Q: Why would God allow Satan to torture and torment Job when he knew Job was a wonderful man and if God is, indeed, omniscient? (New Jersey)
A: First of all, it’s not known whether Job was a literal historical figure. Many Scripture scholars believe that the Book of Job in the Old Testament is essentially a sort of fable — that is, it was not necessarily recording events that actually occurred, but rather telling us a story to illustrate some deeper truth.
This would make the book of Job similar to the parables that Jesus was so fond of telling later on in the New Testament (e.g., we don’t need to believe that the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son were real people in order to understand and appreciate the point Jesus was trying to make).
On that literary level, the entire Book of Job is a consideration of the meaning of suffering in the life of the faithful, and in that sense it’s actually asking the same question you are!
For those unfamiliar with the story of Job, his namesake book opens by introducing Job as an “upright man” who “feared God and avoided evil” (Job 1:1). Job was also very prosperous: “Seven sons and three daughters were born to him; and he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-donkeys, and a very large household, so that he was greater than anyone in the East” (Job 1:2-3).
Then one day, when God and Satan are conversing, God decides to brag about Job, telling Satan: “Have you noticed my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil” (Job 1:8). Satan responds by arguing that of course Job loves God, but only because God has showered him with so many earthly blessings. Satan goes on to suggest that if Job were to fall into misfortune, Job would “curse God to His face” (Job 1:11).
God’s response to this challenge was to allow Satan to afflict Job in a variety of ways, so that God could prove His point about Job’s faithfulness. And over the course of the rest of the book, Satan goes to town: Job loses his children, his livestock and financial assets, and eventually his physical health. But despite everything, Job remains faithful to God, even after his own wife tells him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). And to add more insult to injury, Job’s friends are convinced that Job must have done something to deserve his suffering, and they urge the innocent and bewildered Job to find some way to atone for whatever sin he might have committed.
At the end of the book, God does eventually restore Job’s fortunes, (Job 42:10) but Job is never made aware of the reason for his trials. When Job has the chance to talk directly with God and ask the Lord why He had permitted such sufferings, God gives Job an almost sarcastic answer: “Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its size? Surely you know” (Job 38: 4-5)? Or in other words, God emphasizes that Divine insight and understanding is far beyond the grasp of mere mortals.
For modern-day readers, Job can be a challenging book for many reasons. It’s not one that gives us easy, “ready-made” catechetical lessons on the nature of our loving God or the purpose of suffering. But for mature readers, we can take away several important themes.
For one, the book of Job makes clear that suffering is not always the consequence of personal sin; and God never causes us directly to suffer, but only permits it. And our human lack of knowledge does not mean that there is not some providential plan “behind the scenes” for the glory of God and our own greater good.
Jenna Marie Cooper, who holds a licentiate in canon law, is a consecrated virgin and a canonist whose column appears weekly at OSV News. Send your questions to CatholicQA@osv.com.
