Lent With Job and Saint Thomas Aquinas: Chapter Forty-Two

1 Then Job answered the Lord and said: 2 I know that you can do everything and no thought is hidden from you. 3 Who is the man who foolishly hides his plan without your knowledge? So I have spoken foolishly about things which far exceed my knowledge. 4 Listen, and I will speak, I will question you and answer me. 5 My ear heard you; now however my eye sees you. 6 Therefore I reproach myself and I do penance in dust and ashes.

7 After the Lord spoke these words to Job, he spoke to Eliphaz the Temanite: My fury is enkindled against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken correctly in my presence like my servant, Job. 8 Therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams. Go to my servant, Job, and offer holocausts for yourselves. Job, my servant, will pray for you. I will consider his face so that your foolishness will not be imputed to you. For you have not spoken rightly in my presence like my servant, Job. 9 Eliphaz the Temanite, Baldath the Shuite and Sophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them and the Lord supported the person of Job. 10 The Lord also was turned by the penance of Job when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as before.

Job repents and God reproves the friends of Job who have not spoken correctly about God:

Since God had reproved both Eliud and Job in his discourse, (38:2,3) now in the third place he reproves his friends and especially Eliphaz among them. It is clear that Eliphaz is the most important from the fact that he began to speak first. So the text says, “After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he spoke to Eliphaz the Temanite: My fury is enkindled against you and your two friends,” Baldath and Sophar. Consider here that Eliud had sinned from inexperience whereas Job from levity, so neither had sinned gravely. Therefore, the Lord is not said to be angry with them, but he is exceedingly angry with Job’s three friends because they had sinned gravely in asserting perverse doctrines as we saw already. (13:4) So he says, “for you have not spoken correctly in my presence,” that is, with truths of faith, “like my servant Job,” who did not withdraw from the truth of faith. To expiate grave sins the ancients used to offer sacrifice, and so he says, “Therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams,” because they were elders of the people. Seven is the number of totality and so seven sacrifices can expiate for grave sins. But because those who lack faith ought to be reconciled to God through the faithful, he says, “Go to my servant Job,” so that you may be reconciled to me by his mediation, “and offer holocausts for yourselves,” so that you who have sinned may make satisfaction. But your satisfaction requires the patronage of a faithful man, and so he says, “Job, my servant, will pray for you,” for he is worthy to be heard because of his faith, and so he says, “I will consider his face”, by heeding his prayer, “so that your foolishness” your faithless teaching,” will not be imputed to you.” He explains this saying, “For you have not spoken rightly in my presence like my servant Job.”

After they had received the hope of pardon, they fulfilled what he had commanded them, and so the text goes on, “Eliphaz the Temanite, Baldath of Shuhite, and Sophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them.” So they were made worthy through their obedience and humility and Job’s prayer for them was heard. Therefore the text next says, “and the Lord supported the person of Job,” in what he prayed for his friends. Not only the humility of the friends but also his own humility lent efficacy to his prayer, and so the text continues, “The Lord also was turned,” from fury to clemency, “by the penance of Job, when he prayed for his friends.” For it was fitting that one who had humbly done penance for such a light sin, should also obtain pardon for others who sinned gravely.

Go here to read the rest.  The book of Job ends with Job repenting for questioning God because he lacks the knowledge to do so.  It is somewhat unsatisfying since the Book does not explain why God allows the good to suffer evil and God does not tell us why. Viewed in a purely secular way the reaction to the Book of Job would be at best confusion and at worst a bitter laugh.  For Christians however, who believe in a God who died for our sins, this is not the case.  The penalty of sin afflicts the good as well as the evil, stretching from the Original Sin of Adam and Eve which they transmitted to all their descendants, to the most recent random murder victim.  Only hope in eternal salvation through Christ makes any sense of this vale of tears that we walk.  A good lesson for Lent.