Job and Suffering
Question
How long did Job’s suffering last? I was just wondering if you could give me a general idea. I was told 6 months by one person and 30 years by another.
Answer
There seems to be nothing in the text that would indicate how long Job suffered. Any time allotted to the suffering would probably be guesses.
If the book could be heard as speaking to sufferers in Job’s position (people who are suffering, that is, for no reason they themselves can think of), what it would be saying is: Let Job the patient sufferer be your model, so long as that is possible for you. But when you cannot bear that any longer, let your grief and anger and impatience direct you towards God, for he is ultimately the origin of the suffering, and it is only through encounter with him that the anguish can be relieved.
