There is one question over which men have puzzled for many, many hundreds of years. It is the question, "Why do good people suffer?"
When wicked people suffered, the reason seemed to be plain. It was because they had done wrong; and people who do wrong ought to suffer.
But good people as well as wicked people suffer, and it has always been very hard for many to see how G.o.d can be good and this still be true.
This is the question that a Hebrew poet tried to answer in the book of Job. He pictured a man named Job who had lived a good life and feared G.o.d, and yet who suffered. He lost the flocks and herds which had made him rich. A whirlwind swept away the house in which his sons and daughters were feasting, and killed them all. At last a disease for which there was no known cure came upon him. Poor and alone, he faced a certain death of great suffering.
Then three friends came to see him. Finding him suffering so, they believed that he must have been a great sinner, and that the suffering was G.o.d"s punishment for his sin. They tried to make him see that he had sinned. At first they only hint it, very gently and tenderly, but when he still insists that he has not sinned in any way which should bring such suffering, they become more harsh and {180} plainly charge him with being greedy of gain and cruel to the poor. He says that he has not been guilty of these things. And so, the poet means to say, when men suffer, it does not always mean that they have sinned. Then, in the poem, G.o.d speaks out of a storm. He says that Job cannot understand the sea or the sky or the storm or the winter"s cold or the instincts of the animals. Does he think, then, that he will be able to understand how G.o.d deals with men? He trusts G.o.d in the things that are good. Can he not trust him in the things that seem evil also? Job is willing to trust G.o.d, and the book ends with a picture of a happy, prosperous old age for this man who has suffered so much.
What is the writer"s answer, then, to the question why good men suffer? His answer is that we cannot tell why such men suffer. But we know that G.o.d is wise and good, and we may trust him, even if we find it impossible, as we always shall, to answer all the questions of life.
The book of Job is a great dramatic poem. It is dramatic not because it was meant to be acted as the Greek and English drama; the Hebrews knew nothing about drama of this kind. But it consists of dialogue between various speakers, and has the true dramatic spirit and intensity of personal feeling. It is the nearest approach to the drama in the Bible. It is printed here in dramatic form because it was felt that this would be suggestive and helpful to the reader. It has a prologue and an epilogue which are in prose, while the speeches are in poetic form, and are printed like the blank verse of the Greek or English drama.
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PROLOGUE
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared G.o.d, and shunned evil.
And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-a.s.ses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. And his sons went and held a feast in the house of each one upon his day; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And whenever the feast days came round Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced G.o.d in their hearts." Thus did Job continually.
Now there was a day when the sons of G.o.d came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
And thus they spoke:--
THE LORD--"Whence comest thou?"
SATAN--"From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
THE LORD--"Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth G.o.d, and shunneth evil."
SATAN--"Doth Job fear G.o.d for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side? thou hast blessed the {182} work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will renounce thee to thy face."
THE LORD--"Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand."
Then Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. After this on a certain day messengers came with tidings to Job.
FIRST MESSENGER--"The oxen were plowing, and the a.s.ses feeding beside them: and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee."
SECOND MESSENGER--"The fire of G.o.d is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee."
THIRD MESSENGER--"The Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have taken them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee."
FOURTH MESSENGER--"Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother"s house: and, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee."
JOB--(He arose, rent his mantle, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshipped.)
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"Naked came I into the world, and naked I must return out of it. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
Again there was a day when the sons of G.o.d came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.
And thus they spoke:--
THE LORD--"From whence comest thou?"
SATAN--"From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
THE LORD--"Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth G.o.d, and shunneth evil: and he still holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause."
SATAN--"Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face."
THE LORD--"Behold, he is in thy hands; only spare his life."
Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to sc.r.a.pe himself, and he sat among the ashes.
THE WIFE OF JOB--"Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? renounce G.o.d, and die."
JOB--"Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of G.o.d, and shall we not receive evil?"
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Now when Job"s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came everyone from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: and they made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent everyone his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.
(The action of the dramatic poem itself now begins.)
I
JOB.
Why died I not at birth?
Why did life receive me?
For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then had I been at rest: With kings and counsellors of the earth, Which built up waste places for themselves; Or with princes that had gold, Who filled their houses with silver: There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary be at rest.
There the prisoners are at ease together; They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
The small and great are there; {185} And the servant is free from his master.
Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, And life unto the bitter in soul; Which long for death, but it cometh not; And dig for it more than for hid treasures; Which rejoice exceedingly, And are glad, when they can find the grave?
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, And whom G.o.d hath hedged in?
For my sighing cometh before I eat, And my groans are poured out like water.
For the thing which I fear cometh upon me, And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.
I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; But trouble cometh.
ELIPHAZ.
If one a.s.say to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
Behold, thou hast instructed many, And thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
Thy words have upholden him that was falling, And thou hast confirmed the feeble knees.
But now it is come unto thee, and thou faintest; It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.