4.01.2007
The Book of Job shows the Hebrew God to be Wicked and Petty
Due to a convoluted train of thought, I got to reading the First Chapter of Job today. In my opinion, it makes me completely unimpressed with the Hebrew God (Yahweh), and I cannot understand why I would not prefer to worship a much better God like Odin after reading this. Read Job 1:1-22 here.
Job is a ridiculous story, and makes an even more ridiculous point. God is talking to Satan, and Satan challenges God with regard to his servant Job, saying that if God took from Job all that he possessed, then Job would curse God to his face. God disagrees, obviously, thinking Job to be a faithful servant. So what does God do in response to Satan's tacit wager? The God of the Hebrew Bible allows Satan to destroy the home above Job's children with wind, killing them all. God lets Satan send other tribes to come and take all of Job's animals and slay almost all of Job's servants. Job did nothing to deserve this, and there is no indication that this was bound to happen were it not for God's direct intervention in allowing Satan the power to ruin Job's life. The book does not say a single thing Job had done wrong. In fact, God supposedly allows this to come about as a result of a kind of bet with Satan. And God "wins" the bet, as Job does not curse God but instead prostrates himself before the Lord, praying to him -- this, after God was a party to the slaying of his children without reason and caused his servants and animals to be slain or stolen. How petty is the Hebrew God in this? He allows his faithful servant's entire life to be destroyed to prove a point about how faithful his servant is. This story displays three things to me: Job is a coward for not cursing God for malicious behavior that violates God's own Commandments ("Thou shalt not kill [even to win a bet with Satan]"); the Hebrew God is evil, for he has been a party to murder and theft to prove a point to Satan; and Satan ultimately triumphs here, as Satan basically tricks God into allowing him to commit a bunch of homicides and wreak havok on the life of one of God's most faithful servants. And if you don't believe God is guilty of murder, consider that he was aiding and abetting, by allowing Satan to slay Job's children and servants. I'd prosecute the Hebrew God under any modern penal code in a heartbeat, especially given his obvious power to prevent Satan's murders.
Go ahead, read Job 1:1 yourself and tell me that Odin ever did anything as deliberately evil as what God does to Job.
. . .
On a somewhat redeeming note, Job 21:20 does contain this awesome passage: "His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty."
Job is a ridiculous story, and makes an even more ridiculous point. God is talking to Satan, and Satan challenges God with regard to his servant Job, saying that if God took from Job all that he possessed, then Job would curse God to his face. God disagrees, obviously, thinking Job to be a faithful servant. So what does God do in response to Satan's tacit wager? The God of the Hebrew Bible allows Satan to destroy the home above Job's children with wind, killing them all. God lets Satan send other tribes to come and take all of Job's animals and slay almost all of Job's servants. Job did nothing to deserve this, and there is no indication that this was bound to happen were it not for God's direct intervention in allowing Satan the power to ruin Job's life. The book does not say a single thing Job had done wrong. In fact, God supposedly allows this to come about as a result of a kind of bet with Satan. And God "wins" the bet, as Job does not curse God but instead prostrates himself before the Lord, praying to him -- this, after God was a party to the slaying of his children without reason and caused his servants and animals to be slain or stolen. How petty is the Hebrew God in this? He allows his faithful servant's entire life to be destroyed to prove a point about how faithful his servant is. This story displays three things to me: Job is a coward for not cursing God for malicious behavior that violates God's own Commandments ("Thou shalt not kill [even to win a bet with Satan]"); the Hebrew God is evil, for he has been a party to murder and theft to prove a point to Satan; and Satan ultimately triumphs here, as Satan basically tricks God into allowing him to commit a bunch of homicides and wreak havok on the life of one of God's most faithful servants. And if you don't believe God is guilty of murder, consider that he was aiding and abetting, by allowing Satan to slay Job's children and servants. I'd prosecute the Hebrew God under any modern penal code in a heartbeat, especially given his obvious power to prevent Satan's murders.
Go ahead, read Job 1:1 yourself and tell me that Odin ever did anything as deliberately evil as what God does to Job.
. . .
On a somewhat redeeming note, Job 21:20 does contain this awesome passage: "His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty."
# posted by Vanity @ 15:24 
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I actually like the god in this passage a lot. He had always been a little petty during the judges/joshua period, but now we can picture him with a fat cigar making wagers about the little people below all chummy with the archfiend.
that said, Job is a parable of sorts and it's one of the better ones in the old testament.
my favorite interpretation of the book of job is the Robert Heinlein novel "Job" which is a fairly cynical reading that benefits greatly from heinlein's moral ambiguities
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that said, Job is a parable of sorts and it's one of the better ones in the old testament.
my favorite interpretation of the book of job is the Robert Heinlein novel "Job" which is a fairly cynical reading that benefits greatly from heinlein's moral ambiguities
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