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,

among them as it will be discussed in the next part of the paper.

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

book describe best the beginning of the suffering of Job.

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

of Job. Jobs suffering was too insignificant to them.

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

Newsome, Carol A. "The Book of Job. NIB." (1996).

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.