Intrepretation of God in the Book of Job
Often depicted as a righteous, forgiving, and loving character, God is portrayed as a malevolent, indifferent, and an unwarranted individual in The Book of Job. The book, itself, shows another side to God, in which many readers have not seen when reading other scriptures or text from the bible. God gambles with Satan throughout the text and Job is the one to pay the price of such a wager. When faced with such hardships, Job cries out to God because he seeks answers and understanding on why such things have happened to him. God proves to be overbearing and self-absorbed when he finally answers. God's willingness to make a wager with Satan, his inability to comfort Job, and his explanation to Job when he finally answers, shows God is a malevolent, indifferent, and an unwarranted character in this text. In the beginning of The Book of Job, God enters into a bet with Satan. He allows Satan to destroy everything Job has, but not to harm Job. Later, another wager is formed and Job, himself, is attacked. He is inflicted with sores, but his life is spared. The book does not go into detail on the length of time Job spends, practically on his deathbed, with nothing in his possession. However, any period of time proves God is ma
Through God's gamble, Job is made a pawn of Satan. God does nothing about it and does not provide Job with any clear answer to help him regain his faith. He lets his ego run wild when he answers Job, and he makes a deal with a character, who has been known for centuries as evil. Even though God is seen as good in the books before and after The Book of Job, it is clear that he is not all good and magnificent. He has an evil side to him. Just as humans have free will and the ability to sin, so does God. That is made clear in The Book of Job. He has some human characteristics because it is clear, he does make mistakes. His actions, which can be viewed as those of a criminal's, are unjust and irrational to society today. However, the idea that is most clear is that his willingness to make such a wager, his inability to comfort Job, and explanation to Job, shows that God is a malevolent, indifferent, and unwarranted character in The Book of Job. When Job finally begins to cry for help and searches for answers as to why God is punishing him. God does not answer until, Job makes it clear that he wants to die and his friends begin to tell him he deserves what has happened to him. God's answer does not provide Job with the answer that he seeks. Furthermore, he is very overbearing and self-absorbed in his answer, stating "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me" (38.2) This excerpt shows God does not believe Job should be questioning him God also believes that his actions should not be Job's concern. He goes on to make Job feel dis
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Approximate Word count = 1113
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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