Smoodock's Blog

Up to this point in Job’s record, whenever he mentioned what God had done to him, he admitted the Lord had a right to do whatever he wished. Indeed, the Lord had removed the hedge of protection he had placed around Job (Job 30:9-11), but does this mean God is to be blamed for Job’s suffering? We, the readers, know that something has occurred behind Job’s story, concerning which neither Job nor the friends are aware (viz. Job 1 & 2). However, God permitted the occurrence, and seemed to be a party of the evil that occurred to Job. What can be said about this?

If God has a right to do whatever he wishes, how can he be judged for his behavior? On the other hand, if one judges the Lord’s work in the land of the living, then one believes God hasn’t the right to do whatever he wishes and is to be blamed for the evil that occurs. So, is God to be blamed for Job’s pain or not?

To begin with, God does take responsibility for everything that occurs in what he created. If he didn’t create anything, none of the evil that has occurred would have happened. Therefore, God has taken responsibility for everything that has occurred, whether good or evil. This is what the cross is all about… “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:24). The scriptures even declare that God has taken responsibility for all things that occur in the land of the living,[1] but does this mean God is to be blamed for whatever occurs? There is a difference. Taking responsibility for what occurs is not the same as culpability.

Men have freewill, so it wasn’t God who abhorred Job. God didn’t avoid him or spit in his face (verse-10). Nor was it God who made him an object of scorn (verse-9). Indeed, God did loosen Job’s cord (verse-11), meaning, he took away his hedge of protection (cp. Job 1:10-12), and God did afflict his health (Job 2:7), but he didn’t cause Job’s enemies to attack or abuse him. Men are free to do good or evil, but God doesn’t **cause** either. The fact is that God is able to accomplish his purposes through good men or the wicked. Our behavior does not, nor could it, limit God in any way. Job was persecuted by wicked men, and persecution is the price righteous men pay to behave righteously in a wicked world (2Timothy 2:12).

Therefore, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that these very men, whom Job describes in chapter thirty, were responsible for Job’s undoing in chapter one, indicating that the request of satan comes to God by way of Job’s enemies hiring the Sabeans and the Chaldeans (Job 1:15, 17) to destroy Job’s power and wealth. Job says these young men came from “my right hand”, which is the place of honor. So, a betrayal in some manner seems to be indicated (Job 30:12). They “push away my feet” (H7971), which is the same word for sowing strife or discord (cp. Proverbs 6:14, 19; 16:28), and “they raise up against me the ways of their destruction” (KJV), meaning they provided the way for the Sabeans and Chaldeans to destroy Job. Moreover, they broke up Job’s path of righteousness (viz. his labor as magistrate for the hope of the righteous), and they profited (H3276) through Job’s calamity, leaving no one brave enough to help him (verse-13).

Finally, Job explains that they had come upon him like a tidal wave in an effort to completely destroy him (Job 30:14), which is what occurred in chapter one, so it seems Job refers to this destruction in chapter 30. Nevertheless, God did not play an active role in that event. He merely permitted it to occur, bringing about his divine purpose regardless of circumstance. Good men are unable to add to God’s good, nor are evil men able to detract from his goodness. God is Lord, and accomplishes his will independently of the character of men, expressed in the manner they choose to behave. We merely decide whether we submit to God and participate in his will or rebel against him and work against his desires.

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[1] See my earlier studies in the Gospel of John: In the Beginning Was the Word; Was the Word Merely an Ambassador? and The Word Was Made Flesh!