Article February 22, 1999 Issue

for kids

Job and Jonah

INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE

By Leonor Montoya

JOB and Jonah were faithful believers of God who faced serious challenges when they let their own way of thinking interfere with God's will.

Job was an extremely rich man who lived east of the Jordan River. Job had seven sons and three daughters. He had thousands of cattle and was very prosperous. But Job's wealth isn't what makes him important. What he thought about God and the experiences that led him to know God better—these are the things that matter most about Job. For example, Job "feared" God. This means that he respected and loved God very deeply. As a result, Job tried hard to stay away from anything that was evil. Job, as well as all his friends and neighbors, believed that if people were good, they would be prosperous and have good things in life. They also believed that if bad things happened to people, they must have done something wicked.

Very suddenly Job lost everything—his family, his cattle, his home, everything! When three of his friends. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, heard about his suffering, they came to comfort Job. He told them about his grief. With bitter words he cursed the day he was born, and wished he were dead in order to end his misfortune. Instead of comforting him, his friends condemned him for doing wrong. They felt God had punished Job for being evil. Job tried to defend himself, but his friends kept telling him that God was omnipotent and supreme. Men and women, they told him, were insignificant compared to God's grandeur. They also told him that God rewarded good people and punished evil ones.

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