Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? – Job 4:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 20, 2015): Job 4

The idea behind the phrase “might makes right” is attributed to the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. The idea comes from his work on the History of the Peloponnesian War which took place between 431 – 404 B.C.E. Thucydides account of the war was written late in the fifth century or early in the fourth century B.C.E., soon after the conclusion of the conflict. Thucydides’ actual quote is that "right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must." According to Thucydides, strength means that you can discard any notion of what is right and do whatever it is that you can – or want. Weakness, on the other hand, means that you have to suffer whatever it is that the strong want to do to you.

Today, the idea of “might makes right” often also involves the way that history is written. It argues that the strong get to define what is appropriate or correct actions. The accusation of war crimes seldom effects the victor of a conflict. The strong write history and define what is deemed to be appropriate conduct. For example, we can imagine how different the Nuremburg War Crimes trials, which took place after the Second World War, might have been carried out had Germany won the war. Their actions, which astonished the world, would have quite possibly been defined as right. The world that would have resulted from such an event would have been very different.

The theology of Eliphaz the Temanite is based on a similar idea. It is not that “might makes right,” but that “positive outcomes makes right.” His idea is very situational. Basically he argues that good thing happen to people who act in a right way, and that bad things happen to people who have committed wrong actions. And his question is an interesting one – Who, being innocent, has ever perished?

The book of Job is a very old story and was likely around long before anyone thought to write it down, so maybe we can forgive Eliphaz his ignorance, but the Bible’s first family would seem to give us a good example that Eliphaz seems to have missed. In the story of Cain and Abel, it is Abel that does right and pleases God, and it is Cain that disappoints God. Yet, Cain kills Abel.

If Eliphaz’s point is that God will bless, provide for and protect his people, we can answer with a resounding yes. But we also know that there is an abundance of evil in our world that desires to vent its hatred and destruction on those who try to live in a righteous manner. And the story of Job is an example of that reality – of evil venting itself on the righteous.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 5