thedirtysailor.com

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+8&version=NIV

²⁰ “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless
or strengthen the hands of evildoers.

But we have the behind-the-scenes information that Bildad does not.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+7&version=NIV

¹⁷ “What is mankind that you make so much of them,
that you give them so much attention,
¹⁸ that you examine them every morning
and test them every moment?
¹⁹ Will you never look away from me,
or let me alone even for an instant?
²⁰ If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
you who see everything we do?
Why have you made me your target?
Have I become a burden to you?^[a]
21 Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my sins?

A fine question indeed.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+6&version=NIV

Job says his life sucks and he wishes he was dead. Hopefully sooner rather than later, since one great wish is that he would die before he curses God’s name.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+5&version=NIV

Eliphaz’ argument continues:

¹⁷ “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

This is pretty harsh discipline, Eliphaz. Is this just punishment? Killing’s a man’s children for some evil that he has done?

And what makes it even weirder is that we know the backstory – we know that Satan has murdered Job’s children to try to win the argument with God, and God is allowing this. What is happening to Job is not the result of his sin – on the contrary, it is because of his righteousness! God is using Job as an example of a good man.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+4&version=NIV

⁷ “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
Where were the upright ever destroyed?

Oh Eliphaz, you crazy. Look around. You can see that this isn’t true.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+3&version=NIV

²⁰ “Why is light given to those in misery,
and life to the bitter of soul,
²¹ to those who long for death that does not come,
who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
²² who are filled with gladness
and rejoice when they reach the grave?
²³ Why is life given to a man
whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?

Boy, this really is the question, isn’t it? If God has preordained everything that happens to us, then why live in misery? Why does such a life come into existence? Why are children born into poverty and then starve to death? Would it not be better for them to never be born?

Counterarguments: the miserable life serves a greater purpose which is unknown to the one in misery…

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+2&version=NIV

¹¹ When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. ¹²When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. ¹³ Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

It’s good to have friends who will suffer in silence with you.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+1&version=NIV

¹⁸ While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹ when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

²⁰ At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ²¹ and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.^[c]
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”

The book of Job reads like a moral tale, a story told to make a point – much like Esther. How much of it actually occurred? Was there a man named Job? Does it provide us with a true, accurate view into the workings of God and Satan? I don’t know. It’s interesting how many things we take on their face to be true. But perhaps the point of Job is not to tell us about the man, but instead it’s a framework for the author to deal with the philosophical and theological arguments in the context of a story.

With that said, let’s assume it is true for a minute, so that I can ask you this question? Who weeps for Job’s children? His seven sons and three daughters are killed in a freak accident, just so God can prove a point to Satan about Job. Does Job mourn them? Maybe, along with everything else he has lost, but he doesn’t mention it. He tears his robe and shaves his head, and falls to the ground and worships the LORD. Perhaps the mourning is implied by the tearing and the shaving.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+10&version=NIV

¹ King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. ² And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.

Kind of interesting that even though the book is named for Esther, Mordecai gets the last mention in the book. He’s certainly the power behind the throne in this book.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+9&version=NIV

⁵ The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. ⁶ In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁷ They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, ¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹¹ The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day.¹² The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.”

¹³ “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on poles.”

¹⁴ So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman. ¹⁵ The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹⁶ Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. ¹⁷ This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

Quite a bloody story. I would guess that there had been some long-simmering hatred between groups of people, and that Haman was only the catalyst for this.