Job 24: Violence on Earth
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Yesterday we reflected on Job’s desire to sit with the Creator in order to engage in an intimate conversation. In an age when suffering is connected with sin, Job suffers doubly, having to endure pain while at the same time defending his innocence to his family and friends. Yet he persists, remains faithful, and recognizes the small pearls of hope that come to him. When God has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
Today we watch as Job asks:
Why doesn’t God set a time for judging,
a day of justice for those who serve him?
He observes a litany of violence taking place around him.
People move property lines to get more land;
they steal sheep and put them with their own flocks.
They take donkeys that belong to orphans,
and keep a widow’s ox till she pays her debts.
They prevent the poor from getting their rights
and force the needy to run and hide. So the poor, like wild donkeys,
search for food in the dry wilderness.
Evil people make slaves of fatherless infants
and take the children of the poor in payment for debts.
The litany continues until Job’s friend Zophar intercedes with his own assertions and questions.
For a while the wicked prosper,
but then they wither like weeds,
like stalks of grain that have been cut down.
Can anyone deny that this is so?
Can anyone prove that my words are not true?
As Job struggles to understand the conflict between good and evil, so do we. We may be like Zophar who accepts the assumption that all evildoers suffer in God’s time rather than our own. Or we may be more like Job who wants a conversation with the Almighty as he looks for authentic answers to his questions. Zophar seems content with allowing evil to proceed unchecked and unchallenged while Job goes deeper. Perhaps this is because Job, the innocent, faithful, hopeful one, suffers while Zophar continues in a comfortable world that makes sense to him.
The lesson we might take away today is this . . . even if we cannot change the evil around us, we might still question God. Even if we do not engender or encourage the violence that surrounds us, we might still commit our own small acts of mercy and justice. And even if we cannot make sense of the world’s great economy and plan, we might keep in mind that all belongs to and is of God.
In La Biblia de América, Chapters 23 & 24 of Job bear a title that translates to: Between Desire and Fear of the Encounter. Not only do these words describe the viewpoints we see today, they also present us with significant questions . . . Are we content to remain in our comfort zone of knowing, or are we willing to step into the world’s violence to represent a path of peace? Do we look for an intimate encounter with God despite the suffering we see and experience, or do we fear this marvelous gift of intimacy with God? What is it we seek?
Job asks: Why doesn’t God set a time for judging, a day of justice for those who serve him?
Perhaps that time is now.
Tomorrow, Bildad asks, how can a mortal be righteous before God?
When we compare various translations with the citations from THE GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION above, we open a dialog with God.
LA BIBLIA DE LA AMÉRICA. 8th. Madrid: La Casa de la Biblia, 1994. Print.
Image from: https://www.sapiens.org/evolution/human-violence-evolution/
The Noontimes 