OTHCC Chapter 50: items 981

The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic Church < > All Chapters

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Because Catholics have the sacraments and the New Testament,

a.   the Old Testament tells them inaccurate things about Christ.
b.   their understanding and appreciation of the Old Testament only increases.
c.   they can ignore the Old Testament as merely a stage in God's plan.

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The New Testament has to be read

a.   by trivializing the Old Testament.
b.   in the light of the Old Testament.
c.   without regard for the Old Testament.

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Early Catholic teaching

a.   ignored the Old Testament as much as possible.
b.   made constant use of the Old Testament.
c.   trivialized and denigrated the Old Testament.

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The patriarchs are

a.   Abraham, his son Isaac, Isaac's son Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons.
b.   Adam, his son Abel, Noah, his descendent Abraham, and Moses.
c.   Moses, his brother Aaron, and the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

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The Church teaches [CCC 130] that the saving events of the Old Testament, such as the calling of Abraham and the other patriarchs, and the exodus from Egypt, ''were intermediate stages'' in God's plan. These Old Testament events

a.   have lost their own value in God's plan.
b.   have not lost their own value in God's plan.
c.   never had substantial value in God's plan.

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Christ himself

a.   ignored the Old Testament as much as possible.
b.   made constant use of the Old Testament.
c.   trivialized and denigrated the Old Testament.

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Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy || Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings || 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah || Tobit* Judith* Esther 1 Maccabees* 2 Maccabees* >> Job <<

Psalms

Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Wisdom* Sirach* || Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch* Ezekiel Daniel || Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi

The Old Testament books with a star * are not any more or less important than the others. The star indicates that the Catholic Church definitively professes and knows these books to be part of the sacred writings, the inspired Word of God [cf. CCC 120], but that they are specifically rejected by the Jewish people, and called ''apocryphal'' (of doubtful inspiration) by Protestants.

The book of Job is made up largely of

a.   poetry.
b.   prose.
c.   quotations.

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In the book of Job,

- a prose beginning sets the scene. There is a wager in heaven between God and Satan about Job's faithfulness. Job loses livestock, children - everything - and suffers severe poverty and physical and mental torment, yet he refuses to curse God. Read Job 1-2.

- There follows about thirty chapters of poems - Job laments and complains, three friends say that, since God is just, Job must have sinned to experience this evil, and Job argues back, lamenting, complaining, eventually to God himself.

- Suddenly a young man (who is not mentioned anywhere else in the book and who is ignored by Job) interrupts for five chapters.

- Then without warning ''in a whirlwind'' God gives two long speeches and questions Job. Job can give no answer to God.

Then what happens to conclude the book of Job? Job

a.   is restored to abundant physical, material, and mental health.
b.   is restored to some degree of physical, material, and mental health.
c.   is not restored to physical, material, and mental health.

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In English we have the expression, ''the patience of Job,'' which we apply to someone who endures prolonged suffering without complaint. However, that is not an entirely accurate picture of Job's actual behavior in the book of Job. Job does not speak continually - his friends, a young man, and God speak a great deal also - but very roughly speaking, of the 42 chapters in Job, Job

a.   complains in 3 chapters, and is uncomplaining in 39.
b.   complains in 20 chapters, and is uncomplaining in 22.
c.   is uncomplaining in 3 chapters, and complains in 39.

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Job and his friends argue at great length about what his suffering means. Job has just finished speaking. Zophar makes an argument that is typical of those made by Job's friends. Now read Job 11. What is the argument?

a.   ''You are not really suffering because suffering is an illusion and is not real. If you meditate you will feel no pain.''
b.   ''You are suffering because God is punishing you for your sins. Turn your heart back to God and you will get better.''
c.   ''You are suffering but no one will ever know the reason why. Suffering is a mystery that has no reason.''

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Job, along with laments, prayers, and complaints to God, also responds to his three friends. In Job 21, first he says (in effect) ''You have been 'consoling' me by talking in general, about 'man.' But really look at me, and how I am truly suffering!'' Now read all of Job 21. In it Job says something like this:

a.   ''Despite what you say, anybody can see that an evil man does not necessarily suffer.''
b.   ''God punishes the wicked, but I still can not see why I am being punished so severely.''
c.   ''My suffering will end when there are no more differences between what I want and what I have.''

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Read Job 29-30. In this passage Job says that

a.   He has done much good and God will yet relieve his suffering.
b.   He has done much good and yet God does not relieve his suffering.
c.   He is a sinful man but God will yet relieve his suffering.

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Read Job 38:1-7. God's reply to Job is a thoughtful

a.   answer.
b.   joke.
c.   question.

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Read Job 42:7-9. God says that

a.   Job was right and his friends were also right - Job's suffering was not due to his sins.
b.   Job was right and his friends were wrong - Job's suffering was not due to his sins.
c.   Job was wrong and his friends were also wrong - Job's suffering was due to his sins.

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It would be a deep and very serious mistake for a Catholic to think of the book of Job as the last word on the problem of evil and the existence of innocent suffering. The true meaning of the Bible is not an idea or concept but a person, Jesus. [CCC 426] He is God's ''one single Word, his one Utterance in which he expresses himself completely.'' [CCC 102]

No one is ever going to find the true answer to the problems of evil and suffering by studying the book of Job in isolation from the reality of the sacraments and the truth of the New Covenant.

Nonetheless, the book of Job is the true Word of God and a powerful depiction of the problem of evil and the existence of innocent suffering. It has been a source of meditation and study for 2500 years.

However, over the centuries, along with many profound and heart-rending interpretations, Job has also received all kinds of misinterpretations. Its contents have even been twisted so much that its 'meaning' becomes the opposite of what it plainly says. This is usually done not by evil people, but by very well-meaning ones. >>

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A recent example of this is a book written by a Jewish rabbi whose son died of a rare and terrible disease, titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People. For example, Job's God is the all-powerful Creator of all things. Rabbi Kushner simply denies that the book of Job teaches this, in spite of the plain evidence to the contrary right in Job.

Rabbi Kushner's God is no almighty Creator but a ''good'' force within nature, a vague, undefined force so powerless that it is subject to nature's laws. This certainly solves the problem of how a good God could allow evil, but it is no God that either Job or the Catholic Church would recognize.

Please don't misunderstand. This book was a best seller, but it is not typical of Jewish meditation on Job. It is just an example of the hundreds of different historical attempts to find the ''real meaning'' of the book of Job. There are probably hundreds of others yet to come.

We can all profit from studying the book of Job, but we must also remember that God gives Job no direct answer to his questions. The Catholic Church professes with all her heart that the ''answer'' to the questions that Job raises is not an idea or a concept at all, but a person, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, who is fully present to and in union with his one and only Bride and Body, the Catholic Church.

In the Catechism, the Holy Father and bishops in communion with him teach us several very important things about evil and suffering. Read CCC 309-314, and CCC 324. <<

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The Bible, including the Old Testament, was not written all at once. The writings that eventually were recognized by the Catholic Church as the true Word of God were probably written over many hundreds of years. The historically more recent writings in the Bible

a.   infrequently depend upon earlier ones.
b.   never depend upon earlier ones.
c.   often depend upon earlier ones.

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When later writings in the Bible refer to earlier ones, they

a.   always quote the earlier passage directly.
b.   may not quote the earlier passage directly.
c.   never give the earlier passage a new meaning.

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When later writings in the Bible refer to earlier ones, they

a.   always give the earlier passage a new meaning.
b.   may give the earlier passage a new meaning.
c.   refute the meaning of the earlier passage.

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In a sense, the Bible often remembers itself, and deepens and expands its own meaning. Here are some passages, just in the Old Testament, that refer to the house of David, and which gradually look forward to the coming of a universal kingdom, secure forever.

Nathan prophesies that David will have a ''house;'' that is, a dynastic succession, ''secure forever.'' Read 2 Sam 7:1-16. Read 1 Chron 17:1-15 - the same prophecy, in a slightly different form. Now read Ps 89 in its entirety. The prophecy is recalled, but with a considerable change from the original, as the psalmist reflects on the promise in the light of the extinction of the kingdom of Judah at the Exile.

Read Jer 30:4-9, which announces the return of the kingdom of David. Read the book of Daniel, Dan 2:31-45, paying special attention to verse 44. Here the kingdom promised has become universal.

That the Old Testament reads, and in a sense re-reads, itself in the cited passages is not disputed by most scholars. Of course, what these readings and re-readings mean is only fully available to Catholics, for whom the sacraments are real and the New Testament is true.

The Catholic Church professes that the Old Testament has a history in which God gradually reveals that the completion of his promise to David is the promise of a universal kingdom in Christ for all men.

Jesus is the ''King of the Jews'' [Mark 15:26], from the tribe of Judah and a true son of David [Mathew 1:1], the King who from the Cross establishes the New Covenant, the union of Christ and his one and only Bride and Body, the Catholic Church.

In the New Covenant in his blood, the Catholic Church is the sacrament of the universal kingdom, secure forever. In this kingdom all men may in Christ find a perfect intimacy with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

This kingdom of mankind's full intimacy with Christ will come to completion at the end of time, but the Lord makes it really present even now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to all Christians of all times and places [CCC 1368], especially and in the fullest sense in the Eucharist. [CCC 1374]<<

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