Essay on The Holy Bible - Book of Job as an Attempt to Justify the Actions of God

The Book of Job: An Attempt to Justify the Actions of a Omnipotent, Childlike God

The Book of Job from the Old Testament is a story in which an attempt is made by the Hebrew author to justify the unjustifiable actions of a seemingly malevolent god. The questioning by Job as to why the "good" must suffer is induced by a childish challenge, put forth by Satan and accepted by God, to test the loyalty of Job toward God. The uncharacteristic actions of a supposedly omni benevolent God must be justified in the eyes of his followers, and in the process of doing so, God is made to look like nothing more than an omnipotent child.

The Book of Job can be separated into four natural divisions. For the sake of simplicity one must analyze each section separately. The first section is comprised of chapters one and two and contains the challenge made to God by Satan. The second section of the book, chapters three through thirty-seven, contains Job's questioning of God's conduct and the attempt to account for these actions by the three men known as the "Comforters"; Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Chapters thirty-eight through forty-two are the third section. These chapters are where one finds a dialogue between God and Job in which God explains the rationale behind his actions. The forth and final section of The Book of Job is found at the end of chapter forty-two and is the attempt at justification of God's actions. The work can be analyzed more effectively when one looks at each of these sections individually.

In section one God is issued a challenge by Satan. God tells Satan, "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man..." God is "rubbing it in" to Satan and telling hi...

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...did not resist Satan's temptation. By not knowing Job would curse him, God disproved omniscience. The cruelty on the part of God, justified or not, is confirmation against omni benevolence. God's actions are not only out of the presupposed nature associated with and taught, but they also show God to be childlike in his actions. God plays a game with the life of Job and later thinks he can make everything better by giving Job twice as much as he had before. These are not the actions or attitude of a perfect entity.

The Book of Job is a failed attempt at the justification of the unjustifiable acts of the Christian God. The questions asked by Job as to why the "good" must suffer are eternal. Although written in the Fifth Century BC, the questions are still being posed today. Although a failed attempt, the book is still a relevant and entertaining piece of literature.