Perspectives on Suffering Evident in the Old Testament

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Garner, Gary O. (2003) Perspectives on Suffering Evident in the Old Testament.

© Copyright 2003 Gary O. Garner

Perspectives on Suffering Evident in the Old Testament 29 October 2003 Gary Garner Bible College of Queensland

CONTENTS CONTENTS................................................................................................................. 1 SYNOPSIS ................................................................................................................... 2 THE CONNECTION OF SUFFERING BETWEEN MAN AND GOD ............... 3 THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING .......................................................................... 4 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 9 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 10

Perspectives on Suffering Evident in the Old Testament 29 October 2003

Gary Garner - Bible College of Queensland

SYNOPSIS The instance of suffering in the Old Testament commences almost immediately, beginning in the book of Genesis. Chapter 3 records the fall of man where as a consequence, God inflicts his judgement on humankind, including the pain of childbirth onto women, with man required by “painful toil” to work hard “by the sweat of your brow” in order to produce the food required to sustain life1. From this point, suffering in its various facets permeates throughout sweeping sagas in almost the whole of Old Testament history.

In some cases, entire OT books, or significant parts of books, are almost solely devoted to, comment on, or are otherwise concerned or connected with, the subject. Outstanding examples of this include Job (the subject whose book bears his name, whom endures suffering almost without end), various Psalms (e.g. Psalm 22 where a plea is given by the psalmist for deliverance from suffering and hostility, or Psalm 38 where King David petitions for rescue from severe suffering and sin), and the poetry of Lamentations, which provides a theological understanding of the meaning of divine retribution and the suffering which follows.

However it would be wrong to assume that it is only the suffering of man that gets consideration. For example, the so-called “Suffering Servant” found in Isaiah 52:1353:12 - often referred to as the “gospel in the Old Testament” - deals with the coming Messiah (Jesus): God’s “…man of sorrows… familiar with suffering” whom was “despised and rejected by men”2.

Thus it may be seen that the suffering of both man, and God, are given treatment in Old Testament scripture.

1 2

Quotes are extracts from Genesis 3:17-19 Extracts from Isaiah 53:3

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THE CONNECTION OF SUFFERING BETWEEN MAN AND GOD

Whilst this paper suggests a direct connection between the two, there is great potential for error especially with regards making overly-simplistic conclusions. For example, in relation to the Old Testament, there is a widely held but badly misplaced view that when man sins, God simply judges, inflicts his punishment, and in so doing causes suffering. This approach has several problems:

Firstly, it implies that even the blameless suffer when God is unhappy with them, presupposing that suffering is a direct consequence of sin. Aside from evidence of suffering by humans in the Old Testament even when there has been no direct, personal connection with sin, sometimes the scripture offers no easy explanation of its occurrence. There is an implication of God’s purposes and providence which cannot be understood by mere mortals. Put another way, sometimes we try to encapsulate God’s divine purposes, looking for reasons for suffering, when there are none or at least none that could in any way be comprehendible by humans.

Secondly, it completely ignores God’s grace and blessings which are also so readily apparent. It should be recognised that even in condemning man for his original sin, God extends his grace by allowing the human race to continue, enabling man to produce food that would sustain life, even though he would have to toil to produce it.

However, there is finally the ultimate blessing and sacrifice of God – the suffering of Himself in order to give life and extreme hope to human kind, so eloquently expressed in Isaiah 53:5 where the suffering servant “… was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.”

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THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING Life on earth in one sense was not meant to include suffering. Its entry was a direct result of sin, first engaged by woman, and then quickly followed by man. God had made the perfect world, and as we observe in Genesis 1:31 after seeing what He had made, found it to be “very good”. It was only when sin entered, with the fall of man, that God – in exercising his judgement – took action that resulted in the suffering of humankind, i.e. pain in childbirth for the woman, and toiling of the land in the case of man.

However, even at this very early point in history, God also suffers. He must have known from the outset that the first man and his wife had sinned, since they were hiding from Him in the garden in the cool of the day, aware of their nakedness for the first time. God immediately asked two rhetorical questions which zeroed in directly to the problem. The first one was polite - calling out to enquire as to their whereabouts. Secondly, God asked that fateful question in Genesis 3:11 “And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”.

God knew the answer before the man explained the dreadful thing that had occurred, and the woman declared her deception.

We can only wonder at God’s reaction to what had happened. Our human emotions tempt us to ask: was He exasperated in the extreme? Was God angry and frustrated? Was he upset and wanting to mourn? After all, His perfect creation, His perfect world, had just come crumbling down for eternity: sin had entered the world for the first time, and things would never be the same again.

Marshall comments that “In the Bible suffering is regarded as an intrusion into this world”3. Whilst this can be agreed to, it is perhaps a great understatement. Man’s original sin changed the world forever, and ever since there has been a struggle going

3

Marshall I. (ed) & others, New Bible Dictionary (Inter-Varsity Press, 1996), 1138

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on to repair the damage that it has caused. Further, perhaps the greatest struggle of all is the rekindling the incredible closeness that God intended for his relationship with man to be, otherwise, inter alia, why would man have been made in God’s image in the first place?4

In undergoing suffering it is important that people understand that God’s love and righteousness are involved – not just his wrath, and sometimes not His wrath at all. Throughout the Old Testament we can be sure that it is well understood that ultimately, people can only suffer at the hand of God - even Satan required God’s consent to inflict suffering upon Job. However, the difficulty comes in understanding how suffering might relate to other things, and in particular, faith.

To explain further, suffering is always a burden to someone, but God does not have to explain or justify himself or his actions: we can wrestle with such things but in the final analysis “the righteous will live by his faith5”. It is trusting in God that counts. Thus, faith is the true test, or mark, of a virtuous or blameless man. However, the righteous man under suffering can take great comfort since the Lord promises to have special consideration for them. This can be seen in verses such as Isaiah 49:13 – “Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice O earth; burst into song O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones”.

The Old Testament also contains a significant array of dialogue that contains pleas for deliverance from suffering. For example, Psalm 22, in which David petitions God in a deeply earnest way for rest from the suffering caused by enemies he has not even aggravated. His pleas, from the depths of his heart, cry our for rescue; David knows they will not be heard in vain since, amidst his despair, he acknowledges God as being the one “enthroned as the Holy One… the praise of Israel”6. David in turn recognises his own failings and describes himself as being but “a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people7” – whilst metaphoric and poetic, there is no false

4

Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”. Man and woman was a key creation and a central act of divine power. 5 Habakkuk 2:4b 6 Extracted from Psalm 22:3 7 Extracted from Psalm 22:6

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modesty here since David is acknowledging the greatness of his King and his unworthiness to be rescued.

Psalm 38 also gives further insights into suffering. Again written by the Psalmist David, this piece of scripture is a cry to God in direct connection with sin he has committed. David believes that God has inflicted severe illness on him (verse 3: “Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin”; and verse 5: “My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly”). Regardless of such extreme suffering, still David remains faithful. He confesses his sin and is genuinely remorseful and repentant (verse 18: “I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin”) and finally begs God not to forsake him and asks that God will “Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Saviour8”.

In both these cases God eventually rewards David’s faithfulness to him. Yes, God did set about judgement, but in the end He shows goodness and mercy to one of his faithful, and perhaps favoured, “sons”. Again, we see judgement and wrath being tempered with grace and blessing. God really does hear the cries of his people, and always takes up the cause personally regardless of the situation. Fretheim9 describes this as God taking up the human cry and making it his own. It is therefore not a one sided equation, however much it may seem so especially when one is undergoing suffering. As Marshall puts it “…the reality of God’s presence and goodness [is] a more decisive factor in the present situation than even the bitterness of pain10”.

Now, to put yet another perspective on suffering, we can look to the book of Job, where nearly the entire book concerns itself with describing the intense, prolonged and severe suffering of Job. Whilst one can quarrel about the implication of the outcome where Job is finally released from his anguish and pain, and indeed whether the book is even about the meaning of suffering, we do encounter almost thirty chapters of the most distressing dialogue leading to Job’s heartfelt plea of his 8

Psalm 38: 22 Fretheim, T, The Suffering of God – An Old Testament Perspective (Fortress Press, 1984), 108. In making this claim, Fretheim explains the reasons for the suffering of God, namely (1) Because of the people’s rejection of God as Lord (2) God suffers with the people who are suffering, and (3) God suffers for the people. 10 Marshall I. (ed) & others, New Bible Dictionary (Inter-Varsity Press, 1996), 1136 9

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blamelessness. The sheer magnitude and severity of Job’s suffering is by any standard, extreme. It is very exhausting, even for the reader who gets to this point.

We discover very early on that Job is very righteous; perhaps one of the most righteous men that ever lived. For him to fall would almost represent the most satisfying victories for Satan. As God points out to Satan in verse 1:8 (b): “…Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one else on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil”. As if to prove this, no matter what happens to him, Job never blames God or turns his back on Him, much to Satan’s loathing.

This is a very different book than any other contained in the New Testament, yet we find a consistent theme coming through. Rather than suffering simply serving the purpose of God’s wrath or judgement as an end in itself (and in Job there is no immediately apparent motivation for God’s agreement to have suffering inflicted on Job - even that generated by Satan himself), we find man’s relationship with God as being held up as a most esteemed treasure. In the end, it is Job’s unwavering faithfulness that gives such sweet victory. Eventually, and to the readers great relief, God rewards his servant Job in profound blessings - there is certainly no superficiality in God’s eventual reward.

In reaching conclusions about the book’s central message, agreement is made with commentators such as Atkinson11. The book of Job does not promise humankind freedom from suffering in this world. Rather, we are promised grace which may translate into healing and restoration in this life, but for others we are unable to determine God’s secretes - healing awaits them in “the new heaven and the new earth”. Sometimes, there is simply no earthly explanation.

11

Atkinson, D in The Message of Job: Suffering & Grace (Inter-Varsity Press, 1991), 162, quotes John 16:33 “In this world you will have tribulation”. He suggests that for all of us, here and now, there is grace, and there can be hope. Atkinson also concludes that we can take heart from Job’s sufferings. Suffering will end: but when we do not know. He also states that the most important thing of all is to walk with God in fellowship with him, to enjoy him in his world. That gift of fellowship “can bring profit even out of the greatest suffering”.

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Finally, in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, we have the beautiful passage known as the “Suffering Servant” being an extended passage (the longest of the “servant songs12”), dealing with the coming Messiah. The message, estimated by some commentators to be one of the poetically creative in the Old Testament13, is an explanation of the suffering of God and the ultimate price that is to be paid in order that man’s relationship with God can be finally, once and for all, restored. It is perhaps not too surprising therefore that the New Testament writers liberally quote pieces of scripture from here, especially when explaining the “example-ship” of Jesus and in encouraging the saints whom are undergoing suffering in His name14.

In this passage the coming Messiah is described as someone whom is well familiar with suffering, in fact “a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity” (verse 3). Verse 7 builds on the innocence of Him that will be slain “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” The real triumph occurs when we read that in verses ten and eleven 15 that even though the suffering of his servant is unjust, it was the will of the Lord that he endure severe pain and affliction. The declaration is made that it is through God’s suffering servant (i.e. Jesus) that redemption will be made possible: in making “many righteous”, man’s relationship with God can be restored forever.

12

According to Bellinger in Jesus and the Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 and Christian Origins, (Trinity Press, 1998), the separation of the four Songs was first isolated by B. Duhm in his commentary on the book of Isaiah in Das Butch Jesaja, Göittinger Handkommentar zum Alten Testament III, 1, 1st ed 1892. The passages are Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; and 52:13 – 53:12. 13 For example, Bellinger ibid, 21, states that among the several inspired glimpses into the future that arose during the exile, Second Isaiah’s is the most poetic of all, and his poetic creativity perhaps reaches its apex in the image of the Servant of the Lord. 14 A good example of this is an explanation of Christ’s Suffering in 1 Peter 2:18, which draws its text from Isaiah 53.7—9: 18 Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. 19 For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. 20 If you endure when you are beaten or doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 15 Isaiah 53:10-11 - “10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the LORD shall prosper. 11Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

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CONCLUSION It is therefore possible to conclude, with some emphasis, that no matter what divine retribution is sent, no matter what suffering has to be endured, and regardless of the pain and toil that humankind endures, it is God’s steadfast intention to bless. The Old Testament stories again and again emphasises this through a maze of sweeping sagas, poetry, and other writings. Through this quantum of writings, God channels the scripture and in so doing provides hope for future generations. Wright16 gives a wonderful metaphor in relation to this – he suggests that the Old Testament, like a great river, has many streams and tributaries which feed into it including tradition, law, narratives, poetry, prophecy and wisdom. However, they all eventually combine and as put by, provide “the full force of the great current of promise”.

God’s providence is always present in relation to suffering. The Old Testament provides the means by which we can hope to unravel the mysteries involved, including assuring us of God’s providence. However, not all the answers are provided – if they were then perhaps the central concept of faith would have little meaning.

16

Wright C, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament (Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 101

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Please note: all quotations of Scripture are derived from the NIV New International Version as extracted from the NIV Study Bible. 10th Edition. Zondervan Corporation, 1995, as originally copyrighted by the International Bible Society 1973, 1978 and 1984. Where required, further analysis / reference may be undertaken utilising Goodrick EW & Kohlenberger JR III/ Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance. Second Edition. Zondervan Publishing House 1999. Atkinson, David. The Message of Job: Suffering & Grace. Inter-Varsity Press, 1991. Bellinger, William H. Jnr. And Farmer William R. (editors). Jesus and the Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 and Christian Origins. Trinity Press International, 1998 Carson DA, France RT, Motyer JA, Wenham GJ. (Editors) New Bible Commentary (21st Century Edition). IVP Inter-Varsity Press, 1994 Douglas J.D. (ed) and Cairns E.E. (ed). The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, 2nd Edition. Zondervan Publishing House, 1978 Erickson M.J. Christian Theology. Second Edition. Baker Books, 2000. Fretheim, Terence E. The Suffering of God – An Old Testament Perspective. (Overtures to Biblical Theology Series). Fortress Press, 1984. Klein William W, Blomberg Craig L., Hubbard Robert L Jnr. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. W Publishing Group (Thomas Nelson Inc.), 1993. Lasor W.S., Hubbard D.A., Bush F.W. Old Testament Survey. Second Edition. W B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1996. Marshall I.H. (ed), Millard A.R. (ed), Packer J.I. (ed.), Wiseman D.J. (ed), Douglas J.D. (ed). And others (ed). New Bible Dictionary. Third Edition. Inter-Varsity Press, 1996 Martin, RP 1 Corinthians – Galatians. Scripture Union Bible Study Book, 1968. Milne B. Know the Truth. Second Edition. Inter-Varsity Press, 1998 Wright, Christopher J H Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament. Inter-Varsity Press. 1992.

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