Name: S. Ogoh Enyi
Email: enyistevens@gmail.com
Phone Number: 080344404498
Abstract
This paper analyses suffering in the book of Job and relates it with perception of suffering by Africans, particularly the cause of suffering. It argues that suffering would differ from person to person. The paper argues further that just like the friends of Job: Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, Africans behaves that suffering is always a consequence of evil or sin on the part of the victims.
The exposition of the Book of Job using analytical method of exegesis, reveals that innocent people suffer not necessarily due to wrongdoing, that suffering can happen to righteous persons. The paper also discovered that just like Hebrews, Africans blame the victims of suffering and ask them to repent unto God or make sacrifice in order to appease a deity. The book of Job, the paper contends, forms a biblical basis for the suffering of the innocent.
The paper recommends that African leaders need to show compassion to victims of suffering instead of condemning or accusing them of sin.
Similarly, African leaders should guide those experiencing suffering on the right and biblical response to suffering. Once again African leaders should be advocate for justice for the suffering and enact laws that would defend the cause of the poor and suffering,
Keywords: Job, Suffering, African leaders
Word Count: 205
Introduction
Suffering in general is a broad topic of interest as people at diverse levels undergo various kinds of sufferings in different ways. It is a lived reality that people and societies have wrestled with for centuries. However, the living conditions of most of the people in the African context are a testament to the fact that special attention should be given to this subject. Varied factors are responsible for the various degrees of sufferings that we undergo on daily basis. It is not only a philosophical issue but it is also a practical crisis. Randy Alcon in his book “Suffering will come: Faith in the midst of suffering and evil” prepares our minds to the fact that suffering will come and we owe it to God, ourselves, and those around us. Randy Alcon strongly advocates that “Live long enough and you will suffer. In this life, the only way to avoid suffering is to die.”[1]Worst of all, suffering does not exempt Christians, the good or righteous people comparatively. A good number of people especially atheists and enemies of the gospel of Christ have based their arguments against God fearers that if God is all – powerful and sovereign over the world and at the same time is also good and just, then evil and suffering should not befall the righteous. Those with this school of thought advocate to the fact that if God cannot prevent evil, then he should be impotent or wicked. These views couple with the prevalent evil and diverse sufferings of good people is the background from which this research is born.
One of the motivations for this research is the mess in which neo-Pentecostalism has landed the church as a body into when they quote scriptures out of context and apply some of the eschatological promises to be meant for this present age. When these promises fail to be fulfilled, it will serve as additional tools for the enemies of the faith to discredit Christianity and the worship of the true God. The distress created by unfulfilled promises in response to the growing suffering on the people fueled the researcher’s motivation on this subject. Matthews A. Ojo, in this book “The Abandoned Gospel: Confronting Neo Pentecostalism and the prosperity Gospel in Sub- Saharan Africa” reiterates the fact that:
Simply put, the prosperity gospel is a re-reading and misinterpretation of certain verses in the Bible. According to prosperity gospel proponents, God and the atoning death of Jesus Christ are understood to have promised a state of well-being, of abundance, of victory over social stagnation, of abundance of money and materials to meet the needs of Christians. As a result, Christians can live a life of spiritual and material abundance in the world.[2]
Furthermore, the economy seems to be unfair to professing Christians as those who neglect the worship of the true God seem to be prospering more than a good number of faithful Christians. Sometimes, the suffering and even death of some good people after the church has devoted time to fast and pray for them leaves many professing Christians with unanswered questions. As a result, they see no reason to worship God. This discourages some young Christians and some of them begin to grow weary in the faith they once professed. Timothy Keiller supports this idea when he says that “Suffering seems to destroy so many things that give life meaning that it may feel impossible to even go on”[3].
The researcher in his quest to save lives through the gospel and social ministry in the context of the ongoing socio-political crisis in Cameroon has repeatedly been a victim of circumstances to the point of almost losing His life. The most recent of these happenings was on the 1st of June 2025. He was heading for sandwich theological studies in the Nigerian Baptist Theological seminary but was kidnapped by some armed civilians while on the way. They forced him to trek for close to three hours to a detention camp. After many interrogations, he was coerced to pay a ransom of two million five hundred thousand Francs CFA (equivalent to six million three hundred thousand Naira). It is worth noting that this is not happening for the first time. He has been through similar challenges while on mission to save lives. He has been arrested and taken to detention camps on four separate occasions within the gap of six years and the total amount spent within these times is a little more than five million Francs CFA (equivalent to thirteen million Naira as of July 2nd 2025). In one of the occasions, he was forced to make a commitment that upon release, he shall mobilize the Christians to support the armed civilian group with an AK 47 gun worth nine hundred thousand Francs CFA (equivalent to two million two hundred and forty thousand Naira). He made this commitment at gun point but when he was liberated, he had to block that contact number and has ceased using that road since 2020 till then. After the traumatic experience of June 1st 2025, the family members and friends of the researcher called and struggled to convince him at different intervals that if God was in support of his studies in Nigeria, he would not have experienced what he has experienced. They insisted that he should cancel the programmed studies and return home. This ideology is similar to the advice that the three friends of Job gave to him when they claimed that if he was righteous, these calamities would not have befallen him. These experiences and many others function as a strong motivation to write on this theme: “Suffering in the Book of Job and Its Implication on African Leaders.”
This research uses the interpretive qualitative method ensuring that a biblical-critical interpretation of the texts used is respected. Hence, this study would be considered to be a critical hermeneutic within the interpretive tradition. Using the book of Job as a springboard to address the subject of suffering, we shall critically examine what Job suffered, the cause of his suffering, the primitive interpretation given by the people who surrounded him and how God later responded. We shall proceed to trace out why the righteous people always suffer in this planet earth and then apply these principles on African leaders.
Summary Reflections on Job’s response to his intense suffering
Scholars are not on the same page regarding the authorship, date, identity, place and times of Job. Despite the debate on the above subjects, the inspiration and importance of the book in the Bible and precisely in the Old Testament canon stand tall. This paper does not engage in the debates on the aforementioned issues but simply states its position that Job after whose name the book is titled was a real human being who literally struggled with real life issues like emotions and feelings which confront humans and Christians alike. Details of Job’s background such as his place of abode, character, possessions, dedication to God and family are contained in Job chapter1:1-5.
The Book of Job is probably the greatest, fullest, most profound discussion of the subject of good people suffering ever written. The Bible records the story of a man named Job in the book of Job. According to Job 1:1b “This man feared God and shunned evil.” He was such a good man that God choose to boast about his spiritual stamina before Satan “Then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil[4].” Satan never disputed these qualities that God attributed to Job but he rather claimed that Job was able to live this distinguished lifestyle because God had blessed him and is securing all his wealth. Satan claimed that if God takes away those blessings, Job will no longer remain an obedient servant of God. God intended to disprove Satan’s challenge and permitted Satan to destroy all of the items that constituted his wealth to the extent of killing all his children. Note should be taken that Job was unaware of what was going on. When the first part of these afflictions failed, Satan under God’s permission proceeded to afflict him with boils all over his body. His every moment became a physical torture. Job’s wife urged him to curse God, even if that means God’s striking him dead. Three of Job’s friends came to console with him and were rather blaming him that what he is going through is probably because of his sins. But Job remained steadfast in his faith.
At the end, God appeared, scolded the friends for their advice, and rewarded Job for his faithfulness. God gave him a new home, a new fortune, and new children.
Generally speaking, Job chapter one provides the background understanding of most of the events in the book of Job. In describing the news about the death of his children, Adeyemo notes that, the loss of his children was the final devastating blow which sparked up the unprompted response.[5]
The Hebrew term Veyashar describes Job as a blameless and upright person.[6]According to J.A Clines, the phrase does not refer to sinlessness but uprightness and health. He argues that the author was concerned with whether Job was guilty and whether his ordeal was warranted or not.[7]The remaining part of the chapter from verse 16-22 reveals two scenes; heaven and earth where the interaction between God and Satan takes place. God acknowledges Job’s righteous character and Satan disputes, saying that Job’s purported uprightness was because of God’s protection. God gave hassatan which is translated as “accuser” or “adversary” permission to test Job, but that he should not touch his body. After the catastrophe that befell Job, chapter two repeats the same kind of interaction with God pointing to Job’s uprightness despite the test, just as Satan disputes, claiming that Job still has an evil motive underlying his good character. God grants him permission again to test his body but to spare his life, “behold, he is in your power but spare his life” (2:6). Then Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar were introduced in chapter two. When they heard about his misfortune, they came, saw and were so touched by Job’s suffering that they sat down on the floor for seven days. After this, they began a series of dialogues with Job.
Job lamented his suffering and his friends engaged him in discussion blaming Job’s suffering on sin and calling him to repent so that relief would come. Job denied any sin and rebuked his friends for being too hard on him during suffering. Having been unable to convince Job after three rounds of speeches each by Eliphaz and Bildad and two by Zophar, with Job’s three responses, they left Job alone. After Job’s friends Elihu made his own speech rebuking Job’s friends and opening Job’s eyes to God’s works and ways. Then God appeared via the whirlwind, condemned Job’s friends for their wrong accusation and talking about what they did not know. Also, God poses series of rhetorical questions to Job about himself, nature and morality. Then Job realized his ignorance and refrained from answering God. Yahweh ignored Elihu. Job was restored and his blessings, health and children refunded to him.
Over the generations, others have questioned what kind of God would kill innocent children and bring unbearable pains on His devoted follower in order to prove a point and win a bet with Satan? Job does not complain against God, but his friends uphold the idea that “no ills befall the righteous.” In an effort to comfort Job, who has lost his entire wealth and whose children have died and is now suffering from the boils, the three friends say all the traditional and pious things. They accused him for giving them the impression that he was righteous, but they claimed that from the calamities that are befalling him, they now see that he is proud, arrogant, impatient, and blasphemous. They concluded that human beings can be fooled as to who is a saint and who is a sinner, but no one can fool God.
In a long and eloquent statement that takes up chapters 29 and 30 of the biblical book, Job swears to his innocence. He claims that he never neglected the poor, never took anything that did not belong to him, never boasted of his wealth, or rejoiced in his enemy’s misfortune. He challenges God to appear with evidence. There comes a terrible windstorm, out of the desert, and God answers Job out of the whirlwind. He does not talk about Job’s case at all, neither to detail Job’s sins nor to explain his suffering. When Job realized this, he answered saying, “I put my hand to my mouth. I have said too much already; now I will speak no more.” God asked some rhetorical questions to Job, “How dare you challenge the way I run my world? What do you know about running a world?” He was simply communicating the fact that He-God is all-powerful and causes everything that happens in the world.
Nothing happens without Him willing it.
Diverse response on suffering of the righteous
Human beings have this tendency that as long as there are no difficulties, t h e y can believe that God is good. But when suffering persists, they proceed to question God. John Piper in his book “Suffering and the sovereignty of God,” celebrates the biblical truth that God is sovereign over the nations and over all their rulers and all the satanic power behind them. They do not move without his permission, and they do not move outside his sovereign plan.[8]The question of why do bad things happen to good people” has really been a bone of contention among pagans, Christians, and theological minds. The misfortunes of good people are not only a problem to the people who suffer and to their families. They are a problem to everyone who wants to believe in a good and just God and intends to see a fair and livable world. They inevitably raise questions about the goodness, the kindness and even the existence of God. One of the ways in which people have tried to make sense of the world’s suffering in every generation has been by assuming that we deserve what we get, that somehow our misfortunes come as punishment for our sins. Some professing Christians anchor this belief to scripture quoting scriptures such as: