Monthly Archives: October 2010

Job is a righteous man who receives many misfortunes. His wife and friends question why God inflict such misfortune on Job. Eliphaz of Temanite said “Is it any pleasures to the Almighty if you are righteous…” meaning that Job should not always try to be righteous. Job’s friends tries to convince Job to rebel against God like Syrians are rebelling against their government’s ban on certain websites. The New York Times Article “Online Media Taste Free Inside Syria, and It’s Bitter” describes the restriction on the media by the government.  According to the article, “Walk into almost any of the many internet cafes in Damascus, and the manager will show you how to log on to Facebook or other banned sites.”(New York Times P. A18) Similar to how  Job’s friends try to convince Job to rebel against God for his misfortunes, Syrians are rebelling against the government ban by finding ways around the ban.

Due to the existence of rebellious tendencies, there exists some means of silencing those with opinions that don’t match the opinions of those with power. The New York Times states that “A number of bloggers have been arrested for expressing views deemed critical of the Syrian government” thus making the bloggers example of those who criticize the government. Job’s friends were silenced with the descent of God and God saying he can do whatever he wants because he can “send forth lightening” (A, 136) amongst other acts that humans cannot perform. God also states that humans should not try to understand or question his actions.

Online Media Taste Free Inside Syria, and It’s Bitter (September 30, 2010 A6, A18) 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/world/middleeast/30syria.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=online%20media%20taste%20bitter&st=cse

In the Book of Job from the Bible, Job is a wealthy man who praises God and gives him sacrifices to try to save his children. He is tested by Satan to see whether he is really God’s follower, or if he just praises God to keep his riches. The way he suffers is similar to how Marjorie Saint Hilaire suffered in Haiti.

First, Job lost everything. His camels and oxen were taken away, and his sheep were burned. Also, his eldest son’s house fell, killing all his children. Then, “the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.’”(pg127) So Satan filled his skin with sores. Although Job’s been through much trauma, he still does not sin or curse God.

In the NY Times article, Saint Hilaire starts off her letter by giving thanks to everyone concerned and acknowledges the ones who are trying to help solve many of the problems the people of Haiti have since the earthquake. She lost her husband in the quake, and even though Job lost his children, they both lost family members that they cared for. She is still suffering now, along with her children. Even with the lack of food she states, “I give glory to God that I am still alive — but I would like to stay that way!”(NYTimes) She has not cursed God, but she praises him for allowing her to live.

Both Job and Saint Hilaire have lost their family and are suffering though very tough times. They praise God no matter what they went through because they still have their lives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/world/americas/20haiti.html?ref=americas

The Book of Job is one of the sections from a Bible’ Old Testament. Job is a rich and successful man “greatest of all people of the east,” who has everything that can make someone happy and thankful (A 126). He owns “seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-asses” (A 126). Also, he has a big family with “seven sons and three daughters” (A 126). He fully trusts God and never does anything against his rules. One day Satan argues with God about Job’s honesty. In addition, he convinces God to give Job some test to prove his point. Then, in one night Job loses his goods and children. However, he still believes in God and his honesty. Even though he becomes seriously sick, his faith stays as strong as before.  Because of all experiences, Job curses the day when he was born “Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth;” however, he doesn’t curse God (A 126). His wife and friends are not powerful enough to change his belief in God. Finally, after many days of suffering God blesses him again and returns all goods and previously lost family members. God “gave Job twice as much as he had before” (A, 139). Also, because of Job’s deep faith God doesn’t punish his friends who stop trusting him. In addition, God gives them a lesson that he is the only one authority who has absolute power and has the right to create things in his own will. No one should seek for a reason about the creation of the world the way it is. In addition, no one should rise against him.

The article “Recalling a Simple Life in Brooklyn” by Dale Russakoff is about an old lady Jessie Singer Sylvester who died about 20 years ago. One of her family member finds a diary where she describes her daily activities. The diary is out of excitements and emotions but it seems to be very interesting because all days are described pretty well. As her family member said “It was this extremely spare, unemotional, very functional, daily record of her life, but I was mesmerized and I saw a real poetry in it. It was precious to me to know that even after all the losses; she continued to find her life meaningful.” Finally, the diary becomes the source of making a movie about ordinary life of the old lady. The film won few awards and become relish word widely.

As I was reading both pieces of writing I found few similarities. Firstly, both literary works are about huge loss. Job loses his seven sons and three daughters. In addition, he loses his all goods including domestic animals. Besides, he suffers from painful sickness. Satan “afflicted Job with loath-some sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (A 127). Similarly, Ms. Sylvester experienced many losses. She was “absorbing one loss after the next — her job of 59 years, her beloved sister, her friends, her sense of security, her sharp mind.”

Secondly, Job and Ms.Sylvester both accept their fortunes silently. Job doesn’t see his bad luck as a punishment. He knows that God gives everything and he can take it away whenever he wants. That’s why even if he curses the day he was born, he never curses to God. Job is a man who loses many things in his life and suffers as a result of it. As a mortal creature he accepts his destiny without a question. Similarly, Ms. Sylvester is a person who doesn’t blame anybody for her loses. She accepts it as a part of her life and a normal event in human life. “It really drives home the point that life is not made up of great big events. It’s an accumulation of little things that happen every day that can make or break you.”

 Finally, Job and Ms. Sylvester both receive a great gift after their experiences. God decides to return everything what he took away from Job “…and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses” (A 139-140). Therefore, he becomes a rich man again. His family is completed with “…seven sons and three daughters” (A 140). Moreover, his animals are back in the fields. Also, “Ms. Sylvester, 22 years after her death, is experiencing a rebirth.” In fact, a movie named “Beautiful Hills of Brooklyn” is made from the story taken from her diary. 

         The Book of Job is a literary work which comes from the Hebrew Bible. Job is the wealthiest man in the village who possesses many farmlands, animals and other properties “he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants…” (A 126). In addition, he has a wife, seven sons and three daughters. He is very happy and thankful for all the blessings he has from the God. Thus, he “…was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from Evil” (A, 126). Satan claims to God that Job is honest and faithful only because he has everything. However, God disagrees and permits the Evil to test Job’s honesty. So Job loses his children and all wealth; however, he still believes in God. Even if he is seriously ill, he still believes in God. In addition, his wife and friends aren’t able to convince him to curse God. In the end of the story Job suffers a lot and curses the day of his birth but never curses the God. As a reward of his honesty God returns all of Job’s lost properties. Then, the God gives a long speech about his creations. He asks Job “where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (A, 135) which shows how small is a human being in God‘s eyes. Also, God claims that he is the only one who possesses the power to create and control everything and nobody is able to understand his acts. Above quote proves that almighty God holds all the knowledge and power of the world.
            The New York Times article, Slouching Toward Washington, by Maureen Dowd presents her thoughts about creation and modern science. In both readings people are not able to understand many aspects of daily life. For example, in the Book of Job, God keeps many secrets about human creation. Also, he is the only one who decides how to organize life in the earth. Similarly, Maureen Dowd who is a great journalist is asking herself a question about the proof of Darwin’s theory of evolution. She can’t answer how human being is evolved from monkey. To better understand this concept she visited the zoo; however, she still couldn’t find many similarities between Homo sapiens and monkey. She also thinks why doesn’t the monkey that exist today do not become human being few generations later. “Christine O’Donnell doesn’t understand why monkeys can’t turn into people right before her eyes.” In both cases, the answers of creation are inaccessible for human being.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/opinion/26dowd.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=slouching%20washington&st=cse

Why do we suffer? Who or what causes it? These age-old questions of suffering are addressed in the Book of Job and in a recent article from the New York Times “Las Vegas Faces Its Deepest Slide Since the 1940s” written by Adam Nagourney.

The main character of the Book of Job is a remarkable man: “blameless and upright” (Damrosch, p.126). Job is blessed with a large family and many possessions: “there [are] born to him seven sons and three daughters”, and “he [has] seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants” (Damrosch, p.126). All this wealth makes Job the “greatest of all the people of the east” (Damrosch, p.126). On the other hand, in the New York Times article Las Vegas is described as the entertainment center of the world, famous for the number of casinos, shopping malls, and fine restaurants.

In the Book of Job Satan offers God to test Job’s faith and devotion. In response, God puts Job in Satan’s power, with the exception of Job himself. In one day Job loses his kids and all material possessions through various calamities. Distressed and grieving, Jobs still continues to worship God; he does not “charge God with wrong” (Damrosch, p.127). However, Satan does not consider this suffering sufficient; so, he strikes Job with painful boils hoping that it will make Job curse the God’s name. Despite the pain and his wife’s advise to “curse God, and die” (Damrosch, p.127) Job stays strong. Similarly, “the nation’s gambling capital is staggering under a confluence of economic forces that has sent Las Vegas into what officials describe as its deepest economic rut since casinos first began rising in the desert […] in the 1940s” (Nagourney, 2010). The two most important economic pillars of the city, gambling revenues and the construction industry, are shaken by the recession. In addition, “officials […] are watching another potentially disruptive storm on the horizon: legislation in Congress that would legalize Internet gambling” (Nagourney, 2010) that can draw people away from Las Vegas.  And as the Job’s wife suggests dying, many big hotels announce laying off workers and closing casinos for renovation.

At one point, three Job’s friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) conclude that the innocent don’t suffer; therefore they challenge Job to show them where he has sinned. In the same way, many politicians and public figures try to find reasons for the decay of Las Vegas. David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas says: “It’s been in bad shape before, but not this bad” (Nagourney, 2010).  Many claim that “Nevada is paying a price for an exuberant and often speculative run of commercial and residential construction that has left the market glutted. As a result, the confidence that the return of tourists alone would spur the city to rebound automatically after this recession — the way it did after, say, the recessions of 1982 and 1992 — is absent” (Nagourney, 2010).

Even though no one is able to analyze painful experiences of human existence and find a direst answer about the reasons for sufferings, there is still a hope for a positive outcome in both works. Job’s latter days are blessed more than his beginning: seven sons and three beautiful daughters are born to him, and all his possessions are doubled. However, in the case of Las Vegas the outcome is not that obvious and promising. Even though the mayor believes that “as soon as [people] feel secure in their financial position, […] Las Vegas will come back stronger than ever” (Nagourney, 2010), others feel that “there needs to be some real, thoughtful, deliberate effort to rebuild an economy [in Las Vegas]. It isn’t going to happen by itself.” (Nagourney, 2010).

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/us/03vegas.html?scp=1&sq=las%20vegas%20faces&st=cse