Job Discussion Questions - Special attention to Questions 2, 3 and 4

1. In what ways does the book of Job challenge traditional wisdom literature such as that found in Proverbs (as described by Bandstra)?

2. Pick one of Job’s three friends. Describe his reaction to and interpretation of Job’s predicament and Job’s response in the first three sections below:

Eliphaz - Job 4:1-11; 5:1-27 and Job's reply 6:1-7:21

Bildad - 8:1-22 and Job's reply 9:1-10:22

Zophar - 11:1-20 and Job's reply 12:1-14:22

If you have time, you should go on to these further exchanges:

Eliphaz again:  15:1-35 and Job's reply 16:1-17:16

Bildad's second speech - 18:1-21 and Job's reply 19:1-29

Zophar again - 20:1-29 and Job's reply 21:1-34

Eliphaz' last speech - 22:1-30 and Job's reply 23:1-24:25

3. Summarize the prose story found in 1-2 and 42.  What is the relationship between the prose story in 1-2 and 42 and the dialogues sandwiched in between? What is the effect of the sandwiching on the reader?  

4. How do you interpret God’s response to Job in 38-41 and Job’s reactions in 40: 1-5 and 42:1-6? Do you find God’s response satisfying? Why or why not?

5. If you have read MacLeish’s J.B. or Kafka’s The Trial or seen Neil Simon’s play "God’s Favorite", describe the key elements of the author’s interpretation of Job.

Key terms often used in discussions of Job:

theodicy - problem of evil, asks how God can be just (and all-powerful or omnipotent, and all-knowing or omniscient), if God creates or permits suffering evil, especially gratuitous suffering.  More popularly, "Why do bad things happen to good people?

The satan/adversary/accuser -  ha-satan - the figure in the prose tale who is a member of the heavenly council and who challenges God to test Job. Crenshaw in the HarperCollins’ Study Bible annotations calls the satan, "the Lord’s master spy on the road toward becoming a hostile agent." This figure in Job is not yet the devil as developed in later Jewish and Christian theology and culture.