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Our Brother Job
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10413 |
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Section : |
BOOK WORLD
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| Issue
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2 / 1993 |
2,620 Words |
| Author
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Robert Royal
Robert Royal is a vice president at the Center for Ethics and
Public Policy. |
THE FIRST DISSIDENT
The Book of Job in Today's Politics
William Saffire
New York: Random House, 1992
304 pp., $23.00
Throughout history, readers have been tempted to find simple spiritual solutions to complex political questions in the Bible. Some of the Hebrew Scriptures invite that kind of approach. The prophets and the historical books in particular suggest that Israel will be restored politically after it has reconstituted itself morally in the fear of the Lord. Ronald Reagan was following in a long tradition when he told a convention of evangelicals during the 1980s that the Bible contained "all the answers to all the problems that face us today." Depending on what Reagan meant, the statement may or may not have been true. If he meant that the Bible is our central guide to pursuing good and avoiding or enduring evil, he was right. But if he meant the Bible provides a surefire blueprint for complete justice in this world, he was wrong. The Scriptures themselves demonstrate that sometimes the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer, with God's acquiescence. Nowhere is this truth clearer than in that remarkable literary as well as religious text known as the Book of Job.
Of course, Job is much more than a book about politics. The apparent injustices Job suffers do not stem from the misdeeds of any ruler or regime, nor is Job personally at fault. In the first verse of the story, we are told that Job possessed fourfold virtue: "There lived in the land of Uz a man of blameless and upright life named Job, who feared God and set his face against wrongdoing." The scripture scholars construe this to mean that not only was Job a man of complete integrity who followed God's law, he also revered and obeyed God, and consciously chose the good. However much we--and Job's well meaning but heartless friends--may doubt that such perfection is possible for a human being, the author of the Book of Job clearly wishes to exclude at the outset any of the usual reasons given to explain away human suffering. In particular, the Joban poet points out that the doctrine of strict retribution in this world does not hold true. Job's suffering proceeds from God's inscrutable and seemingly unjust ways of dealing with his creatures.
God does not torment Job directly, but the chronicler of Job's troubles shows us a dramatic test. After telling us about Job's virtues and his immense prestige and prosperity, the poet introduces "the Satan," or Adversary, who, though
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