Job the Exception

Job defied the “rules.” Normally rich men are self-sufficient, proud and forgetful of God. Even Jesus noted how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom (Mat 19:24). Job was the richest person in the area (Job 1:3). Satan said that Job feared God because of how rich he was (Job 1:10). And yet Job was a man of complete integrity (Job 1:8), who refused to blame God for his trouble (Job 1:21-22). I think that God included the book of Job in the Bible to challenge “conventional wisdom.” Job’s three friends continually cite their own experience when they accusing him (Job 4:8 “you reap what you sow” -Eliphaz). What they fail to realize is that God is not bound by “conventional wisdom.” He is under no obligation to man.