Florina Prelvukaj 2/27/20

Performance of Suffering Midterm Paper

​The Book of Job’s Shape and Structure

The Book of Job tells a story about suffering through a man named Job. This man was the

wealthiest man in the land of Uz. Satan propositions God by telling him that Job will not keep

his faith if bad things happen to him. God takes away all of Jobs valuable things in his life. He

even goes as far as to physically pain him. Jobs suffering, his questions about God and the need

to have answers to why these things happened to him become a central theme throughout the

story.1 Even though God never provides a direct answer, the book provides insight as to how one

can take these things and apply them to their own life. One of the most interesting parts about the

Book of Job is the structure of it. The complex form and shape of the book provides a better

understanding of suffering and how some questions may just never be answered.

The Book of Job has forty two chapters. The first two chapters set up the setting of Job,

introducing God, Satan as well as Job's friends all of which have an important role in the book.

Eliphaz, Bilbad, and Zophar visit Job to offer support and each of them have something to say on

Jobs' situation. These first two chapters make up what is referred to as the “frame story.” The

thing that distincts these two chapters from chapters three to thirty nine is that they are written in

narrative prose. This means that these chapters don't have a metrical structure. This style of

writing is brought back at the end of the Book of Job in chapters forty one and forty two. The

rest of the chapters are written in poetry creating the “middle story” with dialogue between the

characters. Carol Newsom in “The Book of Job'' commentary writes “the transition to the prose

1
Raymond P. Scheindlin, ​The Book of Job​ (W.W Norton & Company).
tale is both abrupt and incongruous.” (page 324) I found this transition to be one of the things

that drew me in the most about how Jobs' suffering is told. Where most of the dialogue happens

in poetry between Job and the three friends the proses contain long important speeches from

characters such as God and Job. I think this was done with purpose to reinforce the idea that

within everyone’s suffering, there comes discomfort in the unknown or even more literal change.

The ending of the “middle story” provides a sense of understanding between Job and God but the

“frame story” then makes it unresolved again as well as adding the happy ending of giving Job

all his things back in double.2 Clines states that the prose at the end “unravels the sense of

closure created by God’s speech and Job’s reply at the end of the poetic section.” (page 324)

This gives the readers two different feelings. It provides us with the happy ending that we may

want to see within our own suffering, but is also just unrealistic. Much like God says at the end

of the “middle story” we don’t always need an answer to why we suffer, go through loss and

many other things. I think this duality shows in a retrospect the reality of what it is to suffer. We

may question why we suffered but through the book we can see how a happy ending may also

not be what we want.

I think the reason why the Book of Job is structured in this way is put best in Clines

words. In “Why is there a Book of Job” Clines states that “The Book of Job exists, that is,

because its author needed it to exist:” Whoever the “author” may be, the audience reading can

put themselves in the story of Job and learn from it. The structure of Job not only addresses that

of which humans will never truly understand why things happen the way they do, but how to find

comfort in it. The different endings from the “middle story” and the “frame story” provide that

2
Carol A. Newsom, “The Book of Job,” in ​The Book of Job​ Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections.
319-328.
place to “externalize his fear, to see its shape, to try it on for size;” (page 12) The book allows

the reader to think of their own suffering as Job goes through his. It provides us with the

realization that even though we can hope and dream after our suffering for a happy ending that

sometimes that's the “added” part like the frame story.

Another part of the Book of Job that I think adds to the problem of suffering is the cycle

of the speeches of Job and his friends. The cycles of dialogue between the friends is split into

three parts. Eliphaz usually speaks first than Bilbad and then Zophar. With each Job has a chance

to respond. During the third cycle however the pattern breaks. Some of the things that are

different from the other cycles is that Bildad’s speech is only six verses long.In the third cycle

Zophar speech is also missing. The speech that is supposed to be Job during chapter 27 actually

seems to contradict a lot of what he claims before. I actually think that in this chapter it might be

Zophar who is actually speaking since it sounds most like him. The displacement of the chapters

I think was meant for us to deal with how some things aren't meant to be clear. I think we should

draw our own interpretations from those who might be speaking. Suffering isn't always clear and

oftentimes confusing. I think the Book of Job’s structure and sometimes unclearness of where

the wisdom comes from reiterates this idea that we shouldn't always know why things happen the

way they do.

In conclusion the structure of the frame and middle story as well as the pattern of

dialogue represented in the cycles represent this duality within the book. The unresolved

perspectives I think just adds to the lesson that we don’t have answers and there isn't a higher

being who can explain as to why these things happen. We learn to go through suffering, even if
we don't understand it at least to cope with it. I think the Book of Job taught me to stop focusing

on the “why” of life and more on the idea that things happen no matter what.

Florina --

Your argument in this essay is clear and

straightforward, and the logic of your essay is
easy to follow. However, the essay as a whole
could have used a final polish -- frequent
grammar and spelling errors sometimes
obscure your meaning. Also, there are some
issues with your citations. Overall, thank you
for your hard work. I appreciate how much of
your own perspective you bring to this essay.

Grade: 90
Bibliography

​ .W Norton & Company, 1998.

Scheindlin, Raymond P. ​The Book of Job. W

Newsom, Carol A. “The Book of Job.” In ​The Book of Job Introduction, Commentary and

Reflections,​ 319-328.

Clines, D.J.A.. ​Why is there a Book of Job. ​Leuven University Press, 1994.