As far back in humanity’s culture as one can think, good has always triumphed evil, and has continuously been rewarded. It is human nature to believe that a person who goes against the morals of society surely does not deserve any type of payment, prize or praise, like that of a hero. Seeing as I have been brought up this way, it is no surprise that I agree wholeheartedly with this ideal. Individuals who accomplish deeds that generally benefit society should be rewarded in some way, be it money or admiration. They donate there time, generosity and kindness, and if the outcome is a positive one, some type of compensation is only right and just. Examples such firefighters, or even comic book heroes such as Superman, corroborate this belief.
On the other hand, we have evil. Evil acts, such as murder or burglary, or, on a lesser scale, cheating, anger us. The unfairness and the cruelty of these deeds give us just cause to punish those who commit them. Is it right that two people get the same result, while one worked harder and the other simply cheated? Or even that supposedly innocent people get killed? No it is not. Fairness is what it all comes down to. We are all created equal under God, and therefore should all be able to achieve the same things, in one way or another. Underhandedness is a way of cheating God’s system, and justice and retribution are the only consequences. For moral stability alone humans ought to act ethically. We need to support and assist one another in order for a society to function. Trust is what builds the civilization. Without that, we might as well be a society of barbaric animals.
The satan gave God a prime opportunity to test Jobs faith, and hurt this innocent man. There could have been any number of reasons as to what made God decide to punish Job. Maybe He was bored, maybe He was losing confidence in His people’s faith in Him, or maybe Job had simply been an easy target. I will not presume to know or try to understand what God, the almighty, thought at the time, because therefore, I could be God. I can only guess. Testing Job’s faith to alleviate his own fears about his people’s declining faith seems the most likely of the possibilities.
People have always thought that if you do good deeds, good deed will be done for you. Yet in the book of Job, this ideal is completely turned around, making us humans think. Why was this perfectly sound and sinless man targeted with God’s wrath? The answer will forever be unknown; we will have to accept the book of Job for what it is: something that we will never fully understand, and try to live our lives as well as can be.
