{"id":80,"date":"2007-10-13T05:49:26","date_gmt":"2007-10-13T13:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevenrbrandt.com\/wordpress\/?p=80"},"modified":"2007-10-13T06:09:44","modified_gmt":"2007-10-13T14:09:44","slug":"is-the-book-of-job-a-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevenrbrandt.com\/?p=80","title":{"rendered":"Is the Book of Job a Play?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something I’ve always wondered about is whether the Bible book of Job was originally a play. To clarify, I am not suggesting that the story is not factual — rather that it was adapted to be performed. Why do I think this?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A very limited number of scenes, actors, and props are required:
    \nThere are a very limited number of scenes, props, and people required. There are probably only about 3 in the entire story. The first, the dialogue in Heaven, could be carried out in almost total darkness. Here are the scenes. They are either performed in front of a curtain<\/p>\n
      \n
    1. Verses 1:1-2: Announcer speaks from in front of curtain.\n
    2. Verses 1:3-12: Still in front of curtain, the Devil and a few angels could come on stage and the voice of God can come in from offstage.\n
    3. Verses 1:13-22: Curtains open, job is eating when catastrophe strikes Props consit of tables, chairs, dishes.\n
    4. Verses 2:1-8: Curtains close, Devil returns briefly.\n
    5. Verse 2:9 to the end: Final scene. No props on stage.\n<\/ol>\n

      The entire cast consists of:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Job’s wife\n
      2. Job\n
      3. Job’s 3 friends\n
      4. The 3 messengers\n
      5. God (always off stage)\n
      6. The Devil (maybe some angels)\n
      7. The announcer\n<\/ol>\n

        If you double up on a few of the roles this could probably be performed by 5 men and a woman.<\/p>\n

      8. Contrived dialogue: Verses 1:13-17 when the three messengers come in all at once, each describe a catastrophe, and then each finishes with “I am the only one who has escaped to tell you” just sounds more theatrical than natural. Also, the speeches exchanged by Job and his 3 friends in the last scene are rather long, poetic, and sound more literary than natural. How often have you heard people argue without interrupting each other?\n
      9. I have heard it said that the book of Job is some of the most difficult Hebrew of the Bible. This might well be the case if composed by a master writer.\n<\/ol>\n

        I have no idea how a theater company would have fit in to the life of ancient Israel, or why this one work should be the only example of it that survived (assuming it is, I don’t know of any others). I haven’t read the theory that this book is really a play anywhere else. Are the Bible Scholars out there who have heard it before? I can’t believe that I’m the first to come up with it.<\/p>\n

        All I know is that every time I read this book, I am always impressed how much it sounds like a performance.<\/p>\n

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