Because Job is believed to be the oldest book of the Bible, it seems to take a particular importance in the fundamental themes that God chose to communicate. Of all the many lessons in the book of Job, I suggest that the central theme of the book is the absolute supremacy of God. In this book, we are powerfully led to confront the fact that God is distinct from all creation in sovereignty, wisdom, righteousness, and might. While creation is finite, He is infinite in His nature.
This first theme serves as the foundation of theology: God is different from man. While the heathen nations made their gods in the image of man or beasts (Romans 1:23), the true God does not bear the image of man. Rather, He is the creator and man therefore bears the image of God. Similarly, the philosophies of man fail because they are based only on the wisdom of men, but God’s choice of preaching the gospel rests in the wisdom of God so that foolish things of the world confound the wise (I Corinthians 1:27). “The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (verse 25).
The first and second chapters of Job describe a startling scene: Satan approaches God among the sons of God who have come to worship. This already begins to demonstrate that God and Satan are not equals with the only difference between them being badness or goodness. No, God is in the seat of divine authority and the sons of God are presenting themselves before Him. Satan is not similarly sitting on a throne. Instead, he has to come before God’s presence in obvious inferiority. Then, this truth is demonstrated even more profoundly when God sets limits on what Satan may do to afflict Job. First, he could not touch Job himself, then afterward he was permitted to afflict Job’s body but not to take his life. In the first two chapters of the oldest book of the Bible, Satan is shown to be an inferior creature bound under the sovereignty of God. Importantly, this theme continues through the whole Bible, with the last written book of the Bible describing the devil bound for a thousand years, released for a short time, and ultimately cast away in torment forever (Revelation 20:2, 7, 10).
God suffered Job and his friends to debate for the next 29 chapters. Beginning in chapter 32, Elihu answers Job and his friends, speaking in God’s stead and on God’s behalf in anticipation of God’s eventual answer. Elihu proceeds to deliver the thesis of his message: “I will answer thee, that God is greater than man,” and “He giveth not account of any of his matters.” He concludes “Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict. Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.” Elihu corrects both Job and his friends, teaching that God does not answer to man or man’s reasoning. God did not send forewarning to Job that affliction was coming nor was He required to do so. In fact, the narrator of Job never explains why God was willing to try Job in such an extreme way. The tension we have as readers in wondering why is intentional, and the lack of explanation even through the end of the book is just as intentional. God does not owe us an explanation. He is sovereign and wise. Our duty is simply to live by faith, keep His commandments, and trust Him.
In chapter 38, God Himself answered Job. Where Elihu answered Job as a fellow man so that Job would not be afraid (33:6-7), God answers Job out of the whirlwind, which was no doubt a terrifying scene. From our natural human relationships and governments, we might expect that God would begin with an opportunity for Job to express his grievances and then offer to change the circumstances or at least give an explanation. After all, this is what we would normally expect from a kind-hearted ruler. However, God is not merely a human ruler. He is the God of infinite wisdom who knows the end from the beginning. He did not need to hear of Job’s grievances because He had known them before Job opened his mouth in chapter 3. Instead, He boldly begins, “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” Job, a very wise man as far as men go, was considered to have no knowledge when compared to God. Rather than offering an explanation to Job, God demanded one from Job. He proceeds to ask a multitude of questions that sharply distinguish the Creator from the creation. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” “Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?” “Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom?” Finally, when God allows answer, Job’s only answer is to lay his hand upon his mouth in silence (chapter 40:4). Finally, Job answers “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.” The point had been decisive: God indeed is greater than man.
Once again, absent from God’s answer to Job was an explanation of the reason for his affliction. In time, God did restore Job’s prosperity to twice as much as he had before this trial. From what we can tell in the text, Job may very well have died without having any explanation for his suffering. The silence where we look for explanation is part of the message. While this may not be satisfying to the flesh, it makes a critical piece of Christian experience very clear: we walk by faith and not by sight.
From this very short summary, we can see that the primary purpose of the book of Job is not to explain the cause of suffering. In fact, it doesn’t explain the cause of suffering. Instead, the book declares forcefully that God is supreme in power, in wisdom, in righteousness and judgment, in authority, and in grace. Isaiah puts it succinctly: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” May the Lord bless us with a clear understanding of His separateness, that we may have the proper foundation to begin to understand the profound mystery of His nearness as Immanuel, God with us.