Job Chapter 31

Pleas for Justice in a Cruel Universe

In the first chapter, Job was in Denial but tried to skip to Acceptance with “Naked came I into the world and naked will I leave it. G-d gives and G-d takes away” which is a fancy way of saying “Shit happens.” For the past thirty chapters, Job has cycled through Depression, Anger and Bargaining. His friends pushed him to confront his emotions with their “everything happens for a reason” and “G-d must be punishing you” talk. Were they actually helping? Let's not give them too much credit.

Job has fought with them as much as he can, and now he's talking to G-d. In his last speech, he wishes that he was responsible for his tragic fate. At least, that would mean that the world is just and everything does happen for a reason. He would love to be the sinner that his friends were describing. He could say “Yes, I have been a greedy nasty jerk. I deserve this.” Only, if he was that bad, he wouldn't say that.

The worst people never admit fault. Hitler died angry, feeling betrayed knowing that there were living Jews. Every domestic abuser frames the relationship as if they were the victim. Just look at Ike Turner and Amber Heard. When Ted Bundy finally admitted to killing those women, he blamed pornography. You can blame a lot on porn but not serial killers. Millions spend their adolescence masturbating to porn and Ted saw the same magazines and said “Gosh, wouldn't it be fun to lure women into my van and kill them?”

If you want to see the worst people repent, watch the original Star Wars trilogy. Don't expect Darth Vader in real life.

Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote a character musing that the raashas and tzaddiks are both obsessed with sin. The sinners are obsessed with everyone else's failings while the tzaddik is obsessed with their personal failings. Have I given enough? Was I kind enough? Did I say the wrong thing?

Job is not evil. In fact, Job runs through the possibilities of what he could have done to make a fair universe. He could have lusted after teenage girls. He did not. So he's definitely better than Drake and Woody Allen. Had he chased married women, he would understand if that was why his marriage fell apart.

He had servants. They had complaints. Had he refused to listen he'd be evil because regardless of income, social class or anything, we are all human beings. Refusing to listen to their complaints would mean that he saw them as less than human. He could have ignored the poor. He had money. He had resources. If he withheld charity, he would understand why thieves stole everything. Yet he helped everyone.

Had he raised his hand to strike down orphans, rip his arm from its socket.

One feels like Job probably shouldn't push his luck with such declarations. Especially in light of Satan going “hey, you know we killed his kids and made him poor but we haven't ruined his health yet” in chapter 2.

Job didn't love his gold. He didn't worship the moon. He didn't even rejoice when those who hated him suffered. He's got that over me. I'm positively giddy when I hear about the misfortunes of those who hate me. I even got kicked off of Twitter for saying that I pray daily for Trump's death. Social media can be so hostile to religion.

Of course, since October 7, I learned just how many people hate me. I'm not going to apologize for celebrating when Sinwar, Nasrallah and Haniyeh went to Hell. I look forward to the death of Ayatollah Khaemeni and his allies. I wish I could pray for his repentance but it's too late.

Job, on the other hand, is a tzaddik. He gave the homeless places to sleep and the hungry food to eat. He never grabbed fruit without paying.

This is the culmination of Job's anger. How much do we all want to think that what comes around goes around? Isn't it nice when evil shits die? Yet, children die. Good people die. Peace activists are murdered by the people they want to help. Hamas strangles children and celebrates. Columbia University Nazis might get expelled but they have their trust funds. The Iranian guards raped and murdered Nika Shakarami and countless others and the UN memorialized the Iranian president who ordered the crackdowns. Where is justice? When Elon Musk puts thousands out of work and messes with everyone's federal benefits while calling his victims parasites, where is the justice? How can we say that we believe that G-d is fair when G-d lets this shit happen?

Job wants answers.

He'll get some, but not right away.

First, we have to hear from Elihu.

The title is a bit cheesy, but When Bad Things Happen to Good People is an excellent book.

Still looking for work. Wouldn’t it be cool if I could do this full time and not worry about eviction? Help out if you can. Subscribe or donate to my Gofundme.

Since these articles are popular, I may keep going with different Bible books. However, if you want more Bible stuff, buy a copy of King David and the Spiders from Mars.

Job Chapter 30 ————— Job Chapter 32