Job : Awareness And Perseverance In The Book Of Job

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

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

First, let’s look at the topic of the innocent victims. Job was a very good man. He rose early in the morning to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of his children, He loved God, and did no evil. So why would God allow such awful things to happen to him? People often say God is inconsistent and seems to cause tragic things to happen for no reason at all. This is a very unfitting way of looking at things.

     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

His nature, however, is problematic to interpret. The God’s concepts in the book differ from the ones described in the New Testament. Here he is not charitable, merciful, and kind God, we used to know. He appears as omnipotent and even egoistic God with uncoherent speeches and deceptive appearances. At the end of the book He has a conversation not only with Job but with the whole Earth population. He requires them to comprehend the complexity of the universe, to admit their ignorance, and to appreciate the difficult work done by Him ruling the universe.

““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

When examining Job, the reader finds that morality plays an intriguing part of the overall message. Job is a person who lives by example, and he stands for the ideal believer. Job is a man of integrity and honor. Norman Habel writes, “The 'blamelessness' and 'integrity' of Job is a governing theme introduced in the prologue and developed throughout the subsequent dialogue speeches of the book” (82). The reader finds that Job's integrity is being tested throughout his story, and the examples of how he lives should be copied by the readers. In this case, the readers should follow Job's devout faith and unfailing belief in the Lord. The Book of Job provides the moral guidance needed to make this a mythological story. The reader is guided through stages of Job's psychological life, but because of the

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 shows a change in God's attitude from the beginning to the end. At the beginning of the book, He is presented as Job's protector and defender. At the end He appears as the supreme being lecturing and preaching to Job with hostility, despite the fact that Job never cursed his name, and never did anything wrong.  Job's only question was why God had beseeched this terrible disease on him. I intend to analyze and discuss the different roles God played in the Book of Job.

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

It is clear that Job does not deserve such heavy suffering. Job’s devotion from the beginning does not incite any plausible reason for him to suffer, yet Satan’s argument that Job’s devotion is based on the blessings bestowed upon him by God is not without reason. After all, it is easy to worship God when your life is fortunate. Job’s second suffering is also uncalled for because Job did not waver in spite of the loss of everything he held dear. His wife and friends recognize all this and from a human based rationale and emotion, they respond with anger and other negative emotions. In fact, his wife urges Job to abandon the Lord by saying, “do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) His friends also come the conclusion that Job must have done something to deserve such punishment.

The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible is characterized by the misery of a faithful servant of God, and how it relates to this character's ability to praise God. Job is an unwaveringly loyal and righteous subject of God, blessed with immense wealth and a beautiful family. One day God boasts to Satan of the innate goodness of Job, to which Satan questions “does Job fear God for nothing? … you have blessed the work of his hands … but stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (The Bible, Book of Job, 1:6-12). If Job has faced no trials and tribulations, and only experienced the bounty that

Alas, poor Job is left to ponder why such misfortunes were heaped upon him, for God never really answers this question. Moreover, throughout history, people have been pondering the very same question. Many books and essays have been written on "The Book of Job" in an attempt to try to explain the cause of suffering, but the theories that have been extracted have had primarily western theological overtones.

Job 's suffering seems to come out of nowhere 2. and have no connection to his character. His story is recorded for us so that we will have some help in living through these calamities—and not just keeping a stiff upper lip but bowing reverently and trustingly before the sovereign goodness of God.