Suffering and The Book of Job Essay

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

     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.

Later in the book Job’s friends tell him that he must have sinned very badly in order to have such terrible things to happen to him, Job’s

As the book opens, “And that man was greater than all of the dwellers of the East.”(Job 1) This opening line is telling the audience that Job is viewed as unique compared to other servants. “And the man was blameless and upright and feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1) Job is presented to the audience as God’s favorite servant, for Job is a man who is free of sin. He not only fears God but is also and because he is both, “blameless and upright”. “Skin for skin! A man will give all he has for his own life. Yet reach out and pray, your hand and strike his bone and his flesh. Will he not curse you to your face?”(Job 2).When Satan questions Job’s loyalty to the Almighty king, God takes this challenge with pride for he knows how faithful of a servant Job is to him. Satan believes Job is only obedient to him because he has no other reason not to be, but if God were to strike him with hardship, Job would turn against him and curse his name. “Here he is in your hands. Only preserve his life” (Job 2).Though God puts Job into Satan’s hands, he tells him not to kill him to prove his point. Satan strikes Job with a burning rash that spreads from head to toe, takes away all of his animals, kills all his children and yet, Job still does not curse God. Job refuses to let such words past his lips because he still believes in the good of God and says he shall not accept evil. God then sees Job true loyalty of him and restores

     Job’s departure is a lifestyle departure. Living his life splendidly fulfilled, Job’s life is suddenly a desolate, horrid mortality. First, savage thieves take Job’s livestock and servants, a fire claims his children, and finally his health deteriorates. “Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.'; (Job 3:25-26) This dismal new condition leaves Job

““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

They then say that God is just and that his sons and daughters had died because of their own sins. Then God appears before Job and curses him asking why he was not there when he created the world or why he isn't omnipotent. God goes on about how Job dares question God's power, wisdom and decisions. God continues to pound him with questions and Job apologizes for questioning God and finally repents to God. God then addresses Job's three friends and tells them that they have angered God and they have to offer seven bulls and seven rams to clear their wrongdoings against God. After all the repenting and prayers, God then gives back all of Job's losses, blessing him with twice the number of livestock he had before and blessing Job with seven sons and three daughters. Job goes on to live joyously for another 140 years before dying.

The concept of suffering plays an important role in Christianity, regarding such matters as moral conduct, spiritual advancement and ultimate destiny. Indeed an emphasis on suffering pervades the Gospel of Mark where, it can be argued, we are shown how to "journey through suffering" (Ditzel 2001) in the image of the "Suffering Son of Man" (Mark 8:32), Jesus Christ. Although theologians have suggested that Mark was written to strengthen the resolve of the early Christian community (Halpern 2002, Mayerfeld 2005), the underlying moral is not lost on a modern reader grappling with multifarious challenges regarding faith in the face of suffering. In his article "A Christian Response to Suffering", William Marravee (1987) describes suffering

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

“Suffering helps to transform Christians into persons who are ready to live in God’s holy presence” (Sharpe, 2016). Theodicy deeply explains and defends why God allowed evil and suffer in the world. Suffering strengths our Character and helps us prove to ourselves that we need to love and trust God when we are in trouble and not only when everything is good. It also makes us more compassionate of others. Suffering, also keeps us dependent on Christ.

Firstly, Job seems to be just a regular human. Many of the Old Testament characters are prophets and perform miracles through the will of God. I think this is still possible, but just does not happen to the magnitude today that it happened in The Bible. Job does not perform these miracles or share prophetic messages. The only thing that sets him apart from the regular population is that he follows God closely and has a very successful family. He has thousands of sheep and camels, hundreds of oxen and donkeys, hundreds of servants, and ten successful children all because he follows the Word of God very closely. He fears God, loves Him, and wishes only to follow

The Book of Job gives an answer as to why bad things happen to good people. God allows people to suffer for the good they will attain in the future, both immaterial and physical. This is why many Christians believe that suffering is not necessarily an evil in itself. The Book of Job also contains elements of Paul Ricoeur's typologies of evil; including the elements of combat and chaos, the questioning of God’s goodness, and the tragic existence of man’s soul.

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

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