"My friend job", the god said, "loves me"
And the tempter replied,” because he has it good,
He has health and fortune and a family he loves.
Why would he not love you?"
"Are you saying?" started god
The tempter interrupted:
"Take away the goodness he has received
And he will curse god and cry."
The god contemplated these words
And thought to give the tempter leeway
To try job, to put him to the test as he had once before
But he could not. "God does not play dice."
The tempter returned to god the following day,
Knowing that he had struck a sensitive chord.
As many years earlier, he had succeeded
In tempting god, in striking doubt
In that all-knowing mind.
"Do you wonder what would happen
To your friend job if like his ancient namesake,
He lost his fame, his fortune, his good name?
Is it time to test him as you did your other friends?"
"I would like to test him," said the god
"Because I know that he too will pass the test
As did the others in earlier times.
But can I test him without other men
Thinking me a capricious god?"
"Does it matter," asked the tempter,
"after Auschwitz when other friends of yours
were decimated in the showers of hell?
Can man think worse of you?"
The god thought about that and answered:
“Is it only man’s opinion of me that I fear
Or would I lose my sense of justice?”
Maybe I should allow you to test my friend job.
It is good to confirm what I know.
You will realize that I know and that job is good."
The tempter remained silent.
Michael stood nearby and said to himself:
"What justice is there in this test?
How can this seem right to job?"
"I heard you," said the god,
"do you think it seemed right to Abraham?
Was it right to test Lot and Jonah?
And if not, why did you participate willingly?"
"If you wronged Abraham and Job's namesake long ago,
Does it make it right to wrong this man today?"
thought Michael as silently as he could.
“Does it make a difference that even my opinions
And attitudes change?”
"Do you think that I cannot hear what you are thinking?"
asked the god.
The tempter smiled. He accepted the free hand
He was given. True, he was not permitted to
Cause Job bodily harm, but his studies had shown him
That with many people, especially those who
Tried to bring themselves close to the god,
Physical pain was not most effective.
Had he not shown that even Michael was a skeptic,
Not trusting the god's sense of justice,
Michael, who had helped the god test Abraham and Lot,
Michael, who always stood by the god,
Michael, who was, he admitted, the god's favourite.
The tempter smiled. Both Michael and the god saw.
Michael wanted to cry, but he had no tears,
The god, as usual, saw himself in a paradox.
He realized that it did not matter if job passed the test,
Because he, the god had failed again.
The world that he had created was, as his companions said,
A cruel place, and it was not enough even if
Job loved him with an open heart and a generous mind.
Perhaps, then he should not allow the test now?
Would that be fair to job's namesake?
Would it be fair to Moses and the others he had tested?
Would it be just for those like Bilam who had failed the test
Notwithstanding his sometime interference?
The tempter helped job;
He filled his house with riches.
Not only were there all the things he craved,
But he was given the ability to sing.
He was given the talent to write.
He was given the skills to paint and sculpt.
Job's children too were given skills and talents.
The tempter, as always, was proud of his work.
And then, la déluge.
Job’s wealth withered away,
apparently without reason.
Job blamed himself for his own pride,
Not reading the economic news carefully,
Not understanding the tea leaves.
Job gave more to charity,
Knowing that he had to help his god
In these miserable times.
Job’s friends, busy, living,
Did not notice what was happening to Job,
That Job’s opportunities had disintegrated,
That Job’s mind was rented by strangers.
Job kept on trying, not realizing that his efforts
Were being sabotaged by the tempter,
Wondered why nothing worked to help his business,
Neither the tried and true methods,
Nor the creative and innovative ones.
Yet Job refused to abandon the god
Who created him, his world, his understanding,
His willingness to help others.
And the tempter filled job’s heart with love,
He found Job a new, a most appropriate mate.
Job’s creativity flourished
And Job’s fortunes again increased
And his dreams expanded
And he felt that there were no limits,
Job was not proud; he thanked the god.
The tempter knew that this was his opportunity,
Abruptly, before Job could realize it,
His fortunes disappeared,
His hopes started to wither,
He doubted himself.
Unlike the story with his namesake,
Whose wife and children died,
Job’s children questioned him,
And Job was left without a reply.
His children realized that not all was right
And yet, what could they say?
They did not know his mind,
They did not know his heart,
They did not know the tempter.
Then his beloved became ill,
A sickness without remedy,
Pain was her constant companion,
Her every movement a silent hurt.
Job prayed to the god and asked him
To deliver her from the pain.
And the god was silent.
Job prayed to the god and asked him
To help revive his fortunes
And the god was silent.
And job thought “the god does not play dice.”
And job spoke to the god, saying.
“god, so mighty and compassionate,
who gives freedom to people,
abandon freedom for a moment and
let me carry her disease, her pain.”
The god, who had been his friend, remained silent.
Job heard the echo of his namesake’s friends:
“Job, job, this change in fortune is your fault,
You have been overly proud of your achievements.
You have praised yourself and taken credit.
You have not given credit to the god,
You have not given enough to others, poorer than you.”
And job know that there was some truth to this,
He had been proud and thought himself responsible
For his success, for his fortune.
Yet he could not believe that the change in fortune
Was all his fault, his responsibility.
He heard the echoing voices say:
“Curse the god, who plays dice with your life.”
And job refused to blame the god.
Job thought that perhaps there was nobody to blame
but the world was not a world of happenstance
Without order, without reason, without sense.
Job loved the god and he trusted his judgment,
He also trusted his own judgement, and yet ….
The god looked at his friend job, hurt and powerless,
And felt compassion, but what was the sense in compassion
When it was not accompanied with consequences.
But that was the way man saw the world he had created,
A world in which justice did not prevail,
A world in which compassion did not prevail,
A world in which mercy did not prevail.
The god looked at job’s ancient namesake’s first wife
Who was killed for the sake of the tempter’s test.
Even has his namesake deserved the test,
What had she done, what had her children done
To deserve capital punishment?
There had been no Abraham to defend her
As he had tried to save the just people of Sodom.
And she had died. And now his friend’s beloved
Was struck with illness and pain that she did not deserve…
Was this different from his just friends who
Were slaughtered in the Holocaust?
Maybe the tempter had been correct when he said
That he had allowed injustice to prevail.
But did he really have a different option
After he had transferred freedom of choice to man?
Had he not abdicated his throne of power?
Yet he had never claimed to abandon mercy.
He had agreed not to destroy the world as he did in with the flood,
He had agreed to Moses’ request not to destroy Israel.
Were these not agreements based on compassion?
And yet he had also allowed the tempter to test his friend job.
Was this compassion, was this providence?
Was this protection, was this justice?
“be holy,” he had told his people, “as I am holy”
Had he been holy?
His friend Job had not understood creation,
His friend Job had not understood his power
Had he?
Great work, George Farkus.. I'm enjoying reading everything you're posting!