To the casual reader Job is a good story. Too much to read at one sitting, perhaps, but try reading chapters 1-3, skip lightly through 4-37, read 38-41 more carefully and every word of 42. Traditionally it is interpreted as a faithful believer, well blessed with this world's goods, an ideal family and a good reputation, who one day loses everything and challenges God with injustice. Why me? Hardly a precursor to the Protestant work ethic (be faithful, work hard and you will prosper) still quarried by many of that persuasion. Overall the principle has legs until one day one man sticks his head above the parapet and says, 'Hang on! I always believed and practiced that, but today it no longer works'. That man is Job.
'Satan' (KJV) not then having arrived on the scene, the original text presupposes an 'Adversary' (lit. 'Accuser'), who conceives a cunning plan to discredit the traditional response. Job, caught in the crossfire struggles to find a solution, helped (perhaps?) by three friends until despair drives him to head-to-head confrontation with Yahweh, with surprising results.
Interpretations of Job are many, ranging from a rebellious protest against the doctrine of innocent suffering to patient endurance (in the early church), the reliability of divine justice (Calvin) and the human condition (Voltaire), overlooking that Job's battle is not so much with God as with a particularly limited but widespread understanding of God, but the major emphasis has almost always fallen on Job. His book. His story. So what happens if we shift the focus from Job to his friends, who came 'to console and comfort' (2:11). What do they say and do, and with what result?
'Divine Justice' is hardly 'top the pops' for today's preachers but approaching it from a different angle may uncover 'a Job for the 21st century'. The story is timeless. We all know that moment when life tumbles in and we need a friend and we all have friends who at some point may need us. Walking in Job's shoes, or trying on the shoes of his friends, can help us to a richer understanding of what both parties were going through, providing fresh insight today for friend and victim.