Job

Job Patriarch

Job was a righteous, fulfilled, rich and happy man, lived in the land of Uz, had a family with 10 children, was a spiritual man and tried in every way to please God.
God knew that Satan despised Job because he was a faithful and righteous man, when he pointed this out to him, Satan replied, "Is it for nothing that Job fears God? Didn't you put a hedge around him, his house and everything he has?". Satan wants to convince God that Job pretends to practice his faith only to keep his material possessions, and if he lost everything he would have cursed him. God is not of this opinion and, to prove Satan that he is wrong, he allows Satan to test Job.

Job was deprived of everything of everything he had. In a single day Job was struck by a series of terrible tragedies. He learned that in a short time he had lost all his livestock: first the cattle and the donkeys and then the sheep and the camels. Worse still, the servants who looked after those animals had also been killed. Job was told that it was, perhaps a bolt of lightning, that caused the deaths of some of the servants and part of the cattle. Before Job even realized that so many people had died and how poor he was now, the most shocking news arrived: as his 10 children were gathered at the home of the eldest of them, a strong wind suddenly swept over the house, destroying it and causing the death of all! (Job 1: 12-19).

However, contrary to what Satan foretold, Job did not curse God, rather he said, "Let God's name continue to be praised".
Satan, enraged, did not give up. He presented himself again before God, and once again God praised Job for his integrity, which had not been tarnished by the attacks of Satan. But Satan replied, "Skin for skin. Man will give everything he has for his life. Try reaching out and touching him to the bone and flesh, and you'll see if he won't curse you openly". Satan was sure that if Job was struck by a serious illness, he would curse God. God had full trust in Job, so he allowed Satan to rob him of health, but not to the point of killing him. Satan turned away from the Lord and struck Job with an evil plague, from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then his wife said, "Are you still firm in your integrity? Bless God and die!" But he replied: "How would a fool speak? You spoke! If we accept good from God, why shouldn't we accept evil?". Also in this case Job, even though he has become a leper, does not sin with his lips: everything has been taken from him, he has been abandoned by everyone, even by his wife, but he does not rebel. He remains alone, with his naked faith, without any support; here is the real beginning of the drama: Job does not even know why he was tested with so much suffering!

Job was in desperate need of comfort, he was saddened because he was certain that the misfortunes came from God. His three friends, Eliphaz, Bud Zofar, learned of his friend's illness, went to see him, but they were of no comfort to him; on the contrary, they only caused him more pain, arguing that since God is good, pains and suffering were signs of God's punishment for sins: if a man suffers it means that he has a lot of sin. This was in fact the idea of God and of his justice which was formed in tradition and in which everyone believed; according to them Job was evidently receiving a punishment and Job, rejecting such accusations with disdain, falls in the darkest night: "Behold, he passes near me and I do not see him, he goes away and I do not notice him ... a storm crushes me, multiplies my wounds for no reason, does not let me catch my breath, on the contrary it satisfies me with bitterness". God is silent, he does not speak, just in the moment of greatest need he hides. It seems that God created us to destroy us, giving us life and then making us fail, always consumed with regret for all that we have left undone.

Job's situation is even more dramatic: in addition to the loss of all his possessions and illness, he perceives God as an enemy. Job is exasperated by God's silence, he feels he is an enemy. God is absent, he is hiding just when he should intervene in favor of the just sufferer. Job feels innocent, he cannot bear this indifference of God any longer and cries out passionately: "O earth, do not cover my blood and let my cry not stop!". Job now knows he must die without having received an answer from God, but he senses and hopes with faith that his cry will survive: there must be justice!

In the end, God takes the floor, invites Job to make the journey that goes from the mystery of creation to the mystery of God himself, to end with his own mystery as a man. The message is simple: the universe is full of wonders and mysteries that Job does not know, but all things have a meaning and everything depends on Wisdom; Job should not therefore despair, remembering that God is present in creation, even when this is a mystery to man, and the human criteria is insufficient, inadequate to measure his justice. Job then abandons himself, understands that, even without having received an answer, he is too small in the face of the greatness of creation, accepts himself and no longer speaks of his innocence which, according to the conception of the time, should have guaranteed him a fortunate life and happy! He understands that this comes from a false conception of God and, for this reason, he then comes to affirm that his eyes have opened to a new image of God.

Job accepts the Word and repents: before the test he was called the greatest of all the Orientals, at the end, however, he humbles himself by defining himself as "too mean". If during the trial he was ready to reproach God, now instead, seeing that the horizon of faith has widened, he reproaches himself.
The Lord then turns his righteousness against Job's three friends and, turning to Eliphaz, proclaims: "My anger has been kindled against you and your two friends, because you did not say righteous things about me like my servant Job. Take therefore seven calves and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer them as a burnt offering for you; my servant Job will pray for you, so that I, for his sake, do not punish your foolishness, because you did not say about me righteous things like my servant Job". The three went and did as the Lord had said and the Lord had regard for Job who, through him, will become the advocate of the salvation of his three condemned friends.

God wants men like Job who, having passed the test, is rewarded and restored to the happy state of departure, having prayed for his friends; he actually doubled what Job had owned. All his brothers, his sisters and his former acquaintances came to visit him and ate bread in his house and pitied him and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had sent upon him and gave him each a plate and a ring of 'gold. The Lord blessed Job's new condition more than the first: he got hold of fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters: to one he named Colomba, to the second Cassia and to the third Vial of stibio (or Cornustibia), in all the earth there were not found women as beautiful as the daughters of Job and their father put them to part of the inheritance together with their brothers. After all this, Job lived another one hundred and forty years and saw children and grandchildren of four generations. Then Job died, old and full of days.

Why did God bless Job in such a remarkable way? For his extraordinary perseverance in God. We cannot even imagine how many difficulties Job faced, yet he never lost faith and his love for God and even more, instead of becoming angry and resentful, he even forgave those who had hurt him. He never lost either hope or his integrity.

Job represents the universal man, of all times, pushed to confront God with his questions, his intuitions, his anxieties. The story of Job is a drama steeped in pain that can only be grasped by those who are open to the mystery of man. This story talks about human experience, to help us better understand the meaning of life, and highlights the problem of sin and evil on the one hand, and virtues on the other. Job is a man who suffers and who struggles, who even comes to think that perhaps everything is absurd and meaningless. We too could be gripped by suffering, submerged by doubt, surrounded by darkness; in that darkness we could perceive the depth of the darkness which obscures us in the face of God's silence, but which can be overcome with the unshakable force of faith. The victory is clear and God not only heals Job, but gives him back double the wealth he had before. Faith always pays because God, if at times allows the test, then rewards the victors with his infinite and powerful Blessing.