On Job

At the beginning of the book, Job has seven sons and three daughters. These children are killed as part of the “test” that Job endures. Their death is one of the most unendurable parts of Job’s painful trial. At the end of the book, after God has spoken to Job of many strange and wonderful beings on the earth (the ostrich! the whale!), God again gives Job seven sons and three daughters. The last verses of the book say “Nowhere in the land were women as beautiful as Job’s daughters to be found, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. Now Job lived thereafter one hundred and forty years, and he saw his sons and his sons’ sons for four generations. Then Job died, being old and sated with days.” Is this a happy ending? Like many of the deep stories of the Tanakh, this book does not speak to Job’s state of mind and instead asks the reader to live with the story and wonder about it. How does Job live his returned fortune? Is it possible for him to feel joy, to experience love of his children after so much misery? How does a human being learn to reinhabit daily life after unspeakable pain?

— Sarah Stickney, Faculty Member