JOB 38:1-11.

Text: " Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: " Why are you using your ignorance to deny my providence?
 Now get ready to fight, for I am going to demand some answers from you, and you must reply.
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me if you know so much, Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying?  What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone, as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who decreed the boundaries of the seas when they gushed from the depths?  Who clothed them with clouds and thick darkness, and barred them by limiting their shores, and said, 'Thus far and no farther shall you come, and here shall your proud waves stop!'?
The patience of Job, like the charity of the "Good Samaritan" has become so proverbial that it is often taken for granted that the  book is a poetic, psychological drama in which the author uses as protagonist a legendary hero of ancient times. Proof that Job once existed is based; (Ez. 14; 14,20), "Though these  three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the "Lord God".
Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the "Lord God", they shall deliver neither son, nor daughter; they shall deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Ez. 20; Also: Behold, we count them happy which endure, Ye have heard of the patience of "Job", and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. (James 5:11, KJV).
 Job is placed on Par with Noah, the Hero of the Flood story, , and Daniel, a legendary Ugaritic King, who who lived sometime before 1400 B.C. It is clear however, from the construction, that the author has no intention of recounting the story of Job's life, rather then an historical character, Job is used by the author as a type of the suffering just man, he also uses  as his mouthpiece and provides  the three friends and Eliphaz opposition in order to give edge and vivacity to his discussion of the problem of suffering. The theme around which the whole book of Job revolves is the mystery inherent in  the unmerited suffering of a just man. In the early days of Israel's history men were satisfied with the simple assurance of God's justice and goodness. the explanation, taken for granted by the  "Deuteronomist" (known as the second law of the five in the last book of the "Pentatuch" known as the Torah) and most ancient writers, that God punished the wicked by means of physical ailments and an early death and rewarding the good by means of a long happy life on earth. This did not perturbed Israel thinkers until the time of "Jeremiah" in the late seventh century.
 Jeremiah could not help noticing that the wicked sometimes prospered and the innocent suffered, Very humbly he presented his difficulty; " You would be in the right,0 Lord, if I should dispute with you, even so, I must discuss this case with you. Why does the Godless prosper. and live in contentment (Jer.12:1 ff). Now  the Lord enters into a debate with Job and addresses two discourses (38-39) and (40-41), where the Lord speaks of his wisdom and power, which are beyond the capacity of Job! (a good piece of advice), we should never dare to demand a reason for divine action!).
  We must remember always, therefore, that for "Job" the solutions of suffering given by "Christ on the Cross and by the parables of Dives and Lazarus was unknown. If Job had known what we know about theology of rewards and punishments, most protestations would have been pointless. On the, contrary, he was faced with the awesome task of defending God's justice in a world where it was manifest for all eyes to see that not all wicked were punished, and some of who certainly just nevertheless suffered intensely. In Job's case the speeches of his friends defending God's goodness
and justice, they tell Job that he is being punished by God for his sins and ask him to repent. But Job refutes his friends and ends with these words: "This is my final plea; let the almighty answer me.  (big mistake Job!)  Out of the storm comes the answer; Who is this that obscures divine plans with ignorance?  Gird up loins like a man. I will question you and you tell me the answers. Little job in his tiny corner of the great universe has presumed to call the Lord of all to the witness stand. The situation is ridiculous. Job is an ant attacking a mountain. God will not be questioned; but he will question.  Standing above the petty details of the presumed to call the Lord  of all to the witness stand. Job has questioned God's wisdom running of the universe. Now God will test Job's wisdom even though Job didn't exist at the creation of the universe!
       Job lived 140 years after that. Then at last he died, an old, old man, seeing his grand children and great-children too. After living a long, good life.