Job begins with the story that takes place up in the heavens…

⁃ God is there with these angelic creatures called the Sons of God and their duty is to report

⁃ God points out Job, his servant, showing how good he is to the rest of the sons

⁃ One angelic son is opposed to God — Satan

⁃ Satan questions how God is running the world and proposes that Job might not actually love God, that Job is only a good person because God rewards him

⁃ Satan insists on taking away all of Job’s rewards to see his true colors

⁃ God agrees to the experiment and allows Satan to inflict suffering on Job

⁃ Job loses everyone and everything he cares about

⁃ Amidst the suffering, Job still praises God

⁃ Job unleashes a poem that reveals his devastation

⁃ Some of Job’s friends come to visit him to offer their help

⁃ Job’s friends suggest he must be getting what he deserved since God is fair

⁃ Job and his friends go back and forth speculating why God has made him suffer

⁃ They try to come up with a list of possible sins Job may have committed

⁃ Job eventually decides to defend his innocence

⁃ Job demands that God come and explain himself in person

⁃ God comes in the form of a great storm cloud

⁃ God doesn’t give Job a direct answer nor reveals about the conversation to Satan

⁃ God takes Job on a virtual tour of the universe

⁃ God shows Job how grand the world is, how much detail there is in the world

⁃ To conclude, God shows Job two beasts and brags about how great they are

⁃ God explains to Job that these beasts are not evil and are actually a part of his good world

Moral:

From Job’s perspective, God is not just. And God’s perspective is infinitely bigger. God is dynamically interractinf with a whole universe of complexity when he makes decisions. Job is left in a place of humility. He never learned why he suffered, and yet he’s able to live in peace. The book ends with God restoring to Job double everything he lost. Therefore Job losing everything wasn’t a punishment and getting it all back wasn’t a reward. Job is able to live a life that no matter if good or bad comes, he can trust God’s wisdom.