Book of Job

abcaines

abcaines

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I am currently reading through the book of Job. I've noticed something about the exchange between Job and his three "friends". There is a lot of high sounding piety coming from the friends and a lot of bitterness and frustration along with sarcasm in return from Job. Seriously, the exchanges between them are not unlike many of the exchanges on this forum! 😁🤣
 
I've wondered from time to time how difficult it would be to make Job into a stage play. It's all dialogue and would require minimal sets or costuming.

Also, unlike that Beckett play, Godot ultimately shows up and gives everyone a piece of his mind.
 
Ransom said:
I've wondered from time to time how difficult it would be to make Job into a stage play. It's all dialogue and would require minimal sets or costuming.

Also, unlike that Beckett play, Godot ultimately shows up and gives everyone a piece of his mind.
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Well, I've seen the book of Ruth adapted to a stage play for a PCC cantata. I don't remember much besides those who portrayed the harvesters in Boaz's field. The stage only had room for a few stands of grain so the harvesters were cutting them in very exaggerated slo-mo. It was hilarious. Everyone in the audience was howling with laughter. Pretty much killed the drama of the story.
 
abcaines said:
The stage only had room for a few stands of grain so the harvesters were cutting them in very exaggerated slo-mo. It was hilarious. Everyone in the audience was howling with laughter. Pretty much killed the drama of the story.
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The story of Ruth has a somewhat larger scope that requires a bit more realism and creativity in building the set. Job, on the other hand, is just a guy sitting down in the ashes, picking his scabs, and arguing about life with a few of his friends. Absurdist theatre (like Waiting for Godot) is closer in genre to Job than Ruth, and doesn't need much in terms of movement or sets.
 
Ransom said:
I've wondered from time to time how difficult it would be to make Job into a stage play. It's all dialogue and would require minimal sets or costuming.
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I'd say you're making a valid point in the way that you're saying it. I actually think it could make a good movie though focusing a lot of the back story we don't have much insight of. Christians writers doing Biblical fiction though do include lots of possible story lines.

Job's backstory must have been pretty interesting for we look to what he was,

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil. 2He had seven sons and three daughters, 3and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East. Job 1

He would have been like a Warren Buffet of his day....or like the fictional Ben Cartwright of Bonanza owning the Ponderosa. With all he owned it would be like him being an owner in modern day as someone who owned not just one car dealership but many. Being called the greatest man in all the East is significant. How did he come into this place a movie could focus upon.

The movie could start at the end of Job's blessing where we read,

So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch. No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance among their brothers.After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17And so Job died, old and full of years. Job 42: 16

Job could have one of his grandchildren on his knee and he starts telling him his tale of the early days. Then the film begins with a younger character playing Job. Many things could be said but I think such a film would have potential.
 
Ok... here's an interesting question:

Is the Book of Job a book about suffering or a book about repentance?
 
abcaines said:
Suffering is evident. I'd like to know where you all see repentance.
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Job 42:1-6. How do you frame Job’s response if not through an understanding of repentance for his mischaracterization of God as somehow in err?
 
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ALAYMAN said:
Job 42:1-6. How do you frame Job’s response if not through an understanding of repentance for his mischaracterization of God as somehow in err?
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Thank you for engaging me on this. In my reading schedule, I read Job last week or so. Along with Leviticus, Job was a book I seldom ventured into. This time, I did so with the help of TTB and J Vernon McGee. It was like drinking from a fire hose. The few times I had teaching from Job, I never got into the repentance issue but McGee made it very clear. I was curious if others have been taught such because this idea is so new to me.
 
abcaines said:
Thank you for engaging me on this. In my reading schedule, I read Job last week or so. Along with Leviticus, Job was a book I seldom ventured into. This time, I did so with the help of TTB and J Vernon McGee. It was like drinking from a fire hose. The few times I had teaching from Job, I never got into the repentance issue but McGee made it very clear. I was curious if others have been taught such because this idea is so new to me.
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I think your experience is most likely the main way that people receive teaching on Job, learning through his suffering and perseverance. I’ve never heard a message preached upon his repentance. And I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but I have taught from Job on the concept that Job was potentially presumptuous in questioning God’s allowance of tragedy in his life.
 
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