1. Briefly summarize what happens in the beginning of the story of Job. (Job 1-2)
In the beginning of the story of Job, in the land of Uz, a very reverent man named Job is the wealthiest man in the East. Job has seven sons, three daughters, bountiful life stock, and a large house. God comments to Satan about how faithful Job is to God, and Satan replies that it is because Job has so many possessions. God gives Satan permission to destroy Job’s possessions, but to not harm Job, to see if Job will blaspheme God. Job loses his possessions and his children, strips down to be naked, and continues to praise God saying that his worldly possessions are of no importance. Satan again encounters God who comments that Job has not blasphemed him even with the loss of his possessions, making the test an unnecessary punishment for Job. Satan retorts that any man will give up his possessions to save his own life. God then gives Satan permission to afflict Job with an ailment, but not to kill Job, to see if Job will blaspheme God. Satan gives Job a painful total body inflammation. Job’s wife tells him to blaspheme God and die, but Job tells her that they should accept both good and evil from God. Job’s three friends came to visit him and sat by him silently for a week watching him lay on the ground in agony. Through all of this loss and suffering, Job does not sin nor blaspheme God.
2. How do Job’s friends explain what has happened to him? (Job 8) Job’s friends attribute his misfortune and afflictions to sin. They say that if he was without fault (“blameless”), then he would be blessed with a good life. His friends say that for one to be blessed they must praise God to be blessed. Job’s friends are implying that to be as afflicted as he was, he must have not been pious nor without fault.
3. Why does Job reject their explanation? (Job 29-30) Job rejects his friends’ explanation because he was not a sinner. Job describes all of the benevolent acts he performed with his God given wealth. He then goes on to say that he expected to be rewarded for his good deeds, not chastised as he had been.
4. How does God respond to Job’s complaint? (Job 38) God responds to Job’s complaint by saying that God had created all of the
