Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian, and Jewish by J. E. Hanauer
Job and his Wife
Ayub, or Job, had an extremely sad story. This is a story that many religious and non-religious people know very well, and that includes me. Reading this story again in a shortened version as well as a different retelling of the story opened my eyes to see a few aspects of the story that I hadn't seen before. First, there is a theme of mercy that is recurring throughout the story. Although God puts Job through a lot of pain and suffering, he knows that Job can handle so much and gives that to Job to demonstrate his faith to his God. In this way, Job sees his God as merciful. This is a very interesting perspective to take because many people see this action as the opposite of merciful. Job's God, in a way, is hurting Job for his glory, which many people may not agree with. Later in the story, Job shows mercy to his wife after promising her 100 lashings for attempting to make a deal with the devil. Instead of the painful lashings one may think of, he gives his wife one tap with a branch that had 100 fronds on it. The second thing that I noticed in this story was the theme of obedience. Job was obedient to his God, for he never cursed his God or got angry at him, but rather suffered in silence. Job's wife was also obedient, but she was obedient to Job rather than his God. She was able to take care of Job for an extremely long time without complaining until the devil tempted her. This theme of obedience is recurs throughout the Bible. The third thing I noticed was the restoration in the story. This story is likely told to people so that they believe that their God will restore them in the same way that Job was restored at the end of the story. I think that these three elements will make for an interesting retelling of the story.
Job and his Wife
Ayub, or Job, had an extremely sad story. This is a story that many religious and non-religious people know very well, and that includes me. Reading this story again in a shortened version as well as a different retelling of the story opened my eyes to see a few aspects of the story that I hadn't seen before. First, there is a theme of mercy that is recurring throughout the story. Although God puts Job through a lot of pain and suffering, he knows that Job can handle so much and gives that to Job to demonstrate his faith to his God. In this way, Job sees his God as merciful. This is a very interesting perspective to take because many people see this action as the opposite of merciful. Job's God, in a way, is hurting Job for his glory, which many people may not agree with. Later in the story, Job shows mercy to his wife after promising her 100 lashings for attempting to make a deal with the devil. Instead of the painful lashings one may think of, he gives his wife one tap with a branch that had 100 fronds on it. The second thing that I noticed in this story was the theme of obedience. Job was obedient to his God, for he never cursed his God or got angry at him, but rather suffered in silence. Job's wife was also obedient, but she was obedient to Job rather than his God. She was able to take care of Job for an extremely long time without complaining until the devil tempted her. This theme of obedience is recurs throughout the Bible. The third thing I noticed was the restoration in the story. This story is likely told to people so that they believe that their God will restore them in the same way that Job was restored at the end of the story. I think that these three elements will make for an interesting retelling of the story.
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| Job and the Angel (Wikimedia) |
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