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Did Job Suffer for Nothing? The Ethics of Piety, Presumption and the Reception of Disaster in the Prologue of Job

Drew University, 36 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ 07940, USA

This study argues that the statement about Job suffering for nothing (2.3; cf. 9.17) is not peripheral to the story of Job. When Job begins to suffer, the Satan's theoretical question `Does Job fear God for nothing?' (1.9) is reframed by Yahweh's evaluative statement: `You incited me against him to swallow him for nothing' (2.3). Job's suffering is not random; rather, it is well thought out, executed, and evaluated. In response, Job raises the issue about the reception of suffering/disaster (2.10). The Prologue explores the reality of suffering/disaster through the tripartite lens of the causal theory of suffering, the reality of suffering, and the `reception' theory of suffering. Because systematic and systemic suffering strikes at the moral, existential, and social core of humanity and divinity, it often becomes the most powerful critique of its own causal, existential, and reception theories, regardless of whether such theories are of divine or human origin.

Key Words: Theodicy • disaster/evil • reception theory • piety • justice • bless/curse God • gratuitous suffering.

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Vol. 33, No. 3, 359-380 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0309089209102502


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