{"id":82922,"date":"2020-11-07T23:02:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-07T21:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=82922"},"modified":"2020-11-07T23:02:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T21:02:09","slug":"psalm-39-and-the-book-of-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/psalm-39-and-the-book-of-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 39 And The Book Of Job"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Why do bad things happen to good people?\u00a0 This question is not a new one. Archaeologists found a poem written around the year 1300 BCE discussing it. This Babylonian poem (called <\/span>Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi<\/span><\/i>) describes the story of a virtuous man<\/span>, <\/span>Tabu-utul-Bel, who suffers for no justified reason. He turns to the gods, but they don’t answer him. At the end, Tabu-utul-Bel receives a visit from a necromancer, sent by the god Marduk, and is healed. This is the Babylonian answer to the question: if you wait long enough, you will see how the gods ultimately fix the wrong in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tanach’s answer to the question is more complex, as can be seen from the Book of Job and Psalm 39. The book of Job is about a righteous man who suddenly lost his wealth, his\u00a0 children and his health. He was determined to remain silent and not to complain to God about this. However, the (accusing) silence of his friends causes him to lash out and explain how he is undeserving of the suffering with which God afflicts him. After many chapters of philosophical back-and-forth between him and his friends, God appears and shows him how little he knows. God also rebukes Job’s friends for playing the role of God in their judgmental attitude. Following God’s instructions, Job prays for his friends that they should not be punished.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The book of Job’s answer to the question of “Why bad things happen to good people” is to change one’s outlook. Instead of trying to understand God’s administration of justice, one should expend efforts imitating God’s kindness. No matter how knowledgeable one is, we may never grasp God’s reason for causing people to suffer. On the flip side, no matter how much one is suffering, we can still imitate God and act kindly to others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm 39 starts in a similar manner to the Book of Job. The psalmist is suffering, avoiding giving voice to the question he has for God. But he eventually bursts, and the question spills out. Here the psalm departs from the Book of Job, since the psalmist is not asking God about the injustice in suffering. Rather, the psalmist wants to understand how he can accomplish his task on this earth, in his current condition of suffering. He quotes the Book of Genesis which says God made man in his image. The psalmist correctly understands this to mean that man’s mission is <\/span>tikun olam<\/span><\/i>, fixing the world in God’s name. So the psalmist asks how he can do this if he is ill, or when his daily routine takes up so much of his time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, the psalmist reverts back to silence, accepting that this too is God’s will. From his suffering, he discovered God’s kindness, which doesn’t demand of man to attain a potential that he cannot achieve. While the Book of Job teaches the kindness we need to give others, psalm 39 teaches the kindness we need to give to ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

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