Kai Shi
Lit Hum essay 3—Prompt 4
Professor Samuel North
Dec. 6th, 2014 The book of Job is divided into two sections. One section includes poetic speeches from Job, his friends and God, which make up majority of the text. These speeches compose the core belief of Job. The other section tells the background and the ending of the story in prose while making up only three of the forty-two chapters. Many scholars believe that the prose section came much later than the poetry speeches due to their different writing styles. Not only are the writing styles different, the core beliefs expressed between the poetic speeches and the proses contradict each other. Though it tries to straighten out certain ethical confusions, the addition of the prose section undermines the richness and profoundness of the beautiful philosophical debate that belongs to the original text. By interpreting the original speeches with moral codes, the prose section turns a rich philosophical illustration of mankind’s insignificance and ignorance to the universe into a religious propaganda. The very first sentence of book one sets the tone of the entire book, which the later poetic section disagrees with because it oversimplifies the complexity of the central character. To be more specific, it objectively defines the central character of the entire book. According to the first sentence, “there was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil” (1.1). It is crucial to recognize that the moral characteristic of Job is objectively defined as “blameless and upright”. These three words unambiguously tell readers that there is nothing sinful about this good man Job. It cuts any potential question about Job’s righteousness and dictates future text under the assumption that Job is flawlessly virtuous. However, the complexity of the text will be tenfold without such assumption. Throughout the entire poetry section, there is no word that objectively asserts Job’s rectitude as this sentence. This unambiguity turns the whole story into a fairy tale where a righteous man is tested by God and eventually gets what he deserves. It is much simpler compared to the story of a man who loses everything for no reason and seeks an answer for his misfortune. Without such objective definition, Job can be a man who has done something sinful without realizing it. He can also be a righteous man who has never done anything wrong. Job can be the combination of all men rather than just one flawlessly virtuous man, which will make readers question their own actions. By making such definitive claim, the question that readers ask changes from “should I be punished” to “should Job be punished”. In short, though it settles potential debates about his righteousness, defining of Job’s moral characteristics diminishes his relatability to readers by neglecting the potential richness within his character. To readers, Job is simply a perfectly righteous saint rather than a real human being. This can also be seen in modern interpretation of “land of Uz” by relating it to the Land of Oz, implying that no one on earth can be as righteous as Job. The unambiguous definition of his character turns Job from a potentially round character into a two-dimensional one and narrows the central topic from mankind’s reasonless suffering to justice for a righteous man. Assuming Job is undoubtedly righteous is problematic enough. Making up a bet between God and Satan undermines the seriousness of Job’s suffering even further. In the text, God asks Satan “have you considered my servant Job” (1.8)? Notice that God is the one who first mentions Job to Satan. God brings up his name first, not Satan. Without God, Satan wouldn’t even know that Job exists. This sequence is vital because it provides a lucid and comforting explanation for Job’s misfortune: God wants to test you. To a regular person, this may not seem much. But for someone who is suffering from intolerable hardship, this provides them an answer that they have been searching for: God is testing you. It is reassuring to know that one can simply attribute all misfortunes to God’s tests. After all, you are the chosen one. However, without this answer, Job suffers for no reason. Without the prose introduction, Job’s suffering can be a representation of all men’s suffering, as he is a symbol of all men whom readers can relate to. Without the bet, Job is no longer suffering because he is the chosen one. Rather, his suffering represents the general hardship of mankind without clear explanation. And this is exact question the poetry section intends to tackle: why does mankind suffer for no obvious reason? It is a much more profound philosophical question. Job’s suffering is important precisely because there is no clear explanation to it. Though it sounds comforting, this God’s test explanation misses the most important question the entire poetry section wants to answer by attributing god’s test to the ultimate explanation. It misses the point completely and counteract against the following poetic debates. However, this God’s test explanation shows a strong resemblance to religious propaganda. For example, Buddhism attributes mankind’s current suffering to next life’s happiness. Out of all differences, the contrast between God’s poetic speeches and his words to Job’s friends in prose is the most noticeable one. This contrast perfectly demonstrates the different core beliefs between the two different sections. In his poetic speech, God keeps listing examples of natural wonders until Job eventually acknowledges that he has “uttered what [he] did not understand, things too wonderful for [him], which [he] did not know” (42.3). While in the prose section, God tells Job’s friends that they “have not spoken of me what is right, as [his] servant Job has (42.7)”. In the poetry section, the text emphasizes on the point that Job does not understand the universe. However, the focus shifts to emphasize on correct interpretation of Gob’s will in the prose section. To be very specific, Job’s exact interpretation of God’s will is that there will be “justice” for him. However, this correct interpretation of God’s will according to the prose section is not the same things God said to Job in the poetry section. In the poetry section, God goes through four chapters listing things Job does not understand or is not capable of doing. The point of listing is to make Job realize the insignificance of mankind compared to the vast universe. The underlying message behind the four chapters of listing is to point out that Job, as a human being, is not capable of perceiving or understanding the vastness and complexity of the world. Therefore there is no point for Job to demand justice. The core belief of the entire poetry section is that mankind is insignificant to the world and ignorant about how the world works. It is the implicit philosophical answer to the question that asks why men are suffering without reasons. By pointing out the vastness and complexity of the universe, the poetry section suggests that mankind suffers because they are insignificant to the world and unknowledgeable about the universe beyond men’s imagination. This is ultimately a pessimistic explanation to humans’ suffering. However, the prose section holds a completely different belief. It encourages mankind to seek justice because it is in God’s will. By rewarding Job justice for his moral rectitude, the prose section changes the tone from pessimistic to optimistic. However, it also narrows the perspective from the vast universe’s angle to a personal level. The contrast between two sections shows that the prose section misses the original answer completely. However, it gives mankind hopes and a reason to persist morality, which sounds more like a religious propaganda than a profound philosophical interpretation of the universe. In conclusion, the two sections demonstrate two fundamentals different beliefs. The poetry section is pessimistic as it believes in the insignificance of mankind and their ignorance to the world. The prose section is optimistic as it believes in moral and justice within God’s will. By forcing definitive conclusions of morality and justice into the book of Job, the prose section turns a rich and profound philosophical explanation to the universe into a religious propaganda that discredits the original text.