1. The Story of Job:
A Relevant Story to Today’s World
Roselaure Anstral
ENG 384: The Bible as a Literature
Professor Dr. Nancy Clasby
March 1, 2013

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“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and
upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were
born to him.” (Job 1:1-2 New King James Version) The book of Job is, in literary terms, a
narrative poem. As James Pritchard puts it, “the basic structure of Job consists of a prose
framework which encloses an intricate poetic body”. The beginning of this book really reminds
me of a fairy tale and the familiar phrase of ‘Once upon a time’. This story deals with the
questions human beings have asked the divine since the dawn of day: why do the good suffer? It
is a story that deals with the tensions between good and evil, human suffering and divine justice.
It asks the question: if God is so powerful and righteous, why would He permit evil to proceed
and suffering of the innocent? These are the questions that book brings up. Among other things,
an answer is presented and it is the beauty of the poetic genre that really leaves more questions
than answers. But nonetheless, there is an answer.
Beyond these two lines that bring a fairy tale aspect to this folktale, we come across the fuel
to Jobs dilemma:
“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD,
and Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
So Satan answered the LORD … And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in
your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”” (Job 1: 6-12 NKJV)
Satan seemed to have lured God into a bet. Satan accuses Job (man) of loving God because
He has given him everything. But as the narrative goes, it is God who has drawn attention to Job,
as if to brag of how great his creation is and how faithful he is. But ‘does Job fear God for
nothing?’ To me, it seems a bit unfair to have brought Job into cross fire without having him
speak on his own behalf. It seems as if he is a game piece in some sort of divine plot.
The tale continues with the fruits of this first part of the bet. One by one messenger come and
tells Job of tales of disasters that has occurred to his possessions. With a repetitive phrase, “I
alone have escaped to tell you!” (Job 1: 15, 16, 17, 18. NKJV), his properties are all gone (cattle,
family, and servants). “I alone have escaped to tell you”, again we are reminded that this is a
poetic folktale. So well written, I feel that this is somehow overlooked. Yet, with all this ‘bad
luck’, Job does not go against God. Instead he mourns his lost, and come to a realization that he

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is nothing more than man. Born with nothing, he shall leave with nothing. It seems as if God
have won this bet.
However, Satan is not satisfied. Again the story is drawn to the setting of a committee
presented in front of God; Satan questions Job’s loyalty. Let me remind you, Job is not there to
defend his case. This is important to point out, because the question remains: why does the good
suffer? Job was good; he had everything a man could want, including the Lord’s blessings. Yet
tragic events have occurred. Man does not defend their case against the divine, it simply occurs
and we are not there to defend ourselves. The Holocaust, HIV/AIDS, poverty, genocides,
earthquakes, tsunamis; we cannot go up to the cosmos and say ‘Hey God can you just not let this
happen’. We cannot decide what happens and what does not. It just does. The fact that the author
have presented the arena, of where the decision of what happens to Job occur, in heaven or
somewhere, where man cannot reach or be a part of; we are reminded that these decisions of the
cosmos occur beyond our control, our say so, our understanding. We merely experience the
results of these conversations between good and evil.
Finally, God agrees to allow Satan to struck Job’s health but not his life. It is actually
humorous that God let Satan make Job sick. The author have been careful to present to his
audience that God allows evil to proceed, that He is still in control. In addition, it is a natural
disaster that he is now struck with. Before, Job was struck with human made disasters of murder
and thief, and now he is struck with a natural disaster of illness. This theme is presented again
later on in the book. It is without saying, that these two forms of disasters is what man continues
to face, thus the popularity of this book is evident due to its relevance.
After this natural disaster has struck Job, the three comforters approach Job, after his wife
pleads with him-very harshly-to curse God and die. According to Nancy Clasby, “Job comforters
engage in a series of debates over the fine points of retributive justice…” Of course, none of their
answers are justifiable to Job. Job friends, while ‘orthodox’ in their theologies, were unable to
provide him with answers to his dilemma. They offered only interpretations but no answers. Yet these
are the answers man comes up with every day. ‘It must have been your fault, you did something
wrong’ these are the only answers we can come up with in our understanding of how the world
work. Yet we soon are face with a new understanding of how things really function; or the

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understanding of lack of knowledge we fail to have. He soon demands to confront God. Soon
God do confront him, but not at Job’s terms, but His own. With this God reveals his all-
powerfulness:
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens
counsel, by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you,
and you shall answer Me…“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dawn to know its place, That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And
the wicked be shaken out of it? (Job 38: 1-13 NKJV).
The Lord starts to confront Job’s demand of confrontation. God tells Job to go ahead and
defend his self. Like Jacob, Job wrestles with God. God as him ‘who do he think he is’? God
then continues to question Job and ask him questions about nature, the cosmos, and the stars.
God is saying that he is awesome and Job is just a man. As Clasby says it, “God’s words extend
beyond human concerns, spreading bounty ‘to satisfy the waste and desolate land.’ He binds the
chains of the Pleiades and looses the cords of Orion as if the stars were to be reined and loosed
like running horses.” God saying how powerful he is and that his work goes beyond man’s
capabilities to understand why he does what he does, and why things happen the way they do. He
even goes a far as to describe Job as a ‘faultfinder’, a complainer. Job in return, is so baffle by
the presence of the Lord, which he has no response and in his realization of his foolishness he
covers his mouth.
In these poetic poems, God responds to man’s question to why the good suffer. He reassures
his greatness, that he is beyond man and man cannot begin to understand the whys. God goes as
far to say to Job would he be able to deal with the monsters that He has to deal with. In fact, God
brings up two beasts that he deals with constantly, Leviathan and Behemoth. These two monsters
are said to maybe represent man-made disasters and natural disasters, respectively. I believe that
is exactly what is represented here. As Clasby explains, these species of chaos are beyond the
inevitable sequences of life and death. Behemoth is described as a land creature, who eats grass
ad has power in his stomach. It is describe as sturdy and powerful. Clasby continues further to
say that ‘despite its apparent lack of aggression, Behemoth is beyond human control and may
represent the powerful disruptive forces of nature such as hurricanes, droughts, plagues, and

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tsunamis. God describes it as “the first of the ways of God”, indicating how primitive but very
important it is. What makes Behemoth scary is that fact that man cannot control it. God ask Job
if he would be able to deal with this monster. This beast is more powerful than man, and God
alone can deal with it.
Leviathan, on the other hand, makes Behemoth seem pleasant. It is describe as a fiery dragon
with a cold heart. Leviathan is depicted by the author as a more powerful and fearful beast than
Behemoth. A beast that has fiery eyes, breath of smoke, and skin that is impermeable to scratch.
“It is the king over all that is proud” (Job 40:34 NKJV). It represents man’s ego and selfish
desires that result in destruction more powerful than natural disasters. The relevance of this
creature is so overwhelming. From “weaponize diseases” –even the plagues have been form into
a weapon- to vast murders, slavery, crimes, etc… Human beings have proved to be a handful for
God. God is showing Job all He has to deal with and how ignorant and really insignificant Job’s
request is in comparison to these creatures alone. Job realizes his place as man and asks for
forgiveness. “My eyes sees you, therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (job 42:
6); Job states that he knew of God before but now he sees how powerful God is. God of course
forgive Job, and Job is given double for his troubles. Not to show that he is happier, but to show
that he is alive. He has survived these disasters and has met with God, seen God, and still is alive
to tail the tail.
The relevance of this book is a bit overwhelming. Disasters strikes every day, and everyday
someone is asking the divine cosmos why. Job had the audacity to request God to respond to
him. This was different from what the comforters did, which was to simply excuses or
interpretations, but no true answers. More importantly, they were wrong. Job was righteous,
though ignorant and disrespectful, in requesting a confrontation with God. This is a beautifully
written tale that brings up the themes of everyday life. There is really no better way of ending a
tale like this, but with a happy ending. It really brings the readers back from an intense
conversation with God to a fairy tale ending of “and they live happier ever after”. Yet, the
message here, I believe, is not that Job is happy or that the question of suffering is fully
answered, but that you will survive. If Job made it, so can you. At the end of the day, the author
is saying we cannot understand God’s will or why bad things happen. At the end, God won the
bet and Job survived.

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References
Clasby, Nancy T. “God, the Bible, and Human Consciousness.” Palgrave McMillan. 2008. Pp.
116-132
New King James Version, the Holy Bible.
Pritchard, James B. "The Protests of the Eloquent Peasant". Ancient Near Eastern Texts
Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1967. pp. 405-10.
Willis, Tim (2012) "Making Job's God Our God: Reflections on the Speeches of God in the Book
of Job" Leaven: Vol. 4: Iss. 4, Article 8. Available at:
http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol4/iss4/8