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Job 23:1-9,16-17
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and
upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons
and three daughters. 3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke
of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all
the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another's houses in turn; and
they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the feast
days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the
morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "It may be
that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." This is what Job always did. 6
One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came
among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the
LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." 8 The LORD
said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a
blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil." 9 Then Satan answered the
LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing? 16 While he was still speaking, another came and said,
"The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them;
I alone have escaped to tell you." 17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, "The
Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the
servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Think with me for a moment: when you think of the words righteous, honest, and moral,
who, in our modern context, comes to mind?
Perhaps some of the people currently running through your mind could be: Martin Luther
King, Jr. or Pope Francis or the Dalai Lama or Gandhi or, if youre especially lacking coffee,
energy, and not thinking clearly yet this morning, perhaps your most recent former intern. What
makes these influential leaders righteous, honest, and moral? We can certainly assume that it has
nothing to do with circumstances surrounding their birth but perhaps more about the things they
say and do. These people are not the only ones that have led extraordinary lives of service to
others and we can think of a great many throughout history and there are many others around the
world and certainly here in Kenyon who embody these qualities

Now, think with me for a moment about the same question: when you think of the words
righteous, honest, and moral, who comes to mind? Only this time, think biblically. Who comes to
mind? Perhaps we think about, to varying degrees Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, Peter, and
others. All of these certainly had their flaws.
On the other hand, we certainly think about Jesus and many others with their flaws and
all but there was one character that may be more upright and blameless than all but Jesus. That
is, of course, our friend Job. Lets learn a little about the man before we jump into the reading.
In the very first verse of the book, Job is introduced as being from Uz and was a man
that was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. So right away
he fits the description that we had been talking about. The next four verses describe how he is so
upright and blameless and what essentially amounts to his reward for doing so. He had seven
sons, three daughters, 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 donkeys, and many
servants. Job was indeed the greatest of all the people of the east, as it says in verse three. We
then get a little glimpse into Jobs family life. His sons and daughters would take turns holding
feasts at each others houses. These feasts would last several days and all ate and drank and were
merry. From the way the first few verses describe it, these feasts were almost nonstop. So what
does Job do at the end of each feast? He rises early in the morning and offers burnt offerings
according the number who were at the party. As it says at the end of verse five, Job said, It may
be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. This is what Job always did. So
far, this is setting up what the wisdom literature, that is the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job
and some Psalms, teaches: do good things and good things will happen or do bad things and bad
things will happen. This is called a set up because if you have ever read or heard about Job, you
know where this is going.

After these first five verses, everything goes south for Job. In verse six through 12, God
and the Satan engage in what is essentially a divine bar bet. The Satan is looking for a servant of
God to trouble and God responds by saying in verse 8, Have you considered my servant Job, a
blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil? The bar bet goes like this:
The Satan thinks that if all of Jobs wealth and prosperity is taken away from him then Job will
no longer fear God but will curse God to Gods face.
As the story continues in verse 13, all of Jobs seven sons and three daughters are killed,
all of his animals are killed and so are his servants. The only one left is Jobs wife. So Job
responds by doing what he knows: he worships but does so in repentance and agony. In chapter
two, his wife having seen all pain Job is going through says to him, Why do you still persist in
your integrity? Curse God, and die. Job refuses. Then his friends come and sit and mourn with
him to console and comfort Job and for seven days his friends say nothing but are simply present
for him.
In chapter three, the floodgates of Jobs anger open up as he curses the day of his birth
and goes about cursing God. Then in chapter four his friend Eliphaz responds to Job by saying
Job has done wrong in the sight of God. This back and forth with Job and Jobs friends goes on
from chapter three to chapter 37. We pick up this exchange right in the middle in chapter 23.
Throughout this exchange with his friends, Job is looking for answers from his friends
and most importantly from God about why this is happening to him. Job has looked everywhere
and found no one to comfort him or relieve his despair. In fact, God has not responded in any
way to Jobs demand for answers. But Job is still at it, asking and searching.1 In chapter 22, just
before our reading, Jobs friend, Eliphaz, accuses Job of having great wickedness and unleashes
1 Karla Suomala, Commentary on Job 23: 1-9, 16-17, Working Preacher, October 4, 2015, accessed
October 7, 2015, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2670.

some harsh words. Eliphaz asks Job in verses 2 and 3 of chapter 22, Can a mortal be of use to
God? Can even the wisest be of service to him? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are
righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? This is bringing us back to
chapter one when Job is called blameless and upright or righteous. Essentially Eliphaz, and the
rest of Jobs friends are saying to Job: all of this is your fault. This would not have happened to
you if you had not sinned and your sin had not been so great, thus following the Wisdom
tradition: bad things happen because you did bad things. All of your sacrifices and burnt
offerings mean nothing to God. This is essentially the message of chapter 22 and all of Jobs
friends speeches. The companions who sat in silence with Job for seven days (2:13) now can't
seem to get it through their thick heads that silence was the way to go.2
Still Job persists in chapter 23 as he responds to these accusations, once again, from his so called
friends and is ultimately calling out God. Job wants to put God on trial. He wants answers from
God for all the calamity that he has faced. He wants answers to questions like Why has all of
this happened to me? Why have you, God, done this to me? What is going on up there? Job has
played by the rules, Job has done all the right things, Job is a good person and still this
punishment, this tragedy persists. God, where are you?!?!? Job wants a divine answer and is
willing to do anything to hear Gods response. In verse 4, Job says I would lay my case before
him, and fill my mouth with arguments. Job longs for a tribunal where his court case would be
truly heard.3 Job believes that if he could just get God into a hearing, he knows that he would be
found innocent of all the calamity that has come upon him. Job believes that God is absent and
2 Kathryn Schifferdecker, Commentary on Job 23: 1-9, 16-17, Working Preacher, October 14, 2012,
accessed October 9, 2015, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1420.
3 J Gerald Janzen, Job, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Atlanta: John
Knox Press, 1985), 166.

asleep at the wheel, not caring for Job or any of creation. Job even says in the first verse of
chapter 24, why are times not kept by the Almighty? Essentially, Job asks God like a student
asks a professor: why dont you keep office hours? I cant find you present to answer my
questions.
In the midst of all of the accusations from Jobs friends to Job and Jobs accusations to God, we
see two things that can be lifted up.
First, we see a turn in how Job addresses God. We see Job go from talking about God to
talking to God.4 Through this, we are, ourselves, given permission to lament. Job shows us that
saying hard and true things and asking real questions is part of being in relationship to God. They
are not simply tolerated; they keep the lines of communication open when every other avenue is
closed off.5 In lament, the despairing person "says it aloud" to God, and thus holds on to God
even in the depths of despair. And in that holding on, something like hope is made possible. Job
dwells in the depths of despair, but in the midst of that despair he addresses God; he demands
that God answer him; he holds on to God; and in that holding on, a fierce hope is indeed born6:
Job says in chapter 19, I know that my redeemer lives.
Second, we see bad and good examples of how we, as individuals and as a community may
respond to suffering in our midst. The bad examples come from Jobs friends: they point to Job
as the guilty one. It is Jobs fault that Job is experiencing such grief and despair. They are
defending God and encouraging Job not to curse God as he has done. We are guilty of doing this
at times ourselves in the midst of grief. We attempt to comfort by saying often unhelpful things
4 Schifferdecker, Commentary on Job 23:1-9, 16-17, Working Preacher, October 14, 2012
5 Suomala, Commentary on Job 23: 1-9, 16-17, Working Preacher, October 4, 2015.
6 Schifferdecker, Commentary on Job 23:1-9, 16-17, Working Preacher, October 14, 2012

like God needed your loved one in heaven. Everything happens for a reason. God is testing
you. Jobs friends fall into this category from chapters 3 to 37. They never quite give Job
permission to grieve, to lament.
At the same time, Jobs friends also provide excellent examples in chapter two. They
come to him and sit in silence with him to let him know that in the midst of his anguish his
friends, his community of faith is present for him. Of course, we do things slightly differently.
We call the one who is in the midst of grief, we send cards, flowers, we might visit, but perhaps
the best way we show our love is to bring tator tot hot dish because as we know heaven knows
no greater comfort than that of tator tot hot dish.
At the end of chapter 23, we are still in the midst of Jobs grief but we are learning what
it means to lament and how to bring our anger, pain, and grief to the feet of God even in the
midst of Gods absence. We are learning from him how to have hope, even if only a little,
holding on to God with a fierce faith, trusting that God is God, trusting that God will hear,
trusting that God will answer. And that answer will come, not one that Job (or we) could ever
imagine, but an answer nonetheless.7

7 Ibid.