-11
- Joseph Interprets Dreams
- Joseph Saves the Day
- Joseph Forgives His Brothers
- Joseph Sticks it to the Little Guy (Wait. . .what? See below in Fun Facts)
- Job is Living the Good Life (in every sense of the the word)
- Job is Put to the Test
- Job Hates His Life
- Job's Friend's "Comfort" Him
Fun Facts
- You know the story of Joseph and his technicolor dream coat. You know the story of Joseph going from hero (in Potiphar's house) to zero (in prison on false charges) and back to hero again (second only to Pharaoh). But do you know the story of Joseph the corporate titan who enriched Pharaoh Inc. at the expense of the poor, hungry people of Egypt? I didn't either!
- Did you know that sometimes a passage in the Bible says completely different things depending on the translation? Here's a very small example from Genesis 49: 22. In the New American Standard Bible it says "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring. It's branches run over a wall." A note indicates that the word "bough" can be translated son and "branches" translated daughters. But then in the New Living Translation the same verse reads: "Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey, the foal of the wild donkey at a spring--one of the wild donkeys on the ridge" (the note acknowledges the version found in the NASB but says that meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain). That's a phrase we probably should be a lot more cognizant of--especially among the "plain word of God" types: "The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain." And this is far from the only example and there are times when a passage means one thing in one translation and means, not only something different, but something the opposite in another.
What Spoke To Me
I love the story of Joseph reconciling with his brothers in Egypt. It's just one of my favorites. I love how everyone has grown so much, and how Joseph's brothers act so unselfishly and with such concern for their father. They've come along way, and they, as much as Joseph, are heroes in this portion of the story.
I am reminded that Job is an example to us--that it's not a sin to be sad and even depressed. It's not wrong to recognize that life is unfair and to call it as such. It's not a sin to be angry and frustrated with God. It's important to recognize that it would not hurt any less even if it could be explained. We might be lashing out at the One who loves us most. But He's a big God. He can take it. Sometimes He is just plain hard to get. And that is okay.
Note: For those that clicked on the link to Rich Mullins bittersweet and beautiful "Hard to Get" and found the rough audio difficult to listen to, here's a studio version recorded by his band. (Rich Mullins was killed in a car wreck in September of 1997 before his next album, which would have included this song, could be recorded so all that was left behind was his initial demos for the album). I personally prefer Rich's demo. The rough audio matches the feel of the song. Though to be honest I like the demos of Rich's last album far more than the polished star studded posthumous studio recordings by his bandmates and Christian music colleagues. But then, if you haven't figured it out already I'm also a Rich Mullins superfan and I get that janky demo recordings may not be everyone's cup of tea.
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