Abraham, Jacob, and Job

Abraham

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Abraham stands up
to God

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Abraham
is silent
before God

Jacob

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Jacob struggles with God
and wins a new identity.

Job

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"In fact, to do evil is always, either directly or indirectly, to make someone else suffer . . . It is at this major point of intersection that the cry of lamentation is most sharp."
— Paul Ricoeur

Friends' Argument

• God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked.
• You are being punished.
• Therefore, you are wicked.

A just God would listen to my complaint.
God is not listening.
Therefore, God is not just.

I swear by God, who has
wronged me
and filled my cup with despair,
that while there is life in this body
and as long as I can breathe,
I will never let you convict me;
I will never give up my claim.
I will hold tight to my innocence;
my mind will never submit.

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Who is this
whose ignorant words
smear my design
with darkness?
Stand up now like a man;
I will question you: please, instruct me.

I have spoken of
the unspeakable
and tried to grasp
the infinite.

I had heard you with my ears;
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I will be quiet,
comforted that I am dust.

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Job demands
that God
be just.

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Who is God
for us?

References

• Blake, William. The Book of Job.
• Kierkegaard, Soren (1941). Fear and Trembling.
• Miles, Jack (1995). God: A Biography.
• Mitchell, Stephen (1979). The Book of Job.
• Mitchell, Stephen (1996). Genesis.

References II

• Neiman, Susan (2008). Moral Clarity.
• Ricoeur, Paul. Figuring the Sacred: Religion, Narrative and Imagination.
• Selected photos: Unsplash.com.

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