The Book of Job


 * The book of Job draws on an ancient folk tale about God and his Accuser (Satan) testing a just man, who finally passes their test. But the biblical story makes this motif into the prose frame for an extraordinary poem recounting Jobs conversations with his friends and God. Poem was composed sometime around 5th century BCE.
 * Main Point: Why does God allow good people to suffer? Why is there misfortune and suffering in the world? When Job demands an answer from God on why he is being punished, and God tells him it is not for man to understand the mysteries of God and the universe.
 * “And one day, the sons of God came to stand in attendance before the Lord, and the Adversary, too, came among them, And the Lord said to the Adversary, ‘From where do you come?’ And the Adversary answered the Lord and said, ‘From roaming the earth and walking about in it.’ And the Lord said to the Adversary, ‘Have you paid heed to my servant Job, for there is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and shuns evil?’ And the Adversary answered the Lord and said, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not hedged him about and his household and all that he has all around? The work of his hands You have blessed, and his flocks have spread over the land. And yet, reach out Your hand, pray, and strike all he has. Will he not curse You to Your face? And the Lord said to the Adversary, ‘Look, all that he has is in your hands. Only against him do not reach out your hand.’ And the Adversary went out from before the Lord’s presence.”
 * Job to his wife: “Shall we accept good from God, too, and evil we shall not accept?”
 * Job refuses to turn against God, even after the death of his livestock, children, and 10 children. His house is destroyed and he is afflicted with sores, but he still remains steadfast in his faith. Job’s friends think that he must have done something to warrant such punishment.
 * On the seventh day of his suffering,  Job finally speaks and curses the day he was born and asks God why all of this has happened to him and God answers, “Who is this who darkens counsel/ in words without knowledge? Gird, pray, your loins like a man,/ that I may ask you, and you can inform Me./ Where were you when I founded earth?/ Tell me if you know understanding./ Who fixed its measures, do you know,/ or who stretched a line upon it?/ In what were its sockets sunk,/ or who laid its cornerstone,/ when the morning stars sang together,/ and when all the sons of God shouted for joy?” God is telling Job that the mysteries of God and the universe are not for man to understand or question.