Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CLE Grade 10 Notes
CLE Grade 10 Notes
Job is a wealthy man living in a land called Uz with his large family and extensive
flocks. He is “blameless” and “upright,” always careful to avoid doing evil (1:1). One
day, Satan (“the Adversary”) appears before God in heaven. God boasts to Satan
about Job’s goodness, but Satan argues that Job is only good because God has
blessed him abundantly. Satan challenges God that, if given permission to punish the
man, Job will turn and curse God. God allows Satan to torment Job to test this bold
claim, but he forbids Satan to take Job’s life in the process.
In the course of one day, Job receives four messages, each bearing separate
news that his livestock, servants, and ten children have all died due to marauding
invaders or natural catastrophes. Job tears his clothes and shaves his head in
mourning, but he still blesses God in his prayers. Satan appears in heaven again, and
God grants him another chance to test Job. This time, Job is afflicted with horrible
skin sores. His wife encourages him to curse God and to give up and die, but Job
refuses, struggling to accept his circumstances.
Three of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, come to visit him, sitting with
Job in silence for seven days out of respect for his mourning. On the seventh day,
Job speaks, beginning a conversation in which each of the four men shares his
thoughts on Job’s afflictions in long, poetic statements.
Job curses the day he was born, comparing life and death to light and darkness.
He wishes that his birth had been shrouded in darkness and longs to have never
been born, feeling that light, or life, only intensifies his misery. Eliphaz responds that
Job, who has comforted other people, now shows that he never really understood
their pain. Eliphaz believes that Job’s agony must be due to some sin Job has
committed, and he urges Job to seek God’s favor. Bildad and Zophar agree that Job
must have committed evil to offend God’s justice and argue that he should strive to
exhibit more blameless behavior. Bildad surmises that Job’s children brought their
deaths upon themselves. Even worse, Zophar implies that whatever wrong Job has
done probably deserves greater punishment than what he has received.
Job responds to each of these remarks, growing so irritated that he calls his
friends “worthless physicians” who “whitewash [their advice] with lies” (13:4). After
making pains to assert his blameless character, Job ponders man’s relationship to
God. He wonders why God judges people by their actions if God can just as easily
alter or forgive their behavior. It is also unclear to Job how a human can appease or
court God’s justice. God is unseen, and his ways are inscrutable and beyond human
understanding. Moreover, humans cannot possibly persuade God with their words.
God cannot be deceived, and Job admits that he does not even understand himself
well enough to effectively plead his case to God. Job wishes for someone who can
mediate between himself and God, or for God to send him to Sheol, the deep place
of the dead.
Job’s friends are offended that he scorns their wisdom. They think his questions
are crafty and lack an appropriate fear of God, and they use many analogies and
metaphors to stress their ongoing point that nothing good comes of wickedness. Job
sustains his confidence in spite of these criticisms, responding that even if he has
done evil, it is his own personal problem. Furthermore, he believes that there is a
“witness” or a “Redeemer” in heaven who will vouch for his innocence (16:19,
19:25). After a while, the upbraiding proves too much for Job, and he grows
sarcastic, impatient, and afraid. He laments the injustice that God lets wicked people
prosper while he and countless other innocent people suffer. Job wants to confront
God and complain, but he cannot physically find God to do it. He feels that wisdom is
hidden from human minds, but he resolves to persist in pursuing wisdom by fearing
God and avoiding evil.
Without provocation, another friend, Elihu, suddenly enters the conversation. The
young Elihu believes that Job has spent too much energy vindicating himself rather
than God. Elihu explains to Job that God communicates with humans by two ways—
visions and physical pain. He says that physical suffering provides the sufferer with
an opportunity to realize God’s love and forgiveness when he is well again,
understanding that God has “ransomed” him from an impending death (33:24). Elihu
also assumes that Job must be wicked to be suffering as he is, and he thinks that
Job’s excessive talking is an act of rebellion against God.
God finally interrupts, calling from a whirlwind and demanding Job to be brave and
respond to his questions. God’s questions are rhetorical, intending to show how
little Job knows about creation and how much power God alone has. God describes
many detailed aspects of his creation, praising especially his creation of two large
beasts, the Behemoth and Leviathan. Overwhelmed by the encounter, Job
acknowledges God’s unlimited power and admits the limitations of his human
knowledge. This response pleases God, but he is upset with Eliphaz, Bildad, and
Zophar for spouting poor and theologically unsound advice. Job intercedes on their
behalf, and God forgives them. God returns Job’s health, providing him with twice as
much property as before, new children, and an extremely long life. In the end, Job
never completely gave up hope or faith in God as an inspiration to everyone
enduring suffering of their own.
*The Catechism, paragraph 27 says: “The desire for God is written in the human
heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw
man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops
searching for.”
GOD WILLS NOTHING BUT OUR GOOD, WELFARE AND AUTHENTIC JOY.
SUFFERING DOES NOT COME FROM GOD BUT FROM THE WORLD.
JOHN 1: 14
God the son came down to us to become human like us in Jesus Christ.
MEANING: Jesus, God’s eternal word made flesh - is God-with-us, Immanuel,
sent by the Father to save us.
LUKE 4: 18-19, 21 The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
MEANING: Jesus offered liberation (e.g. The Parable of the Good Samaritan)
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL IS THE LACK (PRIVATION) OF LOVE IN OUR HEARTS.
Without love – we grow proud, selfish, and insecure.
Our FAITH IN CHRIST provides us with a solid reason and deep motivation to
persevere in helping others (Our Social Responsibility).
2. STRUCTURAL CHANGE
The Church deals with social structures and social issues that cause harm
to people. It speaks out against unjust socio-economic and political systems, and
works for social transformation as part of its total commitment to helping the
needy.
CHRISTIAN MESSAGE