"May the stars of its twilight be darkened; may it look for daylight, but have none, nor gaze on the eyes of the dawn, because it kept not shut the doors of the womb to shield my eyes from trouble!...I have no peace nor ease; I have no rest, for trouble comes!" Job cries out in anguish at the beginning of this book because he lacks understanding as to why this string of horrid events has taken place in his life. He enters a state of utter despair and confusion, for he cannot explain why his life has changed so drastically and why he was made to suffer such tragedy. "For trouble comes," and he knows not why. One thing that has always been a part of the human condition is suffering, and quite often this suffering comes without any warning or direct influence from those who enter into it. Job is obviously one of those people. For the purpose of this short essay, I will attempt to answer the following question: What is the relationship between God and human suffering? Attempting to answer this question with Job as my source will undoubtedly bring forth more questions. I will deal with them as they come.

The historical setting and the formation process of the text give important clues to the relationship between God and human suffering. The author of the book of Job is unknown and it was most likely composed sometime between the 7th and 5th centuries B.C. There was chaos in the hearts and minds of the ancient Hebrews at this time because of the exile and most of their writings reflect this utter state of despair that was commonly shared among them. Also "in the ancient world, where the process by which a text gains fixity is long and drawn-out, readers actually change a text to conform with later societal expectations and needs. The reader reforms the author into his or her image." So the formation of this text as we read it today went through generations of changes. The text thus exhibits a desire to show the relationship that the reader/author had with God and also tries to explain God's relationship to human suffering. This relationship obviously meant different things to the different authors which is why the final text is disparate, and thus stands in conflict with itself. Yet through this conflict the relationship between God and human suffering, though it transcends human understanding, a point I will get to later, is nonetheless a reality. So now, if we go back and explore the Satan figure, a new perspective comes into play.

Elie Wiesel has lost faith in God because he lives a world that is consumed with suffering, suffering that cannot be explained by any human. But even in the pits of hell, namely Auschwitz, the chosen people come together in prayer and worship and fidelity to the covenant. They reflect on Scripture such as Job because it gives them some sort of hope that God will restore them to prosperity and that the many deaths will not be in vain. But they too fall victim to the overwhelming amount of suffering and start to question their beliefs and start to question the action of God. This parallels Job as well because the people in both stories tend to see the pain and suffering that befalls them as coming directly from God.

Job and the other characters in this story are unaware of any participation by Satan in the suffering that befalls Job and his family. They believe that God has acted alone. Job eventually goes on the attack, while his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and the youth Elihu, defend the action of God and try endlessly to convince Job to confess his wrongdoings so the Lord will return him to his prosperous life. All of them know nothing of this Satan figure. And the text is confused as well because it consi

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1742
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)