Job 42:1-17: That's The Genius of God

Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’  Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years. - Job 42:1-17

 "You have not spoken the truth about me..." Twice God hands out this indictment to the friends of Job. It is a bit strange, since from a casual reading of the first 40 chapters of the book of Job, they are mainly accusing Job himself of some hidden sin for which he is now reaping the consequences. But God doesn't say, "You have not spoken the truth about Job..." No. He said, "You have not spoken the truth about me..." About God. They said that God was just and God was all knowing. That seems fair and these are things we would agree with. So what was it that they got wrong?

I'm not sure. But they were sure insistent that Job deserved to be punished. They were sure the only reason that would lead God to act the way that he did was because Job deserved it. But we know, from chapter 1, that there was something else going on in the universe, a conversation between Satan and God and we know from those verses that God had incredible confidence in Job. They presumed that Job must have been guilty because their little minds could not conceive of another reason for God active the way he did and that he would act in a way to punish Job, the most righteous of men. Their little minds were boxing God in, saying that he must act in a certain way. They were telling God how he should act.  And God wasn't going to let that stand.

I think that a valuable lesson that I have learned is that God is very creative and possibly delights in solving impossible problems in ways that are (a) consistent with his character and (b) not thought of by even his friends. What God expects is that we expect God to act fully in character but not slaves to our pre-conceived ideas. We know he loves us and that he will act fully in line with that, but how he does it...well that's the genius of God. 

Job 42: Job's Daughters

Job is one of those books (like Revelation and Ecclesiastes) which puzzles me. Having just finished reading it again, I still shake my head at its amazing premise (Satan accusing God of bribery!), the Supreme Court-worthy test case of undeserved suffering and the audacity of the author to answer neither the former nor the latter after nearly 40 chapters of unremitting dialog.

And what about that happy ending?

"The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters." - Job 42:12

So God doubles his livestock (see Job 1:2). His family gathers around him to console him and gives him "a piece of silver and a gold ring" (Job 42:11). He gets an extra 70 years of life. Oh, and he gets seven more sons to replace the seven killed in chapter 1 and three more daughters to replace the three killed in chapter 1. Children are not interchangeable.

So what really happened? I believe the biggest reward for Job was not the change in his circumstances, but the change in his attitude. In chapter 1, we see:

His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom. - Job 1:3

If I was to summarize his relationship with his children in the beginning of the book in one word, it would be Distance. The author of Job emphasizes the distance in his relationship with his children: They hold feasts in their homes, but not in his. He has to send to have them purified. He doesn't know what is happening with his children ("Perhaps my children"). His primary goal towards his children does not seem to be extravagantly loving towards them and involved with their lives, but to act as sort of a remote-control life-insurance policy.

Then Job meets God, who grants a two chapter behind-the-scenes look into really what it takes to be God as it details his intimate relationship with his creation. Contrast Job's previous response with his attitude post-interview:

And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.

In some ways, you have to have the Old Testament in your blood to appreciate the turnaround here. Job has gone from distance to devoted. First, the names of his daughters are listed. You'd have to search high and low to find any place where the daughters are listed (and not the sons!) in the Bible. Second, he gave his new daughters extravagant names, naming them after doves, a sweet spice and a type of beauty treatment. Third, he granted them an inheritance. In the ancient world, sons had inheritances but not daughters. Fourth, he saw his children.

How had meeting God changed Job? He treasured what God gave. He loved.

How has meeting God changed you? Sometimes Christians seem to become extravagantly grumpy rather than extravagantly loving. But the world was not rescued through a grump, but through a giver.

Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. - Titus 2:13