Professional Documents
Culture Documents
How The Structure and Shape of The Book of Job Engage The Problem of Suffering
How The Structure and Shape of The Book of Job Engage The Problem of Suffering
Crys Chen
3/11/2020
CHEN2
A long time ago, there was once a man who came from the land of Uz, whose name was
Job. The Bible notes the Job to be one of the most memorable characters in the Bible. The Book
of Job is one of the poetic books among the four poetic texts in the Bible. The Bible, through the
Book of Job, presents the life of the Job to be a life that no one, even the person who is
considered to be the most sinful, will ever want to live. Job is an icon emblematic of the sufferer
who endured all that is termed to be unendurable without a single complaint 1. There are various
ways in which the shape and structure of the Book of Job engage the problem of suffering,
The first way in which the shape and structure of the Book of Job engage the problem of
suffering is the fact the Book of Job is generally a challenging book to read and understand this
is because the book has a lot of theological issues that it treats and also the form in which the
book is written. In Job 1:1-2:13, The Book begins with a simple narration of the piety of Job, the
conversation that was between God and Satan, which leads into a decision to test the faith of Job
and the disasters that came after Job as the test of his piety 2. With a blink of an eye, the structure
of the book shifts as Job, who is the main character and the friends who had gathered to check
out on Job start to deliberate on the meaning of all that is befalling Job. In the end, Job is
justified on the reasons why he ought to assume God. The first and the second chapters of the
Furthermore, most of the Jewish and Christian interpreters feel betrayed by reading the
deeds of Job in the Bible towards God. The Book of Job presents Job as a blasphemer. The book
portrays Job's anger as a voice of moral outrage against the Highest, who, in this case, is God
1
Newsome, Carol A. "The Book of Job. NIB." (1996).
2
Walker, Alice. "This Was Not an Area of Large Plantations: Suffering Too Insignificant for the Majority to See." We
Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For Inner Light in a Time of Darkness.
who could give in to such atrocities. There has been a lot of attempts from theologists to refer to
Job as a patron saint of religious rebellion. Still, they have encountered embarrassment for at the
very end of the book, after God spoke from the tumultuous, Job withdraws his world against
God. Both the character of Job and the Book of job results to an easy appropriation. In short, the
books offer a challenging exploration of issues of religion that have fundamental importance.
That is the motivation for piety, the suffering meaning, God's nature, the place that justice holds
in the world, and also the relationship that exists between order and chaos in the design of God
on creation.
Furthermore, the Book of Job and the Raymond Scheindlin's view of God shapes as a
God who is not perfect just because he allows suffering to happen in the world even with the
promises that he made earlier after the story of Noah. In the Book of Job 9:22-24, God is
portrayed to be unjust. Raymond explains that even after Job proved to be a faithful servant to be
God, God still made him suffer. Raymond believes that as much as God is such a caring being,
He will subject every human being under suffering at some point in life. Looking back at the
early verses of the Book of Job, he is portrayed to be a very faithful person to God. There is no
single verse in the poem that shows the Job to be disobedient, except the one where his friends
push him towards doubting God. Shambhala Sun's Suffering Too Insignificant for the Majority
to see, describes the life of Alice Walker's suffering, whereby Alice describes how her
involvement in a Buddhist helped her heal the wounds. In the description of all that she had
encountered, Walker used the poetry to structure her book, just like how the Book of Job in the
Bible is structured3. In her book, she says that most people consider the suffering of another
person to be too insignificant, and therefore the Majority cannot see. Looking back at the friends
of Job, who encouraged him to Disobey God, it provable that they did not understand what Job
3
Scheindlin, Raymond P., ed. The Book of Job. WW Norton & Company, 1999.
CHEN4
was going through at all. In Newsom’s description, Job is portrayed as an impatient person. He
explains all his suffering to his friends instead of explaining them to God. Human beings will
never be considerate, and they will always give pieces of advice that suit the affected person in
the short run. But they would not be there in the long run, and this is what describes the friends
Moreover, the structure of the Book of Job is intersecting in that the Book represents the
story in two different ways of narrating the same story within a single composition, which
presents an artistic challenge. In justification of this, looking at Job 1:1-2:13 narrates the story of
the Job of being an obedient and faithful servant of God to be a rude non-religious person.
Consequently, the Book of Job 44:7-17 narrates the same story though in a different version 4.
The frame of the two works is considered to be a naïve famous tale. Also, a pseudo-naïve tale
employs some specific narrative conventions that belong to traditional storytelling, thus giving
the story of Job and Shambhala Sun, among another story a higher predictability degree.
Therefore readers can predict all that could happen to Job, even a regular reader will expect some
trials of Job's Piety before the mandatory content ending that usually accompanies such stories.
This on its shows how the structure of the Book of Job engages the theme of suffering.
Indeed, there are several instances whereby the structure and the shape of the Book of Job
portray the theme of suffering. Most theology authors conclude that God planned all that
happened in the entire life of Job, and the laws of the Bible warn against questioning the Bible.
But even with or without rules, it is evident that the Book of Job is made up of different shapes
and structures that lead many into concluding that the central theme that the book presents is the
theme of suffering.
4
Walker, Alice. "This Was Not an Area of Large Plantations: Suffering Too Insignificant for the Majority to See." We
Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For Inner Light in a Time of Darkness.
Bibliography
CHEN6
Scheindlin, Raymond P., ed. The Book of Job. WW Norton & Company, 1999.
Walker, Alice. "This Was Not an Area of Large Plantations: Suffering Too Insignificant for the
Majority to See." We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For Inner Light in a Time of
Darkness.