Job has been a profound book of the Hebrew Bible to interpret the meaning of the book as one of the Wisdom literatures. Katharine J. Dell argues, “As part of the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, the book of Job might be expected to discuss ethical issues in similar fashion to Proverbs.” In this view, we may expect that Job typically show to reward virtue and to punish vice by God. According to Dell, “We find an airing of the doctrine of retribution according to which the good are rewarded and the wicked are punished, a basic presupposition of the proverbial worldview.” This is the one of the traditional and main view point of the Hebrew Bible. However, Job deals more beyond the traditional ethics. Dell asserts further, “In many ways, …show more content…
Nevertheless, why is Job afflicted by Satan? Why does God neglect him? Marvin Sweeney also brings up the problem of Job, “Job does not understand the reasons for his suffering, which is particularly striking in relation to the Torah, the Prophetic literature, and Proverbs, in which the righteous are supposed to flourish for observing God’s will and wicked are to suffer for their failure to do so.” Like Job, we understand that the world is not equal. Someone who is doing virtues is still suffering, but the other who is walking evil way get prosperous. How do we accept this truth in the perspective of Job? Job seems not to illuminate exactly about human suffering and divine …show more content…
God knows Job is flawless and upright, but he hands Job’s status over to Satan who wants to give Job pain and take away his all of possession to test him. Here, there is a theological confliction between the viewpoint of traditional Wisdom literatures and Job’s viewpoint. Dell focuses on theological issues that are the disinterested righteousness and the doctrine of retribution. According to Dell, “Proverbs has the view of life as a path by which the right choices lead to the right outcomes. However, Job’s experience of suffering leads him to question this assumption – again it is an ethical assumption that good is always rewarded, but it is treated in a profound theological manner in the dialogues of Job such that the problem of innocent suffering comes to the fore as the main theological theme here, and arguably of the whole book” In this assumption of Job, it is hard for readers to have certain conclusion of why God gives a virtuous man suffering, which is still arguable. However, one thing is clear that God knows that Job is piety and worships God, which means that God has a relationship with Job. Dell mentions, “Thus here God recognizes Job’s piety. This has important implications for the discussion of whether human beings can have a meaningful relationship with
Before reading The Book of Job, as translated by Stephen Mitchell, I had no prior experience reading this in the bible. After reading this story, the theme of the story stood out to me as a man’s test of faith. Throughout the story, Job is presented with obstacles to his faith in a God figure, by a figure of Satan. Satan proposes to God that Job will lose faith in him if his circumstances are altered in a negative way. The first obstacle Satan presents is taking away the worldly possessions that Jobs loves.
He argues that God compensates for the evil that people suffer in this life by giving them rewards in the afterlife. Beaty's argument is based on the idea that God is just and merciful, and that he would not allow his creatures to suffer without compensating them in some way. Beaty's argument is creative and thought-provoking. He provides a new way of thinking about the problem of evil, and he offers a possible solution that is both plausible and consistent with traditional Christian beliefs. However, Beaty's argument is also controversial.
I concurred with Job! I was not denying his existence, but I doubted his absolute justice.” (45) With this statement Eliezer is displaying that he still holds the belief in God, but chooses to keep his silence just as Job did when everything was taken from him. He cannot comprehend how a self-proclaimed God of “justice” can allow for such a monstrosity to occur, but he still believes in God’s existence. Towards the end of Night, Eliezer realizes family members have abandoned each other for a greater chance at survival and mentions “this God in whom I no longer believed.”
He still refers to Him as Almighty and recognizes His presence. Yet, he does question His righteousness and care for the Jewish people, when he questions why He would stay silent and why his fellow prisoners would worship Him. He explains his position, saying that “I had ceased to pray. I concurred with Job! I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (45).
Like Gilgamesh, Job faced heavy heartache and pain from loss as well. Job faced terrible tragedy losing his family, home, and health. Through his long journey, and dedication to his god, he is rewarded by restored health, many children, and double the wealth that he began with. “The Book of Job recalls the Epic of Gilgamesh. Job and Gilgamesh are tested by superhuman forces, and both come to realize that misfortune and suffering are typical of the human condition.
The Book of Job provides an example of how people should praise God by illustrating a blameless, responsible, and fearing man who will always turn away from evil. Therefore, this book presents the same man tortured by outside forces lacking the possibility to acquire help from family and friends. Throughout the reading in particular (14:11) demonstrates how there was a moment of weakness in which Job fails and ask for his death, but after all, he did not commit sin and endured waiting for his torment to banish. In addition, the book reveals how men turned against a man in need and instead judged him without understanding the sources causing his disgrace. However, the book provides a comparison in how humans behave by providing vivid examples of characters who showed behaviors illustrating how humanity functions.
To end the story a thunderstorm rolls in and Prometheus is left chained to the rock. The Book of Job is a story about a man who “feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1, ESV). He was a very wealthy man who had ten children, many livestock, and many servants. Satan speaks to God one day and God gives him permission to test Job’s faith. Satan begins by taking away Job’s children, killing his livestock,
Satan caused Job to lose everything, including his family, his house, his money, his friends, like what was happening to Elie at this time. Job went through things that were easier than surviving in the camps, it’s no question why Elie was doubting God, but unlike Job, Elie was not able to hold on to his trust in
Job was a man of faith, he repented for little injustices. He was tested to prove his righteousness and succeeded. His children were killed, his cattle was killed, he was painfully diseased and his was wealth diminished. Through all this he remained faithful. His so called friends told him to abandon God as he had him.
But I-I was a wretch, and none ever conceived of the misery that I then endured (110). —This passage hopes for the existence of a fair comparison between a creator with understanding of the how to the Created works and the Created. He claims to suffer a fate than no one ever suffered, but religious doctrine shows the necessary endurance that God must have had in order to let humanity be after realizes the
This quote reminds us that we are not the center of the universe, a fact that many of us like to deny. The book of Job also teaches us about empathy and sympathy. Through his friends’ response to Job’s suffering, we learn that it is better to respond with empathy. We also learn that all people suffer, and God does not cause suffering. Therefore, whenever we are suffering, we should not blame God.
Most particularly the Old Testament presents the suffering of the innocent. In today’s situation, many people ask why I am suffering. Have I done something wrong to suffer like this, or why all these natural disasters take place killing so many people? For all of these questions we could find some kind of answers from these two figures: Job and the suffering servant of Yahweh. Those who endure suffering with humility and hope can recognize the will of God.
She also became a caretaker for her disease-ravaged husband. Although Old Testament scholars don't agree on the nature of Job's illness, clearly his pain was so excruciating that he asked God to take his life (Job 3). It distorted Job's appearance so dramatically that his closest friends could barely recognise him and when they approached, they fell to the ground in pity (Job 2:12). This last temptation brought by Satan was so severe, it nearly broke Job's soul.
Job believes the happiness he has
The questions and challenges God issues to Job are all rhetorical, done purely to make the point that God is not on the same plain of life as a human, and therefore man, who has an entirely mortal perspective, cannot rightfully judge His