Book of Job and Storm of the Century

[michal]

In the screenplay of Storm of teh Century there are many references to the book of Job, but while there are many similarities between Mike and Job do exist - they're both good people who try to do their best and are still punished, as if for nothing, I thought the ending of Job was at least had a moral, while poor Mike... Well, his suffering just seemed pointless.

When you read "The Book of Job" with a critical eye you discover that it is a very powerful story. It is the only time in the bible when a human manages to win in an argument with God and is one of the single times where God doesn't seem to come out very well. In fact, Job doesn't just win in his final accusatory argument with God, the God of the Old Testament is silenced by Job's claims and he will never speak again directly to a person - this is the last time we hear his voice.

Why did the all-powerful writer of the bible allowed this to happen? We can only guess. But the book of Job at least, to me, has a lesson. What am I supposed to learn from Mike's story? Nothing we do matter? **** happened? Can I say **** on the forum? Well, I guess if not, you're seeing *** by now...

[strange]

when u say the writer of the book of Job you realise it wasn't God who wrote it by a believer and follower? It might be that although partly based on the book of Job it King never intended to use it fully as a way of expressing the story. also I'm unsure but was Legion mentioned in the book of Job. I thought he was mentioned in a parable in te$h new testament.

[michal]

Legion was from the New Testament - not that that made it any less frightening .

And Jewish faith doesn't claim that God has written the bible. Only the 10 commandments were so called Given, or more accurately dictated to Moses by God. the rest of the books were written by the bibles writers, and many of which were during King David's and Salomon times. Makes sense. These king had the money to get the job done.

[Doc Wilson]

The interesting thing about Job is that it was written in two parts, and the two parts are distinct in form and message. The story of Job's misfortunes and his conversation with God is a didactic poem. The introduction and the ending are a prose "framing" of the original story, and these prose parts were written centuries later, perhaps as an attempt to clarify the original poem for the common folk.

So in the original poem, we read of job's misfortunes and his friends interpretations of these misfortunes as punishment for sins. Job protests his innocence. God appears and basically tells Job that He is the boss and who the hell is Job to be questioning him. Faced with the divine glory, Job repents and says "I am undone". There the original story ends.

Some later (and less sophisticated) hand added the intro where we see God and the Devil making a wager, with God agreeing to let Satan inflict job with all sorts of calamity in the interest of winning the bet. This same hand added the "happy ending" whereupon Job is restored to prosperity.