The Book of Job

 The Book of Job, thought to have the authority as the oldest book in the Old Testament dating from the 6th century BCE, is a complex and challenging text that raises many difficult questions about the nature of God and the problem of evil.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the story is the fact that God allows Satan to take away Job's family, causing him great suffering and loss. This act has led many to question the morality of God's actions, as it appears that He is complicit in the killing of Job's innocent and faithful family as part of a wager with Satan.

From an ethical perspective, the actions of God in the Book of Job can be seen as completely unacceptable. The taking of innocent human lives for the purpose of satisfying a vain wager between supernatural beings is an affront to human dignity and the sanctity of human life. The fact that God is depicted as allowing this to happen and even participating in it raises serious questions about His morality and justice.

Furthermore, the lack of any explanation or justification for Job's suffering makes the story all the more troubling. In a world where innocent people suffer every day due to war, famine, disease, and other forms of violence, the idea that God would allow suffering simply to satisfy a wager about faith with Satan is deeply disturbing.

It is also worth noting that the story of Job raises serious theological questions as well. If God is all-powerful and all-knowing, as many religious traditions claim, then why would He allow such suffering to occur? And if God is just and merciful, as is often claimed, then how can He be complicit in the killing of innocent people?

But arguing that the overt narrative of the Book of Job is symbolic and not to be taken literally means that the entire structure of the Bible as commentary on illustrative stories is thrown into meaningless doubt.

God even withholds what little dignity was left of those murdered daughters and sons: despite the poetic disputation and narrative justifying the crime, the victims are never named.

To further punish the victims, Job's replacement family has names: Jemimah, Keziah and Keren-Happuch, but the first family, faithful and innocent of any blemish, is simply cast aside from the Bible and from both memory and history.

I do not need to challenge God for this inexplicable lapse, as it is beyond comprehension. I only want an answer to a single, simple question: What is the name of Job's first daughter? That's it. A name to mark the tragedy of human faith and the cruelty and injustice of the Gods.

In conclusion, the actions of God in the Book of Job, as depicted in the text, are wrong from an ethical and moral perspective. The taking of innocent human lives to satisfy a wager between supernatural beings is a deeply troubling and unacceptable idea and raises serious questions about the morality and justice of God.

While the Book of Job is an important and powerful text, it is also a source of discomfort and challenge for those who seek to reconcile their religious beliefs with even minimal ethical standards such as "Thou shall not kill,” even if the killing is through depraved indifference.

If the Book of Job offers God's version of leadership as an example for humankind to follow, I choose to look to the heroism of distinguishing Good and Evil revealed in Genesis by Eve.

— Grady Ward, revised February 14, 2023.