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Job: Battling the Beasts of Chaos

“Wrestling with Theodicy, how can a good God allow evil in the world?

The problemTheodicy . . .trying to explain evil or how there can be evil in a good God’s world

God is all-good. God is all-powerful. Terrible things happen. Trying to reconcile these three things is what we call theodicy—an attempt to understand why God allows evil to exist in the world. To quote Abraham: “Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen 18:25).

The Adversary: One of the important keys to understanding God’s argument is the symbolism of Behemoth and Leviathan, which in their ancient Near Eastern context represent the sinister forces of chaos, death, and evil. God addresses the issue of Job’s suffering in a very pointed way by reminding him that the chaos in the world originates with the Enemy—an enemy that God alone can and will subdue.

Conclusion: In the end, relationship transcends explanation. Job seemed satisfied by the simple reality that God visited him, while the friends, who offered a view of God, that get’s rebuked.

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