Job and the Mystery of Suffering: Spiritual Reflections

by Richard Rohr

This is still consistent with our belief today: the Lord as the only fitting avenger of the people. At least in our better moments, we leave vengeance and justice in God’s hands. All through this book Job has been seeking someone to defend him, to plead his case. Just a few verses back, he dared to think of God as his enemy. Now, he breaks through in this magnificent leap of faith and says, in effect, “Still I believe. I call upon God against himself. Even though God is my enemy, I also believe God will be my redeemer.” He finds truth in both sides of God and does not experience any contradiction. He bases his faith and trust on that redeemer God who will take his side, who will stand close to him, whom his eyes will look upon. For Christians it is easy to see how Jesus filled this role. Some have suggested that these verses were the original conclusion of the book. We do not know how further material was added to these manuscripts over the ages. The later chapters are very muddled, and scholars don’t know for sure how to put the scribbled manuscripts together. The book was probably written in many stages, successive authors adding their contributions.