Job Loses Everything

A messenger runs, breathless, to the door. Before he can finish his news, another arrives. Then another. Then another. Each one says the same words. And I alone have escaped to tell you.

In the land of Uz there lived a man named Job. The Bible describes him in four phrases. He was blameless. He was upright. He feared God. And he turned away from evil. Job had seven sons and three daughters. He had thousands of sheep and camels, hundreds of oxen and donkeys, and many servants. He was the greatest man in all the east. His children loved to get together for feasts at each other's homes. And afterwards, Job would rise early and offer sacrifices for each of them, just in case any of them had sinned against God in their hearts. He did this every time.

Then the story lifts the curtain on a scene Job never sees. The heavenly beings come to present themselves before the Lord, and among them comes one called the satan, which means the accuser. Where have you come from? the Lord asks. From roaming the earth, he answers. Have you noticed my servant Job? says the Lord. There is no one like him on earth. The accuser shrugs. Does Job fear God for nothing? You've put a fence around him and blessed everything he does. Take it all away, and he'll curse you to your face. So the Lord allows Job to be tested. All he has may be touched, but not Job himself.

One day, while Job's children are feasting together, the messengers come. Raiders have taken your oxen and donkeys. The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep. Raiders have carried off your camels. And in every case, servants have been killed. While that last messenger is still speaking, one more arrives, and this is the hardest news of all. A great wind swept in from the desert and struck the house where your sons and daughters were eating. It collapsed. Your children have died. Job stands. He tears his robe. He shaves his head. He falls to the ground. And he worships. “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this, the Bible says, Job did not sin, or blame God for wrongdoing.

Again the heavenly beings gather. Again the Lord points to Job. He still holds on to his integrity. The accuser replies, a man will give everything to save his own skin. Strike his body, and he will curse you. So Job is tested again, though his life is to be spared. Painful sores break out all over him, from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Job sits down among the ashes and scrapes himself with a piece of broken pottery. His wife can't bear it. Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God, and die. But Job answers, you're talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

News of Job's suffering travels. Three of his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, arrange to meet and go to comfort him. When they see him from a distance, they hardly recognise him. They weep aloud. They tear their robes and throw dust in the air over their heads. And then they do something wise. They sit down on the ground beside him, for seven days and seven nights. No one says a word. They can see how very great his pain is.

The friends' seven days of silence followed a familiar pattern. Seven days was a customary time of mourning in Israel's world. Genesis tells how Joseph mourned seven days for his father Jacob, and the later book of Sirach says, mourning for the dead lasts seven days. Tearing clothes, sitting on the ground and putting dust on the head were all ways of grieving alongside someone. Job's friends began by doing exactly what grief needed.

Job Loses Everything. You'll find it in the book of Job, chapters 1 and 2. Job never learns about the conversation in heaven. He only knows his loss. And still he worships, and still he holds on. The rest of his book is honest about his anguish too. So here's the question to carry with you. When someone you know is hurting, could you simply sit with them?