UNDERSTANDING WHY PEOPLE SUFFER CAN BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT WHEN THE PERSON SUFFERING APPEARS TO HAVE NOT DONE ANY WRONG. The Case Of Job Leaves Many People Perplexed As To Why He Was Allowed To Be Punished If He Had Repented From The Sins Of His Youth And Had Chosen The Road Less Traveled. The way of righteousness leads to life, but self-righteousness has to be effectively dealt with if we are to be truly righteous.

In the Holy Bible, what is the Book of Job, chapter 27 speaking about?

Happy Riches Answer requested by Jamar Grimsley

Job acknowledges that the portion of the wicked is a judgment that establishes the futility of their lives. Their children will merely be born to be slain by the sword or to go hungry. There is no hope for the wicked—even if events throughout history, or the seemingly successful political machinations of today, may provide reasons for a different argument.

• This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage which oppressors receive from the Almighty: If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword; and his offspring have not enough to eat. (Job 27:13–14)

While Job acknowledges judgment for wickedness exists, on the other hand, he asserts his own righteousness based on the fact that he has done what he believes to be right, even though he knows he is at the mercy of the Creator. Still he has yet to have his eyes opened to the fact that the calling of God, to which he has responded, goes beyond possessing what people value in the material realm. This chapter reveals Job’s reasoning based upon the perceptions obtained from his experience in life.

• Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days. (Job 27:5–6)

• Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope; yet I will defend my ways to his face. (Job 13:15)

Elihu, one of Job’s consolers, rebukes his friend’s claim of being pure and without transgression, only later to be rebuked himself by God. Because of this rebuke by God, people reading the account often disregard the truth of what Job actually said regarding himself, which Elihu identified:

• Surely, you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words. You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression; I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me. Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy; (Job 33:8-10)

Many people wrongly misconstrue Job as being perfectly righteous but overlook what he actually states. This is because people read what they want to see, or often read the Bible without realizing that flicking through its pages is not the same as skipping through a novel. Unlike a novel, the Bible contains secrets regarding salvation from sin and death that only those who are genuinely seeking truth discover. Job evidently was such a person.

• Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1–6)

Job would not have needed to repent if he had not sinned. Yet we learn when reading the book of Job, as we learn when reading the Psalms, there were sins committed previously when the man was still a youth. Job believed God was unjustly punishing him for the sins of his youth, not recognizing that he was still trusting in his own righteousness, even though he had repented from those sins. Job needed to learn that the steadfast love of God extends to mankind for goodness sake and not because of a human’s efforts.

• For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me inherit the iniquities of my youth. (Job 13:26)
• Remember not the sins of my youth, or my trangressions; according to thy steadfast love remember me, for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord! (Psalm 25:7)

Chapter twenty-seven informs us that Job realized the futility of life—in having being born to die, all one knows is the suffering this world produces. Unlike Buddha (who sought to escape from suffering using misguided reasoning), Job realized that the Creation had a Creator, and in the end, the Almighty had the final say. To realize there is Creator, who is God, and yet curse Him, rather than acknowledge that His thoughts and His wisdom come from His Omniscient Mind, is to curse oneself—a being that has been made in the image of Almighty God.

Ultimately, we learn that even though Job had heard of God and realized the truth of His existence, He needed to have the eyes of His heart enlightened, so that He could see Him. Indeed, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8).

The Pure In Heart Understand Repentance And Distinguish Between Good And Evil