Analyzing Job's Job

The Book of Job is of wisdom genre. Job was a righteous, rich man. God and Satan have a confrontation regarding Job’s faith in God. God allows Satan to test Job by taking away his family, sheep, camels, and servants. Job was passed the test. Job was tested again. This time it was his health that was taken away. Job speaks to his three friends and curses the day he was born. The four of them have a lengthy conversation as to why Job is being punished. Elihu enters the conversation and becomes somewhat angry with Job’s lack of faith in God. God speaks to Job in question form. Job repents. God speaks the three friends and advises them to sacrifice a burnt offering. Job was them made prosperous and was “given twice as much as he had before” by God.

The theme of the Book of Job is the perseverance of the human spirit. Job loses everything but he does not lose his faith in God. “Job refuses to curse God” (Book). Job has not done anything to deserve this, but it is a test from God and Satan to see if Job is actually as

     Job is a man very limited by God. As illustrated, he has only a negligible amount of agency to begin with. By the time God and Satan finish with him, he has virtually no control over his own life. The fragment of agency he does cling to is his ability to choose whether or not to curse God. No one, except himself, could prevent Job from cursing God. Yet, he refuses to curse God, even though He is responsible for his suffering.

The Book of Job dives into the life of a blessed and faithful man in which his life takes an unsuspecting turn. From the loss of property and loved ones, to only be accused of wickedness by friends as the explanation of this calamity that has befallen Job. Author J. Gerald Janzen, whose personal struggle has opened a corridor that creates a connection with the life of Job takes us on a walk with Job through his journey from prosperity, to loss and bitterness then into the presence of God. At the Scent of Water will open our mind to the possibility of hope and grace to anyone who has gone through suffering in the past or is going through times of difficulty in the presence.

The view of fate the book of Job expresses, though similar in that it originates from God, differs in a few important ways. In Job, situations are predetermined to occur, but the personal choices of the people involved determine the outcome of the situation. The story of Job opens with Job's fate of suffering being planned. Satan presents himself in an audience before God. God makes example of Job, and Satan rebuffs, stating that Job's constancy is only because of God's preferential treatment. Satan tells God, "But put forth thy hand now and touch all he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."(40). In response, power is given to Satan to torment Job as a test. Job's life and finally health are viciously mangled and destroyed by Satan. Though Job does not know the reasons behind his great suffering, we are told that "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."(41), and "In all this did not Job sin with his lips."(41). Self-pity creeps into Job's thoughts and words, but there is no disenchanted turn from God. Instead in Job the reader sees a turn to God for relief and

Zaphar tells Job that he must put away his sins and then God will restore him to former form.3 By saying this, Zaphar claims that once Job repents for the sins he has committed, God will heal Job and he will be well once again. Similar to Zaphar’s speech, Bildad asks Job if he should be blameless and that surely God will awaken in him and restore him to his former domain.4 After these speeches Eliphaz tells Job “Call now! Will anyone respond to you? To which of the holy ones will you appeal?”5 By saying this, he is telling Job to call for help and pity from God and religious officials. He is also claiming that Job does not appeal to anyone in his current state because of his leprosy and distorted state. After all of these accusations and claims against Job, the thought that he may truly be innocent never crosses any of the friends minds.7 And after his friend’s speeches, Job’s other friend Elihu cannot hold his thoughts in any more and begins a tirade against Job.

In stark contrast to God’s presence in Genesis, the character of God in Job strays from the ideal perfection of the divine. The concept of the ideal manifested in Genesis is embodied in God’s moral, reasonable, and rational behavior. In Job, on the other hand, rather than being reasonable, methodical, and creating life, God displays more human characteristics and plays the role of both creator and destroyer. The book of Job begins with God’s boastful bargain with Satan, which subsequently leads God to allow the total destruction of Job’s family and livelihood. Job is even attacked physically with “loathsome sores… from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). In an uncharacteristically immoral decision, God gives Satan the power do

Why does God allow Satan to cause such tragedy in Job’s life, a man whom God has already acknowledged as “my servant Job, that there is none like on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”(1.8) From the beginning, it is known that Job is in no way deserving of his injustices, so a reason must be given. God gives Job an opportunity to prove that under any circumstances Job will still have faith. This simply a test for Job. The whole Book is a “double” journey for Job -- he shows God his faith and realizes the faith God has that Job will not stray from his path. Job knows deep down that God has not forsaken him.

The book of Job and Medea are two dissimilar stories where attacks are made against their character, but they share similar struggles; such as, each character has lost family members. First, Job is chosen by God to set an example for Satan. Satan believes he can take everything Job has, and Job will curse God. Job’s loyalty is tested when his possessions were distroyed. Although Job did not suffer physical pain, his heart was full of loss.

While he is working for God and is presented as his servant, Satan here still has individual agency and what he does with this agency is a hint of what is to come for this figure, a hint of what Satan will come to mean. He uses this free will to challenge God and to try to trick people so that dreadful things will happen. Although he and God are portrayed as working together, with Satan acting as God’s tool in a way, the future Devil clearly has his own agenda beyond the work of Heaven. He is trying to turn the situation his way, to convince God to make horrible things happen for his servant Job. Satan manipulates God into giving him permission to challenge Job’s faith through trials and tribulations.

The Book of Job has been praised but also neglected all at the same time. Its literary work is written in a poetry sense with a prose format and considered one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time. The Book of Job is one of first book of five generally called "The Books of Poetry", which contain Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. The Book of Job is written in the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible and the main theme that is seeks out is "Why does God allow the righteous to suffer?" First of all I will be talking about the origins and history of the book, and then I will give a brief summary on the story and theme of what the Book of Job is addressing. I will then be breaking down, in

Job, “blameless and upright”, is described as a man who follows God and turns away from evil showing that he tenaciously fulfils his duties to God and makes it a priority that he lives by (Job 1.1). He is challenged in a bet between God and Satan that he will only be faithful to God when everything is going well for him; God chooses to test Satan’s theory (Job. 1.8-12). Job endures great suffering, but what makes him a pious man is that ultimately he shows the depth of his faith in God, despite the harsh suffering he endures. A paragon of his faithfulness to God is shown when he is given four sets of bad news: his oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels, servants and all 10 of his children were killed or stolen (Job 1.15-19). After hearing the news, Job “fell on the ground and worshipped”, saying that he “came from [his] mother 's womb

Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, (2014). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. (5th ed., p. 103). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

The book of Jobs begins as it introduces the main character of this book, Job. Job is a righteous man who obeys God and stays away from the evil. This blameless man is also the richest in the land of Uz who owns lots of animals and servants. In the heavenly court, God talks about how good Job is, but Satan asserts that Job’s fear of God is based on his prosperity; therefore Job will curse God when everything is taken away.

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