“The road is strewn with many dangers…First is the danger of futility; the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills…Yet…each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” —Robert Kennedy speaking in Cape Town, South Africa, 1966.
I was not much into reading the Bible, even when being taught by a Catholic-run school. In fact, I do not recall having a copy at home, and the only time I got hold of one was when I was in a church. That changed when I immigrated to Canada. I bought one for my personal use, although the Church I attended had several copies available in its pews.
The Four Gospels are required readings in the Mass, and with the homilies, these form part of my knowledge about God, and basically, my religious education. But there is a section in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, that intrigues me a lot, and that’s the story of Job.
The story is told to remind believers of the power of God [He who gives, He can take it away]. There must be total faith and obedience in the wisdom of God, no matter how seemingly unfair and unjust our situation is. For God always compensates, if not here, then in heaven.
Perhaps it is wise to retell the story of Job briefly.
Job has the blessings of good fortune in life, with great wealth, and large family who regards him highly. In a way, he can afford to be righteous, appears to be “blameless and upright”, and avoids doing evil in order not to sin against God. But Satan comes along and tells God that Job is just acting in good behaviour because God has given Job the very best of life. “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan says. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread out throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
God accepts the challenge and allows Satan to destroy everything that Job owns but not his life. God says “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
I am surprisingly taken aback by God’s willing affirmation to test Job. Doesn’t God have the wisdom and power to see through the mind and heart of humans He so created in His own image?
Consider the opposite reaction of Jesus Christ when he, too, was tempted by the devil, even in a physically weak condition after fasting for forty days and forty nights [see Matthew 4:1-11]. Not only did Jesus is tempted by Satan once but thrice. And each time, Jesus did not cave in.
Let’s return to the story of Job.
With the destruction complete, Job is emotionally distraught, suffering and confused. His three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite come to console Job. They discuss what has just happened and try to find a good reason why God is punishing Job who is completely innocent. They think Job is not perfect; that he must have done something sinful. There’s a reason to everything and God only knows why. So Job, like the rest of us, is not in a position to question God at all.
But no matter how persuasive the arguments of Job’s friends in God’s favour, in his righteous mind, Job cannot be placated. He only sees the injustice of it all and begins to put God on trial. He is now defying God to the point of committing blasphemy. He lays down his defense and demands God for an answer.
Job speaks: “I will say to God: Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me. Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?”
In his closing remark, Job says: “Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. Surely I would wear it on my shoulder. I would put it on like a crown. I would give him an account of my every step, like a prince I would approach him—if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears, if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley.”
Thus, Job rests his case.
God is not having any of it. He’s mad and makes Himself into a storm. God speaks: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man: I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? … Who marked off its dimensions? …Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
And on and on, God inundates Job with so many questions on the things He has done but never answers the actual question of why Job is being punished for no reason at all.
At the conclusion of the story, Job takes back his defiance, capitulates, apologizes, and feels sorry. Job replies God: “I know that you can do all things; no plans of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know…My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Then God restores Job’s prosperity twice as much as he had before. Job lives to a hundred and forty years.
I find no satisfaction in the happy ending and still wonder why the story is told in the first place when it brings more questions than answers. It also portrays a bully and an angry God, incapable of being questioned about His motivation, that His divine status makes Him infallible, that no human beings have the right to challenge His wisdom and authority.
Surprisingly so, William Safire, a long-time political writer for The New York Times, found the Book of Job fascinating, too, and wrote a book entitled, The First Dissident: The Book of Job in Today’s Politics. What does he have to say?
The book is political. It is about the strength and effectiveness of being a dissident. “I see Job’s ancient challenge to the highest authority as a political metaphor for the modern dissident’s principled resistance to authoritarian rule,” Safire writes, “as well as for his refusal to accept abuses of democratic power.”
It is about how to rule people. Safire says, “To those interested in both worlds of governance, the secular and the spiritual, the Book of Job teaches the body politic how one upright human being can challenge any authority’s abuse of power, it teaches the spiritual in us how unsuppressed dissent can strengthen the relationship between God and Man.”
It is about who is to blame for the injustices in the world. To which Safire writes: “In secular politics, the adage is ‘The candidate who takes the credit for the rain gets the blame for the drought.’ In spiritual politics, after thanking God for our blessings, whom do we blame for inequity? Whose job is it, anyway, to straighten out the world?”
Job’s “patient suffering” had rewarded him well. So was Nelson Mandela, who became the first black president of South Africa, after being incarcerated in harsh conditions for twenty-seven years.
But not for Alexie Navalny, who died at a young age of forty-seven. He was an opposition leader against Putin’s corruption, left Russia to heal from severe poisoning, returned to Russia in January 2021, jailed immediately upon landing, sentenced for nineteen years on extremism charges, and died in an Arctic prison on February 16, 2024.
There’s a romantic attraction to being a dissident. It captures the imagination. It elevates heroism where ordinariness is the norm. In suffering, you transcend everybody, including your jailer, torturer and oppressor. According to Safire, you also keep your two weapons: your power to hold your allegiance and your moral authority. And when death occurs, you achieve immortality.
But you need high tolerance to endure pain, suffering and loneliness. You need strong will to never surrender. You need courage to continue your opposition. You need to hang tight with your idealism, with your self-respect, and with your dignity. You need to keep on believing in the rightness of your cause. You need strength of character. You need single-mindedness of purpose. You need to maintain your sanity. You need to sacrifice the welfare and happiness of your family. And you need to be ready to face death whenever it comes.
And that, my friend, is the rub!
6 August 2026
