Again and again, from Job’s perspective, the God whom he fears seems very far away. Indeed, there are times when this is so much the case that it isn’t just Job’s world that so obviously implodes, his entire mind and psyche appear to disintegrate as well.

The book of Job is one of the most enigmatic, yet most significant books of the Bible for a whole range of reasons. Among them is the attention it has been given by the likes of John Calvin (who preached 159 sermons on it in the space of 6 months 1558-59) and Joseph Caryl who preached a staggering 424 sermons on it over a 12-year period in 17^th Century London. But readers often miss its point.

Although Job appears to be the main character in the book, he is not its central focus, nor is the book addressed to him. Many scholars believe it was written sometime between the reign of Solomon and the Exile – the era during which much of the Wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible was given by the Holy Spirit and with which the book of Job has been traditionally classified in the Old Testament corpus. John Calvin unpacks the significance of this by saying, ‘God wanted some few seed [Job and his family] to remain among the pagans to worship him in order to convict those [in later generations] who turned from right path, like the pagans.’ In other words, at a time when his covenant people were straying from their covenant privilege in the Promised Land, God pointed them to a godly man in a pagan world who didn’t stray. This book and the struggles to which Job was subjected are intended to drive home – in a very visceral manner – that the essence of wisdom we need to navigate life always begins with ‘the fear of the Lord’.

What is strange, however, is that again and again, from Job’s perspective, the God whom he fears seems very far away. Indeed, there are times when this is so much the case that it isn’t just Job’s world that so obviously implodes, his entire mind and psyche appear to disintegrate as well.

This becomes apparent in the book’s third chapter. In Chapter One he has suffered the loss of his personal fortune, his esteemed reputation and, worst of all, his ten children – taken from him with one bitter stroke. In Chapter Two this loss is compounded not just with the radical loss of his health, but through the Judas-like betrayal of his own wife. The woman who had pledged to be his soulmate and support through life urged him to end his (their) misery by betraying his Lord and Redeemer: ‘Curse God and die!’ But, even in the face of being undermined by his wife, Job maintains his faith and devotion to God, saying, ‘Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’ (2.10). But this appears to crumble as he ‘goes over the edge’ into what many commentators regards as ‘the abyss’ that spans the bulk of the book between its beginning and end.

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