Job 1:18-22

זֶה מְדַבֵּר וְזֶה בָּא וַיֹּאמַר בָּנֶיךָ וּבְנוֹתֶיךָ אֹכְלִים וְשֹׁתִים יַיִן בְּבֵית אֲחִיהֶם הַבְּכוֹר

 וְהִנֵּה רוּחַ גְּדוֹלָה בָּאָה מֵעֵבֶר הַמִּדְבָּר וַיִּגַּע בְּאַרְבַּע פִּנּוֹת הַבַּיִת וַיִּפֹּל עַל הַנְּעָרִים וַיָּמוּתוּ וָאִמָּלְטָה רַק אֲנִי לְבַדִּי לְהַגִּיד לָךְ

18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” (TNIV)

Now a final tragedy strikes Job (although as we shall see, even this is not truly the final blow). The truth of the matter is shown in the little detail that it happened at the house of the oldest brother, but whichever house will not matter to Job because of what happened: all of his children died. Before we experience Job's grief, let's just peek at some of the details.

The wind is called רוּחַ גְּדוֹלָה  ruach gedolah, a "mighty wind." The only other time this wind appears in the Bible is in Jonah 1:4, when it is hurled by the Lord into the sea to stop Jonah's running. This wind swept in from the desert, but somehow struck all four corners of the house; this gives the wind the appearance of a cyclone, swirling all around the house and smashing it to bits. Finally, the servant says that he "escaped," literally "but I slipped away--only I."

Job's property was stolen or destroyed, but now Job's future was ripped away from him, too. His children were his legacy, and now there is nothing left. Job's wife was still young enough to bear him more children in the future, but the one thing a parent grieving for a dead child wants to hear is a glib comment about being able to have more.

But Job shows us how a believer reacts to even this kind of tragedy. Job prays.

וַיָּקָם אִיּוֹב וַיִּקְרַע אֶת מְעִלוֹ וַיָּגָז אֶת רֹאשׁוֹ וַיִּפֹּל אַרְצָה וַיִּשְׁתָּחוּ

וַיֹּאמֶר עָרֹם יָצָתִי מִבֶּטֶן אִמִּי וְעָרֹם אָשׁוּב שָׁמָּה יְהוָה נָתַן וַיהוָה לָקָח יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְבֹרָךְ

 בְּכָל זֹאת לֹא חָטָא אִיּוֹב וְלֹא נָתַן תִּפְלָה לֵאלֹהִים

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (NIV)

Tearing the robe was a common way of showing grief in both the Old and New Testaments. We often overlook that Job also shaved his head. This, too, was a form of showing grief ("Moab wails... every head is shaved," Isaiah 15:2, cp. Jer. 48:38; Ezek. 7:18).

Job admits that he came into the world with nothing, and the same is true for all of us. Paul said, "We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it" (1 Tim. 6:7). Job knew that death is in God's hands. Without knowing the promises of the gospels, Job only knew that death was "the place of no return... the land of gloom and deep shadow" (Job 10:21). Yet he had a vague understanding of a resurrection from the dead, as we will see in chapter 19.

Job also admits that everything he has in this world is a gift from God. "God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing" (Ecclesiastes 6:2). And as we have said, God is also the one who promises life after death: "God... gives life to the dead and call things that are not as though they were" (Romans 4:17).

Finally, Job praises God, and God credits Job's faith as righteousness. Only a believer can praise God when troubles come. An unbeliever might unknowingly or unwittingly use the words in good times, with irony or out of imitation of a believer, but only someone with faith can express this faith in the face of this kind of loss and disaster. Job's prayer isn't ironic or cynical; it is nothing but honest faith expressing itself in love. Job praised God, not for the death of his children, but for the gift God had given to him in those children.

Whenever any of us loses a loved one, we must remember that she (please let me think here of my own mom) was a blessing, and that God let us be blessings to her while she was with us. We will miss that person, but God used us to help them through troubles just as he gives us friends and family to help us through our own. Praise him for those blessings! The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Luther:

We have an example in saintly Job after all his cattle and also his sons had been slain and he had been stripped of all his property. Then he said (cf. 1:21): “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. As it pleased Him, so it has happened. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And when his wife came, mocked and reviled him, and said: “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God, and die,” he replied (2:10): “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? Therefore He did as it pleased Him.” Job says: “God gave it, and God took it away.” He did not say: “God gave it, and the devil took it away,” even though the devil had taken it away. Now this man sanctified the Lord in the right way. Therefore he was also praised and lauded so highly by God. (LW 30:104)