One of Sunday’s Lectionary readings is part of the introduction to the book of Job. We read in chapter 2 verse 3, “The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” But we also read in the first chapter (missed out in the Lectionary verses) that Job was wealthy.
One of the issues that the book tries to address is this perceived connection between good behaviour and good fortune. Job is a good man, but suffers extreme misfortune. This must have made the readers think. Even today, many public utterances still speak of this connection between being good and being wealthy. “He deserves to be wealthy because he works hard.” “She deserves to be poor because she is lazy/a scrounger.” But I find this hard to take. It’s not poor people who spend their afternoons on the golf course. It’s not rich people who are juggling caring responsibilities and three cleaning jobs in different parts of town.
So I struggle with the premise of Job, that people are invited to believe at the beginning, that Job was both wealthy and good. How did he become so wealthy, without doing some dodgy deals?
Later the writer invites us to see that misfortune can happen to good people.
But I struggle with the end too, that Job has his fortune restored. It doesn’t fit experience. Surely this is not the end of the story – Job’s story as ours, continues.
I could also point out that the beginning and the end don’t read like the blood and guts reality of the middle section. They may not all have been written together.