Job 42, Resolution

YHWH has appeared and reacted to Job's questions and challenges. 

Job 42: 1-6, I spoke of things I did not understand

Then Job replied to the LORD:

"I know that you can do all things; 

no plan of yours can be thwarted.

[You asked,] `Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?'

  Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, 

things too wonderful for me to know.

["You said,] `Listen now, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you shall answer me.’

My ears had heard of you 

but now my eyes have seen you.

Therefore I despise myself 

and repent in dust and ashes."

Job responds to YHWH's mighty presence by admitting that God's knowledge, power and justice are far beyond him. He has no reply to God's presence.

This is, essentially, the first half of the answer to the question of the book of Job. Why do the good suffer? Because... YHWH has a plan and He has no need to share it with us. This is very unsettling. As a friend of mine once said, "What is God's answer to Job's questions? It is 'I am God.'" Like the name YHWH, God is the great I AM -- He Is, and we do not understand. (As a mere human, I feel that this is a long book for such an unsatisfactory answer!)

Job 42: 7-8, Correction and forgiveness for the three companions.

After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 

"I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."

There is no accusation that Job has sinned. Indeed, God calls Job, his "servant" (ebed) and appears pleased with Job; indeed Job seems to have acted as God expected of His servant. Yes, Job has demanded answers and, for a long time, not received them, but his claims of innocence are not contested by God.  

The companions, on the other hand, have misrepresented God. Job will be allowed to make sacrifices for them. (This action is suggested earlier by Eliphaz in Job 22: 29-30.) This passage makes it clear that the advice of Job's friends was, at best, incomplete.

Job 42: 9, Repentance accepted

So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.

Job's friends repent and are forgiven. (Nothing is said of Elihu. Has he disappeared? Nothing is said of Job's physical healing -- it is implied?)

Job 42: 10-11, Prosperity doubled

After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

And here is the second half of the answer to the book of Job -- although it took some time, much longer than a human might wish -- God did intend to eventually comfort and reward him. The rewards begin with Job's healing (implied) and gifts from friends and family. 

Nothing is said here of The Accuser; indeed the family members console Job over "all the trouble YHWH had brought upon him". As we saw in the first two chapters, Job's suffering was caused by YHWH allowing The Accuser to attack Job.

Job 42: 12-15,Wealth and family

The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.

 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. 

Job's children are replaced. Three daughters are named. Hartley (p. 543) says that the daughters' names mean, respectively, "turtle-dove", "a prized variety of cinnamon" and ""black rouge to highlight the eyes." The author mentions that (contrary to the ANE customs) the daughters also received an inheritance!

Job 42: 16-17, Full life

After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years. 

Job eventually lives 140 years (twice the classic 70 years) and gets to see his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He dies "old and full of years", the epitaph given to God's servants (eg. Genesis 25: 8.) The rewards and blessings given to Job are all described as physical gifts, part of his long life. Like much of the Old Testament, nothing is said of rewards (or punishments) after death. 

Conclusion

In the first two chapters of the book of Job, we see that YHWH allows Job to suffer, so as to make a point to The Accuser. Even with this heavenly insight, that reason must be only a partial explanation for Job's suffering. Just as the human companions argue that God has no need to respond to human questions (Job 22: 2) it should be clear that God need not answer the challenges of the supernatural beings He has created. Ultimately, the reader is left with the understanding that sometimes God allows human suffering because He has plans that He does not reveal. He is God. Period.

Eventually God's concern and imtimacy with Job lead to blessings and purpose. So God keeps in mind His servants, albeit on His timing, not theirs. (The author the New Testament book of Hebrews speaks to this in Hebrews 11.)