Let me try another approach. The problem we the readers need to tackle is how to defend the Perfection of God. If we perceive imperfections in God in our minds or have unexpressed doubts, how do we deal with them? The basic question in the book of Job is probably why do bad things happen to good people? My starting premise when dealing with doubts about God is that I have the problem. I attribute error to myself, not to God.
Compare Job to the prodigal son who was not content at home with his father. His life was comfortable, but he wondered if he might be happier on his own, away from his father. His basic problem, I think, was that he did not understand and appreciate the fact that his father loved him. He did not see the love of his father and did not love his father that much. So he asked for his inheritance, got it and left. Things went downhill and finally disastrous. When he came to his senses, he wondered if he should go home. He was not presuming it would be, he did not assume his father loved him -- and he said to himself he would be willing to work for his father as a laborer if not accepted as a son when he returned.
What the prodigal son learned from his experiences on his own was the lesson of love. He finally perceived that his father did care about him. It was real, and not an act. His brother, who never left home, still did not understand that and was resentful. Those who err and are then forgiven learn the lesson of love. Those who are forgiven much love much as Jesus put it.
Now let me begin my critique of Job. He was just, he was righteous, he was perfect in a legalistic way. Perfect in Hebrew has two spellings -- one is 440, the other is 490. The book of Job uses the 440 type to Job. It never uses the 490 type, but I think it's inferred if you see the 50 of Pentecost being added to Job's initial 440 type. He reached a different kind of perfection after Pentecost.
We are told Job was righteous; but the book does not say he was wise or loving. He was neither at the beginning. His family life was a wreck emotionally. Superficially everything looks good with all the wealth, but if we allow ourselves to feel his situation by using our emotions, we can see all was not well.
You probably wouldn't have enjoyed being around Job. His children didn't. He had given them wealth so they could live on their own, and they took the money and ran. Rich people can be like that: You want your children to be rich and successful since they are seen as extensions of self. I think Job's children felt that way about him. My evidence? They visited each other and not him. I find the following a shocking picture of Job's family life:
Job 1:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Seven days a week and seven sons suggests to me they never visited Job. What was Job doing?
5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
I'm sure you've been around people who are critical of almost everything you and others do. They are busy worrying about things that aren't worth worrying about. Job wasn't the type to be overly critically of others verbally, but he was a worrier. You've probably been around this type of person too. They might not accuse you openly of sinning, but you can tell from their attitude that they think you might be sinning. Such people are miserable to be around.
Now let's move on to Job's wife. What kind of woman was she? Was she a godly woman of the sort whose seed would want to tread down the seed of the serpent? Or was she an ungodly woman who produced children of the seed of the serpent? I say the latter since she sided with Satan and advised God to curse God and die. And yes, there was something wrong with Job's children. Yes, they were of the seed of the serpent since their mother was. But what was the problem? We're in deep territory here involving views that remain controversial.
The problem again was Job. Spiritually, the "fallen woman" cannot redeem herself completely. She must be joined to an unfallen male who provides her spiritual covering the way Boaz provided Ruth a spiritual covering. Ruth came from a cursed tribe and converted to the worship of the One True God; and then Boaz covered her. There are examples in the New Testament where Jesus rescues "fallen women" -- not by marrying them and having sex with them but by providing them the proper spiritual covering.
I say Job failed to "cleave" to his wife according to the commandment. Note please that Eve was not told to cleave to Adam. She remained under the curse and had produced children under that curse. Job was right, in a way, to be uncomfortable about his children. I say he erred by failing to love his wife. If he had loved her more fully, she would have changed and been converted herself.
Few people notice that neither Satan nor Job's wife is mentioned at the end of the book. Why the omission? It's a glaring omission to me that demands an answer. My answer is that Job did cleave to his wife following his revelation from God -- he loved her as a man should love his wife -- and the two became one -- neither male nor female -- spiritually one although you could say they had two physical bodies. Satan, the male personification of trouble, is also not worth mentioning at the end since the "satanic" in Job had been defeated and changed, transmuted, etc.
Now out of this newly blessed union, we see Job's children also reborn. (I believe in reincarnation, so it presents no problem for me.) There is no hint of Job worrying about them needlessly or of offering sacrifices on their behalf. What folly is it anyway to offer sacrifices to God for the sins of others? If Job's sons had sinned, Job couldn't solve that through burnt sacrifices. They would have needed to repent before being forgiven. Job had been falling into thinking God could be placated by animal sacrifices -- and it didn't matter who offered them. Job's vision of God in the beginning was that God was angry and vengeful -- and enjoyed seeing animals being killed. Job thought maybe if he gave God enjoyment by killing animals, God would spare his children just in case they had sinned. Thank goodness, all that goes away at the end.
