Can a Just God allow evil? This problem has posed primitive theists since the beginning. To say �yes� creates a paradox, �no� proves God unjust. Many writers have struggled with the problem, but there are two tales that originally, and finally, showed man�s only choices. They are �Job�, and �Prometheus Bound.�
Job, a puzzling component of the canon, could be called a Theodicy - through the story of Job�s apparently unjust suffering, it attempts to vindicate divine justice by proving that God�s ways, though unsearchable, are Just:
�Will you annul my judgement?
Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?��No purpose of thine can be restrained . . .
Therefore I have uttered that which I did not understand,
Things to wonderful for me, which I knew not�
(Job 40: 8; 40: 2, 3)
Prometheus Bound, a legend told in dramatic Greek verse by Aeschylus, arrives at precisely the opposite conclusion - Prometheus concludes, because of his god�s actions, that he isn�t Just (and therefore, though he doesn�t go this far, that he isn�t God).
How did both these writers arrive at these conclusions of their mutual question? Which is right?
Both books deal with men who are (apparently) unfairly punished by their respective deities - Job by Yahveh, and Prometheus by Zeus. The latter was punished for a minor crime, but the former seemingly as a sort of �Divine Bet�. Right away, the writers� views become apparent: Job contritely refuses to blame God, but Prometheus promptly rebels. Both actions only seem to bring further tribulation on their agents� heads.
Both authors� attitudes are clarified with their endings: Job�s God shows him how his �injustice� really was Just, and part of an eternal plan far beyond Job�s reckoning. But Prometheus is rescued by a fellow rebel, and leaves the scene still shaking his fist at Zeus, and casting a profoundly pessimistic gloom over the reader.
One way to determine the truth of an argument, is to observe its practical application. So, to decide whether Job or Aeschylus� arguments are right, we should see how they worked outside their own milieu.
Percy Shelley adopted �Prometheus Bound� as his own personal creed - he felt that he could identify with the hero and his rejection of authority, divine or otherwise. He even wrote a sequel, in which Prometheus is morally victorious over his Persecutor. Selley lived a miserable life, died, and went to hell.
Thousands of Christians, all over the world, have identified with Job and his trials. They have been encouraged by his valiant perseverance, final repentance, and ultimate victory to emulate his acceptance of God�s plan. They have, despite more physical persecution than Shelley could have dreamed of, lived their lives - and died - in a hope which will not go unfulfilled.
It would seem, then, that Job has the answer, and the real question is: Is Evil evil, when even it must finally work out for good?