Job's Adversary Evil?

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

him. How one deals with despair and suffering is what makes a person who he or

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

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.

     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

Considering, the faith and Loyality Job had for God, he allowed Satan to torture Job. First, Satan destoryed everything in Job’s life and took the lives of his ten children. Secondly, Satan harmed Job physically, causing his health to fail. According to Maxwell, Satan infected Job with sores over the surface of his body, and Job scratched his skin with a pottery shard for relief (as cited in John C. Maxwell, 2014, p.34). Moreover,when Satan was done torturing Job. The faith and loyality Job had for God was even stronger. Job told Maxwell all of his pain, suffering and scars, Satan inflicted on him carried no pain. The only thing mattered to Job was “God see the big picture” (Maxwell, 2014, p. 34). Satan never understood the reason why 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

What makes a “top-notch” villain name? The arch nemesis of Harry Potter, Voldemort, and the betrayer of King Arthur, Mordred, would say it is the sinister sounding “mor” in their names. The big question is what makes “mor” give off a malevolent vibe. It is found that the use of “mor” in a villain name is usually because of the root meaning, the way it sounds, or even just the author’s pure spontaneous name-making.

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.

In this verse, Job was praying to God but the message in this passage is telling us that only he has the true authority to choose when we should live or die. Our times are in his hands, the powers of nature act under him; in him we live and move. We should therefore humble ourselves before God, and cast ourselves wholly on the mercy of God, through our Divine Surety. He has just given utterance to an intense longing for a life beyond the grave. Job’s friends tried to help Job, but their advice was wrong. They did not think that God would allow an innocent person to suffer so they thought that Job was guilty. They guessed that Job had done a lot of bad things but that wasn’t the case. God was merely trying to prove to the

Humans have been given by God the free will to choose their destiny, find their path in life and purpose, love, and serve God or the opposite, themselves. But because Adam and Eve made the choice to experiment life without God, things got complicated for everybody, suffering and evil came as a result of their rebellion (“Lecture 6,” 2015). The story of Job is a perfect example of a man’s love and faithfulness towards God, a man who served God unconditionally. And because he loved and served God, he became Satan’s target. Satan wanted to demonstrate God that Jobs love towards him was only because He was good to him. So, God allowed Satan to hurt Job, physically, mentally and emotionally, Job lost everything he had, including his children. (“Lecture

We have the privilege of being introduced to all of the characters of the story and we know the motivations and intentions of each side. We know that Job is suffering not because he has sinned but because the Advisor wants him to turn away from God. The story becomes more personal to the reader when we know both sides of the story and we are able to put ourselves in the protagonists’ shoes and hope we would do the same as Job did. Job had every right to blame God for allowing his life to fall to pieces, however he does the opposite. Job continues to worship the Lord and praise His name.

The prologue of the book, set in prose style, is made up of chapters one and two with the introduction of Job and his family and how successful he is and that he is blessed by God wonderfully. It goes into Job's first test which Satan presents himself before the lord. God said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8). This is when Satan puts up the challenge for God saying, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his

Job presented as a blameless man, who is upright and fears God, thus he turns away from evil. He is a wealthy man, as he was considered the greatest of all the people in the East (Job1:1-3). Each day that his children held a feast in their homes, Job would rise early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for their sins as he felt this was what God would want from him (Job 1:5). During this time, the Lord and Satan essentially work together in order for the Lord to know what people are disobeying his commandments. Satan challenges the Lord’s unfaltering belief that Job is a good man, by stating that Job will curse him eventually (Job 1:8-12). Although Job has not sinned, Satan decides to punish him severely, causing for him to lose all of his property and children (Job 1:13-19). Despite this huge loss, Job still strips himself and prays to the Lord asking for his