The first two chapters of Job begin with a dialogue between God and Satan. Satan first destroys Job’s children and his possessions. God reminds Satan that Job is still aligned and Satan obtains permission to give Job a horrible illness. The interesting point about the remainder of the book of Job is that Satan does not reappear. People assemble and engage in a great theological debate but no one suggests that Satan is the one that did the evil deeds. They blame Job and attribute the actions to God. Job proclaims his virtue and ponders why God would do such things to him. But no one mentions Satan. Satan appears in Job as a proxy. He initiates actions, but he acts within the limits of the divinely ordained system. Thus, the significance of Satan’s actions on Job is in what those actions reveal about the system.

The narrator begins the first and second chapters by telling us about Job and telling us that Satan is present before God. The narrator tells us that Job is aligned with God. In verse 1:22 the narrator reminds us that Job is still aligned with God even through his children have been killed and his possessions have been destroyed.

There are a couple terms that need to be explained. First, the word “fear” can imply conflict—or it can imply awe. Awe is a combination of love and discernment. When we are in conflict, we fear the results of that conflict. When we are in alignment we should respect the one who created the environment that fosters alignment. Job respects God with such intensity that the word “fear” is a valid description of a massive state of awe.

The other term that requires explanation is the word “turn”. Turn is used in the Old Testament as a synonym for the New Testament term “repent”. One turns away from sin and is transformed and then aligned with God. One repents from old habits, is changed and then begins again in alignment.

Satan acts in Job to create chaos. He conspires to do evil, inflicts harm and openly explains his actions. Again, like in Genesis, Matthew, Luke, Zechariah and now in Job, God does not enter conflict with Satan. Satan comes and goes as he pleases and seems to have a wide latitude in his choice of actions. This is a theme that will need to be chased down into the Book of Revelations when someone labeled Satan appears for the sixth time. So far, I have explored five out of the six encounters between Satan and God, where God is either the Lord God or the son Jesus. So far, God is always in alignment and never in conflict.

One point to note, however, is that common law would today link God to these crimes as a co-conspirator. After all, he had foreknowledge, he could have acted to prevent the crimes and he did not do so. And thus the debate in Job is not really about whether it was God or Satan to initiated the actions but about whether or not one who is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent can avoid always being a co-conspirator in every calamity.

All of the speakers in this work are here to represent view points on this matter. In the story within the story, Job asks God to go to trial with him and settle the case. God declines that offer, but, in essence, that is exactly what the author has done. The author has put God on trial and has arranged a series of witnesses to testify into the matter. The narrator testified first. Then Satan.

The next set of witnesses called to testify are a group of messengers who came to tell Job about the terrible calamities that Satan enacted. The odd pattern told by these messengers is highly significant. All were killed except a remnant that escaped. This is a key theme throughout the Old Testament. All were killed, except Noah and his family. All were carried away into captivity except a remnant that returned to rebuild Jerusalem. The theme of the remnant who escape is a theme that appears here in an unexpected place and in an unexpected way.

Job has a brief bit of speech delivered on his behalf by the narrator in verse 1:5 and then he responds to the news from the messengers in verses 1:20 and 1:21. There is an odd concept of “not sinning” and “not cursing” in verse 1:5. I will come back to that concept when I delve into the brief speech by Job’s wife.

The other interesting terms here are linked to Job’s display of grief when he tore his clothes and shaved his head after learning that his children and servants had died. Both are acts of conflict designed to show others your attachment to the lost.

The dilemma Job is in asks him to balance his sense of grief with his alignment to God. I believe the diagram immediately below shows the conflict within Job. In essence, this is the core question faced by the remnant.

And that concludes the introductory material. The key themes are:

• Satan
• Fear of God
• Turn or Repent
• God as a co-conspirator
• Remnant

Friends and Relatives

The debate with Job begins with his wife challenging his behavior. She had experienced the same loss and was most likely in chaos. The magnitude of the loss created a great sense of dissonance. The violence of each incident demonstrated powerful conflict. The expected result from high dissonance and high conflict is that one will go into chaos. The word “curse” implies dissonance and conflict. When she tells Job that he should die she is telling him to withdraw from the debate, from the conflict, and from life.

Job responds with two conflicting themes. First he ridicules his wife. Then he again proclaims his alignment with God. Job has been changed. In the introductory material the narrator told us that Job’s life was an integrated whole always in alignment with God. After Satan created chaos, Job had to balance his awareness of the chaos with his desire to remain aligned. Now Job is refuting and ridiculing his wife. Job is no longer acting with love and dissonance.

When Jesus was mocked by the priests, flogged and mocked by the soldiers and led away to be crucified he continued to act with love and dissonance. Job is not up to that standard. Instead, Job responds to the conflict from his wife with conflict in return. Job said “You speak as any foolish woman would speak.” What if, instead, he had said “Beloved wife, I share your grief. Sit with me as we mourn our loss and recount the blessings God has bestowed.” Alignment is a habit. Viktor Frankl has shown us that we humans can seek alignment even in the most oppressive of situations. Jesus has shown us that alignment is the path that leads to the Kingdom. Job, here, is reminding us that we are all human. Thus, the question that we can ask Job is not whether or not we all fall short of the glory of God, but what is it that we are supposed to do once we find ourselves going in the wrong direction.

What Job does next is to seek tranquility. In verses 2:11 through 2:13 the narrator introduces Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. Together they sit and contemplate in silence for seven days and seven nights. Job has gone from alignment, through transformation and is now seeking tranquility. This is a good pattern. The New Testament tells us that Jesus would spend his day in alignment with God, created a transforming environment wherever he went and then spent considerable time in prayer. When we find ourselves pulled into chaos or conflict we need to go back to our spiritual disciplines and find tranquility. Then we should regroup, refocus and strive again for transformation.

In the next forty chapters of Job, Job will struggle with his understanding of God and finally be transformed so that he can return to alignment. In order to highlight the path that he takes I am first going to set Job aside and quickly analyze the theologies of Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.

Eliphaz In the passages that describe the temptations of Jesus, Satan gets one or two verses then Jesus responds in one or two verses and the dialogue progresses. In the portions of the New Testament that describe the negotiation between Jesus and Pilate each of the many speakers only has a verse or maybe part of a verse in which they need to make their point. The book of Job is much more luxurious. Each speaker gets several chapters to express their perspective. Eliphaz is mentioned in chapter 2 and is the speaker in chapters 4, 5, 15 and 22. For the most part, however, each speaker has one theme which is elaborated. It is interesting to note that the core of Eliphaz first speech is a retelling of an encounter with a spirit. In some translations of the Bible this section is notated as being a speech by God. In keeping with the pattern I followed within the passages on the temptation of Jesus, I attribute quotations to the person making the speech and not to the source of the quotation. For example, when Satan quotes scripture I believe that Satan is using those words for his own purpose. Satan quoted scripture to mislead Jesus. Eliphaz recalls a vision and tells us the words from that vision with the intent of bolstering his own point. Satan used scripture to try to persuade Jesus to align with him. Eliphaz quotes from a vision in an attempt to get Job to align with him. The key themes that I found in this quick survey of the first of Eliphaz’ speeches are summarized below. 4:6 Fear God 4:7 The innocent do not perish 4:9 God punishes those who sin 4:17 No human can be fully righteous 5:9 We do not comprehend God 5:11 God sets things right 5:12-15 God thwarts the plans of sinners 5:17-27 God disciplines us, yet he also loves us In this first speech, Eliphaz comes out of the tranquility that was described in chapter two and tries to educate Job. He touches on several key themes that will come back again later, yet he is talking with his friend and trying to help. In chapter 15 Eliphaz begins by commanding Job to fear God and meditate. Then he enters into conflict with Job, denies the logic in Job’s arguments and ridicules Job. Eliphaz has moved from a transforming environment, through conflict and is into an environment of subjugation. In chapter 22 Eliphaz condemns Job. Verse 21:4 has a key rhetorical question posed by Eliphaz: “Is it for your piety that God disciplines you?” In my opinion, the author poses this question as a rebuttal that will itself be refuted and thus the original statement is actually the point that the author is making. Therefore, I posit that there is a theme exposed here which postulates that God disciplines all of us to help us. I will need to explore this more when I assess Job’s responses.

Bildad Bildad takes a short cut and leaves tranquility in chapter 2 and proceeds directly into conflict with Job in chapter 8. In chapter 18 Bildad ridicules Job. In chapter 25 Bildad condemns Job and indirectly condemns all of humanity. The key themes that I found in this quick survey of Bildad’s speeches are: 8:3 Fear God 8:4 God punishes the guilty. Therefore, if you are punished you must be guilty. 8:5-7 God rewards the faithful 8:8-19 God delivers retribution on the sinners 8:20-22 The good are rewarded 18:5-21 Those who do not follow God will be thwarted 25:1-6 God is pure. Humans cannot be pure. Therefore all humans are condemned by God.

Zophar Zophar has already listened to Eliphaz and Bildad and thus wastes no time in condemning Job. At first glance, his themes are consistent with those already described. 11:4-12 God is powerful, complex and pure. Job is a sinner and deserves to be punished by God. God punishes the wicked. 11:13-20 God rewards the faithful 20:4-29 God punishes the wicked