VIGNETTES OF ESCHATOLOGICAL HOPE IN JOB: A VISION OF HOPE FOR THE

HOPELESS

Ademola S. Tayo, Efe M. Ehioghae, and Theodore U. Dickson

WAD, Babcock University

Abstract: One major theme in the book of Job is: Why do the righteous suffer? As the focus in a
cosmic drama between the forces of good and evil, Job struggled with this ancient conundrum that
robbed him of children, wealth, and health—leaving him devastated and his life threatened. This
presentation examines the basis of Job’s avowal, which suggests an eschatological twist engendering
hope and the realization that suffering, in whatever form, is meaningless if viewed from the
fragmented lens of current realities. Outside the biblical worldview, the existential problem of
suffering is difficult to understand. Faithful believers experience difficult and hopeless situations
that threaten their well-being and faith in God. This presentation, therefore, concludes that although
the cosmic dimensions of human suffering may not always be apparent, as in the case of Job,
believers can overcome by exercising unwavering faith rooted not in the externals (material
prosperity) but rather in the internals (a conscious and deepened relationship with God); such faith
rekindles hope amidst hopelessness and stretches to the hereafter.
_________________________

Introduction

A major theme, if not the central, in the book of Job is the suffering of the righteous.1 Job’s
story begins with a chapter profile of a successful patriarch who was “blameless,” “upright,” and one
who “fears God” and avoids evil” (Job 1:1). Brown notes that each trait is integrally related to the
other, together forming a comprehensive description of Job’s character.2 Added to his character, Job

1 C. Hassell Bullock, An Introduction to the Old Testament: Poetic Books (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1988),79-80;

Edward M. Curtis and John J. Brugaletta, Discovering the Way of Wisdom (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2004), 177.
2 William P. Brown, Character in Crisis: A Fresh Approach to the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament

(Cambridge: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996), 51.

1
had vast wealth and status as the “greatest of all the people of the east” (1:3). God affirms the
author’s description of Job (1:8; 2:3) and further singled him out for his incomparable status among
humans: “There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and
turns away from evil.” This was an assertion Satan contended (1:9, 10). Consequently, Job
unknowingly became the center of controversy between God and Satan (1:6-2:10).
Bediako notes that the contention hinges on the sincerity of Job’s loyalty to God.3 By
contending that Job feared God because of divine blessings and protection, Satan insinuated an
ulterior motive behind his seemingly upright behavior: Job fears God for something. On the other
hand, Satan’s question of Job’s integrity both accuses and implicates God on two grounds: Special
protection on Job and his family and perfecting their prosperity.4 Rather than refute these charges,
God consents to Satan’s challenge to take away Job’s protection, wealth and comfort to enable him
prove the source of his loyalty. The dire was cast and through successive raids, Job lost his wealth,
servants, and children (1:13-19). Yet, the contention between God and Satan continued as, Scott
Jones puts it, Job’s body eventually became the testing ground of Satan’s hypothesis about Job’s “self-
interested piety” and the compass point from which Job narrates his place in the world.5 Beyond
that, Job’s body also functions as a critical tool for testing wisdom (as evident in the entire dialogue),
the justice of God and his (Job’s) steadfastness and eventual vindication.
The story of the Book of Job is laid in the far-off patriarchal age having common parlance
only with the Book of Genesis; a time long before the Israelite state, with its religious, social and
political organization, existed. Its place is "the land of Uz," a little-known region Southeast of
Palestine, on the borders of Edom; a place remote from the ways of thinking peculiar to Israelite
lawgivers, priests and prophets.6 The Book is a drama, written in two parts. The frame is written in
prose and the dialogue in poetic language. The frame contains an opening prologue (Job 1-2) and the
closing epilogue (Job 42:7-17). In the prologue, the reader is introduced to the intrigue of the drama,
and in the epilogue, the drama is concluded. The poetic part of the book (Job 3:42:6) contains a
dialogue that includes a number of speeches with a similar design: with the narrator speaking in the
beginning (prologue) and at the end (epilogue) and the characters in the dialogue.7 Bullock notes
that the portrait of the faithful Job in the prologue (1:21; 2:10) hardly prepares one for the near-
defiant Job of the dialogue. The problem has two facets: the literary and dialectic, which are really
one. Some scholars have tried to solve the literary by proposing that the prose narrative originally
had nothing to do with the poetic dialogue. Yet, Bullock argues that if the story of Job’s life and faith
prior to his tragedy is the mere occasion for the author of the dialogue to engage his literary skill, we

3 Daniel Bediako, “Job 1 and the Great Controversy,” Insight: Journal of Religious Studies 9, (June/December,
2013), 17.
4 Brown, 52-53.
5 Scott C. Jones, “Corporeal Discourse in the Book of Job”, JBL 132, no. 4 (2013):845-863, 845
6 John Franklin Genung, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Cited in BibleWorks 2009, 5041 Job, Book

of.
7Axa Roxberg, et. al, ”Where Can I Find Consolation? A theoretical Analysis of the Meaning of Consilation as

Experienced by Job in the Book of Job in the Bible Bible,” Journal of Religion and Health (2013) 52:114-127, 117.
2
lose the impact of the suffering, innocent man who moves from questioning faith in God through the
depths of trouble (prologue), and subsequently challenges God’s justice (dialogue).8 Upholding the
strong connection and interrelatedness between the prologue and the dialogue, the paper revisits
Job’s attitude and responses to his tragedy as a basis for examining his avowal (19:25-27). Pertinent
to the study is the premise of Job’s sudden twist from seeming despondency to hope and the lessons
faithful Christian believers, who might be experiencing difficult and hopeless situations which
threaten their wellbeing and faith in God could glean from Job’s experience. To accomplish this, the
study is further divided into the following sub-sections: The Suffering of the Righteous/the Justice of
God; Job’s Struggle with Life and Death – the Emergence of Hope; Job’s Eschatological Hope: Analysis
of Job 19:25-27; Job’s Recovery: An End to Eschatological Hope?; The Reality of Suffering in Africa
vis-à-vis Job’s Sufferings, and the possible implications of Job’s Eschatological Hope on African
Believers. This will be followed by the conclusion.

The Suffering of the Righteous/the Justice of God

Whereas the Book of Job is no doubt part of wisdom literature, its wisdom seems somewhat
unusual. Some scholars speak of crisis of wisdom in connection with Ecclesiastes and Job.9 Job is
seen as an iconoclastic attack on the traditional idea of divine justice and retribution, as evident in
the Old Testament.10 Whereas such reading is not mistaken, the problem of retribution has to be
viewed from the perspective of the entire Bible. First, as Murphy noted, the book is a broad
treatment of the issue recognized already in the questions addressed by Abraham to the Lord in
Genesis 18:22-32, in the “confessions” of Jeremiah (e.g. Jer 12:1-5), in the book of Habakkuk (1:4,
13), in several Psalms (37, 73), and in the book of Jonah. There appears to be a tradition of such
questioning at the heart of Israel’s faith. Second, the author of the book does not impose an answer.
Rather he develops various approaches to the problem in an attempt to shed as much light as
possible on the issue of human suffering and divine justice.11
Job’s experience provides a somewhat shift in paradigm from the pentateuchal praxis that
righteousness will be rewarded and wickedness punished (Lev 26:3-7ff; Deut 28). This idea of divine
justice and retribution runs throughout Israel’s experience.12 Rich in this understanding and their
conviction on how God works and ‘must’ continue to work, Job’s friends concentrate on reminding
him of the concept of retribution and insisting that he should repent and receive forgiveness from

8Bullock, 87.
9 Roland E. Murphy, The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature (New York: The Anchor Bible
Reference Library, 1992), 34.
10 Murphy, 1992, 34; William P. Brown, Character in Crisis: A Fresh Approach to the Wisdom Literature of the Old

Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 50.
11 Ibid.
12 Throughout the era of the Judges, Israel followed a cycle: Obedience = Prosperity; Disobedience = Punishment

(As articulated in Deut 28:15 – 68, and other verses); Repentance = Restoration (The raising of successive Judges – 3:7 – 9,
12 - 15; 4:1 – 4, etc.). This outlook dominates the entire OT.

3
God, who is just. This to them is the only remedy for his woes (4:7-8, 8:5-7). But from the outset, the
arguments of Job’s friends were “out of order” and did not apply to him because neither them nor
Job are aware of Job’s innocence and God’s approval in the prologue. Suffice it to say that before
God’s appearance on the stage, the entire dialogue was premised on and dominated by the
conviction of Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and later Elihu that since God is pure, upright and cannot be
unrighteous, all-knowing, almighty (4:17, 8:6, 11:7, 12), Job must be in the wrong. On the other hand,
Job continues to protest his innocence, while paying little attention to his friend’s argument.13 Thus,
Job’s speeches, from the prologue through the dialogue, set the stage for understanding his struggle
with life and death with the aim of underpinning the trajectories that gave birth to hope amidst
intense sufferings.

Job’s Struggle with Life and Death – the Emergence of Hope

Satan’s attack on Job’s body was rapid and heinous; he lost his health as Satan smites him
with painful boils, probably a serious skin disorder, over his entire body (2:7). Job also loses his
honor (2:8). The pain occasioned by the skin ailment prompts him to scrape his sores with a
potsherd as he sits in the ashes of the garbage dump. Having been stricken with strange illness and
with Satan’s prediction that Job will curse God to His face (1:11; 2:5), the question is: What will
happen to his faith in God? Will Job’s commitment to God suffer the same fate as his possession, as
Satan has insisted? Or, will Job’s piety endure even when his prosperity does not? After seven days
of silence with his friends who have come to commiserate with him, Job broke the silence. He
expresses his wish that he had died at birth (3:11-19), and questions the value of life for those who
are suffering (3:20-26).14 Hartley opines that Job’s extended reflection on his suffering has left him
stunned (3:1). Whereas he cannot deny that his suffering lies within God’s control; he could not also
understand why he should be suffering such pain. The equanimity that he evidenced in 2:10 is now
replaced by agitation. This change conceivably stems from the thought that time has allowed the full
extent of his loss to sink into his sub-consciousness, whereas previously he likely was in a state of
shock. In addition, his reflection on how his life has been stripped of all tangible evidence of divine
blessing causes him to focus on the injustice of his condition. Moreover, as Job speaks after his long
silence, his honest feelings surfaced. Job is not stoical or pretentious. Instead, he openly expresses
his deep feelings as his faith endures the anguish of bitter experience. In this feature, Job’s piety
shares the transparency so evident in the lament and imprecatory Psalms15 (35, 37, 42, 43, 52, 69,
77, 83, 90, 100, 109, and 137). Remarking on this, D. Smith notes, “The unleashing of this

13 Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel and Wisdom: Israel’s Wisdom Literature in the Christian Life (Carlisle, UK:

Patermoster Press, 1995), 91-95.

14 John E. Hartley, “From Lament to Oath: A Study in the Progression in the Speeches of Job,” in The Book of Job. Ed.

W. A. M. Beuken. Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium 114. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1994 as
quoted in Daniel J. Estes, Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalm (Grand Rapids, Michaigan: Baker Academic, 2005), 36.
15 Daniel J. Estes, Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalm (Grand Rapids, Michaigan: Baker Academic, 2005), 36.

4
unrationalistic emotion has a cathartic effect. In pouring out his hatred of life, he unleashes much of
his frustration and anger he feels at being unable to cope with all that is happening to him.”16
Satan’s prediction is that calamity will cause Job to curse God to his face (1:11; 2:5), but rather
than curse God, he curses not just the day of his birth but of his conception (3:1-10). Estes submits
that parallel curses in Jer. 20:14-18 and Lam. 3:1-18 suggest that these words do not express an
unrighteous sentiment. Evidently, however, godly piety does not necessitate the triumph of reason
over passion, as though correct theology drains feelings out of a pious response to God. 17 From his
subconscious, Job shared his pain as he battled with the reality of both his losses and present
predicament to the extent of desiring that darkness of chaos swallows the day of his birth. He felt
that staying back in his mother’s womb would have been preferred to being subjected to the pain
and suffering of life.
Understanding that such hope was in vain as God will not reverse the creation order for his
sake, Job wishes that he could have died at the time of his birth. He sees the grave as the door of rest,
because it brings to an end the miseries of life. Job also views death as a great social leveler by which
all unjust earthly distinctions are replaced by equity (3:14-15). But he quickly abandons such view
and returns to his initial desire to have been stillborn (3:16, see vs. 11), which for him would be
better than living, since he would have been discarded before having to endure pain. Yet, he
returned to his argument of death as a social leveler (3:17-19) and an opportunity for rest. Further,
he expresses not only his inner groaning (3:24), but reveals a major concern; the fear of God’s
disfavor which he had tried to avert (1:5), has come to him (3:25). Job concludes his initial lament in
verse 26: “I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only tumoil.” Habel observes that in stark
contrast to his perception of the restful order of Shoel (3:13-19), in his present experience Job’s
“inner being is in chaos and his world in confusion.”18
Amidst Job’s anguish and pain, his wife offered a pitiful but dangerous offer which echoed
Satan’s intention: Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die! (2:9). This suggestion hits
Job at the weakest and most vulnerable point, the only thing that is left for him, his integrity.
Whereas she, undoubtedly, motivated by her concerns and sympathy for her husband, her offer
reveals that she was willing to trade integrity for loss of pain. On the contrary, Job’s notion of
integrity was not subject to necessity but is inextricably linked with his pious refusal to curse God
under any circumstances. His agitated response to his wife’s recommendation (2:10) demonstrates
not only his refusal to act foolishly by cursing God, but also signals a leap of hope and consciousness
of the supremacy, sovereignty, and magnificence of God, who should be held in awe irrespective of
human conditions and circumstances.
Job’s consciousness and somewhat emotional stability was however interrupted by the
speeches of his friends. First, from a conciliatory tone of asking Job to follow the part of retribution

16 David L. Simith, “The Concept of Death in Job and Ecclesiastes.” Didaskalia 4:2-14, 1992, 3 in Estes, 36
17 Estes, 36
18 Habel, 1985, 112

5
which he has taught others in the past (4:3-4), Eliphaz moved to practical wisdom by setting forth a
universal law of retribution (4:7-11, see Psalm 37) which he has derived from observation. He
presents the central theme of his theology in 4:17 thus: “Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?” (NKJ), which inadvertently disqualifies whatever case Job
thinks he has. He urges Job to eschew folly and accept God’s discipline as a means of education and
blessing (5:17-26). Commenting on his thesis, Clines submits, “Eliphaz fails to help Job because his
theology does not allow for the reality of a Job, of a righteous man who has no longer any ground for
confidence, whose reverent piety has led him only away from assurance and toward despair.”19
Consequently, even though Eliphaz intends his words to encourage Job, they utterly fail to console
him.
In response to Eliphaz, Andersen notes that Job explodes in an emotional outburst of self-
defense, in which he defends himself mightily, protesting against his friend’s insinuation that he has
some questionable past that needs correction.20 He contends that his outburst is justified because
what Eliphaz considers rash are in reality appropriate because his vexation in the face of unjustified
affliction is beyond measure (6:2-7). Job pictures God as a warrior who attacks him, treating him
merely as a target for his poisonous arrows (6:4). But rather than commit suicide, he wishes that
God would crush him (6:8-9). At this point, Job’s pain was severe that his hope is not in any
providential deliverance, but in divine elimination21. He reaffirmed his earlier feeling that death is
the only relief for him (7:1-6; see on 3:14-15, 17-19). To him, death is the end and mortality is
irreversible (7:9-10). Indeed, Job seems to have reached his breaking point; in casting away hope, he
preferred dying to living. Yet, Job does not passively accept the inevitability of his death; instead, he
turns passionately and courageously to God, speaking from the anguish of his spirit (7:11-21). It is
obvious Job is overly confused, especially over the silence of God. Although he has claimed
innocence, he now pleads to be forgiven by God (7:20-21a).
Bildad begins by calling Job a windbag (8:2). From his total commitment to traditional
wisdom, the issue is simple and clear since it is inconceivable for God to pervert justice (8:3).
Therefore, he builds a double retribution theology: 1. God destroys the wicked (8:13); 2. God
prospers the righteous (8:20). Viewing Job’s situation through the lens of his rigid retribution
theology, therefore, he contends with Job to take the initiative to seek God by confessing his sin to
him (8:5) rather than waiting for God to seek him (cf. 7:21), since according to him, the only way Job
can return to prosperity is through confession of his sin. Thus, he demonstrates his ignorance of the
real issue that confronts Job and the fact that his restoration (42:10-17) will not be predicated upon
his repentance of sin that has caused his calamity.22

19 David J.A. Clines, Job 1-20. Word Biblical Commentary 17 (Dallas: Word, 1989), 124.
20 Francis I. Andersen, Job. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 13 (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976), 127.
21 Estes, 50.
22 Estes, 52-54.

6
 In response to Bildad, Job agrees that God will not pervert justice, being certain that a man
cannot win a legal dispute against God (9:2, 14-22), which echoes Eliphaz’s previous question (4:17).
Whereas Job shares with the comforters the starting point of the retribution theology of traditional
wisdom, his situation compels him to move beyond a fixed formula to explore the character and
justice of God in greater intricacy (9:5-12).23 In considering the overwhelming greatness of God, Job
slips into viewing God’s sovereignty in judging the world in terms that approach arbitrariness (9:13-
24) in which He destroys both the innocent and guilty thereby negating Bildad’s argument that God
will neither reject a person of integrity nor support evildoers (8:20). Hence, although Job tries to
shake off his problem and desires to address God, he is reluctant thinking God will not acquit him;
his situation is hopeless and his life will soon be over (9:25-35). Yet, amidst the seeming intimidation
from God, Job summons courage to speak directly to God out of his conflicting emotions of fear,
frustration, anger, and disappointment; he questions why God is contending with and condemning
him even though He is aware of Job’s innocence (10:1-7). Hartley expounds that Job’s confusion
results from his ignorance of God’s purpose as he views Him as acting capriciously. If Job had
knowledge of the proceedings in heaven recorded in the prologue, the trial would be easier for him
to bear. In fact, he would most likely have willingly accepted the test in order to vindicate God’s trust
in him. But for his test to be severe as possible, Job must be unaware of God’s confidence, for trust in
God is tested to the ultimate when circumstantial evidence calls into question the integrity of one’s
devotion to God. Hence, God’s silence intensifies a person’s testing far more than physical and
emotional pain.24
In contrast to what Job believes that he deserves, he experiences persistent pressure of
God’s hand of judgment, imagining why the divine hand that formed him with great care now
threatens to destroy him (10:8-17). Again, Job wished that a stillborn or miscarriage would have
forestalled the pain that he had experienced (10:18-19). And where that is not possible, he wonders
why if God was unwilling to prevent this situation, could he not at least relent and give him a few
days of peace before his death? (10:20). Job finally anticipates no future but death, which he pictures
in terms of gloom and deep shadow, deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the
light is like darkness (10:21-22).25
Unlike Eliphaz, who appeals to experience and personal revelation, and Bildad who builds
his argument on tradition, Zophar, Job’s third friend employs strict deductive logic as he evaluates
Job’s situation. He begins by rebuking Job (11:1-6), accusing him of talking so much, unwisely and
insists that Job’s present punishment is only partial, tempered by God’s abundant mercy.26 In
Zophar’s estimation, Eliphaz and Bildad have not adequately answered Job’s many words; hence, he
considers it his moral duty to uphold God’s justice by silencing Job through argument (11:3-12). His

23Estes, 54-55.
24 Hartley, 1988, 183.
25 Estes, 59-60.
26 Hartley, 193.

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anger basically stems from Job’s claim to be tam (blameless) in 9:20-21, a term that refers to
personal integrity which Zophar is not ready to accept. He bemoans Job’s attempt to discern the
mystery of God’s wisdom and hidden motives. Despite his harsh language, Zophar has not
completely abandoned hope for Job. Assuming that God must be punishing Job because of some
hidden sin, Zophar pleads with Job to repent, with the assurance of restoration to peace, prosperity,
and prestige (11:13-20) in contrast to Job’s fears (10:21-22), but for the wicked there is no hope
from death (11:20).
Job’s response to Zophar ends the first cycle of dialogue. In the first half, he addresses his
friends, and turns his attention to God in the second half. Speaking directly to his friends, Job repays
their scorn with scorn of his own (12:2). With contemptuous sarcasm, he bemoans their assumed
monopoly of wisdom when in reality he is not inferior to them in intelligence (12:3). To Job, they are
uttering mere commonplace wisdom rather than assessing his unique condition with the precise
insight that is needed. In the remaining part of chapter 12, Job argues that their assumption of
retribution theology is not validated by experience. Using his personal situation, he submits that
their observations of life are superficial, and they do not take into account a careful examination of
the facts of life (12:4).27 Further, he cites the fact that there are rich oppressors who prosper even
though they have acted in a godless way (12:5-6). Echoing the sentiment of the Psalmist (Ps. 123:4),
Job decries those who hold both God and the innocent in contempt. Consequently, Job contradicts
Zophar’s claim that security is limited to those who are right with God (11:15-20). In relation to the
activities of God (12:13-25), Job cannot see the precise discernable discrimination between good and
evil, hence he concludes that although God possesses wisdom and might, he does not act according
to strict retribution as his friends have presumed. It is plausible that Job begins to build some hope
and confidence in God’s judgment and fairness, which might eventually favor him. He therefore
charges his friends with being false witnesses for God (13:7-12) and appeals to them to be silent so
he could speak to God without their interruption (13:13-14), as he is more conscious of justice than
self-preservation. Then, Job’s morale buoys as he exclaims: “I will hope in him” or the consonantal
text “I have hope” (13:15). Either way, it is conceivable that fresh assurance in God’s ability to
deliver balanced justice brings hope to Job who now has confidence to defend his ways before Him.
But God must first relieve him of the heavy hand of affliction and remove the sense of overwhelming
dread that terrifies him (13:20-21). Yet, Job’s hope dangles as he bemoans the misery of human life
(14:1-6). But he later finds hope in the ability of a tree to grow again after it has been cut down
(14:7-9). The struggle between hope and despair continues as his hope for the future dims (14:13-
17). He concludes his lengthy speech on the despondent note that death means separation even from
knowledge of one’s family and leaves a person in profound isolation (14:21-22).28 Without doubt,

27 Estes, 63.
28 Estes, 69-70.
8
Job’s losses with the attendant emotional trauma and his painful suffering account for the struggle
between hope and despair as well as life and death.
In the second cycle, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar speak in turn. However, Eliphaz is not as
sympathetic as at first (4-5). He charges Job of suffering the fate deserved by a wicked person (15:2-
3). According to Eliphaz, Job has contradicted the wisdom ethic of reverence to God (15:4). Using
what Estes calls a rapid-fire assault of humiliating questions, Eliphaz endeavors to establish
rhetorically that Job’s wisdom is empty (15:7-16). Arguing from his personal observation, which has
been confirmed by ancient traditional wisdom since time immemorial (15:17-18), he asks Job to
keep silence. Using a strategy of shock therapy, Eliphaz contends that despite appearances to the
contrary, wicked people have a miserable life and a miserable death, painfully aware of their
impending judgment (15:20-24), of whom the almighty God will destroy (15:25-26). While asserting
that Job’s prior affluence and self indulgence are responsible for the debilitating effects he is
experiencing (15:27), he concludes that rather than maintaining wealth, the proud sinner will be like
a vine or a tree withered by the flame of divine retribution (15:29-30).29
In response to Eliphaz, Job rejects his friends’ call for repentance by countering many of
their specific charges. He challenges their claims to superior knowledge, and he discounts their
arguments as irrelevant to his case (16:1-6). Job’s distress is rooted in his keen sense that God is
opposing him. He has been so afflicted to the degree that his friends have abandoned him (16:7) as
they observe his emaciated body (16:8), which they consider proof of his guilt. Because Job is
confident that he deserves acquittal even though his friends have proclaimed his guilt, he appeals to
the earth to serve as a witness that he, like Abel (Gen 4:10), is innocent (16:18). Further, he contends
that he will receive from heaven an advocate to counter his accusers (16:19). Hartley develops the
significance of this statement:
Here Job appeals to God’s holy integrity in stating his earnest hope that God will
testify of the truth of his claims of innocence, even though such testimony will seem
to contradict God’s own actions. Such risking is the essence of faith. For a moment
Job sees God as his steadfast supporter. In this plea he is expressing the trust God
has expressed in him in the prologue because he is pushing through the screen of his
troubles to the real God…he is affirming genuine confidence in God regardless of the
way it appears that God is treating him. Since Job, in contrast to his friends, will not
concede that truth is identical with appearances, he presses on for a true resolution
to his complaint from God himself.30

Job’s resolve to look away from the mockery of his friends is threatened by the thought that
God seems far removed, and there seems no common ground on which Job can present his legal
dispute to him (16:21). To complicate matters, Job senses that he has little time left before his death
in which his problem cannot be resolved (16:22). He has no more desire for life, for he senses that
the graveyard is ready for him (17:1); hence he resigns himself to the inevitability of death (17:11-

29 Ibid, 70-72
30 Hartley, 264.
9
16), especially as he feels disgraced and in despair having weighed the words of insults from his
friends (17:2-10).
In his second response, Bildad parallels many of the points that Eliphaz made in chapter 15.
He is rigid in his thinking and has no encouraging word for Job who he thinks is talking nonsense
(18:2-3), especially his assault on retribution for his own sake (18:4). He then uses words of
reproach with a rambling poem in 18:5-21 that asserts that the world operates according to a strict
cause-effect order of which the fate of the wicked is darkness.
Job’s response to Bildad’s speech reveals his sense of abandonment by all, including God
(19:2-3); even if he were guilty – which he does not admit - his error would have been his problem
alone without retaliation (19:4). Affirming that the problem is between him and God (19:5-6), Job
believes that God has wronged him by delaying his acquittal, despite the fact that Job has appealed to
him for vindication (19:7-12). In contrast to his prior hope (14:7-9), Job now sees himself as a tree
that has been uprooted by God (19:10) and has been isolated by family, friends and acquaintances,
including domestic servants (19:13-18). In his brokenness, which has shriveled him into a skeleton,
Job utters a pathetic cry for sympathy, calling upon his friends to help him rather than add to the
pain God has brought upon his life (19:20-22). Job’s final words in this speech (19:21 - 29) are
among the most familiar in the book, but also one of the most difficult to interpret.31 It constitutes
the kernel of this study.

Job’s Eschatological Hope: Analysis of Job 19:25-27

Whereas Job’s final response to Bildad covers chapter 19:21-29, the study primarily focuses
on vss. 25-27; yet, not in isolation of the initial and closing thoughts that constitute the immediate
context. Scholars hold various views on Job 19:25-27, especially in relation to its eschatological
implications. Galenieks notes that one of the current prevailing thoughts is that Job expects a post-
mortem encounter with God, but in an ethereal estate; suggesting that Job will see his Redeemer not
with his physical eyes but outside his body in his “indestructible spirit.”32 There is also the view that
Job envisages a restoration of his health and prosperity before his death. But, this seems to
contradict Job’s various contemplations on death as an alternative to his sufferings.33 Brian Schmisek
summarizes the complexity of Job 19:25 thus:
This verse is riddled with difficulties. AS M. Pope noted in his commentary on Job
years ago, ‘the verse is notoriously difficult, The ancient versions all differ and no
reliance can be placed any on them. Various emendations have been proposed, bur
are scarcely worth discussing. Many Christian interpreters since Origen have tried to

31 Estes, 78.
32 Eriks Galenieks, “Seeing God with or Without the Body: Job 19:25-27”, Journal of the Adventist Theological
Society, 18/1 (spring 2007): 101-121, 101. See also Albert Banes, vol. 1, 327f.; Keil and Delitszch, vo. 4, 356f and The Jewish
Translation Bible – Masoretic text (1917) renders Job 19:25 as – “When after my skin this is destroyed, then without my
flesh I shall see God.”
33 Ibid. He cites David J.A. Clines, “Job 1-20, Word Biblical Commentary (WBC), vol. 17 (Dallas: Word, 1989), 464.

10
 read here an affirmation of immortality or resurrection, but without success:
Chrysostom quite correctly refuted this interpretation with the citation of XIV 12f”
Even a note in the NABRE reads: The meaning of this passage is obscure because the
original text has been poorly preserved and the ancient versions do not agree among
themselves. Job asserts three times that he shall see a future vindicator (Hebrew
goel) but he leaves the time and manner of this vindication undefined. The Vulgate
translation has Job indicating a belief in resurrection after death, but the Hebrew
and other ancient versions are less specific.’” He then continues discussing Job 14
determining that it does not teach resurrection and then observes: ‘Job 19:25 is
never cited in the New Testament as a resurrection text until much later in the
Christian era.34 Vs. 27

Despite the encumbrances around this pericope, some scholars believe that Job will die and
later be resurrected. First, Edward Young35 speaks of an eschatological event, namely, bodily
resurrection, while Gleason Archer translates Job 19:26 thus: “And from the vantage point of my
flesh, I shall see God.”36
Galenieks provides the literary structure of Job 19 thus:
1-6 Address to the friends
7-12 Complaint against God
13-20 Complaint against man
21-29 Conviction37
Although not in details, the first three divisions have been highlighted in the previous
section of the study, paving way for focus on the last part: Conviction. Galenieks provides the chiastic
structure of Job 19:21-29, which displays an arrangement such that despite the varying thematic
elements, they are bound together thus:
19:21 A1 Admonition
22 B1Accusation
23-24 C1Aspiration
25-27b D CONVICTION
27c C2 Aspiration
28 B2 Accusation
30 A2 Admonition

34 Brian Schmisek, Resurrection of the Flesh or Resurrection From the Dead? (CollegeVille, Minn: Liturgical Press,

2013), 53-54.
35 Edward Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament (London: Tyndale, 1949), 317 as cited in Eriks Galenieks,

“Seeing God with or Without the Body: Job 19:25-27”, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 18/1 (spring 2007): 101-
121, 102.
36 Gleason L. Archer, A Survey of Old Testament: Introduction (Chicago: Moody, 1964), 449 as cited in Eriks

Galenieks, “Seeing God with or Without the Body: Job 19:25-27”, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 18/1 (spring
2007): 101-121, 102.
37 Galenieks, 102.

11
Conviction
Vs. 25.
‫וַאֲ ִּנִ֣י ָ֭ידַ עְ ִּתי ִ֣גאֲ לִּ י חָ֑י‬
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
‫ְְ֜ואַ ח ֲ֗רֹון עַ ל־עפָ֥ר י ֽקּום׃‬
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
Vs. 26
‫פּו־זאת‬
ָ֑ ְ‫ואַ ַחִ֣ר ָ֭ע ִּ ֹֽורי נִּק‬
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

‫ּוְ֜ ִּמבְ ש ִּ ֗רי ֽאחֱזָ֥ה אֱ לֽ ֹוהַ ׃‬

That in my flesh I shall see God,

Vs. 27
‫אֲ ֶׁ֤שר אֲ ִ֙ ִּני׀ ֽאחֱזה־לִּ֗ י‬
Whom I shall see for myself,

‫וְ עֵינַ ִ֣י ר ִ֣אּו וְ לא־זָ֑ר‬

And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

‫כל֖ ּו כִּ לְ י ַ ִ֣תי בְ חֵ ִּ ֽקי׃‬

How my heart yearns within me! (NKJ)

Evidently, Job’s conviction (25-27) constitutes the central part of the chiasm and functions
as a part of a larger unit (vss. 21-29). Galenieks notes: “Its diverse and structural and thematic
elements exhibit both a well-balanced chiasm and a structurally systematic arrangement. Moreover,
vss. 25-27 not only function as the peak of the entire chiastic outline, but also demonstrate that they
are bound together phonologically by their own double chiastic structure based on sound.”38 He
notes that these three verses are interlocked by numerous cogent elements that directly expose and
dramatize Job’s conviction of the bodily resurrection:
1. The additional emphatic presence of the pronoun ‫“( אֲ נִּי‬I”) before the verbs ‫“( ָ֭ידַ עְ ִּתי‬I know,”
vs. 25) and ‫“( אחֱזָ֥ה‬I will see,” vs. 27).
2. Intensification by repeating the verbs ‫( אחֱזָ֥ה‬vss. 26, 27) and ‫ראּו‬
ִ֣ (“they will see,” vs. 27).
3. A positive clarification after the verb, ‫“( אחֱזה־לִּ֗ י‬I shall see for myself,” vs. 27) and a negative
clarification, ‫ולא־זָ֑ר‬ (and not another,” vs. 27), which emphasizes and strengthens the
positive element.39
The interconnectedness of the various elements in Job 19: 25-27 is not an end in itself but plays an
extremely important role in the process of interpretation, helping to clarify Job’s conviction.

Eschatological Terms
Job 19:25-27 is rich with the use of eschatological terminologies instructive for
underpinning the very essence of Job’s conviction on a future resurrection. First, his combination of
‫“( "חזה‬see,” “behold”) and ‫“( ראה‬to see”) is germane. One of the functions of ‫ חזה‬is to express the vision

38 Galenieks, 104.
39 Ibid, 104-105.
12
of God that every righteous person will have on the resurrection morning. On the other hand, the
verb‫“( ראה‬to see”) denotes the act of “seeing,” “perceiving,” “watching,” or “looking” with one’s own
eyes. Fundamentally, the words for “seeing” are associated with the words for waking. 40
Consequently, whereas Job has chosen death as an alternative to unending suffering, his use of (“and
my eyes will behold,” vs. 27) affirms his conviction that he will live again.
Second, Job’s use of ‫“( י ֽקּום‬He will stand”), especially as it functions in parallel to the term ‫חַי‬
(“alive,” “living”), which alludes to Job 14:12, where Job employs ‫ י ֽקּום‬parallel to ‫יקיצּו‬
ָ֑ ִּ (“they will
awake”) in order to emphasize the future event that will take place in time and space. Galenieks
further asserts that the purpose and function of both terms ‫ י ֽקּום‬and ‫חַ י‬, with ‫גאַ ל‬Redeemer as
subject, is to intensify and reinforce the concept of the resurrection hope and even more. He
concludes that it is logical to associate Job 19:26 with the eschatological event, especially since the
order of the word pairs follows the pattern that can be observed in other resurrection passages,
namely, ‫י ֽקּום‬, following ‫חַ י‬. I know that my redeemer lives (‫)חַ י‬,
And that in the end he will stand (‫ )י ֽקּום‬on the earth (vs. 25 NIV)
Third, Job’s usage of ‫“( עפר‬dust”) in relation to or within the proximity of ‫“( חַ י‬alive,” “living”),
which characterizes the Redeemer as a living being alludes to the resurrection at the eschaton.41 The
word “dust” is associated with death and the grave, the very earthly particles. Job assumes that God
will descend from heaven to bring justice to the world. The use of the word also hints that this will
take place after Job has died and returned to dust. Again, the words of Job come to mean far more
than he probably understood.42
Finally, the use of ‫“( אחֲרֹון‬at the end”), which suggests “afterwards” and “in the future”
connotes an eschatological term.
The vocabularies of Job’s conviction suggest an eschatological motif. Wearied by loses,
intense suffering, rejection by social acquaintances, the silence of God and his inability to reverse his
birth, Job resorted to death as a means of relief. Nevertheless, his hope rests on the renewed
confidence in the justice of God, who is able to raise him up from death in the end. Tokunboh
Adeyemo corroborates the eschatological motif by asserting that Job expresses the hope of personal
resurrection.43 Whereas Estes is careful not to link ‫ גאַ ל‬in vs. 25a to Christ’s role as the mediator and
redeemer, he submits that Job does transcends his miserable condition to catch a glimpse of a
brighter future. 44

40 Galenieks, 105, see also Robert D. Culver, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT), 2 COL., ed. R.

Laird Harris. Chicago: Moody, 1981, 1:274-277; John F.A. Sawyer, “Hebrew Words for Resurrection of the Dead,” Vestus
Testamentum (VT) 23 (1973):224
41 Galenieks, 108.
42 NET Notes (Job 19:25).
43 Tokunboh Adeyemo, Africa Bible Commentary (Nairobi, Kenya: WordAlive Publishers, 2006), 583.
44 Estes, 79. See also J.C.L. Gibson, “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth,” pp.53-59 in New Heaven and New Earth:

Prophecy and the Millennium ed. P.J. Harland and C.T.R. Hayward. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 77, Leiden:, Brill,
1999, 53-54.
13
 Job’s Recovery: An End to Eschatological Hope?

The restoration of Job took a surprising twist. He would need to pray for his friends, whose
judgmental attitudes presented an image of an antagonist, before the expected health boom became
a reality. He did pray for his friends (42:8,10) as a priest (1:5; cf. Matt. 5:44). Interestingly, Job had
previously desired a mediator who would stand in the gap but now he is required to play the same
role. Morgan perceptively observes: “They had attempted to restore Job to God by philosophy. He is
now to be the means of restoring them by prayer”45.
Job had lost both health and possessions; even more so, he had lost sons and daughters. But now all
that he lost is recovered. By doubling his possessions God was only trying to demonstrate His
sovereignty; everything is under His perfect control.46
There have, however, been a myriad of responses to the miraculous recovery of Job. It is
even argued whether Job’s recovery included physical restoration.47 Others would want us believe
that the restoration of Job’s fortunes tantamount to an anticlimax and that it introduces a discordant
tread to the perfect plot of the story. It is, however, difficult to see the rationale in such an argument.
Yet some other commentators question the reward motif in the epilogue, espousing the belief that
only in heaven that the righteous can profit from right doing: “God will adjust the balances there, but
will not do so in this life.”48 The after-life reward has nevertheless not succeeded in dousing the
tension occasioned by the doubling of Job’s possession. Aside from the critical strands of scholarship
that cast aspersion on the authenticity of the narrative, some are indeed puzzled as to why Job’s sons
and daughters were not doubled in a similar fashion like the animals. This may be conceived as
merely a problem of perception. One way of looking at it, albeit spiritually, is to see as the first set of
his children who died tragically but to be re-united after resurrection and the second set as those
born after the trials.
The question may justly be asked: Does the recovery of Job mark the end of His
eschatological hope? Obviously, no. As long as we live on this side of the divide there will always be
something to hope for. Paul poetically puts it in its proper perspective. He says, “And now these three
remain: faith, hope and love” (1Cor. 13:13 NIV). The word, “now” has been interpreted by some
commentators to mean that faith and hope will only abide in this present age; but it will be doing
violence to the text if love is divorced from it. On the contrary, Erdman argues “that all are to abide

45Morgan, G. Campbell, The Answers of Jesus to Job. G. Campbell Morgan Library series (Grand Rapids; Baker Book

House, 1973), 219-220.

46 Harry Hunt, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Chad Brand, Charles Draper and Archie England (Eds.)

(Nashville, Tennessee: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), sv., Job, the Book of. A servant of God need not worry about the
losses that may be sustained in the course of serving the Lord. All that is needed is to be faithful and remain unswerving in
allegiance to God. For the creator God is able to bring back or restore what has been taken by away by death.
47 Daniel Simundson, The Message of Job (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1986), 149-150.
48 Tokunboh Adeyemo (Gen. Ed.), African Bible Commentary (Nairobi, Kenya: WordAlive Publishers), 603.

14
and yet that love ever will be supreme among the three."49 The experience of Job does not put an end
to undeserved suffering50 and the absurdities of life.51
Impliedly, the apparent termination of pain and suffering is not an end to eschatological hope,
at least in this world. The existential nature of suffering makes it illusionary to believe that it would
completely go away in this present age. It can be sublimated but not subjugated as to make it non-
existent. As wisely pointed out by Rowley, it is the essence of the book’s message that “Job found God
in his suffering, and so found relief not from his misfortunes, but in them.”52 Amidst the poignant and
voluminous complaints of Job, we see intimations of hope that have a wider sweep beyond mere
physical recovery (19:1-27). There are discernible parallels between the restoration of Job’s fortunes
and a major Old Testament eschatology – hope that follows suffering.53 Whatever reprieve Job
experienced through the upturning of his captivity was perhaps only temporal; it may not have
totally inoculated him from the vexations of life, the daily struggles and strife and pain associated
with mortality, which have become the lot of humanity. Paul made reference to this, using the
imagery of a tent: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building
from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven” (2 Cor. 5:1-3 NKJ). Sobrino
insightfully remarks: “present reality is not capable of revealing God fully… the authentic reality of
God will only show up at the end of history.”54 It would be truncating the expansive view of Biblical
eschatology to think that any blessing we receive now puts an end to the “eternal weight of glory” (2
Cor.4:17) awaiting the saints.

The Reality of Suffering in Africa vis-à-vis Job’s Sufferings

For many, Africa is viewed as a continent of wars, famines and entrenched poverty. This
perception seems to have changed somewhat in the past 20 years, judging by the shift in focus on
“Africa rising” and an “African 21st century.”55 But what cannot be denied is that Africa is still a
continent that conjure images of the maimed, the dislocated, the dying and the dead. In describing
the general suffering in Africa, one prominent theologian aptly referred to Africa as “the disfigured

49Charles R. Erdman, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians (Philadelphia:Westminster Press, 1928), 125.
50Larry J. Waters, Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job, Bibliotheca Sacra 154 (October–December 1997):
436–51
51Stanley E. Porter, “The Message of the Book of Job: Job 42:7b as Key to Interpretation?” Evangelical Quarterly 63

(1991): 151.
52 H. H. Rowley, The Book of Job , New Century Bible Commentary series (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans

Publishing Co., 1983), 20.

53 David A. Hubbard, Hope in the Old Testament, Tyndale Bulletin 34 (1983), 33-60.

54 John Sobrino, Christology at the Crossroads: A Latin American Approach (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1978), 219-
220.
55 Kathleen Beegle, Luc Christiaensen, Andrew Dabalen, and Isis Gaddis, Poverty in a rising Africa: Africa Poverty

Report, World Bank Group, 2016. At 4.5 percent a year, average economic growth was remarkably robust, specially when
contrasted with the continuous decline during the 1970s and 1980s. Substantial improvements in well-being should have
accompanied this expansion. Whether or not they did, remains unclear given the poor quality of the data (Shantayanan
Devarajan, “Africa’s Statistical Tragedy,” Review of Income and Wealth 59 (S1): S9–S15).
15
Body of Christ.”56 The phenomenon of suffering on the Africa continent has assumed such a state of
normalcy that for some it is natural or God-ordained. Reminiscence of Rachel wailing and weeping
for her children (Matt. 2:18; cf. Jer.31:15) there are those who die still-born or who die prematurely.
Indeed millions “die of hunger, famine, malnutrition, dehydration and diseases or in civil wars.
Those who manage to become adults become non-persons in exiles, refugee camps, prisons…”57
Suffering in Africa is multifaceted and pervasive. Moltmann refers to suffering, generally, as
the vicious circles of death, which encloses and emasculates the people with little or no hope of
relief.58 Many have found themselves in what may be called a “lazar house”59 of suffering and
hopelessness. Whereas sufferings in Africa are many-sided with far-reaching repercussions, it would
only be expedient to concentrate on three aspects of this human predicament, especially as they
relate to Job’s experience. The areas of concern include health, property and life.
The Africa continent is disfigured health-wise; the burden of disease is unbearable. It has
been estimated that roughly 50% of all types of communicable diseases worldwide, occur in Africa.60
In 2015, a person living in Africa was more than three times as likely to die from HIV/AIDS than a
person living in any other developing region in the world. A more sober picture is painted by a
number of people that die from malaria which is endemic. Mortality rate due to malaria infection is
10 times higher in Africa than in any other parts of the world.61
Africa also experiences a high number of premature deaths from non-communicable diseases, like
diabetes and heart disease. More than half of non-communicable diseases deaths in Africa occurred
in people under the age of 70 and people in Africa are more likely to die from a non-communicable
disease, across all age groups, than people living in the rest of the world.62 The scourge of Ebola has
decimated thousands, particularly in places like Liberia. Poor handling of the scourge left many
hopeless.

56 P. Kanyandago, The disfigured body of Christ and African Ecclesiology, Mugambi & Magesa (eds.) , The Church in

African Christianity: Innovative essays in ecclesiology (Nairobi: Action, 1998), 179. Kanyandago explains that Africa is
disfigured in the sense that human lives are impacted negatively by forces beyond the control of the ordinary citizen. And
this is particularly in the areas of health, politics, economics, etc, that make survival a huge challenge. See also P.
Kanyandago, The Cross and Suffering in the Bible and the African Experience, in H. W. Kinoti & J. M. Walligo (eds.), The Bible
in African Christianity: Essays in Biblical Theology (Nairobi: Action, 1997), 123-144.
57 Ibid.
58 Jurgen Moltmann, The Crucified God: The cross of Christ as the foundation and criticism of Christian theology

(London: SCM, 1974), 329-333.

59 Ellen G. White used this expression to describe the world filled with victims of physical and spiritual diseases

(see, for example, Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 9 vols. (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing
Association, 1948), 7: 62); Ellen G. White, Counsels on Diet and Foods (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing
Association, 1976), 455.
60These estimates were gleaned from researches conducted by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). See

Kanishka Narayan and Zachary Donnenfeld, Stark Choices: Africa double burden of disease https://issafrica.org/iss-
today/stark-choices-africas-double-burden-of-disease (Accessed April 2, 2018).
61Ibid.

62 Ibid.
16
 Many people in Africa believe that diseases are caused by supernatural beings or
gods/goddesses for wrongdoing on the part of an individual or the parents.63 For others when
somebody is sick it must be the handiwork of a wicked neighbor. The religious cosmogony of
Africans is not very much different from that of Job; it is a worldview that conceptualizes illness,
misfortunes and even death as divinely orchestrated. Traditional healers, who claim to have a
remedy for every malady, abound; they would often identify the cause of the patient’s misfortunes in
the relationship between the patient and the spiritual environment.64 There is
no gainsaying that belief systems play an important role in the way people respond to challenges in
life. For Job, and perhaps more so for his friends, the belief was rife that the causative agent of
sickness is intricately linked to wrongdoing or misdeed; an individual may incur the wrath of God by
violating divine strictures, which in turn can lead to a failing health or even premature death. It is not
uncommon that the belief system of an individual or community can exacerbate the condition of the
afflicted, thus whittling down the hope of recovery. Hausmann-Muela et al, for example, reports in a
research conducted in Tanzania, Africa, how witchcraft and malaria can be interrelated in the
interpretation of illness.65 It is believed by a segment of the people of Tanzania that witchcraft can
impede biomedical treatment from destroying malaria parasites or being detected in the blood by
putting a veil on it. There is little to doubt that such examples smack of superstition and ignorance,
though the reality of evil powers is not to be denied.
Indeed, Mbiti cites some examples of African tribes who would attribute common afflictions
to God, who is believed to plague people for sin committed or for some reasons that may not be
easily deciphered. A member of the Tonga tribe in Zambia, when in trouble, would naturally exclaim:
“Heaven (God) has forsaken me!”66 Also, the Lugbara tribe believes that God inflicts people with
diseases, including mental disturbances.67 Even though God is held responsible for diseases, magic,
sorcery and witchcraft are generally regarded as the immediate causes for individual and
community diseases of epidemic proportions. The Suk interprets calamities and cattle diseases to be
God’s way of showing displeasure for certain misdeeds. Curiously, the Chagga tribe believes that God
sends a malevolent spirit to cause smallpox and other sicknesses, but the afflicted one may be spared
of death if God did not will it. When juxtapose with Job’s experience there seems to be a strange
correlation; only that in the case of Job, his affliction was not as a result of wrong doing.

63C.T. Ezeonu, D.N. Igwe, O.U. Anyanwu, O.B. Ezeanosike, J.D. Nweze Culture and biomedical care inAfrica The

influence of culture on biomedical care in a traditional African society, Nigeria, West Africa, Nigerian journal of medicine:
journal of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria 21(3):331-3 · July 2012.
64 P. De Smet (2000). African herbs and healers, Compass Newsletter for Endogenous Development; No.3: 26-28. In

the African setting, the diviner-herbalist uses both divination and roots for healing. Often he is very highly respected. He
gives his treatment soberly and sympathetically according to the knowledge and skill handed down to him during his
apprenticeship – A. I. Berglund, “African Concepts of Health, Sickness and Healing,” Report of Umpumulo Consultation on the
Healing Ministry of the Church (Umpumulo Natal: Luheran Theological College), 19-17 September 1967, 37.

65 Hausmann-Muela, S, Muela Ribera J, Mushi, A.K (2002). Tanner M. Medical syncretism with reference to malaria

in a Tanzanian community, Social Science & Medicine 55:403-413

66 John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (London: Heinemann, 1985), 43.
67 Ibid.

17
 Summarily, God is often thought to be responsible for calamities such as drought, epidemics,
locust invasions, wars and floods. These disasters or misfortunes are believed not to be
happenstance; they are precipitated by God or a spiritual being as a means of punishing people for
their mischief. For many traditional African cultures, God is conceived to be the Giver of life as well
as the One Who takes it away. A biblical parallel in the book of Job echoed this thought: “The LORD
gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised" (Job 1:21 NIV). This may
explain why the Barundi people speak of God to be both “the Giver of children” and “He Who hates
children” (because of the belief that He kills them).68
There is an important dimension to sickness and misfortunes that is common to Africans;
that is, seeing sickness and suffering as religious experiences that require a religious approach to
deal with them.69 For example, in the traditional setting, someone may be suffering from malaria
because he has been stung by a mosquito carrying malaria parasites; the medicine-man would still
want to know why the mosquito stung him and not another person. The most satisfactory answer,
therefore, would be that the mosquito was magically sent by a particular individual or an enemy.
Thus disease, suffering, misfortunes and even accidents are caused mystically. To the extent that
every disease or misfortune is seen as a “religious” experience the traditional medicine-man will
continue to be relevant. This may also explain why Pentecostalism has experienced phenomenal
growth on the African soil. Healing or prayer houses are commonplace; they provide a meeting point
where the sick are expected to be healed or those who are believed to be demonically oppressed or
possessed are exorcised.70
How has all this added to the burden of sickness in Africa? Wrong perceptions exacerbate
the human condition; an error in diagnosis makes healing elusive. For Job’s friends Job’s sickness
and misfortunes were directly linked to a secret sin, committed by the sufferer. Sickness may indeed
be caused by supernatural forces. But is it always the case?
Traditional healing methods, is at best palliative when it is associated with or premised on
superstition and fetishism. It hardly gives the needed relief to the afflicted and therefore leads to
hopelessness and premature death. Unfortunately, governments in many nations in Africa have
abysmally failed to provide the needed infrastructure for a responsive health delivery system.
Trained doctors are leaving in droves to Europe and other developed countries where they believe
they can have a slice of the good things of life.71 The cumulative effect of all these is that many

68 Ibid, 45.
69 Ibid, 169.
70Allan Anderson, “Exorcism and Conversion to African Pentecostalism“, Exchange, vol. 3, no. 1 (2006), p.133. See

also John Olushola Magbadelo, “Pentecostalism in Nigeria: Exploiting or Edifying

the Masses?African Sociological Review, vol. 8(2): 15-29.
71 With the incentive of higher pay and modern facilities, Africa’s trained doctors emigrate overseas in search of

greener pastures. The lure of incentives is a powerful magnet. On average, surgeons in New Jersey earn $216,000 annually,
while their counterparts in Zambia make $24,000. Kenyan doctors earn on average $6,000 per annum. The World Health
Organization (WHO), the UN body responsible for promoting international public health, puts Nigeria’s doctor-to-population
ratio at 0.3 per 1,000 persons, which is grossly inadequate. It is even worse in Liberia and Sierra Leone (two countries
recently ravaged by the Ebola epidemic): 51 doctors for Liberia’s population of 4.5 million (0.1 per 1,000 peope) and 136
18
Africans are uncared for, health-wise. The situation is not helped by spiraling violence, occasioned
by ethnic chauvinism and religious bigotry. Nigeria, for example, has been a hot-bed of violence that
has deprived many of property and lives. The 72Boko Haram’s insurgency is a pain and a threat to
many in Nigeria, particularly the religious faithful. The perception is that government is doing little
or nothing to halt the specter of death unleashed on Christians in the Northern part of Nigeria and
the Cameroun.73 Many are in a state of hopelessness and resignation to fate. Added to this is the
unsettling phenomenon of nomadic herdsmen in Nigeria who have not only displaced indigenous
farmers from their homesteads but destroyed their farms, raped their women and gunned down
their men. The victims, most of whom are Christians, are perceived to be targets of persecution and
structural evil, designed to undermine their faith in Christ.74
Against this backdrop the blame game becomes an easy cop-out. For some the witches and
wizards are responsible for the parlous state of the typical African, this perception no less cherished
by some of the faithful. For others, the fate of Africans is still tethered to the colonial masters, who
underdeveloped Africa; therefore, every developmental initiative, today, is hamstrung by the long
shadows of imperialism.75 Still, for others, the rapacious governments that fate has foisted on African
nations should be the culprit for all the burden of sufferings that many experience on the African
continent. Of course, much of this censure cannot be said to be baseless. But how do they help the
typical believer on the Africa continent who has apparently found themselves in a quandary, where
the prospects of having life “more abundantly” (John 10:10, KJV), seems to grow dimmer, by the day?

doctors for Sierra Leone’s 6 million people (0.2 per 1000). Ethiopia has 0.2 doctors per 1,000 and Uganda has 0.12 doctors
per 1000 inhabitants. See Kingsley Ighobor, “Diagnosing Africa’s medical brain drain,” AfricaRenewal, United Nations
Department of Public Information, December 2016 –March 2017. It is also reported that Africa carries 25% of the world’s
disease but its share of the global health expenditures is less than 1% - AfricaRenewal.
72Abimbola Adesoji, The Boko Haram Uprising and Islamic Revivalism in Nigeria, Africa

Spectrum (2010) 2: 95-108.

73Boko Haram’s new phase of attacks on Christians can be divided into several target categories: 1) attacks against

local Christians in Boko Haram’s core operating area of Borno and Yobe states, and the adjacent state of Bauchi; 2) major
suicide operations or bombing attacks of high-profile churches in Jos in Plateau State and the capital of Abuja; and 3) minor
operations against church or parachurch personnel throughout the north and “middle belt” regions of Nigeria. These
operations represent a fairly major shift in the goals of Boko Haram, which are still squarely Nigeria-focused, and represent
the opposition of certain elements of the Muslim north to the spread of Christianity in the region. See also Michael Kpughe
Lang, Christian Churches and the Boko Haram Insurgency in Cameroon: Dilemmas and Responses, Religions (2017), 8: 143;
Mindy Belz, “Targeted Christians,” WORLD Magazine, February 29, 2012; John Azumah, Christian Responses to Islam: A
Struggle for the Soul of Christianity, Church and Society in Asia Today 13/2: 83-94.
74 Elias M. Githuka perceptively pointed out that the church in Africa has long been familiar with persecution. As

long as the third century AD, the African church father Tertullian was moved to declare that “the blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church”. The persecution has continued in modern times in countries like Uganda under President Idi Amin, in
Chad under President Tombalbaye, and is still continuing in countries like Ethiopia and Eritrea. It flares up sporadically in
other countries too. Those who convert from Islam to Christianity often face severe discrimination and sometimes even
death. The main aim of persecution is not to destroy the believers who are persecuted but to eliminate the faith they profess.
Persecutors attempt to force Christians to deny their faith in Jesus Christ in order to dislodge Christ from their lives. Thus
the real target of persecution is Jesus Christ (Acts 9:4). (see Elias M. Githuka as cited in African Bible Commentary, 1564.
75 Walter Rodney wrote a popular book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (United Kingdom: Bogle-L’Ouverture

Publications, 1972) where he argued that a combination of power politics and economic exploitation of Africa significantly
and decisively contributed to the economic and political emasculation of many African states. He posited that power is the
ultimate determinant in human society; it determines maneuverability in bargaining and the extent to which a people
survive as a physical and cultural entity. To Rodney, when one society is forced to relinquished power entirely it
tantamount to underdevelopment. Thus colonization and imperialism brought about the decay of nationhood in African
societies. In a similar vein, Dambisa Moyo argues that money from rich countries, as foreign aids, has trapped many African
nations in a cycle of corruption, slower economic growth and poverty. He sees foreign aids as a form of neo-colonialism (see
“Why Foreign Aid is Hurting Africa,” The Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2009).
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 Implications of Job’s Eschatological Hope on African Believers

Insightfully, Harvey Cox states that “in an age of reborn eschatological thinking …hope rather
than belief may become the category through which we think as men of faith.”76 Cox further insists
that the theology of hope stands in sharp contrast to radical theology by saying while radical
theology “glorifies the present, there is in theology of hope no reverence for present experience.”77
For the hopeless and the disillusioned there is apparently a conspiracy of silence on the part of God;
He seems not to be there for them when they need Him the most. One may, then, concur with Tillich
when he avers that “it is safe to say that a man who has never tried to flee God has never experienced
the God Who is really God.”78 Who has never attempted to flee God when experiencing the crucibles
of life? It is often the case that the God of the future is an echo – far and meaningless – until we come
to the end of our tether. Job experienced all of these, when his logic, philosophy and theological
understandings as well as those of his friends failed to make sense in the context of his suffering.79
Braaten has succinctly given a clear perspective to the theology of hope and its importance. He says
that “The Christian gospel can expect to get a hearing in modern culture only when it has some
important news to bring about our human future, when it is really concerned about the world’s
tomorrows.”80 Ignoring this perspective leads to hopelessness and despair.
Modern believers may take a cue from Job. Though he was in an apparent state of
hopelessness he did not lapse into despair. His expression of faith was eloquently captured in this
telling statement: “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And
after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own
eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27 NIV). This text has elicited
different views from commentators. We can only be brief, here. One commentator says Job was
expressing despair and not hope that transcends this present world.81 Another would argue that the
reference to a “redeemer” in the pericope does not in fact refer to a person, whether human or
divine, but was an oblique personification of Job’s plea alluding to the protestations of innocence
which eventually prevailed.82 This argument, however, bristles with some difficulties. If Job had
something else in mind he would not have been so confident to see God (v. 26). One may therefore
agree with Andersen when he stated that there were several notable Old Testament characters, like

76 Harvey G. Cox, On leaving it to the Snake (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1964), 66.
77 Cox, The Feast of Fools (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1969), 129.
78 Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundations (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948), 42.
79Ken L. Sarles, "A Theological Evaluation of the Prosperity Gospel," Bibliotheca Sacra 143:572 (October-

December 1986):329-52.
80 Carl Braaten, The Future of God: The Revolutionary Dynamics of Hope (New York: Harper and Row, 1969), 26ff.

See also, H. Van Riessen, The Society of the Future (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co., n.d.), 17ff.;
Wolfhart Pannenberg, Theology and the Kingdom of God (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1969), 53f; Herman
Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian Press and Reformed Pub. Co., 1962), 37f.
81 Theophile J. Meek, "Job xix 25-27," Vetus Testamentum 6 (1956):100-103. Also James K. Zink, "Impatient Job,"

Journal of Biblical Literature 84:2 (June 1965):147-52.

82David J. Clines, Job 1—20. Word Biblical Commentary series (Dallas: Word Books, 1989), 457-58, 460, 462, 470.

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“Abraham, Moses and Isaiah, who “saw” God, and Job doubtless has something similar in mind." 83
Whoever Job had in mind, it is clear that he firmly believed that such a one would stand as an
advocate for him and vindicate him, either before84 or after85 his demise. Indeed, Job may have had
an inkling of the resurrection of the righteous that bolstered the confidence he expressed but that is
not to say that he had a full grasp of afterlife with God.86
There is little to doubt that Job’s belief in the afterlife gave him the assurance that helped
him stay on course as he charted the treacherous sea of life. Do believers, today, need the same
assurance? Yes, probably, much more.
Of all people, perhaps, believers in Africa need a hope that is eschatological, that transcends
the here and now. Existential challenges like diseases, wars, violence, poverty, etc, are endemic. Bad
governments and religious bigotry may be blamed for the unsavory state and that perspective could
hardly be faulted. But the prophetic chart and scientific deductions about the fate of planet earth and
all who dwell in it paint a chilling picture. The inspired words of John, the prophet of Patmos,
provide an eschatological backdrop to the happenings of the last days. He says, “Woe to the earth
and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a
short time" (Rev 12:12 NAS). This is no cheery news. Curtailment of religious liberty, economic
strangulation as well as politically and religiously orchestrated violence constitute but a few of what
will be the lot of believers in the last days (Rev 13). Africa is not an exception; indeed believers in
Africa, like other places, are prophetically targeted in a diabolical plot to unleash suffering, violence
and mayhem by the Dragon of the Apocalypse.
The scenario painted by science is equally depressing. Many scientists seem to chorus the
view that not only the earth but the entire universe is doomed. John Polkinghorne, for example,
opined that the universe may be fruitful today, “its ends lies in futility. Whatever hopes there might
be of human progress within history, they can amount to no more than a stay of execution.”87 The
distinguished American theoretical physicist, Steven Weinberg, says that the more he understood
the universe the more he came to the realization that it is pointless and meaningless.88 William
Stoeger specifically says, “if we are to take the truth discovered by the sciences seriously, denying
the scientific description of death and the reliably supported accounts of eventual life-ending and
earth-ending catastrophes is really not an option.”89 Some have actually wondered whether the
universe is ultimately a cosmos or a chaos, a world whose history makes sense or a world whose

83Francis I. Andersen, Job. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries series, (Leicester, Eng. and Downers Grove, Ill.:

InterVarsity Press, 1976), 193.

84John E. Hartley, The Book of Job, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament series (Grand Rapids:

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988), 296.

85 Rowley, p. 138; cf. Clines, p. 461.
86 Ibid., 140.
87 John Polkinghorne, The God of Hope and the End of the World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 9.
88 Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe (New York: Basic Books,

1977), 143.
89 William Stoeger, “Scientific Accounts of Ultimate Catastrophe in our Life-Bearing Universe,” in J. C. Polkinghorne

and M. Welker (eds.), The End of the World and the Ends of God: Science and Theology on Eschatology (Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 2000), 19.
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history in a poetic reference to Macbeth is a “tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing.”90 Reflecting on the human capacity to destroy themselves through weapons of mass
destruction, Moltmann warned that we “now live out our lives under the Damocles sword of the
bomb.”91 In addition, the human race is frighteningly also under the Damocles of nuclear annihilation
and ecological destruction; pandemic diseases emanating from viral or bacterial mutations. Thus for
Martin Rees, an Astrophysicist, the chance of human survival to the end of this century is fifty-fifty.92
Given these descriptions that conjure nihilistic images of Armageddon, the believer’s hope cannot be
anchored on present realities marred and distorted by sin or on scientific interpretations but must
be eschatological and divinely driven.
This is where tacking to Job’s eschatological hope that extends to the wider sweep of the
afterlife can be of immense help to the beleaguered African believer and all “wounded”93 believers
elsewhere, who must not jettison hope in the face of hopelessness. They must not succumb to the
scientific apocalyptic scenarios that paint a gloomy picture of the future, without a glimmer of hope.
Even though we are “beings toward death”94, African believers and indeed believers all over the
world are not to conclude that human life is meaningless. Significantly, the existential problem of
pain and suffering and death is not foreign to the Biblical worldview; it is neatly tied to the Christian
tradition. But none of these realities is ultimate; God alone is ultimate. Thus the true believer can
affirm, “in life and death we belong to God.”95
However, there is hardly any congruence between Job’s view of death and the hope of a
resurrection and the views of neo-orthodox theologians. Karl Barth, for example, refers to
eschatology in terms of the “here and now”. His views cohere with realized eschatology in the sense
that eternity is already here; it is not something to be expected in the future. He espouses the idea
that all things are already reconciled and nothing new is added.96 While questioning the reality of
physical resurrection, Barth insists that death itself is not problematic, meaning that it is not evil but
only a “semblance of evil.”97 For Job the hope of a resurrection was what put everything into proper
perspective; otherwise, life itself was meaningless, a “tale told by an idiot”. Mortality is not just a
“semblance of evil” it is the “last enemy” to be destroyed (1Cor 15:26 NIV). Paul also indicates that

90A line, signifying the futility of life, from the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), an English poet,

playwright and actor, widely regarded as both the greatest writer in the English language, and the world's pre-eminent
dramatist.
91 Jurgen Moltmann, The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004), 205.
92 Martin Rees, Our Final Hour: A Scientist’s Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten

Humankind’s Future in This Century – On Earth and Beyond (London: Basic Books, 2003).
93 Theologian, Henri Nouwen, combines in his book The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society (New

York: Doubleday, 1990) creative case studies of ministry with stories from diverse cultures and religious traditions in
preparing a new model for ministry. He ingeniously came up with a balanced and creative theology of service that begins
with the realization of fundamental “woundedness” in human nature.
94Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, trans. John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson (New York: Harper and Row,

2008), 279-304.
95Pokinghorne, 6.
96 Karl Barth, The Faith of the Church (New York: Meridian Books, 1958), 120.
97 Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, III/3, 236-39.

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the prospect of a physical resurrection significantly gives meaning to the faith of the believer. He
says, “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty” (v. 14 NKJ).
The resurrection of Christ is a guarantee that all who die in Him will also experience the
same thing. The physical resurrection of the saints, as an eschatological vision of the triumph of good
over evil, is not something to be spiritualized. In what appears to be a doxology, Paul celebrates the
victory of life over death through resurrection (vs. 53-55). This vision resonates with the experience
of Job and many other faithful in Africa and elsewhere, faced with the ugly reality of evil. The
philosophical and theological conundrum of why bad things happen to good people is unraveled in
the resurrection, when the saints are vindicated. When death, the endpoint of evil, is destroyed, it is
clearly a demonstration of a triumphant hope. For many suffering saints in Africa this is good news.
But a belief in the resurrection should not be seen as a cop-out, releasing the believer from
temporal responsibilities. Jurgen Moltmann provides useful insights into Christian eschatology by
drawing out its ethical dimension. He argues that Christian hope looks beyond all potential endings:
“beyond the horizon of our own death to the wide space of eternal life and beyond the horizon of this
world’s end into God’s new world.”98 As hinted by Moltmann, eschatological hope cannot become an
otherworldly escapism.99 In reality, living out the Christian hope implies “already acting here and
today in accordance with that world of justice and righteousness and peace.”100 Jesus’ parable of the
talents underscores the need for believers to be ethically responsible (Matt 25). They must not fall
under the divine condemnation of failing to improve their lot and of those around them by being
slothful or irresponsible.
Even while waiting for the eschaton African believers are to be seen as champions of “justice
and righteousness and peace” to better a world that is destined for destruction. This is no
contradiction! Again, Moltmann offers useful insights. He says, the idea of restoration of all things
includes aspects of three broad yet somewhat different visions: annihilation, transformation, and
deification.101 The emphasis on “annihilation” is upon how “this world in its present form is passing
away” (1Cor. 7:31 NIV). The “passing away” or destruction implies a reduction to nothing (reductio
ad nihilum) that is equivalent to the creation out of nothing (creation ex nihilo). The second emphasis
is on “transformation”, which affirms that creation will not be abandoned or annihilated, but rather
transformed, “glorified” in a way similar to “Christ’s glorious body” (Phil.3:21, CEB).102 It is to be
recalled that “The Lord created the earth 'to be inhabited,' [Isa 45:18] not to be desolate, as the
Assyrians and Babylonians had left the land of Israel (6:11; 7:18, 19; 27:10, 11; 33:9; 44:26, 28).” 103
The last point is “deification” which is succinctly expressed in the famous axiom of Athanasius: “God

98 Moltmann, The Coming of God, 204.

99 Ibid, 235.
100 Ibid.
101 Ibid., 255.
102Ibid.
103The Nelson Study Bible. Edited by Earl D. Radmacher (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997), 1185.

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in Christ became as we are that we might become as God is.”104 In this place the emphasis is placed
on resurrection and the expected union of all things with God. The idea is that “God will be all in all”
(I Cor. 15:28). Moltmann sums up the eschatological doctrine he formulated for the restoration of all
things as follows: “God’s judgment, which puts things to rights, and God’s kingdom, which awakens to
new life.”105

Conclusion

One major lesson the book of Job teaches is hope that is not couched in the here and now but
transcends present realities and reaches to the afterlife (Job 13:15, 19: 25-27; cf. 2 Cor.5:7). It is
hope that is not bogged down in the face of fierce attacks by friends and foes. One may also learn
from the Book that in periods of trials or normalcy the believer can be assured that the all-sufficient
grace of God remains inviolable. Believers do not need to know why God does what He does if they
know Him. The Book is valuable because it breaks down human wisdom and philosophy in
accounting for the existential problem of pain. Therefore, to “sufferers in all ages the book of Job
declares that less important than fathoming the intellectual problem of the mystery of suffering is
the appropriation of its spiritual enrichment through the fellowship of God."106
God can be found in darkness – the darkness of pain and suffering.107 Just like Job, many
believers who suffer today in African and in other parts of the world may find it difficult to see the
footprints of God in the dark. It takes eschatological hope to illuminate the pathway of the sufferer to
properly appraise the transient nature of present realities. Jurgen Moltmann underpins the decisive
role hope plays in the life of the believer when he states, “From first to last, and not merely the
epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking…The eschatological is not one element
of Christianity, but it is the medium of Christian faith…the glow that suffuses everything here in the
dawn of an expected new day.”108 It is true that hope may sometimes seem irrational and pointless.
But for Alexander Solzhenitsyn who saw hope as a mechanism for survival through a personal
experience, he could say, “all the downtrodden can do is go on hoping. After every disappointment
they must find fresh reasons for hope.”109

104 Cited in Anna Case-Winters, The End? Christian Eschatology and the End of the World, Interpretation: A Journal

of Bible and Theology 70 (1): 61-74.

105 Moltmann, The Coming of God, 255.
106 Rowley, 21.
107 Daniel Jones expressed optimism that God can be found in darkness. (See Daniel C. Jones, A Theology of Hope

for Pastoral Care: Reframing Life’s Losses in the Context of God’s Future [ A Final Project Submitted to the Faculty of Austin
Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Ministry, Garland Dallas, 2012, p.171].
108 Jurgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 16.
109Cited in Philip Yancey, Where is God when it Hurts? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1990), 207. Yancey

argues that while “some other religions try to deny all pain, or rise above it, Christianity starts, rather, with the assertion
that suffering exists, and exists as proof of our fallen state.” He went further to state that the view of Christianity is in
congruence with reality and freely admits that the world is wrecked by suffering. But Christian hope looks beyond the
wreckage; therefore, he points out: “I can believe God when He says this world is not all there is, and take the chance that he
is making a perfect place for those who follow him on pain-racked earth.” See Yancey, Where is God When it Hurts, 70-71.
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 This hope in not unfounded; it is grounded in a belief that God is in control and He is
sovereign. Appearances and even experiences may be deceptive, giving the impression that God is
either incapable or unwilling to rescue from the grip of pain those who put their trust in Him. The
phenomenon of evil is not an indictment on God’s nature; He is still whom He is, the Omnipotent and
All-loving Potentate. Believers can trust Him even when they cannot find explanations for His ways
(Isa 55:8,9). With all the quantum of sufferings in the world today, and Africa bearing much of the
brunt of the fall-outs, it may sometimes be difficult for believers to stem the tides of discouragement
and despair. But they can appropriate the positive lessons the book of Job teaches. It reveals that “a
person may serve God faithfully, whether his circumstances are bleak or filled with promise, for he
has the assurance that God is for him, seeking his ultimate good”110 (John 10:10; cf. Jer 29:11).
Indeed eschatological hope finds its loci in the restoration of all things. Modern believers
may find consolation in the restoration of all things through God’s judgment and God’s kingdom.
God’s judgment encompasses “the final putting to rights of the injustice that has been done and
suffered, and the final raising up of those who are bowed down.”111 God announces His kingdom by
saying, “I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). For African believers and for all believers elsewhere,
eschatological hope may be conceived to be a motivating hope that enables them not to wallow in
self-pity or despair. Rather it encourages them “to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the
suffering and afflicted…to minister to the despairing, and inspire hope in the hopeless.”112 It
overcomes all “hopelessness in the face of present trouble, complacent inactivity regarding suffering
and injustice, and irresponsible self-concern.”113

110Hartley, 50.
111 Ibid., 252.
112 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1940), 350.
113 Karthryn Tanner, “Eschatology without a Future?” in The End of the World and the Ends of God, 222-37.

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