Week 6 Story
Theoretical Job
Story source: Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish by J. E. Hanauer (1907).
Story source: Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish by J. E. Hanauer (1907).
Authors Note:
The fact that Jobs's wife was tested to determine his faith or excess of faith intrigues me. If God was waiting to see if Job was loyal why didn’t god just stop when Job continued to praise him through his sickness and other trials? Why did God have to also test his wife? The only logical explanation I can come up with is that if God was simply testing the resolve of Jobs's faith he would have stopped with Job unless the definition of his extends to his family as well. I.e. if Job had a truly genuine faith then his family will be faithful as well. It is for this reason that I present the following scenario depicting the problem with this statement.
There once was a man named Job. He was for all the world blameless. All those around him turned to him for godly advice. He never practiced sin and lived an upright and blameless life.
One day Job met a woman. This woman noticed how naive Job was. He had always behaved perfectly because he was never tempted to sin. She knew she could take advantage of this. Job had never been given the opportunity to be with a woman. The Temptress used this to her advantage.
Knowing Job had accommodated great wealth in his life she seduced him. The Temptress convinced him that she was God’s gift to him for all the good he had done in his life. The naive Job fell for the Temptresses' rouse and allowed himself to fall madly in love with this woman. Within weeks of their meeting Job proposed and they were married.
As soon as the documents were signed, and half of Jobs assets belonged to the temptress she returned to her home where she lived with another man. That evening they made love, for the temptresses heart never truly belonged to Job at all. Rather, she married him for his money. However, in this act of laying with the man she loved but not the man she was married to, she committed adultery. This single act was enough to separate her from God and earn her an eternity in hell. Furthermore, it is because she was married to Job that this blameless man befell the same fate. Never having personally sinned Job was tossed out into the fire at the time of his death where there were weeping and gnashing of teeth for all of time.
Job cried out to God “God why oh why have you forsaken me? I have done all that you have asked, I have sacrificed in your name, I have never sinned, and have always remained blameless in all things.” God replied to Job saying, “My son, I am sorry, but your purity extends to that of your family as well, and your wife has befouled your spirit, thus earning you this damnation.”
Upon hearing this Job fell to his knees and wept, a broken shell of a righteous man.
The fact that Jobs's wife was tested to determine his faith or excess of faith intrigues me. If God was waiting to see if Job was loyal why didn’t god just stop when Job continued to praise him through his sickness and other trials? Why did God have to also test his wife? The only logical explanation I can come up with is that if God was simply testing the resolve of Jobs's faith he would have stopped with Job unless the definition of his extends to his family as well. I.e. if Job had a truly genuine faith then his family will be faithful as well. It is for this reason that I present the following scenario depicting the problem with this statement.
There once was a man named Job. He was for all the world blameless. All those around him turned to him for godly advice. He never practiced sin and lived an upright and blameless life.
One day Job met a woman. This woman noticed how naive Job was. He had always behaved perfectly because he was never tempted to sin. She knew she could take advantage of this. Job had never been given the opportunity to be with a woman. The Temptress used this to her advantage.
Knowing Job had accommodated great wealth in his life she seduced him. The Temptress convinced him that she was God’s gift to him for all the good he had done in his life. The naive Job fell for the Temptresses' rouse and allowed himself to fall madly in love with this woman. Within weeks of their meeting Job proposed and they were married.
As soon as the documents were signed, and half of Jobs assets belonged to the temptress she returned to her home where she lived with another man. That evening they made love, for the temptresses heart never truly belonged to Job at all. Rather, she married him for his money. However, in this act of laying with the man she loved but not the man she was married to, she committed adultery. This single act was enough to separate her from God and earn her an eternity in hell. Furthermore, it is because she was married to Job that this blameless man befell the same fate. Never having personally sinned Job was tossed out into the fire at the time of his death where there were weeping and gnashing of teeth for all of time.
Job cried out to God “God why oh why have you forsaken me? I have done all that you have asked, I have sacrificed in your name, I have never sinned, and have always remained blameless in all things.” God replied to Job saying, “My son, I am sorry, but your purity extends to that of your family as well, and your wife has befouled your spirit, thus earning you this damnation.”
Upon hearing this Job fell to his knees and wept, a broken shell of a righteous man.
The twist here on Job's wife is so cool, Kev! Once you start asking "why" about traditional legends, all kinds of things will start to happen because in traditional storytelling, "why" is often not explicitly stated as part of the story! So when you ask "why" like this, it can open up all kinds of storytelling possibilities, like using the "temptress" theme (which recurs again in the Bible many times) in order to explore one possible answer. I especially like the way this is a twist on the idea of Satan-as-Temptor... and of course the word "tempt" originally just meant to test something, to try something (like in our word "attempt" even now). This perspective on Job and his wife now resonates with Adam and his wife. I did a story about Adam and Eve that you might enjoy, one inspired by an ancient Jewish (and Muslim) legend about Samael: do you know the story of Eve babysitting for Samel's baby? Here's a version: Who's to Blame in the Garden of Eden?
ReplyDeleteAs you write the stories, you might want to think about how a title can add another dimension to the story: with the title, you are setting the reader's mind in motion already, which is a good opportunity. So instead of just "Week 6 Story" you could also include an actual title for the story that people are about to read here, setting the mood and/or prompting their curiosity about what's to come.
Hey Kevin! This is a great retelling, and I agree with Laura that asking "why" can usually lead to some pretty interesting endings. Your writing style is interesting and enjoyable, and as I have grown up reading Job's story, this was definitely a different take on it. The last line is very powerful, and I am excited to read more of your stories.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kev. Great retelling! I find that most ancient stories, especially religious ones, start to fall apart the second you ask "why?". Seeing you take that head on was interesting. I loved the immediate cut off that happened. It made me do a mental doubletake and felt in line with the premise you built this story on. I wonder what the opposite scenario would look like. How far out could Job's purity extend and protect others?
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