TDH #50
His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die!”
But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”
Job 2:9-10
(NLT)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The book of Job describes “the greatest man among all the people of the East”: God-fearing, despises evil, your basic grade A bloke.
Satan goes to God proposing Job doesn’t really love Him, that he’s good only because God rewards him for being so.
God agrees to accept a little wager that if they took away everything from Job then they would see his true colors.
God gives Satan the power to do so and Satan kills all of Job’s children, robs him of his possessions, and gives him a disease.
Despite all this, Job still praises God.
Then his friends come around telling him he must’ve done something to deserve this, for God is fair and just.
Yet Job knows, as does the reader, that he deserves none of it.
He goes on an emotional roller coaster, some moments believing God is fair and just, and others doubting whether God is corrupt. Then he demands God show and explain Himself.
God does so, in the form of a great storm cloud, irritated that Job would even question Him.
Instead of offering an explanation for Job’s suffering, God says, “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?”
After a long series of follow-up questions that point to God’s unquestionable authority and what it takes to create and run a universe, Job replies, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
After Job apologizes and makes a sacrificial offering, God restores all his possessions two-fold and (for lack of a better term) replaces all of his children.
Now, the more traditional Christian understanding is an explanation of why bad things happen to good people, with a lesson on how even when things seem unfair they have an ultimate meaning we must see through to the end, but can only get there by living in accordance with God’s will.
But if you’re looking for a more stimulating rabbit hole that questions how God let Satan plant a seed of doubt in his mind and whether or not replacing your first batch of children with a second one is really a just/unjust reward/non-reward for passing a test/non-test, check out “Answer to Job” by Carl Jung.
But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”
Job 2:9-10
(NLT)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The book of Job describes “the greatest man among all the people of the East”: God-fearing, despises evil, your basic grade A bloke.
Satan goes to God proposing Job doesn’t really love Him, that he’s good only because God rewards him for being so.
God agrees to accept a little wager that if they took away everything from Job then they would see his true colors.
God gives Satan the power to do so and Satan kills all of Job’s children, robs him of his possessions, and gives him a disease.
Despite all this, Job still praises God.
Then his friends come around telling him he must’ve done something to deserve this, for God is fair and just.
Yet Job knows, as does the reader, that he deserves none of it.
He goes on an emotional roller coaster, some moments believing God is fair and just, and others doubting whether God is corrupt. Then he demands God show and explain Himself.
God does so, in the form of a great storm cloud, irritated that Job would even question Him.
Instead of offering an explanation for Job’s suffering, God says, “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?”
After a long series of follow-up questions that point to God’s unquestionable authority and what it takes to create and run a universe, Job replies, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
After Job apologizes and makes a sacrificial offering, God restores all his possessions two-fold and (for lack of a better term) replaces all of his children.
Now, the more traditional Christian understanding is an explanation of why bad things happen to good people, with a lesson on how even when things seem unfair they have an ultimate meaning we must see through to the end, but can only get there by living in accordance with God’s will.
But if you’re looking for a more stimulating rabbit hole that questions how God let Satan plant a seed of doubt in his mind and whether or not replacing your first batch of children with a second one is really a just/unjust reward/non-reward for passing a test/non-test, check out “Answer to Job” by Carl Jung.
Published on October 24, 2022 16:34
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judaism
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