because it had ceased to be the problem of the community, and had become
that of individuals or of a class. While the nation rested under the
shadow of misfortune, a solution of the problem was found in the
consciousness of national guilt and in the hope that the affliction would
be but temporary. The old dogma that virtue was always rewarded and
wickedness punished continued to satisfy Israel's leaders. When, however,
a considerable class in the community were conscious that they had
committed no crimes worthy of the bitter persecutions and calamities that
overtook them, and that it was often just because of their virtue and the
steadfastness with which they clung to the nobler ideals of their race
that they were thus assailed, the current interpretations of evil were no
longer satisfactory. When in time many of them went down to the grave
crushed by affliction and the objects of the taunts and revilings of their
wicked pursuers, the insufficiency of the current explanation of
misfortune was tragically demonstrated. To their minds Sheol or the grave
offered no solution, for, as among all early Aryan and Semitic peoples, it
was thought of as the dark, passionless, joyless abode of the shades.

In most of the psalms of this period the poets who speak in behalf of the
afflicted class, like the author of Malachi, expressed the hope that
Jehovah would speedily come to their deliverance and signally vindicate
and reward them. The heroism and fidelity that they represent can only be
fully appreciated in the light of this discouraging period when evil was
regnant. It was apparently at this time that the great poet, who speaks
through the book of Job, presented, with the spirit and method of a modern
philosopher, the lot of these innocent sufferers. He also proved for all
time that misfortune is not always the evidence of guilt, and that the
current doctrine of proportionate rewards and the explanations that were
adduced to support it were in certain cases absolutely untenable.