The Routledge Dictionary of Judaism
The principal character in the biblical book of Job, which addresses the problem of human suffering: how can a just God explain the human condition, the prosperity of the wicked, and the suffering of the righteous? The book is in two parts, a prose prologue and epilogue, Job 1:1– 2:13, 42:7–17, and a poetic discussion, Job 3:1–42:6. The story told in the prologue and epilogue concerns a pious and prosperous man who loses his children, health, and wealth. Job is being tested before the Lord by the prosecutor, Satan.
He will not curse God for the unfair treatment. At the end, he receives his health and wealth and a new set of sons and daughters. The poems involve two soliloquies, discourses of three friends trying to explain what has happened with Job’s rebuttals (“Job’s comforters”), a hymn, an oath of innocence, speeches of a younger friend, and God’s intervention with questions spoken from the whirlwind, answered by Job.
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