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Comparing Job And J. B. The Book Of Job

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In the book of Job, Job walks through life making sure his actions and words are carefully chosen, and even goes as far as to burn offerings for sins yet committed. The book of Job, and then later the modern take titled J.B., was a new display from God, showing that bad things can happen to good people. The book of Job made it clear in the bible that God was not giving or taking anything because of our own achievement, but that all things good and bad are from God. Archibald Macleish tries to reenact Job in a more modern version that new readers today might find easier, and although so aspects might be off from the original text, the story of J.B. follows closely to Job’s story line. One area that can be compared when looking at both texts …show more content…

What Job and J.B’s comforters do is talk with the characters and act in dialogue with the one suffering as to answer their questions with their own wisdom and understanding. In both J.B. and Job, the main characters have comforters join them during their time of suffering, and while they may miss the point of God’s testing J.B’s comforters drift away from a deeper Biblical understanding. The first comforter to speak up when the friends and Job are in the ash pit is Eliphaz. Eliphaz is one of the more unique comforters in the book of Job as he is the only one who speaks with Job over a dream that he had, which in the Bible would suggest a vision from God. Eliphaz has many words for Job over his current suffering as Job keeps asking why something like what he is experiencing is happening to him. Eliphaz begins his response to Job in a very encouraging way, and in doing so reminds Job of who God is: “Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright …show more content…

J.B’s comforters add nothing meaningful to the conversation of suffering and why God has acted in the ways he did, and one might even question the role of the comforters in J.B except mimicking the book of Job. The book of Job keeps itself continuous and even though the comforters miss the overall point of the testing, they still root themselves in the word and use past examples of God and how he acts to attempt to aid Job during his state of suffering. This distinction between comforters is critical as one story truly adds meaning to the reader's life and has a discernable

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