Creative Retellings of Job
The Book of Job has inspired a number of creative retellings, literary and cinematic. Three from the 20th and early 21st centuries will serve as examples.
H.G. Wells, in his 1919 novel The Undying Fire, addresses the despair wrought by the destruction of WWI. His protagonist is named Job Huss. Huss is a schoolmaster who experiences unbearable suffering, including cancer, the loss of all his savings, and the death of his son in the war. There is a prologue to this story, as in the book of Job, in which God and Satan have a dialogue about the story of Job:
“There was a certain man in the land of Uz whose name was Job.”
“We remember him.”
“We had a wager of sorts,” said Satan. “It was some time ago.”
“The wager was never very distinct – and now that you remind me of it, there is no record of your paying.”
“Did I lose or win? The issue was obscured by discussion. How those men did talk! You intervened. There was no decision….”
Satan rested his dark face on his hand, and looked down between his
knees through the pellucid floor to that little eddying in the ether which
makes our world. “Job,” he said, “lives still. ”
Then after an interval: “The whole earth is now—Job.”
(H. G. Wells, The Undying Fire, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1919, 8-9)
Likewise, after the cataclysm of WWII, a 1956 play by Archibald MacLeish, J.B., retold the story of Job in the setting of 20th century America. The protagonist, J.B., and his wife Sarah lose their five children one by one to various tragedies: war, automobile accident, murder. Their city is bombed and they are left to live in the ruins. Two actors in this play-within-a-play, Zuss and Nickles, play the parts of God and the Satan.
Mr. Zuss: Oh, there’s always
Someone playing Job.Nickles: There must be
Thousands! What’s that got to do with it?
Thousands – not with camels either:
Millions and millions of mankind
Burned, crushed, broken, mutilated,
Slaughtered, and for what? For thinking!
For walking around in the world in the wrong
Skin, the wrong-shaped noses, eyelids:
Sleeping the wrong night in the wrong city
London, Dresden, Hiroshima.
There never could have been so many
Suffered more for less. But where do
I come in? . . . .Mr. Zuss: All we have to do is start.
Job will join us. Job will be there.Nickles: I know. I know. I know. I’ve seen him.
Job is everywhere we go…
(Archibald MacLeish, J.B., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1956, 12-13)
Both of these literary works use the story of Job to address the suffering of their own time and place, including the immense suffering of two world wars. Both works claim that there are Jobs everywhere, that Job’s story continues to be lived out in every time and place.
The last work – filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2009 dark comedy, “A Serious Man” – does not retell Job’s story quite as explicitly as the two works already cited, but it certainly has many parallels with Job. This work is also set in the 20th century, but focuses on individual suffering and the seeming absurdity of life. The film tells the story of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish man in 1960s Minnesota who endures several personal trials. His destitute and troubled brother moves in with him. His wife leaves him for another man and kicks him and his brother out of their house. Someone tries to sabotage him at the university where he teaches and his mounting legal fees tempt him to take a bribe that one of his students offers him. His wife’s lover dies in a car accident and she insists that he pay for the funeral.
Larry wants to do the right thing. He wants to be “a serious man,” so he tries to consult the three rabbis at his synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of worship. Jesus often taught in synagogues where he sometimes ran afoul of Jewish leaders. In the book of Acts, Paul and others attend synagogues and teach in them. More. The senior rabbi won’t see him and the other two are singularly unhelpful. The conversation with the second one, Rabbi Nachtner, ends like this:
Rabbi Nachtner: These questions that are bothering you, Larry, maybe they’re like a toothache. You feel them for a while and then they go away.
Larry: I don’t want it to just go away. I want an answer!
Rabbi Nachtner: Sure! We all want the answer. HaShem [God] doesn’t owe us the answer, Larry. HaShem doesn’t owe us anything. The obligation runs the other way.
Larry: Why does he make us feel the questions if he’s not going to give us any answers?
Rabbi Nachtner: He hasn’t told me.
(Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man, Universal Studios, 2009)
While the Coen brothers have stated that they did not pattern the movie after the book of Job, many film critics and commentators have discussed the strong parallels between the book and the movie, including the three unhelpful counselors and a whirlwind/tornado at the end of the film. The emphasis of the film, unlike the two literary examples cited above, is on the absurdity of life rather than its tragedy, and the film even finds a good deal of humor in that absurdity.
All these creative works – and many others that could be cited – demonstrate that the story of Job continues to resonate in powerful ways with each new generation. The questions that Job raises are as old as the Bible (and probably older) and as current as today’s newspaper. “Job lives still” and continues to ponder the questions that inexplicable suffering raises.
I Know that My Redeemer Lives
Undoubtedly the most famous phrase from the book of Job is found in Job 19:25, “I know that my redeemerA redeemer is someone who literally buys back, wins back, or frees from distress. The Hebrew term for redeemer (go'el) means to deliver or rescue. It may be a person or God who performs the act of redemption. More lives.” Though the original identity of this redeemer is a matter of scholarly debate, from earliest times Christians have argued that the redeemer is Christ. This belief has given rise to at least two influential pieces of music.
“I Know that My Redeemer Lives” is an Easter hymn written by SamuelThe judge who anointed the first two kings of Israel. More Medley, an English pastor and musician, around 1775. Medley, after being severely injured as a young man while serving in the Royal Navy, became a Christian and eventually a Baptist pastor and hymn writer. His most famous hymn uses the phrase from Job to proclaim faith in JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More Christ and in his resurrection, and to affirm the continuing significance of Jesus’ resurrection for the believer:
He lives and grants me daily breath;
He lives and I shall conquer death;
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to bring me safely there.He lives, all glory to His name!
He lives, my Jesus, still the same.
Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives,
“I know that my Redeemer lives!”
Job 19 also provides the opening proclamation of Part 3 of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio MessiahThe Messiah was the one who, it was believed, would come to free the people of Israel from bondage and exile. In Jewish thought the Messiah is the anticipated one who will come, as prophesied by Isaiah. In Christian thought Jesus of Nazareth is identified... More. After the stirring Hallelujah Chorus, a soprano, accompanied by strings, sings lyrics that quote Job 19:25-26, combined with 1 Corinthians 15:20:
I know that my redeemer liveth,
And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though worms may destroy this body,
Yet in my flesh shall I see God.
For now is Christ risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep.
This aria introduces the final theme of Messiah, that because Christ lives, we also shall live, that death no longer has power over us. Job proclaims in hope, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” And countless believers, including Handel and Medley, have used those words to proclaim that same faith in the God of resurrection life.
Job as Patriarch
Many commentators through the centuries have noticed that Job bears a striking resemblance to the patriarchsOriginally patriarchs were men who exercised authority over an extended family or tribe. The book of Genesis introduces Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the three patriarchs of the people of Israel. More of Genesis – AbrahamGod promised that Abraham would become the father of a great nation, receive a land, and bring blessing to all nations. More, IsaacSon born to Abraham and Sarah in fulfillment of God's promise. More, and JacobThe son of Isaac and Rebekah, renamed Israel, became the father of the twelve tribal families. More. Several rabbis compare Job with Abraham, some favorably, some unfavorably. One compares Abraham’s faithfulness to Job’s. Another maintains that if Job had not railed against God, his name would have been included in the daily prayers alongside the names of the patriarchs: “If he [Job] had not cried out, as we now say in the Tefillah, ‘God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob,’ we would also say, ‘and God of Job’” (Pesiq. Rab. 47:3).
Some rabbinic traditions place Job in the time of Abraham. Others assert that Job married DinahDinah was the daughter of Jacob by Leah. More, Jacob’s daughter (see “Job’s Wife”). The SeptuagintThe Septuagint is a pre-Christian (third to first century BCE) Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures. It is believed that the term Septuagint derives from the number of scholars-seventy (or seventy-two)-who reputedly did the work of translation. More translation of Job ends with a genealogyGenealogy involves the study and tracing of families through the generations - in short, family history. One genealogy in Genesis traces the nations descended from Noah. In the New Testament Matthew traces the ancestry of Jesus back to Abraham, while Jesus' genealogy in Luke goes... More that identifies Job as a grandson of EsauSon of Isaac and Rebekah and the older twin brother of Jacob. More, a direct descendant of Abraham. The apocryphal Testament of Job and most of the patristic writers follow this tradition.
These ancient interpreters of the Book of Job noticed the many connections between Job’s story and that of the biblical patriarchs.
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- Job’s abundance of livestock is reminiscent of the wealth of the patriarchs (Genesis 26:13-14/Job 1:3; Genesis 30:29-30/Job 1:10).
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- The death of Job is described with the same words as the deaths of Abraham and Isaac. All three men die “old and full of days” (Genesis 25:8; 35:29; Job 42:17).
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- Both Abraham and Job are described as God-fearers (Genesis 22:12; Job 1:1).
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- Both Jacob and Job are designated tam, “blameless, whole-hearted” (Genesis 25:27; Job 1:1, 8; 2:3).
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- Job, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, acts as a priestA priest is a person who has the authority to perform religious rites. In New Testament times priests were responsible for daily offerings and sacrifices in the temple. More (Genesis 12:7; 13:18; 22:13; 26:25; 31:54; 35:14; Job 1:5; 42:8-9). And he even prays, like Abraham, for his enemies (Genesis 20:7, 17; Job 42:8-9).
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- Two of the names for God used most often in the book of Job – El and Shaddai – are associated with the patriarchs: “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name YHWH I did not make myself known to them” (Exodus 6:3).
The author of the book of Job seems to have deliberately echoed the stories of the patriarchs in Genesis in order to place his story in that time period. These connections were so evocative that at least one Second TempleThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged... More Jewish writer read the Genesis narratives in light of the later story of Job. That is, the author of the 2nd century BCE apocryphal work Jubilees retells the story of the binding/sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 by referencing the prologue of Job. Why would God demand from Abraham the terrible sacrificeSacrifice is commonly understood as the practice of offering or giving up something as a sign of worship, commitment, or obedience. In the Old Testament grain, wine, or animals are used as sacrifice. In some New Testament writings Jesus' death on the cross as the... More of his son? Because Prince Mastema – the Satan figure in Jubilees – places doubts in God’s mind, claiming that Abraham loves Isaac more than he loves God. Abraham, like Job, passes the test and Mastema/Satan is defeated.
Why did the author of Job pattern his protagonist after the patriarchs? Perhaps the author could not find the answer to suffering in the Sinai covenantA covenant is a promise or agreement. In the Bible the promises made between God and God's people are known as covenants; they state or imply a relationship of commitment and obedience. More, so he reached back to the time of Genesis, the time of the patriarchs and even before that, the time of creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and... More.
Job’s Wife
Job’s wife has come in for some bad press from commentators through the centuries. John Chrysostom, an early church father of the 4th century, asked why Satan did not take Job’s wife along with his sons and daughters and he answered that Satan considered her a particularly effective means by which to afflict Job. Augustine, likewise, called Job’s wife diaboli adjutrix (helper of the Devil) and Calvin designated her organum Satanai (instrument of Satan).
Job’s wife fares only somewhat better with certain rabbinic interpreters. In rabbinic midrashMidrash in Judaism refers to methods of interpretation or exegesis. Midrashic exegesis is intended to derive a deeper meaning from a text. More, she is compared to EveThe name of the first woman, wife of Adam. More, who (according to the rabbis) persuaded her husband to sin. Job learns from Adam’s mistake and does not listen to the advice of his wife (Genesis Rabbah 19:12). In another midrash, Job chastises his wife for acting like a GentileA gentile is anyone who is not Jewish. The term, which is derived from words that the Bible uses to denote the "nations" of the world, reflects beliefs that God had designated Israel as a nation that would be distinct from others, and a blessing... More, cursing God when bad things happen, instead of being true to her Jewish faith and blessingBlessing is the asking for or the giving of God's favor. Isaac was tricked into blessing Jacob instead of his firstborn Esau. At the Last Supper Jesus offered a blessing over bread and wine. To be blessed is to be favored by God. More God in good times and bad times alike (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael , Bachodesh 10).
The apocryphal Testament of Job (c. 1st century BCE or 1st century CE), by contrast, treats Job’s wife with notable sympathy. She is given a name, Sitis, and it is said that she provided for her ailing husband by working as a servant. She even sells her hair to Satan (disguised as a bread-seller) in exchange for three loaves of bread to give to Job. The Testament of Job also gives Job’s wife a long speech in which she mourns her children and laments Job’s suffering, advising him to seek the comfort of the grave. Sitis dies of exhaustion before Job’s fortunes are restored, but she dies in peace as she sees a vision of her children in heaven. The Testament of Job then claims that Job married a second time, and that his second wife was Dinah, daughter of Jacob (Genesis 34). The Testament of Job is not alone in identifying Job’s wife with Dinah. The TalmudThe Talmud is one of the most important texts of Judaism. More also makes the same claim, though the latter work understands Dinah to be Job’s first and only wife (b. B. Bat. 15b).
Artists have depicted Job’s wife in various ways. The 17th century Spanish painter Jusepe de Ribera depicts Mrs. Job as something of a shrew in his 1632 painting, “Job Berated by his Wife.” Job sits on the ground looking up to heaven and ignoring his wife while she shakes her finger at him. His contemporary, though, the French painter Georges de La Tour, in his painting, “Job and His Wife” portrays her in soft candlelight, leaning over Job as he sits on a stool. Her expression and her stance are softer in this painting, more comforting, and Job gazes up into her face.
William Blake likewise, in his 1825 series of engravings, “Illustrations of the Book of Job,” depicts Job’s wife sympathetically. In Blake’s illustrations, Job’s wife is almost always beside Job, sharing in his sorrows and in his joys. In the illustration of the messengers coming with bad tidings, Job’s wife laments right alongside Job. In the illustration of the whirlwind speeches, Job and his wife both kneel, looking up at God in the whirlwind, while the three “friends” cower in fear. When Job speaks to God in chapter 42, his wife is right there beside him, according to Blake, being blessed by God together with Job.
The diversity of opinions about Job’s wife through the centuries is due to the fact that she speaks only once in the book, and her words are ambiguous (“Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die” – Job 2:9). The Hebrew word translated “curse” actually means “bless,” but that’s true of the other instances of “curse” in chapters 1-2. Is the word a euphemism for “curse,” as it seems to be when Job or the Satan says it (1:5, 11; 2:5)? Or does Job’s wife actually counsel him to bless God? As with much in the Book of Job, one’s interpretation of the words of Job’s wife depends in large part on the tone in which one hears them. Readers must decide for themselves what to think of Job’s wife, though recent interpreters are certainly justified in pointing out that the lost children are hers as well. She suffered great losses and so compassion would seem to be an appropriate response.
Job: Jew or Gentile?
The rabbis of the Talmud debate about whether Job is a Jew or a Gentile, and about what time period he lived in. As regards the latter question, different rabbis claim that Job lived in different biblical eras, anywhere from the time of Abraham to the time of EstherQueen in Persia who prevented an anti-Jewish pogrom. More.
Most rabbis consider Job a righteousA righteous person is one who is ethical and faithful to God's covenant. Righteousness in the Old Testament is an attitude of God; in the New Testament it is a gift of God through grace. In the New Testament righteousness is a relationship with God... More Gentile, since there is no mention in the book of any Israelite place or historical event. One Talmudic tradition makes Job a Canaanite and places him in the land of Canaan at the time of the spies sent by MosesProphet who led Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land and received the law at Sinai. More in Numbers 13 (b. B. Bat. 15a). Another tradition identifies Job as one of Pharaoh’s counselors, along with Jethro and BalaamA soothsayer who blessed Israel at the end of the wilderness wanderings. More (b. Sotah 11a, b. Sanh. 106a). In this latter tradition, however, Job is not considered righteous; in fact, his suffering is God’s punishment because he does not speak up to defend the Israelites from Pharaoh’s murderous intentions. Still other rabbis list Job as one of seven Gentile prophets who prophesied to the nations before the TorahThe Torah is the law of Moses, also known as the first five books of the Bible. To many the Torah is a combination of history, theology, and a legal or ritual guide. More was given to Israel (b. B. Bat. 15b).
There is a strong minority opinion in the Talmud that identifies Job as an Israelite or Jew. Rabbi Johanan and Rabbi Eleazar both argue that Job was one of the people who returned from the Babylonian Exile (b. B. Bat. 15a). Against the idea that Job was a Gentile prophet, it is argued that he was instead an Israelite who prophesied to the Gentiles (b. B. Bat. 15b). Rabbi Johanan, after reading the book of Job, comments, “Blessed is he who was brought up in the Torah and who has given delight to his Maker” (b. Ber. 17a).
Patristic biblical exegetes, for their part, claimed Job as a Gentile and a sort of proto-Christian; one who was outside the covenant with Israel, but nevertheless had faith in God and was counted righteous. Gregory the Great writes:
It is not without cause that the life of a just pagan is set before us as a model side by side with the life of the Israelites. Our Savior, coming for the redemption of Jews and Gentiles, willed also to be foretold by the voices of Jews and Gentiles.
(Gregory the Great, Moralia on Job: Preface §5)
Job and Resurrection
The Old Testament’s only explicit reference to the bodily resurrection of individuals is found in DanielAn interpreter of dreams who was delivered from the lions' den. More 12:2. Many commentators, however, see hints of resurrection faith in Job 19:25-27. Indeed, it can be argued that the whole book of Job describes a kind of resurrection – a movement from grief to joy, from emptiness to fullness, from death to new life. Instead of succumbing to despair, Job and his wife choose to live again, having more children after the cataclysm. Biblical scholar Jon Levenson writes similarly of the restoration of Job; though it is not resurrection of the dead,
It is a reversal nonetheless, the replacement of despair with hope, of gloom with shining light. It was such a reversal in the same direction, a restoration in the same direction, that the rabbis (along with their Pharisaic antecedents and Christian contemporaries) expected in the future resurrection of the dead.
(Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life, Yale University Press, 2006, 70)
According to the last verses of the book, Job lives a long and prosperous life after his suffering; he sees four generations of his family and then he dies, “old and full of days” (42:16-17).
The Septuagint translators of the book of Job (who translated the Hebrew text into Greek) seem to have seen the same kind of resurrection theme in the book. They end their translation of Job with the same narrative note as in the Hebrew text – “And Job died, old and full of days” – but then they add this striking statement: “And it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.”
The book of Job, then, with its story of new life after great tragedy, is part of that long trajectory of faith that begins in the Old Testament and eventually leads to the Jewish and Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead.
“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away”
Job first responds to his losses (of his wealth and his children) with words of doxology: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
These words have often been used over the centuries in funeral liturgies. For instance, in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, still in use in the Church of England, the minister meets the body of the deceased at the entrance to the church with these words:
I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. (John 11:25-26)
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. (Job 19:25-27)
We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (1 Timothy 6:7; Job 1:21)
It is striking that there are two passages from the book of Job used in the funeral liturgy to acknowledge both the depth of suffering experienced at the death of a loved one and the hope of the resurrection. The idea, however, that God is the source of both giving life and taking it seems to have troubled more contemporary believers. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer used by the American Episcopal Church replaces the last quotation from 1 TimothyThe companion on Paul's later journeys for whom two pastoral epistles are named. More 1 and Job 1 with passages from Romans and Revelation:
For none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself.
For if we live, we live unto the Lord.
and if we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:7-8)Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord;
even so saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors. (Revelation 14:13)
The Church of England’s 2000 Common Worship splits the difference: it keeps the traditional liturgy but also offers alternatives. It includes the passages from Job 1 and Job 19 as two of several passages from Scripture that can be used at the beginning of the funeral service. The minister is instructed to choose one or more of the passages to read as he or she meets the coffin at the entrance to the church.
Job’s first response to his losses has also inspired contemporary Christian music such as “Praise You in This Storm” by the group Casting Crowns (2005):
I barely hear your whisper through the rain
I’m with you
And as your mercyMercy is a term used to describe leniency or compassion. God's mercy is frequently referred to or invoked in both the Old and New Testaments. More falls
I raise my hands and praise
The God who gives and takes away.
And “Blessed be Your Name” by Matt Redman (2002):
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name
Job’s first response has shaped liturgy and worship through the centuries. While some believers are understandably troubled by the thought of a God who “gives and takes away,” others are comforted by the thought of God’s sovereignty and choose to dwell in the mysteryA mystery is something secret, hidden and not perceived by ordinary means. In the book of Daniel a significant mystery is revealed through divine revelation (Daniel 2); Paul speaks of a mystery of God in Romans 11 and again in Ephesians 3. In speaking of... More of the doxology Job speaks. For all believers, though, it is important to note that Job’s response in chapter 1 is not his only response to his suffering, and his later prayers – cries of lament that question and argue with God – are also commended in the end by God (Job 42:7-8).
Sitting Shiva
At the very end of the second chapter of Job, Job’s three friends – Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar – come to comfort Job for all of his misfortunes. “They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great” (Job 2:13).
The practice of visiting those who have been bereaved continues today in the Jewish custom of “sitting shiva.” The word “shiva” is the Hebrew word for the number seven. Shiva is a traditional seven-day period of mourning in which members of the bereaved family refrain from working, stay home together, and receive visitors who come to console them for the loss of their loved one. In an echo of this passage in Job, it is common for the family members to sit on low stools or even on cushions on the floor to signify their grief.
The Talmud cites Genesis 7:10 as one of the origins of shiva. “And after seven days the waters of the floodThe flood refers to the catastrophic deluge in Genesis. In the biblical account Noah, his family, and selected beasts survive the flood in an ark; thereafter they received a rainbow in the sky as a sign of God's promise. Many other cultures also have flood... More came on the earth.” The rabbis interpret this to be a seven-day period of mourning for Methuselah, grandfather of NoahBuilt the ark in which his family and the animals were saved from a flood. More (Genesis 5:27). The practice is made more explicit in Genesis 50:10, when Joseph and his brothers mourn for their father Jacob for seven days; and here in Job, when Job’s comforters sit with him in silence for seven days. The practice of sitting shiva continues today as a powerful ritual of mourning and condolence.
“Skin of My Teeth”
In much of Job 19, Job is in the pitA pit is a hole or a cavity in the ground. While a pit can be actual in the Bible, it is often a metaphor for separation or abandonment. The Psalms frequently speak about going down to the pit, a place from which - it... More of despair and he describes God as a divine warriorGod was the divine warrior who successfully led Israel into battle (as reported in Miriam's Song in the book of Exodus). This term is later applied to Jesus, especially in the book of Revelation where he rides forth as a divine warrior leading the armies... More attacking him relentlessly. In the course of that description, he says this: “My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh / and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth” (Job 19:20).
The phrase “skin of my teeth” began to appear in writing around 1600 in the English-speaking world. This usage corresponds with the publication of the first publicly available English translations of the Bible, including the Geneva Bible (1560) and the King James Version (1611), which rendered the verse, “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.”
Teeth, of course, do not have skin, but the phrase is an evocative way of describing a close call, a near miss. Job’s description of his suffering continues to live on in this English idiom.
William Blake’s “Illustrations of the Book of Job”
Many artists over the centuries have depicted scenes from the book of Job. One of the most influential illustrators of Job was William Blake (1757-1827), the English poet, mystic, painter, and engraver. After creating, over the course of his career, several paintings and drawings of the Book of Job, Blake in 1825-26 produced a set of 22 engravings of the book. In the center of each engraving is a scene from the Book of Job, surrounded by a border that quotes Job and other biblical books and includes related symbols. In the engraving that depicts the first whirlwind speech, for instance, where God speaks of establishing the world, the border includes symbols of the six days of creation in Genesis 1, before the creation of the SabbathSabbath is a weekly day of rest, the seventh day, observed on Saturday in Judaism and on Sunday in Christianity. In the book of Genesis, God rested on the seventh day; in the Gospel accounts Jesus and his disciples are criticized by some for not... More. In the center of the engraving, God creates the world while the angels sing for joy and Job and his wife and companions gaze up in wonder.
In these engravings and in the words surrounding them, Blake offers up his own interpretation of the book of Job. The first engraving after the title page shows Job and his family under a tree. Job and his wife are seated and their children kneel around them. Everyone is praying. Job and his wife hold books (Bibles?) in their laps and there are musical instruments hanging in the tree’s branches. The sun is setting and the moon is rising. The words directly under the scene are “Thus did Job continually,” referring to Job’s practice of offering sacrifices for his children just in case they drank too much at their parties and cursed God in their hearts (Job 1:5). Directly under this quotation is the statement, “The Letter Killeth / The Spirit giveth Life / It is Spiritually Discerned.” The first two lines are a quotation from 2 Corinthians 3:6. The last line seems to be Blake’s own encouragement to the viewer to understand his meaning.
In the last engraving, Job is shown again with his wife and their second set of children. They are again under the same tree, but they are all standing this time and playing the musical instruments that had been hung in the tree. The moon is setting and the sun is rising. Under the scene are the words, “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning” (Job 42:12), and directly under that, the quotation, “In burnt Offerings for Sin / thou hast had no Pleasure” (Hebrews 10:6).
Blake’s message seems to be that in the beginning, Job kept only the letter of God’s law, without understanding its spirit. Through his trials and tribulations and through the revelation of God in the whirlwind speeches, Job reaches new spiritual insights so that at the end, he and his family are able to live freely. They no longer offer burnt offerings (the letter of the law) but instead rejoice in the Lord. The quotation above Blake’s last scene is from the book of Revelation, where those who have conquered “the beast” sing praises to God: “Great and Marvelous are thy Works / Lord God Almighty / Just and True are thy Ways / O thou King of Saints” (Revelation 15:3). According to Blake, Job and his family are counted among the faithful, those who have come through the great ordeal and still praise God for God’s justice and might.
