Marilyn Burge pondered:

While the devil raped Job's wife, God was very attentive and solicitous, holding Job's wife's head and mopping her sweating brow, and comforting Job throughout the entire ordeal.

When the devil was through, Job still loved God.

Do you think that God still loved Job?

J.J. Hitt replied:

Of course not. He spent several chapters cussing Job out.

It amazes me that here we have the oldest existing work of satiric allegorical fiction known (the book was already old when the Hebrews adopted it as their own) and no one seems to see that it lampoons holy men (Job himself) as well as organized religion (Job's comforters), philosophy and the human concept of 'justice'.

I think the book is priceless, but no one seems to see what is really "special" about the text. Instead they want to read it as a literal tale of actual events.

But worst of all, is the fact that some later copyist had to "doctor" the text by adding the "happy ending" of chapter 42. The bulk of the book is written in a metered verse. In verse 42:7 it suddenly shifts to strait prose. The "true" ending of the book should be verse 42:6.

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