The Patience and Wisdom of Job " Ayoub "

Scripture Reflection Paper: The Patience and Wisdom of Job
What makes the book of Job interesting is that we all experience pain and suffering at some point in our life and we end up looking for answers how to deal with the situations that we are experiencing. The story of Job " Ayoub" is intriguing because it  treats the issue of retribution and explains that in this life people seem not always to get the reward or punishment that they deserve. The story is about a man named Job, who God himself in a dialogue with Satan describes with the words: “There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” (Job 1:8). God knows his servant and it is implied that he also knows the result of the test he is going to inflict on him, when he agrees to let Satan take everything from him except his life. Job proves worthy of the divine assessment and when the afflictions begin to affect him, he initially seems to submit to the divine will and admits: …, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21). Here Job concedes to the fact that nothing in this world really belongs to us and that anything at any time can be taken away by the Allmighty. He places himself and his fate in the hands of the One that has the power over live and death and all things in between. And he also seems to understand that not everything in this life can be good and beneficial, but we also have to accept that sometimes things do not go the way we expect them to go or even worse seem to harm us and to inflict pain and sorrow on us. Hence when his wife suggests to him to curse God for his misery, he rebukes her by saying: …, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:10). Job in his anguish and misery decides to keep relying on the fact that he is a righteous man and that he did not commit a sin great enough to deserve the cruel fate that he experiences. Throughout the book, he complains and even asks God to end his life, but he does not give in to his friends’ arguments, that men get what men deserve – that he must have sinned in order to be punished to this extend.

But his mental and emotional state is largely affected by the test that was imposed on him and that he considers as an unfair punishment. Due to this perspective, he falls into a stage of agony, where he claims that “…the arrows of the almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.... (Job 6:4). At this point, he is overwhelmed by the events, but he is not suffering “the poison of God” as he claims. What is torturing him is the lack of faith and trust in the eternal wisdom of his Creator. This lack opens the door to Satan’s games with his mind. The desperation and despair he is experiencing originate in the fact that he cannot see his fate as a test. He does not understand that there is a difference between life on earth and afterlife. If he considered earthly life as an eternal test, he would understand that while he is suffering, he is actually getting rewarded for his afterlife. In being righteous and staying righteous, as he is trying to do, he elevated his rewards to an even higher level. But he does not see it this way and therefore his complains culminate in: “My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.” (Job 10:1). He is almost giving up on his cause here and possibly even on the Mercy of God to deliver him from his calamities. But he stays aware of the fact that he is in God’s hand and cannot escape his fate: “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. (Job 12:10). But he gets ready to defend his cause and to argue about what is happening to him with God: “Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand. (Job 10:7). He wishes profoundly for an opportunity to do so and he is relying on himself to defend his cause: “I have indeed prepared my case; I know that I shall be vindicated.” (Job 13:18). He is certain that God, after talking to him, will correct the error. But how can a human correct God’s error. There is no divine error, but Job in his agony goes even further and ponders about the benefits of righteousness versus the gains of the unrighteous in this world:  “Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of god is upon them. (Job 21:7-9) and further on: “They spend their days in prosperity and in peace they go down to She’ol. They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways. What is the Almighty,  that we should serve him? Is not their prosperity in fact their own achievement?” (Job 21:13-16). He insists on ‘staying on the right path’, but these reflections show again that he does not understand the deeper significance of what is happening to him. Like any human, he tends to look at the fate of others, who are better off, do not have to suffer or seem to have better lives. Again, he forgets three important points: First, that he does not have the knowledge to judge other peoples’ lives and happiness, as this knowledge rests with God alone. Second, he does not know the plans that God has with the people, that he lets enjoy life for a while before they are put to the test, like any human in this world is destined to be. And thirdly, he forgets, that we are rewarded –sometimes in this life- but most certainly in the next life for the tests that we passed successfully during our life time.

At a certain point, Job’s agony reaches its peak. He has exploited all avenues known to him and his friends are not of much help, as he insists, that he did not do anything to deserve the penalty he is receiving. He is firmly set in this idea but is also strong enough to keep his patience and his ways. But he still longs to understand, as the human minds always tries to comprehend: “Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. (Job 28:20-21).

The perspective of Job in this scripture is profoundly different from the job of the Qur’an, where he is described as a man with enormous patience and trust in God. He is aware of the fact that his fate lies in the hand of his Creator, just like the job in the Bible, but he also has the wisdom that when calamity or misfortune occur, one has to do his/her best to resolve the problem and then put his/her trust in God. He knows that this life is nothing but a test and that not a milligram of a righteous deed will be lost when the Day of Judgment comes to evaluate his life. He is aware that doing his best also includes to bear events with patience and to not despair in seemingly hopeless situations. Hence, he is assured that whatever his Creator imposes on him as a test is not too much burden on him, as his Creator knows what he is able to bear before the burden even reaches him. And for the question why bad people live good lives, he knows the answer. He understands that only God is All-knowing and therefore it is His decision when and how anyone in this life will be tested. But most importantly, he relies in the Mercy of his Creator for His Creation. He knows that mortals are not able to be righteous before their maker, but not for any other reason, that they are not God - The only Perfect One. Humans are not expected to be perfect, but they are expected to do their very best when it comes to following the rules and ways laid out to them by God. But because of our human imperfection the only thing that can deliver us is God’s mercy. That is why the ultimate prayer that restores job’s life in the Qur’an is not about complaint, desperation or wrangling with perceived injustice: “And [remember] Job, when he cried out to his Sustainer, ‘affliction has befallen me: but Thou art the Most Merciful of the merciful!’ Whereupon We responded upon him and removed all the affliction from which he suffered; and We gave him his family, doubling their number as an act of grace from Us, and as a reminder unto all who worship Us. (Qur'an 21:83-84)