The Lord Gave and the Lord Has Taken Away

Job opens with a portrait of a man in the land of Uz who was blameless and upright, who feared God and turned away from evil. His possessions were vast: seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household. He was a faithful father who rose early to offer burnt offerings for his children, in case they had sinned and renounced God in their hearts.

The scene moves to heaven, where God's sons present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan comes among them. Yahweh asks whether Satan has considered His servant Job, for there is no one like him on the earth. Satan answers, Does Job fear God for nothing? He accuses Job of serving God only for the hedge of blessing around him. Yahweh permits Satan to touch all that Job has but not Job himself. The reader learns what Job never learns: God set the limits of the trial.

Then four messengers arrive, each beginning before the last has finished. The Sabeans take the oxen and donkeys, fire falls on the sheep, the Chaldeans take the camels, and a great wind strikes the house where Job's children are, and they die. Job tears his robe, shaves his head, falls on the ground, and worships. Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked will I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh's name. In all this, Job didn't sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing. In the New Testament, James 5:11 points to the perseverance of Job and to the Lord's compassion and mercy.