Introduction
The Book of Job is part of the Old Testament, which has a deep spiritual meaning, making it a genuine masterpiece of world literature. It raises an essential issue of God’s righteousness and people’s ability to perceive His will. In particular, it probably answers the most common question of how the Lord allows suffering and evil to exist. In the book, Job is a prosperous and pious man.
However, God allows Satan to test his faith after the latter suggests that Job’s gratefulness and religiousness are determined only by his possessions. Satan believes that Job will lose his faith when he faces suffering that lets him feel unprotected and left by God. Subsequently, Job is sent a series of miseries and calamities to test his unconditional devotion to the Lord. The purpose of this paper is to annotate and analyze the chapters of the book to assess their meaning and significance for readers.
The Summation
In this chapter, Job raises essential questions of whether righteousness may be punished. Readers receive an opportunity to evaluate his despair and willingness to return to the past: “If only I could return to the days when God was my guardian”(Mitchell, 1994, p. 69). He juxtaposes his previous and current lives, remembering how he was respected by noble people and loved by poor and miserable ones and how he is mistreated by “street boys, whose fathers I would have considered unfit to take care of my dogs” (Mitchell, 1994, p. 70).
Job is suffering and keeps asking himself what he has done wrong to deserve all losses. Different feelings and emotions overcome the man. On the one hand, he cannot understand how his compassion and piety could be awarded with pain, suffering, and people’s hate. On the other hand, he believes in the Lord’s justice and aims to prove his innocence and correct his mistakes to earn His forgiveness.
All in all, the chapter introduces readers to a crucial question for all religious and non-religious people. As God creates all people in His image, they are not expected to suffer. Moreover, if suffering is a response to sins, pious and compassionate people should not experience miseries and losses. However, the Book of Job addresses people’s concerns and their willingness to receive an answer.
The Voice from the Whirlwind
This chapter represents the Lord’s answer to Job’s questions formed in the voice of the unnamable who answers the man from within the whirlwind. He asks Job whether he planned the earth, created the world, stopped the waters, commanded the morning, or guided dawn (Mitchell, 1994). He asks him whether he knows about all creatures, feeds them, and takes care of their cubs: “Do you hunt game for the lioness and feed her ravenous cubs when they crouch in their den, impatient, or lie in ambush in the thicket?” (Mitchell, 1994, p. 81). The voice leaves Job speechless by reminding him that a man cannot control his life as he has no strength to save or destroy himself.
The chapter distinctively informs readers about God’s mightiness and strength. He is the Creator of the world and all people, and nothing happens without His will. When people face happiness or grief, they want to perceive the rationale of His decisions. However, The Book of Job shows that only God knows why people experience joy or suffering, and they should trust their Lord unconditionally, believing in His providence.
The Legend
This part addresses God’s mercy in response to Job’s understanding of God’s goodness and the necessity to believe in His will in any circumstance. Therefore, the Lord returns Job’s possessions and blesses him with cattle and children (Mitchell, 1994). Job has three daughters and seven sons who are granted their fathers’ belongings equally (Mitchell, 1994). The Book of Job demonstrates that piety, righteousness, and belief in the Lord’s all-mightiness are awarded.
Conclusion
All chapters show that when people face suffering and grief, they ask the Lord and themselves about the reasons for their losses. Moreover, they frequently lose faith as they think that they suffer because God ignores or punishes them for their sins. However, The Book of Job contains a powerful message – everything happens by God’s permission, and people are too weak and powerless to assess His motives.
Therefore, it is beyond people’s ability to understand the reason for calamities and miseries in this world. While sinners are genuinely punished for their actions, suffering may be sent to people to test them, teach, or purify and strengthen their souls. They should be regarded as a reminder to praise God and trust Him in all circumstances. Therefore, people should accept everything in their lives with gratitude and believe that nothing comes to them without God’s intention. Only humility will lead to His award, while impatience and mistrust may result in more devastating consequences.
Reference
Mitchell, S. (1994). The Book of Job. Harper Perennial.
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