Suffering In Oedipus Rex And The Book Of Job

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Jonathan Joa 12/20/15 David Meskill First Year Seminar I The Theory of Suffering The stories of Oedipus Rex and “The Book of Job” share different views on the theme of human suffering. In “The Book of Job”, suffering is the main theme throughout the story because in the majority of the story, Job has to go through suffering from God. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus goes through suffering as well but in the opposite view of Job’s episode of suffering. “The Book of Job” provides a more optimistic view on the theme of human suffering while in Oedipus Rex, suffering can be viewed more pessimistically because in the “Book of Job”, the meaning of suffering in Job’s…show more content…
The way that God causes Job to suffer is by taking away everything that he owns. “He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.” (Job 19) This shows Job’s results after God causes his suffering. He compares himself as if he is a tree and everything got removed from him. Job’s suffering can be considered as a test of his faith because “Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast though made an hedge about him, about his house, and about all that hath on every side? Thou has blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” (Job 1) The very first sentence in the quote “Doth Job fear God for nought?” by Satan is questioning whether Job can remain faithful to God even if he takes all of Job’s belongings away. Although the God removes all his wealth and his belongings, Job still remains faithful to God no matter what. In the end of “The Book of Job”, God rewards Job with more than what he originally had. “So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Maamthite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job. And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42) God’s actions to Job show that God cares about Job’s faith throughout the story and shows this by rewarding him for
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