Essay On Marcus Mim's Artistic Interpretation Of Job

Job is the central figure in the Book of Job from the bible. In this biblical story, God takes up Satan's challenge and overwhelms Job with many tragedies in order to test his faith. Job becomes victim of the plague and marauders. Through all this suffering Job had three friends that would visit in an attempt to comfort him, but only made things worse. They agreed Job must have been guilty of some evil and that is why God is punishing him. However, at the end of the story instead of turning to sin Job confides in a false comfort. The biblical allusion to Job characterizes Rebekka’s own suffering. She too is suffering, in this case from smallpox, and takes comfort in her imaginary friends. These imaginary friends, or spirits, are welcomed by

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

All sufferings need to be comforted just like a wild fire that needs to be extinguished. Therefore, in the story of Job, the Three Comforters come to Job and comforted him hoping that he would get a better sense

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

It has been said that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. But is it? When looking at extraordinary pieces of literature such as the biblical Book of Job and the Epic of Gilgamesh, describing such physical and emotional pain and the mental and spiritual suffering that the main characters endured, it tells us that their suffering was just as inevitable as their pain. However, the two men dealt very differently with the tragedies lived and their consequences; and that made all the difference in their trajectory. What differentiated their suffering was the simple fact of being able to accept their humanity. In a world controlled by gods and goddesses, humans, regardless

making him suffer. Job had always been true to the Lord's word and had never

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.

As we have seen, God promises a blessing to those who trust in His word and strive to live by it. Christians do not want to miss out on God’s blessing, especially those waiting for Him to reveal something. Now reading any book of the Bible, even Job, one begins to understand that God will bless you as you strive to study and practice His way of life. The Bible prophetically warns of even more pain in many different forms then what is done here Job, and through this we begin to portray God in a different light (Janzen 2012). However, the book of Job reveals God’s level of intervention during such a violent time. Due to the context and dire situation it would be difficult to imagine anything more then the pain for the members of Job’s family and the community at that time. They needed encouragement and the assurance that the trials Job faced would soon be over. The evil powers of Satan that governed Job’s life for a moment would be destroyed, and a triumphant sense of peace would be reestablished. The message of Job was intended for those in a particular time and circumstances of pain. Christians familiar with other violent writings would understand the book's symbolism, for practically everything Job went through was a test that other biblical figures felt during similar times of persecution. Job’s story was written to all people that may face the same trials, and find peace after their

It is perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions of all time: if there are gods who have control over humans’ lives, why do they allow good followers to suffer? How can there be any justice in that kind of world? Philosophers and thinkers like Seneca and authors of the Bible have debated and written about these questions since ancient times. Perhaps because hardships affect every person, many people continue to debate the same topics today. Seneca writes extensively about the topic of suffering in his essay “On Providence,” which is contained in The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca. Likewise, Paul writes about how to face hardships in his letters to the Romans and the Corinthians, and the book of Job in the Old Testament contains

““There are some who say we are not truly human until we have suffered” 1 as said by Katharine Dell. There is also a though throughout the bible that God makes us suffer for our wrongdoings and past offenses. If this is so, then the protagonist of the Book of Job put both of these thoughts to the test while remaining faithful to God. Similarly to Job in “John” chapter nine, Jesus’ disciples question him in regards to human suffering and punishment from God. The idea of punishing a child for their parents sins is an over arching idea in the bible that acts as an explanation to why human suffer. Throughout the Biblical book of Job, despite Job’s friends’ belief of his wrongdoing, Job remains faithful while searching for a reason for his

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

God never condemns Job’s doubt or despair . . . He actually seems to appreciate it.

Out of the three biblical texts we collectively went through during class, Job was my favorite. It made me think, and the book approached a problem that was both personal and perennial. More so, I found that the story of Job was the most relatable. There always was and will be suffering in the world; that is one of the few certainties I am actually certain of. I also like the concept of using Job as a theodicy, or a justification of God's actions. I do not know why evil, pain, and suffering exist nor do I ever realistically expect to know or even possess the ability to be able to ken such a concept. And I must agree with some that although seemingly unjust, suffering can often lead to many good things but, more importantly, I think that the

Throughout religious texts and within different cultures, there is a continuously expanding list of lessons for people to learn from and live by. Too general, be more specific. The Bible, for instance, has stood as a pedestal for ethics and wisdom for centuries and is still studied by theologians and taught in various schools nationwide today. Both the Old and New Testaments are known for containing inspiring stories of triumph, love, and new understandings within people, but they also include cautionary narratives of difficulty, loss, evil, and hatred. A prominent tale that demonstrates the brutality with which some lessons are learned is the story of Job in the Bible. This is well written, but unnecessary. Try to get immediately to your argument. In the Book of Job, the idea of sin and suffering are correlated. According to many stories in the Old Testament, without sin there is no suffering. The account of Adam and Eve is an quintessential example of how a sinful action, which in their story was eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, can lead to great suffering, such as how they were exiled from the Garden of Eden, their descendants struggled for survival, and women bearing the pain of childbirth. Interesting This example is one of many that conclude suffering is a punishment for sinning, however in the Book of Job, that moral is proven to be erroneous. Excellent Within this book of the Bible, the protagonist of the story is faced with