Part 301 (1/2)

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 wors.h.i.+pped.)

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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?”