The Book of Job: Allegorical Theodicy

The Book of Job: Allegorical Theodicy

 The story of Job is the most difficult and challenging text in all of wisdom literature. The text is masterfully crafted in the most beautiful poetic imagery, philosophical rhetoric and prose. The reader is immediately faced with questions regarding God’s moral character, integrity and Satan’s role as His evil servant. Secondarily, God’s need to convince Satan of Job’s righteousness while destroying his children animals and belongings in the process should teach one that God has an that is larger than His disregard for human life.

           If one reads this story as a literal historical document, he/she must be prepared to untangle the horrific theological mess left in it’s wake, as for the problems the story creates in terms of answering the problem of evil, an attempt at a solution will require logical and theological gymnastics that undoubtedly would damage any shred of credibility.

           If one reads the story as an allegory or life parable that attempts to instruct, inform and encourage believers in the face of evil and suffering the Job drama is incredibly rewarding. All of the theological problems in this story dissolve when we look at it’s origin, style and imagery

The fact that popular teaching is all over the map as to when and where he lived, who was he exactly, a patriarch, Hebrew, Jew etc.. is suspicious as to the historicity of his existence, however not overwhelming. I think these issues are easily explained.

Job seems to be the favorite candidate although he records his own death, which didn’t  seem to hold Moses back when he did it. Moses is the second candidate, thirdly is Solomon.

Eusebius mentioned that Solomon came into possession of a cannon of Edomite ancient writings from the area around Mesopotamia. He goes on to say that Solomon translated the book of Job into Hebrew.

Martin Luther

( In light of his opinion of other canonical books, I recognize quoting actually weakens my argument..)

External Evidence

         Much of the literature Solomon possessed was dated back to the time of the Patriarchs (1500-1700 BCE) including the ancient poem of “the one who suffers” whose name is translated as Job. The is a Babylonian poem which chronicles the lament of a good man suffering undeservedly. In this, the poem treats the age old question of `why do bad things happen to good people’ and the poem has thus been linked to the later Hebrew composition . is also another poem from the same period, that speaks to the issues of innocent suffering. Although there are similarities to Job, these are polytheistic pagan poems, however Solomon would not have been upset by that and could have easily translated them into Hebrew. In light of the other theories out there in my opinion this seems most probable.

Internal Evidence

      The Book of Job is stamped with the literary parallelism so prevalent in psalms and proverbs of David and Solomon’s era, such as Job 3:11: “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?”  Also, it borrows extensively from Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

 These propositions seem reasonable in light of the fact that the Job setting and religious practices appear to be ancient and yet the wisdom, structure and composition are common to the  Kingdom era. This would also answer the unfounded claim that it is the oldest book in the bible a claim which is solely based on the setting and surrounding nations in the story. Also it is unlikely that an ancient author would possess the knowledge of flora, fauna, biology, hydrology cycles and minerals mentioned in the book, however Solomon as the wisest man had extensive knowledge in these areas.

Throne room scene

            When a  revelation occurs in the bible it is noted as a vision, dream or if the author does not know, he mentions that also, the opening scene with God and Satan is silent in this respect. Also, the belief that Satan was cast down to earth is alluded to, however the idea that he presents himself to God to debate and take orders is something new. The images here are not to be taken literally, this story strives to point out a  truth, that evil exists and is allowed by God.  Even though God permits evil to exist in the world, it is not as if a private meeting is granted at the heavenly throne room for every existence of evil. It is a belief that is based on a literal interpretation of these verses and turns the justice, righteousness and holiness of God on its head. The fact that evil exists in the world is far different from Satan being sent by God to inflict it.

           What Satan said to God in the book of Job was Job serves you and obeys you because you bless him for it. In other words he said,‘Obedience brings the blessing’ this is the chorus of some church leaders today. Popularly taught as the curtain being pulled back on the spiritual world, resulting in much damage to those who would seek comfort from that notion. God killing his sons and daughters and then replacing them with ‘prettier ones’ should be terrifying to anyone with a moral compass, simply to prove Satan wrong. If the epic of Job is read as literal, the theological damage is irreparable, if understood in its true form as a poetic life parable the insight comfort and reward is unfathomable for one who suffers.

Suffering as a mystery

How would Job and his friends come to the conclusion that this evil was brought on by God attempting to convince Satan of something God already knew? That certainly is a mystery! A literal reading of the throne scene not only puts God intelligence in question, but also a host of His divine attributes.

A question in Heaven Answered on Earth

           The question that is asked in Job is ancient, will man unconditionally love God in a world where evil is permitted and is the God who permits evil a good and loving God? The opening drama between God and Satan simply teaches that God permits evil, the phrase, ‘there’s no one like him’ (Job) should let the reader know the scene is not normative also the Hebrew rendering is ‘So, you have considered my servant Job?‘ (Young’s Literal Translation) showing that Satan already desired to destroy Job, rather than God suggesting it.

             The climax of the drama occurs when Job exclaims, ‘I know my redeemer lives and tho’ he slay me, yet will I trust him’ Job shows his unconditional love for God in the face of suffering, without reward. Persecuted apostles, prophets, saints and common church folk have walked in Jobs steps for thousands of years.

           In the days of King Solomon a well-developed view of ‘reward in heaven’ had not been understood yet, as a result, ‘when his days were full’ he received the reward of his patience and faith. Following from this, many have taught that God will reward us for obedience and faith down here, if we simply are patient, which is a perfect recipe for generating high expectations, disappointment and anger to shortly follow.

          Before the reader of this rents his/her clothes and throws sawdust in the air I think it is only fair to warn the reader that I believe the Job story is God breathed and inspired much like the Garden of Eden story it is a remarkable picture of the human condition. Also, I see no problem in believing a man name Job existed. I think it is very possible that Solomon may have used a real person’s life as an allegory for the mystery of innocent suffering.  Finally, lest one think my intentions are evil here, I have seen the damage it does to people when well-meaning pastors, preachers and teachers explain how Satan needs permission from God before he can destroy your family, health and belongings.

Common arguments against Job as an allegory:

         This argument is simply driven by fear and ignorance, and it wrongly assumes that only a literal historical document can be inerrant, inspired and infallible. This is a modern cultural bias against the Eastern tradition of teaching through stories and oral tradition, Our culture would rather believe a document that is historically verifiable and more readily accessible to terms like inerrant and infallible. A poem, parable, song or allegory categorically does not lend itself well to concepts like inerrant and infallible and therein lies the fear. ( i.e. Then how do we know its true? )

The Psalms, Song of Solomon, Proverbs and Job as well as the parables that Jesus taught are all inspired by God and not to be read as wooden, historical chronicles. ( Unless one is willing to believe King Solomon was black. Song of Solomon 5:1 )

         As I said there is no difficulty granting a righteous man named Job lived and bad things happened to him, however this argument assumes, if he did exist there could never be an allegory or life parable about him because God only sites people who lived historically.

These three men have something in common, they all faced imminent death and were delivered by their own righteousness. In context here God is saying if you want deliverance from the coming judgement here are your three examples.

If James had mentioned the Prodigal son or the good Samaritan the reader would instantly know what he was talking about. In the same way one might mention Mr. Scrooge as an example of selfishness.

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  Thank you for reading this far, hopefully your interest in this is incredible epic has been stoked, and if you are one who has studied and enjoyed various forms of literature, you didn’t need to read this to know it was a poetic allegory of human suffering. Discussions like this are only possible in a religious sub culture were selective biases and presuppositions are so strong that what is obvious to the reader becomes a point of contention and debate.