The Trials of Job, Leonaert Bramer; 1630s

THE PIOUS Job gives us the finest example of real patience and resignation to the will of God. He was a wealthy, respected, and at the same time god-fearing man in the land of Hus, he was father of seven sons and three daughters, and lived peacefully and happy. God wished to try him and permitted the devil to vent his whole rage upon him. Job was deprived of his children and all his property, and, finally, he was himself afflicted with the most painful disease of leprosy. But in the midst of all these dreadful misfortunes Job remained calm. Naked, covered only with a few patches, he sits on a dunghill, a picture of misery, and yet no sound of murmuring comes from his lips, he does not curse, does not blaspheme God, but says resignedly: God hath given it, God hath taken it away, God can give it again; blessed be the name of the Lord. To all this misery was added the baseness of his own wife, who came and mocked him, and of three intimate friends, who instead of consoling him, judged him falsely and said, that his misery was just punishment from heaven. And still Job did not murmur against God’s wise dispensations; with unshaken patience he held out with confidence in God, and God did not forsake him. He rewarded him well for his fidelity and patience. For He made him well again and gave him greater wealth than he had before. See what patience can do, what reward is in store for it!

— Leonard Goffine, 1871

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