Iyov Wanted to Prevent a Chilul Hashem
Rashi says that their protection was remove from them because Iyov, who had served to protect them, had died.
The Vilna Gaon zy”a asks that the Gemara (Bava Basra 16A) says that Iyov “wanted to turn the pot over on its mouth”, which means that he wanted to deny Hashem’s existence. This indicates that he was not a tzadik, so how did he serve to protect the residents of Eretz Yisroel?
The Gaon answers with the story of a king who had a very bad temper and would often get very angry. Even if someone committed a minor infraction against him, he would never forgive him.
One day, he got angry with his attendant for not paying enough attention as he served him his meal and spilling a few drops of soup on the table. He got so mad that his face turned red with anger. The attendant saw what was happening, so he took the entire bowl and turned it upside down, so that it all fell out onto the table. It was no surprise that the king immediately declared his death penalty.
As he was about to be taken out to be killed, the king asked him, “When you spilled a little soup, it was an accident. Why did you deliberately spill the rest of the soup?”
The servant answered, “I knew that you were very angry and that you were going to sentence me to death. At the very least, I wanted to save your honor. If you had killed me for accidentally spilling a few drops, people would have made fun of you and said that you murdered your trusted servant over something so trivial. Therefore, I purposely spilled all of the soup so that people would say that you judged me fairly.”
When the king heard his answer, he had him freed.
The Gaon explained that when Iyov saw the afflictions he was experiencing, he worried that this could cause a chilul Hashem, as people would not understand why he deserved so much pain, and they would say that Hashem was being unfair. Therefore, he “turned the pot over” and acted as if he was denying Hashem’s exitance, so that everyone would say that he deserved his punishment. Thus, he had the zechusim to protect the residents off Eretz Yisroel because his intentions were pure.
