Break It Down

I felt like the next step was to check my preconceived notions against the actual text, which entailed (of course) reading the actual text.  As it turns out, my preconceived ideas pretty much held up as a general guideline of what happens, with the notable exception of a 4th person who contends with Job in addition to his three more famous friends. 

News flash:  Job is LONG.  I think patience might be associated with his name because it takes five-ever to read through those 42 chapters.  Perhaps patience is more a marker of a reader of Job than of Job himself.

I read it through in one sitting the first go ‘round, and it was less than inspiring.  To be fair, I did read it in the evening, which is not my best brain, but I also read it in The Message because I knew I had evening brain and thought The Message’s accessibility might counteract that some.  I was wrong.  It took so long to read it and seemed so disjointed that I ended up doing that thing where I’m just reading words and not actually taking anything in.  So yes, technically I read it, but I didn’t get much out of it. 

Over the next few days, I read it again, but not all at one sitting, which did help some.  I had to really break it down to make it hang together as one story, and even then, it still felt like it had lots of holes in it.  This is the best I got on my own.  (Note:  still no outside sources, commentary, or even just notes in the Bible;  this is just me trying to make heads and tails of it).

Introduction

Background (1:1-5)

A Lot of Action

God and Satan (1:6-12):  These two have a little chat where God does, indeed, offer up Job for Satan to mess with, with the caveat that Job himself not be harmed.

First Calamities (1:13-19):  Satan goes to work

Job’s Reaction (1:20-22)

God and Satan Again (2:1-7a):  Same stuff, different day, but God gives Satan a new caveat:  you can hurt Job, but you can’t kill him. 

Second Calamity (2:7b): Satan afflicts Job

Job’s Reaction (2:8-10)

Job’s Friends Show Up (2:11-13):  Three friends from different places (Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite) show up to comfort and console Job.

A Lot of Talking, Round 1

Job Speaks (3:1-26)

Eliphaz Speaks (4:1-21, 5:1-27)

Job Speaks (6:1-30, 7:1-21)

Bildad Speaks (8:1-22)

Job Speaks (9:1-35, 10:1-22)

Zophar Speaks (11:1-20)

Job Speaks (12:1-25, 13:1-28, 14:1-22)

A Lot of Talking, Round 2

Eliphaz Speaks (15:1-35)

Job Speaks (16:1-22, 17:1-16)

Bildad Speaks (18:1-21)

Job Speaks (19:1-29)

Zophar Speaks (20:1-29)

Job Speaks (21:1-34)

A Lot of Talking, Round 3

Eliphaz Speaks (22:1-30)

Job Speaks (23:1-17, 24:1-25)

Bildad Speaks (25:1-6)

Job Speaks (26:1-14, 27:1-23, 28:1-28, 29:1-25, 30:1-31, 31:1-40)

A New Kid in Town

Elihu Intro (32:1-5)

Guess What? More Talking

Elihu Speaks (32:6-22, 33:1-33, 34:1-37, 35:1-16, 36:1-33, 37:1-24)

God Takes the Mic

The Lord Speaks (38:1-41, 39:1-30, 40:1-2)

Job to God (40:3-5)

The Lord Speaks (40:6-24, 41:1-34)

Job to God (42:3-6)

The Lord to Eliphaz (42:7-8)

Happily Ever After

Three Friends do what God said (42:9)

God Restores Job (42:10-11)

Epilogue (42:12-16)

As a random point of interest, I did a quick (and likely inaccurate because #math) tally of how many verses each speaker had during the 42 chapters:

Total Verses by Speaker
Job:  515 verses
Elihu: 160 verses
God:  132 verses
Eliphaz:  113 verses
Bildad:  49 verses
Zophar:  49 verses
Satan:  6 verses
Messengers:  6 verses
Job's wife:  1 verse