Did Job Suffer for his Silence in the Face of Evil?

How do we respond to evil? What are the consequences of the different ways with which we react to the cruelty of the world, especially if we have any sort of access to power, privilege or the ability to protest - and choose not to?

You may be asking yourself these difficult questions these difficult days as so many harsh decrees are published daily and authoritarian leadership is tearing our world apart - whether you have anything to do about it - or any way to protest at all. These are perennial moral questions that are already asked in the Bible, in our sacred books of all times, found on the front page of our daily papers and in the corners of our soul. What does Job have to do with it?

On this Friday, mid war and in the midst of so much turmoil in the world, as we on this Below the Bible Belt Journey prepare to read the final five chapters of the epic book of Job that highlights human suffering and the search for divine justice I want to share with you a teaching from the Talmud that imagines Job’s back story and how he ended up as the posterboy for suffering who wrestles with his faith in god’s ultimate goodness - and tries to hold in to the hope in the kindness of humanity.

In the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sotah, the sages quote a story, likely made up, that imagines the negotiations in the royal court of the King of Egypt - the same Pharaoh who refused to let the Hebrew slaves go free. As it so happens, it’s the very same story that is chanted in synagogues this Sabbath as we retell the climax of the Exodus story - the crossing of the Sea of Reeds, the big escape.

Here’s the Talmudic text in my translation:

“Three noteworthy men were consulted by Pharaoh when he questioned what should be done with the Hebrew slaves. They were Balaam, Job, and Jethro.”

Balaam is the one eyed seer who shows up in the fourth book of Torah -a powerful prophet and magician of Midian, hired by a local king to curse Israel but who ends up blessing them instead. Not that it will help his horrible end. Jethro, who shows up in the second book of the Torah, is Moses' father in law, Tzipora’s father, and is the high priest of Midian. And Job - who apparently lived at that time too, at least according to this legend that imagines them as advisors to the Pharaoh.

“Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba teaches what occurred to each of them: Balaam, who advised Pharaoh to kill all sons born to the Hebrew people, was punished by being killed in the war of Israel with Midian. Job, who was silent and neither advised nor protested, was punished by suffering, as detailed in the book named for him. Jethro, who ran away as a sign of protest, merited that some of his children’s children sat in the highest court of the Jewish people, the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.”

What are we to do with this legend?

It includes the over simplistic sense of rewards and punishments that many of us scoff at today. Karma is a thing but is it that specific? What is this legend or midrash here to tell us?

Balaam is indeed killed by the soldiers of Moses during one of the most violent and troubling chapters in Torah. There is of course no evidence of his being part of the plan to punish the Hebrew slaves back in Egypt. Jethro - did he run away from Egypt in protest of cruelty? Who knows.. In any case - his grandchildren, the offspring of intermarriage, don’t assume any leadership roles despite this legend. But perhaps there is a story about this family lineage that we don’t know.

And Job - his silence in the face of cruelty merited his suffering??

Whatever is the backstory of this Talmudic text about the backstory of these people’s lives, whether they existed or not - what I take from it today is that weather we are in positions of power or not -- it’s on us to talk back to terror, and to cruelty and to not be silent in the face of fury and fear based hatred such as what we’re seeing and hearing now coming from authoritarian figures and leaders who see profits about people and are not concerned about human suffering, moral justice or humanitarian priorities.

Job was not silent when it came to talking back to God, and responding to his friends’ obtuse theology.

Even if he was, per this legend, guilty of not standing up to Pharaoh -- by the time his book comes round he learns how to talk back. With poetry.

Suffering may or may not be linked to karma and to past events. Perhaps, as we have seen this past week in the chapters of Job , it’s there to teach us how to pay attention to what really matters and do our best to reduce suffering in the world, with more of us being compassionate and courageous, supportive of each other’s hurts.

Job invites us to ask big questions about a world in which there is, and always was, much sorrow, and invites us to ponder how we can rise to the challenge of dealing with pain, healing each other and not be silent in the face of fury or fear based attack on the lives of innocents. He also reminds us that there is a bigger picture and larger than life story waiting to unfold. And our voice has agency, and our words matter.

Next week - the final chapters of Job, with the approach of the creator out of the whirlwind. What did the poets of our history imagine God has to say about all of this suffering in a world that also contains so much beauty? We will find out.

Thank you for joining me below the bible belt.

Here’s to good news, kindness and strength, hope and healing on this Shabbat and always.

Shabbat Shalom.