Is God the author of evil in this world?!

Recently we looked at the question of providence and evil in theology class... and here comes the disturbing question: Is God the author of sin?! Here are some notes on the topic of providence and evil!

(Photo taken in Jerusalem, Sept 2015. Armed police is normal everyday sight everywhere.)

·         The logical problem: [The Christian] God is all loving & all powerful; as all-loving, God would be willing to abolish evil; as all-powerful, God would be able to abolish evil; evil exists; therefore [this] God does not. The basic strategy for a response to the logical problem is that if God has a good reason to allow evil, then the existence of evil is not incompatible with the existence and nature of God. God allows evil to exist, but it’s not immediately caused by God. Church grows and gets purified as a result.

·         The evidential problem of evil: The existence of so much evil is incompatible with the probability of the existence of an all-loving and all-powerful God. The evidential problem admits that God and the existence of evil are not logically incompatible, yet considers if the amount or kinds of evil in the world count as probable evidence against the existence of God. This approach argues that the large amount of evil in the world and/or the existence of unjustified evil (variously called surd, superfluous, pointless, gratuitous) mitigate against a plausible belief in God because we assume God would not allow for the existence of evil that appears to have no good purpose. Sometimes even Christians don’t understand evil. For example, prosperity gospel, where people who gave very little substance to evil. There are also people who are on the other spectrum: everything is about evil spirit, how evil things are in the world, etc. Evil is irrational: why evil happens in the world is beyond our ability to reason. Otherwise, if we are smart enough, we can save ourselves. The cross is also not rational, it’s a mystery revealed to us. It doesn’t matter what good purpose/intention it’s supposed to bring out, the evil acts needed to achieve it can never be justified/synthesised/rationalised. Communism may be a good idea but in practicality we never seen any society benefiting from it. Utilitarianism is Nazi like (eg. a Japanese missions lecturer said that when Japanese uses comfort woman/forced labour: the act is wrong but the purpose is good…?! When people oppress people, these things cannot be justified.)

·         The existential problem of evil: As often called the "religious," "personal," or "pastoral" problem of evil, the existential problem is one that asks, "Why my suffering and/or evil at this time in this way in this place?" Why would I want to trust and love the God (who may or may not exist) who – if he exists – is responsible for all the evil in my world and in my life?

·         The problem of natural evil: Whatever may be said of moral evil, how can anyone but God be said to be to blame for the natural evils of the world?

What are three solutions to the problem of evil, and what is the response to these solutions?

Think about real world examples of big scale evils such as human trafficking.

1)      Finitism: Abandon the idea of God’s omnipotence.

Often takes the form of a dualism, two ultimate principles in the universe: God and the power of evil. This evil is uncreated, simply a force that has always been present. There is a struggle between God and this evil power, with no certainty as to the ultimate outcome.  For example, ying and yang in the Chinese culture.

2)      Modification of the concept of God’s goodness.

Determinism: Calvinism=God’s causing of all things, including human acts. The relationship of God to certain evil actions of human beings.

God hardening the heart of Pharaoh?

God is the ultimate cause of sin, not the immediate cause of it. God does not commit sin; human commit sin although God wills it decretively. It was Judas, not God, who betrayed Christ. God neither sins nor is responsible for sin.

3)      Denial of evil.

Pantheism. The only reality is God, infinite mind. Spirit is real and eternal; matter is unreal and temporal. Matter has no real existence even in the mind. One of the most serious evils, disease, is therefore an illusion; what is experienced as disease is caused by wrong belief; the cure for sickness is not to be achieved through medicine, but is to be found in knowledge of the truth that pain is imaginary. For example, Buddhism, Christian Science.

Three problems stand out: 1) Christian science has not fully banished evil. 2)The existence of the illusion must be explained, because it’s so widespread. 3) The theory does not work, Christian Scientists do become ill and die.

The first three options are not biblical. Evil doesn’t fit into anything, and can’t be resolved by any system. Some hard core determinist may agree with point two. Evil is bigger than us.

Evil as a necessary accompaniment of the creation of humanity:

l   Mild Calvinism.

l   Humans would not be genuinely human without free will. God cannot create a genuinely free being and at the same time guarantee that this being will always do exactly what God desires of him. Apparently God felt, for reasons that were evident to him but that we can only partly understand, that it was better to make human beings than androids. And the possibility of evil was a necessary accompaniment of God’s good plan to make people fully human.

l   God has created us to love him. But love isn’t love if it is coerced. Genuine love requires free will.

l   Apparently, for humans to have a genuine moral choice with the possibility of genuine punishment for disobedience meant that they could die.

l   Argument against this view: Tsunami cannot be justified, even if it does good in the advancement of God’s kingdom.

l   The sustenance of life required conditions that could lead to death instead. For example, the same water we need for life can in other circumstances cause death by drowning. Under certain conditions, the very fire providing that warmth for the maintenance of life can kill us. If God was to have a world in which there would be genuine moral choices along with genuine punishment for disobedience and ultimately death, there would have to be warning signals of sufficient intensity to cause us to alter our behaviour. And this signal is pain.

l   If God could not create the world without the accompanying possibility of evil, why did he create at all, or why did he not create the world without human beings? We cannot answer that question since we are not God.

A re-evaluation of what constitutes good and evil:

l   Good is not defined in terms of what brings personal pleasure to humans in a direct fashion. Good is defined in relationship to the will and being of God. Good is what glorifies him, fulfils his will, conforms to his nature. Romans 8:28 (We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.)

l   God’s superior knowledge and wisdom: We may not be the best judges of what is good and what is harmful to our welfare. It may seem good to me to eat sweet, sticky candy. My dentist (unless simply interested in fees) may see it quite differently.

l   Dimension of time or duration: Some experienced evils are actually very disturbing on a short-term basis, but in the long term work a much larger good.

l   Extent of the evil: God has many persons to care for. The Saturday rainfall that spoils a family picnic or round of golf may seem like an evil to me, but be a much greater good to the farmers whose parched fields surround the golf course or park.

l   The danger of this view of “greater good” is that one may take on a consequentialist view of ethics to justify their evil actions.

God as the author of sin?

l   An important question that cannot be ignored is how sin could have happened in the first place. If humans were created good, or at least without any evil nature, made in the image of god, and if the creation God had made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), then how could sin have occurred?

l   Example of a problematic passage: I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things (KJV Isaiah 45:7). However, the KJV’s rendering of this word evil is inaccurate. This word ra’ah can also be translated “trouble,” “disaster”.

l   Reformed theologians typically shrink from ascribing the authorship of evil to God. Paul Helm says that while God “ordains moral evil, he is not the author of it.” John Frame says that while God is not the cause of evil, he is the ordainer of evil. Permission is not causation.

l   R. C. Sproul Jr., a hyper-Calvinist, in the pursuit of theological consistency, concludes that God must be the originator of evil. He lists the range of possible “suspects”: Adam, Eve, Satan, the environment, and God. God created a good environment and Adam, Eve and Satan were originally created good. That means none of these four candidates can be the source of sin and it is God himself who introduced evil into this world. Sproul Jr. thinks that the reason God wanted Adam and Eve to fall into sin was because of God’s eternal attribute of wrath, and “God is as delighted with his wrath as he is with all of his attributes.”

l   If God is accused of doing evil, Sproul Jr. would say “He’s God, he can do what he wants.” But what God does will be good and just, because we can’t rightly say, “God can break his promise or lie because ‘he’s God, and he can do what he wants.’” It’s impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). The Bible makes it clear that God is not the cause of sin: but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed (James 1:14). For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world (1 John 2:16).

l   Sproul Jr. acknowledges that God cannot sin but suggest that he created sin. Augustine would have denounced such dangerous theological notions. Evil is not a thing, but a corruption, defect and lack of what ought to be there (ie. an absence or corruption of goodness). Sproul Jr is opposing the Scriptures: “Everything God created is good.” (1Timothy 4:4).

l   Calvin himself confessed that he did not know how to account for the origin of evil.

l   God is not the author of sins, no more than John Watt (the inventor of the steam engine) is the author of all train accidents.

l   Sin is a corruption of God’s good creation: Goodness can exist without evil. Evil, however, requires reference to what is good. Evil is like counterfeit money: in order to detect the fake, we need to know what the genuine currency looks like.

l   The “germ theory” of sin, whereby one has to “catch” or “be infected by” sin is an incorrect understanding of the nature of sin. It is not necessary to come in contact with someone who has a fracture to fracture a bone; all that is needed is to twist a limb in the wrong way, and there is a broken bone! Similarly, sin results when a person’s will and relationship to God are twisted the wrong way, when the wrong one of two possibilities is actualised.

l   The first sin was voluntary. Augustine maintains that the first sin originated with finite moral agents. Though created without moral defect, they became the sinners. It was up to the creature to refrain from sinning. God created human being who possessed free will, but by the free will’s action, a radical, new occurrence broke into God’s good created order.

l   The serpent’s temptation appealed to desires that were not evil in themselves, but could be expressed and actualised in the wrong way (disobeying God). With this twist in relationship, sin has become a reality.

l   God, then, did not create sin. He merely provided the options necessary for human freedom, options that could result in sin.

l   The primal sin was a turning away from God (the greatest good) toward a lesser (created) good.

Specific evil as the result of specific sins:

l   Traps: AIDS as a punishment from God. Although this could be possible, but then who is not a sinner?

l   Some of the evil occurrences in life are caused by the sinful action of others. However, tragedy is not always the result of specific sin. The question “Why?” often reflects the mistaken idea that God sends each event as a direct response to our actions.

l   People are very ready to attribute sin when people are suffering. However, misfortune may also fall on the just and unjust alike.

l   But having given this caveat, we need to note that there are instances of sin bringing unfortunate results on the individual sinner. Much of the evil recounted in Scripture came upon people as a result of their own sin, or that of someone close to them.

God as the victim of evil:

l   God took sin and its evil effects on himself is a unique contribution by Christian doctrine to the solution of the problem of evil.

l   It is remarkable that, while knowing that he himself would become the major victim of the evil resulting from sin, God allowed sin to occur anyway.

l   Through incarnation, God is a fellow sufferer with us of the evil in this world, and consequently is able to deliver us from evil.

The life hereafter:

l   If this life were all that there is, then surely the problem of evil would be unresolvable.

l   Hell, the absence of God, is God’s simply giving that person at last what he or she has always asked for. It is not God, but one’s own choice that sends a person to hell.

Resources:

Theology lectures at Morling with Miyon Chung
Erikson, Millard J. Christian Theology.

God and Evil. Edited by Chad Meister and James K. Dew Jr.

Condolences to the talented young singer, Christina Grimme, and the 100+ shooting victims in the Orlando massacre. Video of Christina singing In Christ Alone.
https://youtu.be/luWazAbFvMY
Sometimes God allows terrible things to happen in your life and you don't know why. But that doesn't mean you should stop trusting Him. Christina Grimme, twitter 22 Feb 2013.

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand:
Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

What does the bible have to say about the problem of evil in the world?

Abstract: This essay looks into what the books of Proverbs and Job to have to say about the problem of evil in the world. The scope of “evil” in this essay encompasses of both moral and natural evils. Proverbs begins by alerting the readers that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Through the use of personified wisdom and folly it calls us to choose wisdom to reduce moral evil in human behaviour. Proverbs should not be interpreted in a mechanical deed-consequence notion but more as life’s navigation guide. In Job we see the consequences of what happens when people cast flexible proverbial sayings into rigid laws like what Job’s friends had did. The friends took pride in their wisdom but they were dead wrong in their analysis because suffering also happens to godly righteous people. Satan questioned whether Job only served God because of his blessings, and God gave Satan permission to attack Job. Initially it seemed as if Job’s relationship with God was shaken under the weight of his suffering, but in the conclusion we see the display of the fear of God as the beginning of wisdom in action as these sufferings instigate a profound formation of Job into the genuinely humble wise man of great faith who serves God simply because God is worth of such service. In the face of evil, it is not debate but the comfort of the close human community that helps. Humans can never understand why God does what he does; we can only trust in faith that somehow innocent suffering fits into a larger plan of His.

The presence of evil and suffering in this world is undeniable. Many atheists even used the existence of evil as an argument against the existence of a supremely good, omnipotent, omniscient being[1]. Some have lost faith in the face of evil or suffering while others found their faith strengthened. This essay explores into what the books of Proverbs and Job have to say about the problem of evil in the world. Evil in the scope of this essay encompasses of both moral and natural evil[2].

First, we examine the book of Proverbs. As Holmgren[3] beautifully describes, ‘proverbial expressions populate every language. They are the wisdom of experiences gathered from the home, city streets… every area of life. Collected over a long period of time, these insights into life are a gift from people who have moved through this world before us. They help us live a "successful" life in our mysterious universe. Profiting from the observations of our forebears we are able to avoid danger and failure and find a fulfilling life.’

Solomon, the wisest king of Israel, is introduced as the author of Proverbs in 1:1, although this is disputed[4]. Murphy[5] observes that the vocabulary in 1:1-6 is overwhelming: learning, understanding, righteousness, discernment, knowledge, etc. These spell out the riches of wisdom, which are not abstract, merely intellectual characteristics, but tied to the practical aspects of human conduct. In 1:7, the fear of the Lord as the beginning of knowledge serves as a motto after the introductory sentence, and this statement is repeated again in 9:10. Most commentators[6] believe that the introduction to the book (1:1-7) is an explanation of the intended purpose of the whole book, which is to attain/know wisdom (1:2a), to understand wisdom sayings (1:2b), to subscribe moral insight (1:3), and to move toward maturity. In sum, the purpose of Proverbs is to challenge the reader to attain God’s wisdom, which is to appropriate his design for life[7]. In specific terms, it endeavours to transform immature people into wise people[8]. In Proverbs 1:20-32 the cosmic Lady Wisdom calls out in the public areas of Israel’s life: the squares.

Hunter[9] suggests that Proverbs 2 is a kind of summary of all the themes covered in chapters 3-9. Lady Wisdom calls, announcing “security” (1:33) and “life” (8:35). In fact, Wisdom is “a tree of life” (3:18). Wisdom’s counterpart, “adulteress/the strange woman,” Folly, lead to “death” (5:5). From Proverbs 1-9, we can see that if we are obedient in the way we build houses, pursue vocations, make families and nations, we not only “walk in right paths,” as commanded by our parents, but in doing so we are walking harmoniously along the grain of the created order[10]. Proverb 8:2-3 goes out of its way to stress the call of wisdom is heard everywhere in daily life[11]. Furthermore, Wisdom has at least two faces in this book: she calls (chapters1-9), but humans must respond (chapters10-31)[12]. The theme of the conduct of the just (wise) and wicked (fool) and their corresponding fate is dominant in chapters10-15[13]. The character-consequence structure is persistent in this section[14]. The teaching of the wise is “a fountain of life” (13:14), and “a fountain of life” is “fear of the Lord” (14:27), which is also the beginning of wisdom. The symbols of fountain and tree of life are frequent (3:18;10:11;11:30;13:12;13:14;16:22).

Proverbs concludes in chapter31 with the Valiant Wife. Bartholomew and O’Dowd[15] observe that like the cosmic Lady Wisdom in Proverbs1-9, this woman joyfully embraces the goodness of the created order, burying herself in every sphere of life. They[16] suggest that wisdom is not some intellectual climb to brilliance or moral growth to perfection, but it is about navigating all of life joyfully and faithfully in God’s good but fallen world and very practical. Overall, we see a general pattern where wisdom/justice prospers, while folly/wickedness self-destructs[17]. As a response to the problem of evil, Proverbs seems to be calling us to fear of God, as that is the beginning of wisdom, and to follow Wisdom, reject Folly. Reverence for Yahweh produces wise behaviour, irreverence for Yahweh results in foolish conduct[18].

However, the mechanical deed-consequence notion is an oversimplification of the book of Proverbs. For example, if one treats Proverbs22:6 as a promise, then it will indicate that godly training assures a parent that the child will not depart from the path. As a dark consequence of this, however, if a child goes bad, this proverb can become a reason for guilt[19]. So we can see proverbs are not infallible statements that are valid for every person or situation. Rather they tell us what generally, usually, or often is the case[20]. We will subsequently see in Job the dangers of casting flexible proverbial sayings into rigid laws.

Next, we look at the book of Job. Right in the beginning we see Job is blameless (1:1) and God stated that “there is no one on earth like him; he is blameless” (1:8). Bartholomew and O’Dowd[21] suggest that in Job the Satan is more of an ambiguous character; a wandering sceptic, “roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it” (Job1:7). Satan acted as a prosecuting attorney who was unwilling to agree with the Lord’s verdict about Job, but was unable to point to a concrete sinful action, so he astutely raised the question of motivation (1:9)[22], suggesting that Job was righteous because he was blessed. Satan questioned whether Job was serving God for his own profit, or for God’s sake[23]. Accepting the challenge, God granted the accuser permission, first, to destroy Job’s family and his wealthy property (1:13-22) and then, second, to strike Job’s body with unbearable boils (2:6-7). Then, perhaps as an encouragement to commit suicide, Job’s wife advised Job to “curse God and die” (2:9), but Job remained faithful and still “did not sin in what he said” (2:10).[24]

As Job sat in the dung heap[25] scratching himself with a broken piece of pottery (2:8), three of his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar arrived. Job was silent for a week before speaking (2:13) so it can be seen that Job was in severe distress and social withdrawal. As soon as he spoke he cursed the day he was born (chapter 3). This triggered off a debate over whether misfortune can come to the righteous from God[26], which became increasingly heated as his friends insisted that God punishes no righteous man, so man who is punished must have sinned, while Job argued for his innocence. Another word, Job's friends have fallen into the trap of casting flexible proverbial sayings into rigid laws,[27] believing that proverbs and the theology that underlies them apply to every situation and person in a mechanical action consequence structure. We all know that they were dead wrong, as Job had been so careful about sinning that he regularly made excessive sacrifices for his children just in case they may have sinned in their hearts (1:5). The bulk of the poetic material in the book of Job is taken up with three cycles of dialogues between Job and his three interlocutors followed by a soliloquy from a new character: the younger man Elihu who believes his precursors have left Job off too lightly[28].

Job’s relationship with God seemed shaken under the weight of the suffering that was inflicted upon him[29]. In chapter 9-10 Job launched a prolonged argument against God’s moral government of the world. The lament-like complaint in 10:1-17 sees God as the potter who skilfully fashions men and women in the womb not for the purpose of providentially caring for them but in order to destroy them. God is like a lion, seeking out Job to slay him (10:16). God fashions mortals only to ascertain their weakness and to harass them until they die (10:8-17).[30] In the transition from the first cycle to the second, Job’s relationship with the friends deteriorated rapidly. Zohar’s rather patronising speech provoked Job to sarcasm at the start of chapter 12: no doubt the friends were the ultimate embodiment of wisdom, but he knows a thing or two as well. He was angry at being treated with contempt by those who have so far avoided misfortune.[31] He found the friends useless comforters who might as well be silent (13:5).

In Job’s final round of speech before God’s appearance, he became once more critical of the friends, suggesting they have false wisdom (26:1-4), and that the fear of the Lord is wisdom (28:28). We see no development in the friends’ theology over the three cycles of speeches. Their minds were set in familiar patterns and static styles of argumentation[32]. Meanwhile, Job thought God had made him His enemy (30:20-23) and protested for his innocence (31:3-6). It was Elihu who rendered Job speechless. Weeks[33] points out that Elihu adopted a rather different position from Job’s friends: He was angered by the speeches of Job and his friends which he found misguiding. Rather than worry over whether Job is guilty or innocent, all concerned should understand the need for Job to learn from the experience, and Job’s attempts to summon God was a complete waste of time. There are a number of features of Elihu’s speech which foreshadow the arguments to be used by Yahweh, and his manner of hurling unanswerable questions at Job (37:14-20) is exactly mirrored in God’s speeches (chapter38)[34].

When God appeared, the audience of the book might expect him to offer Job an explanation or apology. Job might expect to hear the charges against him, the friends might anticipate that God defend divine justice, and Elihu might even expect God to strike Job down with his lightening[35]. God did none of these. Ironically, God’s answer was a series of more than eighty rhetorical questions. The questions are of three types: 1) who questions, which point back to God’s power (38:28), 2) what questions, which emphasize Job’s utter inability (39:27), and 3) have you ever or can you questions, which reinforce the limits of human power and knowledge (38:32)[36]. Job’s impotence is underscored by the descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan, symbols of unruly power or chaos, whom only the Lord, not Job, can dominate[37]. However fearsome, these are only creatures in God’s eyes[38]. Job’s experience of having seen God, about whom he had previously only heard, has led him to a change of heart[39]. Job’s response indicates his complete submission to the Lord, even in his suffering[40]. It would not have occurred to the Satan that, by obtaining permission to attack Job, he would instigate a profound formation of Job into the genuinely wise man of great faith who serves God simply because God is worth of such service[41]. Job’s relationship with God was not only restored but strengthened, and God gave him even greater blessings at the end of the book.

The final verdict of the book is the friends have not spoken about God what is right, but that Job has (42:7-8). This may puzzled some readers since the dialogue is dominated by Job challenging, accusing and complaining to God, while the friends attempt to defend God’s justice and explain Job’s suffering[42]. However, we can see that the God depicted by Job’s friends seems to be a hollow and shrunken version of the one who appears and speaks in chapters38-41. No human dogma, even that God must act with justice, can bind or restrict the mysterious God[43]. Job’s friends thought they were wise but they were doing more harm to Job through their human wisdom and self-confidence. In contrast, Job’s children, family and friends came to him for feasting and consolation, bringing him gifts of money and gold for all the “evil that Yahweh had brought upon Job” in chapter42. Good[44] suggests that in this context there is a solution to the problem of evil and Job’s relatives and friends succeeded in what the three friends failed in: The comfort of the close human community, not debate and doctrinal instruction.

In conclusion, we see a theme common to both Proverbs and Job: fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs chapter1 begins with such statement, Job42 concludes with it when Job indicated complete submission to God. In the face of evil, choose wisdom. The fear of the Lord is not so much terror as it is awe and humility[45]. Proverbs function as a guide to reduce moral evil. The book of Job demonstrates that no one is exempt from suffering, even a saint like Job, who in the face of natural evil displayed signs of social withdrawal and complained against God. It does not explore why there is suffering but rather the question of how a person can respond in the midst of suffering[46]. There is warning against the dangers of human wisdom and pride. It is not debate but the comfort of the close human community that helps. Humans can never understand why God does what he does; we can only trust in faith that somehow innocent suffering fits into a larger plan of His.

Bibliography:

Bartholomew, Craig G. and O’Dowd, Ryan P. Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction, Downers Grove: IterVarsity Press, 2011.

Dew, James K. Jr. “The Logical Problem of Evil.” In God and Evil: The case for God in a world filled with pain, edited by Chad Meister and James K. Dew Jr., Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2013, 26-37.

Dumbrell, William J. “The Purpose of the Book of Job”, In The Way of Wisdom: Essays in honor of Bruce K. Waltke, edited by J. I. Packer and Sven K. Soderlund, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000, 91-105.

Estes, Daniel J. Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms, Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Frydrych, Tomáš. Living under the Sun: Examination of Proverbs and Qoheleth, Leiden: Brill, 2002.

Fyall, Robert S. Now my eyes have seen you: Images of Creation and Evil in the book of Job, Leicester: Apollos, 2002.

Goldsworthy, Graeme. “Proverbs”, In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, edited by T.D. Alexander and B.S. Rosner, Leicester: InterVarsity Press, 2000, 208-11.

Good, Edwin M. “The Problem of Evil in the Book of Job,” In The Voice in the Whirlwind, edited by Leo G. Perdue and W. Clark Gilpin, Michigan: Abingdon Press, 1992, 50-69.

Holmgren, Fredrick Carlson. “Barking dogs never bite, except now and then: Proverbs and Job”, Anglican Theological Review, 61 (1979): 341-353. 

Hunter, Alastair. Wisdom Literature SCM Core Text, London: SCM, 2006.

Kelly, Joseph F. The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2002.

Larrimore, Mark. The Problem of Evil, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.

Longman III, Tremper.“Fear of the Lord”, In Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings, edited by Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, Downers Grove: IterVarsityPress, 2008, 201-205.

Longman III, Tremper. “Proverbs 1: Book of”, In Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings, edited by Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, Downers Grove: IterVarsity Press, 2008, 539-552.

Mathews, Susan F. “All for Nought: My Servant Job”, In The Bible on Suffering: Social and Political Implications, edited by Anthony J. Tambasco, Paulist Press: New York, 2001.

Murphy, Roland E. The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2002.

Waltke, Bruce K. “Introducing Proverbs”, Journal of the Christian Brethren Research Fellowship, 128 (1992): 5-11.

Weeks, Stuart. An Introduction to the Study of Wisdom Literature, London: T&T Clark, 2010.

Wilson, Lindsay. “Job”, In Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey, edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008, 148-156.

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[1]James K. Dew Jr., “The Logical Problem of Evil.” In God and Evil: The case for God in a world filled with pain, edited by Chad Meister and James K. Dew Jr., (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2013), 26-27. Atheist William Rowe states, “The existence of evil in the world has been felt for centries to be a problem for theism. It seems difficult to believe that a world with such a vast amount of evil as our world contains could be the creation of, and under the sovereign control of, a supremely good, omnipotent, omniscient being.”

[2]Joseph F Kelly, The Problem of Evil in the Western Tradition, (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2002), 3. Moral evil is ‘the deliberate imposition of suffering by a human being upon another sentient being.’ Natural evil is the harm done to us by natural forces, such as storms or disease, just like the “evil” brought upon Job as described in Job 42:11 KJV.

[3]Fredrick Carlson Holmgren, “Barking dogs never bite, except now and then: Proverbs and Job”, Anglican Theological Review, 61 (1979): 341. 

[4]Daniel J Estes, Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 213-214. Within the book are several collections, some of them clearly ascribed to ‘authors’ other than Solomon. It seems to be the nature of ancient proverbs that they lose their ‘author’ as they become popular and perhaps even improved in the process.

[5]Roland E Murphy, The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature, (Michigan: Eerdmans, 2002), 16.

[6]Graeme Goldsworthy, “Proverbs”, In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, edited by T.D. Alexander and B.S. Rosner, (Leicester: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 209.

[7]Bruce K Waltke, “Introducing Proverbs”, Journal of the Christian Brethren Research Fellowship, 128 (1992): 10.

[8]Tomáš Frydrych, Living under the Sun: Examination of Proverbs and Qoheleth, (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 25.

[9]Alastair Hunter, Wisdom Literature SCM Core Text, (London: SCM, 2006), 89.

[10]Craig G. Bartholomew and Ryan P. O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction, (Downers Grove: IterVarsity Press, 2011), 86.

[11]Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature, 267.

[12]Murphy, The Tree of Life, 29.

[13]Murphy, The Tree of Life, 21.

[14]Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature, 271.

[15]Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature, 124. All spheres: family, economics, religion, agriculture (winemaking), marriage, mercy to the poor, artistic creations and more.

[16]Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature, 125.

[17]Murphy, The Tree of Life, 15.

[18]Estes, Handbook on the Wisdom, 223.

[19]Tremper Longman III, “Proverbs 1: Book of”, In Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings, edited by Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, (Downers Grove: IterVarsity Press, 2008), 545. Therefore, it is wrong to consider the proverb as a promise. Instead, it is saying that if one trains up a child in a godly way, it is more likely that the child will end up godly than if there is no such training. It may be that the child comes under the influence of a bad peer group and the child has gone the wrong way, etc.

[20]Holmgren, “Barking dogs never bite”, 342.

[21] Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature, 134.

[22] Murphy, The Tree of Life, 36. This entails the accusation that Job is worshiping God out of self-interest and God has bribed him.

[23] Murphy, The Tree of Life, 36. When Job’s possessions, sons and daughters were destroyed and Job did not curse God, Satan seemed to suggest Job was so selfish that he was only concerned about his own safety. Therefore Satan asked for permission to harm Job, but Job still did not curse God when he was struck with boils.

[24] Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature, 134.

[25] Hunter, Wisdom Literature, 135.

[26] Mark Larrimore, The Problem of Evil, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 135.

[27] Holmgren, “Barking dogs never bite”, 347.

[28] Hunter, Wisdom Literature, 131.

[29] Murphy, The Tree of Life, 40.

[30] William J Dumbrell, “The Purpose of the Book of Job”, In The Way of Wisdom: Essays in honor of Bruce K. Waltke, edited by J. I. Packer and Sven K. Soderlund, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 101.

[30] Weeks, Study of Wisdom Literature, 99.

[31] Stuart Weeks, An Introduction to the Study of Wisdom Literature, (London: T&T Clark, 2010), 57.

[32] Dumbrell, “The Purpose of the Book of Job”, 101.

[33] Weeks, Study of Wisdom Literature, 64. Elihu was angry that Job wanted to justify himself more than God (32:2).

[34] Hunter, Wisdom Literature, 141. Interestingly, the younger man Elihu’s name can be interpreted to mean ‘He is my God’, and it is quite clear that ‘He’ refers to Yahweh. Thus immediately we find a significance in the name which is not present in the case of the other three advisers.

[35] Weeks, Study of Wisdom Literature, 65.

[36] Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature, 145-146.

[37] Murphy, The Tree of Life, 43.

[38] Robert S Fyall, Now my eyes have seen you: Images of Creation and Evil in the book of Job, (Leicester: Apollos, 2002), 174.

[39] Weeks, Study of Wisdom Literature, 66.

[40] Susan F. Mathews, “All for Nought: My Servant Job”, In The Bible on Suffering: Social and Political Implications, edited by Anthony J. Tambasco, (Paulist Press: New York, 2001), 67.

[41] Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature, 153.

[42] Lindsay Wilson, “Job”, In Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey, edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 151.

[43] Wilson, “Job”, 154.

[44] Edwin M Good, “The Problem of Evil in the Book of Job,” In The Voice in the Whirlwind, edited by Leo G. Perdue and W. Clark Gilpin, (Michigan: Abingdon Press, 1992), 69.

[45] Tremper Longman III, “Fear of the Lord”, In Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings, edited by Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, (Downers Grove: IterVarsityPress, 2008), 201-205. The Hebrew term for fear typically used in the expression “fear of God/Yahweh” is yir’at, from verb yr’. The word has a semantic range that runs from respect to horror. It is difficult to determine the exact English equivalent to this word in the phrase. There is a debate as to whether it means “respect” or “fear.” It may be that the word falls somewhere in between these two English words. “Respect” may not do justice to the gravity of the word, though “fear” may connote an unhealthy dread. An English word that may be a candidate for translation is “awe,” understood as veneration of the sacred.

[46] Wilson, “Job”, 150.