Why do the Righteous Suffer?
Adapted from: How does Judaism explain the existence of suffering? by Yair Davidiy
https://www.quora.com/How-does-Judaism-explain-the-existence-of-suffering/answers/153232355
Duration: 16.30 minutes
Do bad things happen to you that you feel you do not deserve? What is the purpose of Suffering? How can we reconcile suffering with Divine Promises to bless they who do HIS will?
There is no one explanation for this phenomenon. Different sources give varying commentaries.
Contents:
(1) We do not really know!
(2) In General the Good are blessed and the Wicked Punished
(3) Sometimes the Righteous Suffer.
(4) The Book of Job
(5) Be Good for its Own Sake.
(6) Were You Born "Special"?
(7) The Jews
Overall, the following notes are pertinent to the issue:
(1) We do not really know!
Ecclesiastes 5:
2 Do not be rash with your mouth,
And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God.
For God is in heaven, and you on earth;
Therefore let your words be few.
(2) In General the Good are blessed and the Wicked Punished
Proverbs 11:
8 The righteous is delivered from trouble,
And it comes to the wicked instead.
A righteous person saves themself from punishment. They avoid disaster.
If you are good and make an effort to be righteousact that way then suffering that may have been decreed could be commuted.
A upright man or woman will correct what needs correcting without the need for suffering as a catalyst.
The Bible is full of passages promising blessings to they who go along the Right Path and the opposite for those who do not.
(3) Sometimes the Righteous Suffer.
It sometimes happens that suffering may be decreed against a person for anyone of a myriad interconnected reasons.
Maybe your forefathers sinned or your offspring will sin and you inner soul has agreed to pay part of the price for them?
Maybe you did something way back in the past but did not pay for it at the time.
Or you did, or said, something that you yourself did not attach much importance to but in heaven it is taken seriously?
Maybe you need to rectify some trait of personality and need suffering to do so?
Mystics might opine that suffering may be caused by having done something in a previous reincarnation that needes to be atoned for.
(4) The Book of Job
In the Book of Job the subject of, "Why do the Righteous Suffer?" is the main them.
The narrative tells us how Job was a righteous person. The Satan challenged the Almighty to allow him to test Job.
Disasters, death of family members, horrible sicknesses, etc, all came on Job. Three companions of Job followed by a fourth protagonist all bring explanations for this disaster.
Job holds to the view that in general a good person receives a good reward and someone who is bad meets a bad end.
Nevertheless, this is not always the case. Job explains that the solution is not always known to us. The companions of Job tend to the view that somehow Job himself must have done something to bring the calamity upon himself.
The Almighty (or an angel) appears to them. He says that the attitude of Job was the correct one. Job too however had erred in emphasizing his righteousness. Following this, Job is healed. Everything is restored to him. He is blessed with more than he had ever previously had.
The final message of the Book of Job is that the Almighty does not owe you anything!
(5) Be Good for its Own Sake.
We all instinctively assume that God should be good to us and that things should go well.
Usually they do and we take it for granted.
If however bad things happen we should repent and seek to rectify matters that may be of an impediment to us.
This may be the only chance we have.
Isaiah 59:
2 BUT YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE SEPARATED BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR GOD, AND YOUR SINS HAVE HID HIS FACE FROM YOU, THAT HE WILL NOT HEAR.
[Advice like this probably sound obvious. It is also easier to give such counsel to others but difficult to apply to ourselves when needed.]
(6) Were You Born "Special"?
All this is perhaps easier said than done. One can always solve another's problems (at least in theory) easier than cope with those of oneself.
It could be that adversity hits us because we are special!
We may have been born "privileged" in a spiritual sense. Because of this a higher standard is expected of us.
cf.
Amos (ESV) 3:
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
(7) The Jews
The Jewish people in the Diaspora were persecuted and downtrodden. This had been Prophesied (Zechariah 1:15, Zechariah 8:13, Isaiah ch.53, Isaiah 42:10, Psalm 44:22).
nevertheless, from an historical perspective they may not have always have had it so bad.
This has been discussed in the work "Hovot HaLevavot" ("Duties of the Heart") by Bahya ibn Paquda, 1000s CE, Spain).
They were usually better off than the peoples around them.
Even their sufferings were a point in their favor. They suffered due to belief in God and the Bible. Others suffered because they had no choice in the matter.
The Jews would therefore receive great merit for what was at all events part of what they had to go through no matter what.
Who knows how things work out?
At all events we are exhorted to Hope in God and to look forward to a better future.
Jeremiah 29:
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.