Maybe affluent people—this author included—should reconsider the story of Job. Not the patient Job of James 5:11. Not even Job as an image of innocent suffering. No, let us consider a different aspect of Job, as he appears at the outset of the book that bears his name: as a man who is both virtuous and wealthy. This Job raises questions about how much virtue wealth can buy.
The first thing the Bible says about Job, of course, is that he is righteous: “That man was blameless and upright, fearing God and turning from evil” (Job 1:1). The second thing we hear is that he is rich by the standards of the day. He has ten children, thousands of livestock, and many servants. He is “the greatest man of those in the East” (1:2–4). He even uses his wealth to try to secure the future of his sons, making a burnt offering of some of his livestock (expensive!) on each of their birthdays on the off chance that they have offended God (1:5).
The narrative unfolds with a dialogue between God and a figure called, in Hebrew, “the satan.” This satan is not the devil; he’s more like a consultant for God. He plays the crucial role in the divine court of providing an alternative opinion to God’s. When God singles out Job as a superlative example of ethical virtue (1:8), God’s official opponent asks a crucial question: “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a protective wall around him, his house and his belongings? You blessed his work, and his livestock flourish in the land” (1:9–10). The satan then suggests that Job will curse God if such protection is removed, and the test of Job’s virtue begins.
