Old Testament Assignment PDF

Running head: THEODICY
THEODICY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

1THEODICY
The book of Jobs is a part of the Hebrew Bible, and the first poetic book of the Old
Testament. The Old Testament is the narrative which has endeavoured in establishing the
justice of God as ultimately fare even in front of the sufferings of humanity. The Book of
Jobs especially serves this purpose by addressing the issue with the suffering of humanity and
the complain that God is unjust1. The Book of Jobs has a rich perspective on various facets of
theological discourse and theodicy. The book has vivid description and high quality use of
literary qualities. The speeches between Job and his friends has been attributed by religious
scholars as important sources of early Hebrew religion2. The friends of Jobs are Eliphaz,
Bildad, and Zophar. The speeches between Jobs and his friends represents a scenario of
God’s deliverance of justice even if the situation is otherwise materially in front of the eyes
of the beholder. This is done in the “light” of Job’s circumstances. The speeches and
discourses ultimately declare that the Lord will deliver the final justice by “blessing the
righteous and punishing the wicked”.
In the Book of Jobs the main part and the core of the book comprises of Jobs and his
three friends engaging in discourse and debate about the present condition of Jobs. The
arguments most of the time does not lead to any particular solution however the arguments
and speeches present some very important aspects of theodicy. It gives the readers various
perspectives about the Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible and the theological discourses
that has been presented in it. The discourse ended with Jobs welcoming a divine wrath on
him if he was wrong in his part and he had said something wrong. The friends of Jobs begin
their argument in a courteous note. There have been a positive vibration about the discourse
in the beginning when the friend’s are very courteous and they present their argument and
wait for Jobs to speak. Jobs speak more than his friends all along the speeches and present
1 Priddy, David Wayne. "Sensing the Vexation: an Embodied Reading of the Book of Job." PhD diss., Wake
Forest University, 2016.
2 Gray, John. The Book of Job. Sheffield Phoenix, 2015.

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philosophy to them about justice of God. It is generally held that the three friends who had
given long speeches about the unjust system of God, had been “condemned” as consequence.
There was a instance when Job had to exclaim by uttering “You are miserable comforters, all
of you!” (Job 16:2)”. Now there have been a long debate about the insights and ultimate
realisations that can be achieved by understanding the discourse. The theodicy presented in
the book of jobs in Christian and Hebrew religion as well.
The dialogue within the books are framed and composed in poetic renditions. There
are monologues as well. The narrative and discourse is the main part of the book. The book
opens with a monologue of Jobs himself that takes the readers towards the dialogues and
prepares the context. There are three cycles of dialogues that happens between the three
friends and Jobs. There are three monologues, “A poem to Wisdom in chapter 28” that is
debated about whether it is spoken by Jobs or it is the author’s narrative, there is an ending
monologue and the Elihu’s Speech3. There is also the Speeches by God himself and the
response of Jobs. The context of the dialogue begins with Jobs being wealthy and having a
happy family. God in heaven asks Satan about the condition of Jobs to which Satan answers
that the only reason that Jobs is in that condition is because he is having a lot of mercy and
blessings from the Lord, the moment all that is taken away Jobs would not mind in accusing
God to which God permits the Satan in taking away everything about which Jobs is happy
including his sons and the wealth he had4. Remarkably even when everything is lost Jobs
does not fail to praise the Lord, “Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I
return: the Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”,
or “Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil?"”.
3 Andersen, Ragnar. "THE ELIHU SPEECHES: THEIR PLACE AND SENSE IN THE BOOK OF
JOB." TYNDALE BULLETIN66, no. 1 (2015): 75-94.
4 Murphy, Roland Edmund. The Book of Job. Paulist Press, 2014.

3THEODICY
Eliphaz has been following an argument rather of a balanced kind where he states that
the people who are innocent are never eternally punished by God and at most there might be
some temporary sufferings but that would not last for long. Therefore the point argued by him
is that the suffering faced by Job is temporary and that God will never condemn him for a
long time as he is a pious man and there is no reason that Job will be punished permanently
without any reason5. The person also alludes to the suffering of Job as a correctional measure
and that it is being given by God in order to help Job realise certain mistakes that needs
correctional measures. However it is seen that with the change of perspective as the
discussion goes ahead Eliphaz changes the way he views Job’s sufferings. Eliphaz later starts
to question how Job reacts to the advices given to him by his friends. Therefore the tone
almost changes and assumes a tone that because of the tone that he assumes Job’s deserve to
suffer in the way he is doing. As the narrative by Eliphaz comes towards the end, he almost
denies the fact that Job is innocent and it almost becomes evident to him that he deserves to
suffer because of his own conduct6. “What pleasure would it give the almighty if you were
righteous?” Eliphaz maintains that God would not punish and bestow sufferings on the
innocent, therefore it is Job who is at fault who is suffering because of his sins.
Bildad is seen to be even more convinced about “divine retribution” and that innocent
people do not suffer without a reason. When Job rejects the proposals by Eliphaz, Bildad
becomes almost in a challenging tone asks “Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty
pervert what is right?”, “Job, you are implying from what you have said to us that God is a
perplexing God, because he has treated you in the way he has. You are protesting your total
innocence, and you’ve been making out that God has left you baffled.”
5 Cook, John A. "Job. Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary." (2016): 258-259.
6 Lambert, David A. "The book of Job in ritual perspective." Journal of Biblical Literature 134, no. 3 (2015):
557-575.

4THEODICY
Bildad is seen to be very argumentative and challenging which should not be the
quality of a pious man. However, Bildad seems to be proud and self indulgent. As Eliphaz
ends his speech Bildad jumps in arrogantly and starts his own argument without giving a
chance to Job to answer in details the questions posed by Eliphaz. “Let me tell you something
about your children, When your children sinned against God, he gave them over to the
penalty of their sin”, says Bildad. This is utterly inhuman to say similar things to a bereaved
parent who has lost child. Even in the Christian tradition people with such inhumanity is
found at several instances7. However Bildad do not care about what has happened to Job and
how unfortunate it is. Rather Bildad wants to express his opinion as much as he can in rude
manner to show the credibility of his own belief. Bildad also have several advices for Job that
can restore his condition. “It’s simple enough: you confess your sin to God and he’ll restore
you: If you look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now
he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. Your beginnings
will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.” Therefore, even if Job has not
committed Sin he is forced to concede that he has, and then ask for forgiveness. Through
these discourses, Bildad fortifies his faith in the outright use of divine requital. At the point
when looked with the uneven confirmation of Job's agony, Bildad declines to give up his
position8. Rather, as Eliphaz, he re-assesses his starting perceptions about Job. He not just
suggests that Job is nearer to the underhanded than anybody understood, he eventually expels
the privilege of anybody to scrutinize the activities of God—whose insight far surpasses
human capacity.
Of the three companions, Zophar has minimal movement in his discourses. He starts
with the outright affirmation that Job must be in charge of his agony due to sin9. He doesn't
7 Williams, Clayton J. The Shadow of Christ in the Book of Job. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.
8 Lenzi, Alan. "The Book of Job: Your Literary Theophany." (2016).
9 Willmington, Harold. "Job at a Glance." (2017).

5THEODICY
consider Job's torment to be clarified away. Zophar's endurance is additionally noted in the
way that, only he, has just two addresses—not notwithstanding offering a third discourse. In
his first discourse, Zophar communicates his dissatisfaction at Job's strength and
unequivocally announces that Job is a miscreant and hasn't been rebuffed for the greater part
of his transgressions. “Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin” says Zophar tko
establish his idea that it is for sure that Job has sinned and he is punished for what he has
done. So the friends altogether come to their own conclusions without even trying to
contemplate about the actual situation.
The theodicy in the book of Job is exceptional because God himself is seen to be
bragging about the faith of Job and He is sure that even if something and happens to Job he
would not be questioning God for accuse him of unjust behaviour in anyways10. The book is
all about the unconditional faith of Job on God’s system of justice. The fact the three friends
of Job also has faith on the justice system of God but the mistake they commit is questioning
a pure devotee of the Lord about committing sin even when Job himself several times plead
them to understand that he has not committed any sin and that there must be some greater
desire of god behind the present condition that he is facing.
The main argument and theodicy presented by Job in the book that God is
omnipresent and that his activities cannot be understood by the limited human brain, hence
when Bildad says that he is sure about the sins committed by job, he is seen to stating that
God’s activities cannot be explained or understood so easily. “I say to God, 'Do not condemn
me. Let me know what You charge me with. (10:2) How many are my iniquities and sins?
Advise me of my transgression and sin”. Job himself endeavours to enquire about the reasons
10 Morriston, Wes. "Protest and Enlightenment in the Book of Job." Renewing Philosophy of Religion:
Exploratory Essays(2018).

6THEODICY
behind his plight to the Lord but he never accuses Him of injustice. Or he never accepts that
he himself has sinned.
The style of prologue and epilogue differs in the way of presentation and the style
than other Biblical books of the Old Testament11. The book uses prose for sections that are
narrative and poetry for the sections which are dialogues between Job and his three friends.
There are many perspectives of theodicy in the book of Job. “Man is rewarded of his faith”,
this is the final verdict of the book of Job. The speeches given by the three friends of Job
gives the reader an idea about the various possible flaws that can be there in a man, One of
the mistake is to take for granted that man understands the various actions of Job and this
leads to various speculations about the activities of God and why he has acted in a particular
way12.
The key is to trust the actions of God and have faith that there must be a greater
reason why something particular has happened. The theodicy reinstates the ultimate and
unquestioned faith on the lord. Both the prologue and epilogue forms an important part of the
book for the reader to understand the message from the speeches of the three friends of Job. It
is the endeavour and journey of man in understanding the glories of God. The discourse of
the three friends with Job gives the understanding of what is true faith and what is speculative
faith.
11 Hawley, Lance R. Metaphor Coherence in the Book of Job. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2016.
12 Hawley, Lance R. Metaphor Coherence in the Book of Job. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2016.

7THEODICY
Reference:
Andersen, Ragnar. "THE ELIHU SPEECHES: THEIR PLACE AND SENSE IN THE
BOOK OF JOB." TYNDALE BULLETIN66, no. 1 (2015): 75-94.
Cook, John A. "Job. Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary." (2016): 258-259.
Gray, John. The Book of Job. Sheffield Phoenix, 2015.
Hawley, Lance R. Metaphor Coherence in the Book of Job. The University of Wisconsin-
Madison, 2016.
Lambert, David A. "The book of Job in ritual perspective." Journal of Biblical
Literature 134, no. 3 (2015): 557-575.
Lenzi, Alan. "The Book of Job: Your Literary Theophany." (2016).
Morriston, Wes. "Protest and Enlightenment in the Book of Job." Renewing Philosophy of
Religion: Exploratory Essays(2018).
Murphy, Roland Edmund. The Book of Job. Paulist Press, 2014.
Pohl, William C. " In All this Job Did Not Sin with His Lips": Divine Speech Ethics in the
Book of Job. 2016.
Priddy, David Wayne. "Sensing the Vexation: an Embodied Reading of the Book of Job."
PhD diss., Wake Forest University, 2016.
Williams, Clayton J. The Shadow of Christ in the Book of Job. Wipf and Stock Publishers,
2017.
Willmington, Harold. "Job at a Glance." (2017).