God talk in the book of job analysis

The net result would be the belief that humans exist as toys or possessions to be maneuvered at the whim of a fickle god who was not subject to any sense of ethics or morality. The characters in the book of job consist of job, his wife, his three friends bildad, eliphaz, and zophar, a man named elihu, god, and angels one of whom is named satan. A comparative and critical analysis of the story of job as. The book of job is one of the writings in the hebrew bible old testament. For many years young earth creation science believers have pointed to the book of job, chapters 4041, as evidence that dinosaurs lived recently. Godtalk and the suffering of the innocent in the book of job. Or perhaps this is an at least partially an afterward because i write this after i have completed half of the melding together of roger hahns online crivoice bible study and the excerpts from john c. Hes blameless and upright, and he has kids, a wife, land, and a bunch of sheep. Job was blameless, meaning no sin was found in him. Throughout his argument he justifies that gods way of doing things is. The wisdom books and the book of job bible gateway. The book of job is one of the literary masterpieces of all time, and provides a profound discussion on the suffering of a just man.

He worships god sincerely and regularly, and most importantly, is a truly righteous person in the sight of god job 1. A moral and honorable man lives a prosperous, happy and fruitful life. Wells, of all people, also had a very brief story dealing with the book of job. Job s friends are offended that he scorns their wisdom. God allows satan to torment job to test this bold claim, but he forbids satan to take job s life in the process. He insists job only serves god because god protects him and seeks god s permission to test job s faith and loyalty. Job s final speech in his own defense is probably where the book originally ended. Whether there was a booming echo, we cant be sure, but it sure shuts job up. God talk and the suffering of the innocent kindle edition by gutierrez, gustavo, oconnell, matthew. The book of job opens with a scene in heaven where satan comes to accuse job before god.

God talk and the suffering of the innocent in the book of job in gutierrezs analysis on the book of job, the justice of god seems to be the primary issue of his argument. The book of job, in the old testament, opens with words both majestic and onceuponatimeish. God finally interrupts, calling from a whirlwind and demanding job to be brave and respond to his questions. Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge. Psalms, the book of prayer par excellence, derives from varied origins, especially liturgical celebrations. Therefore i despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. At the end of the book, god gives job twice as much wealth as he had before, along with seven sons and three daughters. And the lord restored the fortunes of job, when he had prayed for his friends.

God cannot be deceived, and job admits that he does not even understand himself well enough to effectively plead his case to god. Job prays for god s forgiveness of them and god accepts his prayer. So the last thing is, therefore, i despise myself, and. The skeptical character of the symposium, with its challenge to timehonored views, most likely would have kept the book of job out of the canon of old testament writings had some additions not been made to the original book. The explanations from his friends connected his suffering with some sins known or unknown that he had committed. According to many scholars, it dates back to between the 7th and 4th centuries bce. In the book of job, it becomes clear that the first three of job s friends eliphaz, blidad, and zophar speak wrongly. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. See the verses and verse art for all the other books of the bible job s role in the bible.

Throughout the book, job, his wife, and his friends speculate on why he, an upright man, suffers. Godtalk and the suffering of the innocent by gustavo gutierrez and wow, was this one a doozy. In the epilogue, in which god takes job s three friends to task, job is declared innocent. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading on job. Although the book of job is best known for its story, only three of the 42 chapters are narrative. Gods questions are rhetorical, intending to show how little job knows about creation and how much power god alone has. God agrees to the challenge, and satan unleashes a force that kills all of jobs family except his wife, kills his servants, and reduces his homes to dust. Aside from being a little heavy on the heart, job is mostly a philosophical discussion. The book of job is a literary presentation of the problem of the suffering of the innocent and god fearing job.

How do human beings talk about god in the face of poverty and suffering. As a wager between god and satan on the issue of disinterested religion, they test to see if his faith. The hebrew book of job is part of ketuvim writings of the jewish bible. Godtalk and the suffering of the innocent gustavo gutierrez makes the point that human beings, especially the poor, are capable of a disinterested faith and knowledge of god in the face of suffering. Job is the first of five books commonly referred to as the books of poetry. Job is brought through a number of tribulations, from the loss of his entire family to malignant skin diseases. In order to set the record straight, lets examine this passage of scripture, and see what the possibilities are. Creation science and biblical interpretation, job 4041. Literary structure the unity of the book of job will be assumed in the analysis of its literary structure. Job is the first old testament book of poetry the others are psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, song of solomon, and lamentations. God boasts to satan about job s goodness, but satan argues that job is only good because god has blessed him abundantly.

For all of his yammering throughout the book, once god starts speaking, job. God acquiesces to the satans torment of job, seemingly just to answer a challenge or prove a point, which hardly provides a suitable response to the problem of innocent suffering. Lo and behold, satan comes out and challenges god on job s goodness. Believers talk about trusting in the lord with their whole heart and. Job wishes for someone who can mediate between himself and god, or for god to send him to sheol, the deep place of the dead. God then allows satan to visit terrible trials upon job to test him. Unlike other books of the bible, the book of job details a conflict between man and god within a poetic structure, and is the only book in the bible to take on the problem of suffering as its main purpose. Interpretations of elihu in job biblical hermeneutics. This is the question the book of job raises for us. Although job was unaware of the interaction between satan and god, job comes to the conclusion that god is just and good. Pohl iv investigates ethical godtalk in the book of job, by exploring the prominence of such theology, showing how each major section of the book highlights the theme of proper speech, and demonstrating that jobs internal rhetoric is. God knew that it was there, and he knew that in shaking this godly, blameless man there would arise some imperfection into his life, and that it would need to be purged. In a conversation with satan, god argues that such a person can indeed persevere, and points out his servant job as an example.

To begin with, the book of job tells the story of god testing jobs faith by allowing satan to bring jobs life from fortune to misfortune. Literary features of the book of job gordon college. No answers are given, but god reminds us to trust his wisdom and character. God reminds him that the world has order and beauty. Throughout his argument he justifies that god s way of doing things is outside the comprehension of the human mind. If he is guilty, god should tell him what is the offense. Not only do they incur the indignation of job and his other friend elihu, but god himself rebukes them, saying to eliphaz, i am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my. The book of job defends the character of a loving and righteous god in spite of earths obvious evils and injustices. Can a favored, righteous person hold on to their faith in god when things go wrong. The narrative framework of the book tells the story of job as a very rich man who lives in the land of uz. Up in the heavens, god brags to the divine assembly about job. In the book s first cycle, job s friends speeches were halted by the revelation of god s wisdom. This post is adapted from the bible study job by eric ortlund.

Jobs friends contend that his misery is a direct result of sin in his life. Stay connected amidst social distancing receive weekly scripture encouragement to share with family and friends. Analysis all through the book, job had been hoping for an audience with god. In teaching that piety must be unselfish and that the righteous sufferer is assured not of tangible reward but of fellowship with god, biblical thought about justice, retribution, and providence reaches a climax. Not much is known about job based on the masoretic text of the jewish bible. Consequently it can be concluded that the book of job is a mixed genre in which its author expertly blended a variety of literary types in order to serve the function of the book. God did these things to job and inspired the book of job so that he could be freed from having to ever offer an explanation to mankind for any of his deeds. Waters ritten by an unknown author, possibly the most ancient literary account in the bible,1 the book of job is a mixture of divine and human wisdom that addresses a major life issue. Rabbi breitowitz responds to these fundamental issues based on the book of job. Pohl concludes that the book of job shapes its readers to see protest prayer as an ethical, even encouraged, form of discourse in the midst of innocent suffering. Book of job is accounted by most christians among the wisdom literature but not under major or minor prophets. In the book of job, we find questions about gods justice and why good people suffer. In it, a very accountantlike satan has a conversation with god.

The goal is to demonstrate how tthe author of job utilized certain key themes in developing the purpose and message of the book. The new element in the second cycle is that elihus speech is interrupted by the dramatic appearance of god himself job 38. There was a man in the land of uz, whose name was job. In gutierrezs analysis on the book of job, the justice of god seems to be the primary issue of his argument. Job accuses god of being unjust and not operating the world according to principles of justice, and his friends believe that job s sin caused his suffering. God changes the subject and begins to talk about the. Because the book of job is so often neglected, yet presents a valuable lesson and is so highly praised by even people of the world, christians should certainly take the time to study this portion of god s word. To reward his virtue god restores all his property to him, twice over. Satan challenges god that, if given permission to punish the man, job will turn and curse god. Addressing the problem of theodicy the vindication of the justice of god in the light of humanitys suffering it is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. God rebukes job s three friends and orders them to make a sacrifice.