Many people struggle reading the book of Job. Given that it’s mostly dialogue, what may help is to consider Job as an early version of a screenplay. I, for one, would love to see Job turned into a stage production or a movie.
As we read Job, let’s pretend we’re reading a play or watching a movie. With the characters’ conversations to guide us, we can imagine the setting, the drama, and the emotion. Here are the key things we need to know.
The story of Job has eight key characters:
• Job, the protagonist.
• God, Job’s protector and overseer.
• Satan, Job’s antagonist.
• Job’s unsupportive wife, a bit part, albeit a painful one.
• Job’s main friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
• Job’s younger friend, Elihu, initially quiet and then opinionated.
The book of Job opens with a prologue (chapters 1 and 2) to establish the setting of the story. What occurs in the next 39 chapters (Job 3 through 41) is 99 percent dialogue, mostly between Job and his four increasingly critical friends.
The book of Job concludes with an epilogue (chapter 42) that supplies a satisfying ending. Aside from a brief conclusion by Job in the epilogue, the last significant words we have in our story come from God. It’s fitting that God has the final word—and wise that Job listens.
In what ways does God speak to us? How open are we to listen to what he says?
[Discover more about listening to God in Psalm 85:8.]
