Day 152

A Good Man Tested

Read: Job 1-3

We begin the second section of the Old Testament called the poetic books. These are also referred to as Wisdom Literature. Hebrew poetry does not have rhyme but rather parallelism; in its most common form, two parts of a verse say the same thing in different words.

The purpose of Job is to counteract a misunderstanding of the truth which we have seen emphasized over and over in the Old Testament so far, that the righteous are blessed and the wicked are punished. From this truth, people mistakenly argued backward that if someone was suffering, it must be because he had sinned in some way. To this false conclusion the book of Job gives a resounding “No!”

Job is a godly man. Satan tells God that this is because God has blessed him. If instead God would cause him to suffer, he would not be so godly. God gives Satan permission to bring trouble to Job. Satan causes Job to lose all of his possessions and all his children in one horrible day. Job’s response is, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (1:21).

Satan says to God that if God would allow him to harm Job personally, then his attitude would change. God permits Satan to smite Job with terrible boils. Job still remains steadfast. Following this prose introduction is the poetic body of the book and now Job is far from patient. He curses the day of his birth.

PRAYER
Father, give us patience in difficult times. Amen.