Job In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

Whenever a child of God is going through a hard time, they look through the book of Job for comfort and peace. Why is that? We know the Scriptures in whole are for our comfort, but why is Job especially a passage we turn to? Job was a God-fearing man who was given trial after trial, yet never cursed God or turned away from Him. He trusted in Him, and we should be like Job in this fact. No matter what trials and tribulations we encounter, we should never lose hope in God. But why did God allow Satan to torment His child so much? A better question that relates us to Job is why does God let good men suffer? Can we ever question God, His reasons and will? We know from Scripture that Job was one of God’s elect. Job 1:1, “There was a man in the

He said that Job would curse God if he “touch his bone and his flesh,” that a man will give everything he has for his life. So the Lord gave permission to Satan to touch his health, but to save his life. Satan left the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with boils from “the sole of his foot unto his crown.” These boils were so painful, that Job scraped himself with a potsherd, a broken piece of ceramic material, and sat down among the ashes. His wife then comes into view and says to Job in 2:9, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die.” Now a wife is called to be a help to her husband, to love him, in sickness and in health. She is supposed to uphold him spiritually when he is in his weakest moments. But that is not what Job’s wife did at this time. She told him to curse God, just to get the pain over with, and die. If your wife or husband told you to do the easy way out, when you were dying with pain, wouldn’t you be tempted to do it? But no, Job sinned not. He called his wife a foolish woman, and did not heed her

They sat with him for seven days and seven nights without saying anything, for “they saw that his grief was very great.” But when they did start talking, they each individually accused Job of having sinned. They said he must have done something against God to be in this much of an affliction. They didn’t comfort him or strengthen his faith with God’s word. Job told them he had not sinned, but they didn’t believe him. Elihu, a fourth person in the conversation, finally spoke after they all had, and rebuked the friends for neither answering Job’s questions nor comforting him in his trials. After that, God comes to Job out of a whirlwind, and questions Job. Job can’t answer any of these, for they are all showing God’s supreme might, power, and glory. It was to show Job that he is nothing compared to His Father. Job then responds with, “I am vile.” He realizes that his good is sinful and corrupt, and is nothing with the greatness of God. God shows His control over all nature, and that shows Job that God was in control when all of his earthly possessions were taken away from him. This comforts Job, and gives him peace, comfort, hope, and trust in