We are now looking at the top ten characters in the Old Testament. The “top ten” has been modified to include 5 men and 5 women and not include any that then been looked at recently. At number 5 is Job.
Job a summary
This is about Job, a prosperous man of outstanding piety. Satan acts as an agent provocateur to test whether or not Job’s piety is rooted merely in his prosperity. But faced with the appalling loss of his possessions, his children, and finally his own health, Job still refuses to curse God.
When this book was written, the belief was that if a man suffered disaster or misfortune it must be the result of his own sins, known or unknown, admitted or concealed. Material prosperity on the other hand was a result of a virtuous life.
The story rejects this theory, but it does not offer a satisfactory solution to the problem of pain or the moral order of the universe. Job like us is bewildered with the apparent injustice of things and is tempted to think he could do better. in the end Job comes through from his despair to a true knowledge of God, and realises that the ways of God are beyond mans understanding.