033 The Book of Job
SkyDaddy Hits Me Because He Loves Me
I am obsessed with the Book of Job in the Christian Bible. There’s a lot of unhinged shit that happens in the Bible, but the Book of Job is the myth that I cannot get out of my head because of how it starts, and what lessons we are to take away from the fable.
Job (pronounced like ‘joab’ with a hard ‘j’) is God’s most faithful servant on Earth. He also happens to be the richest man in the East. (Job 1:3) Job never sins, and even prays for his children just in case they’ve done something wrong and haven’t atoned for it.
Meanwhile in Heaven, God is having a little party. Depending on which version of the Bible you read this party was with “the supernatural beings that serve God”, or “the sons of God”, and Satan was amongst them. Whether you want to interpret that as Satan being a supernatural being that serves God, or Satan is one of God’s sons, or Satan is just…there, is entirely up to you.
A Run In With the Ex
I had questions about why Satan was invited to God’s party, then I learned that Satan has some character development from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The OT Satan is not the enemy of God, he’s just a supernatural being that serves God by being the opponent of humans. Anyway, the Lord asks Satan, “What have you been doing?”
I immediately think of the other tales of Satan being the most beautiful fallen angel, being God’s favourite until …until what? They had a fight, broke up, and kept trying to be friends until they couldn’t.
Have you ever bumped into an ex at a gathering or party, and had to behave in a way that was contrary to what you were feeling? That’s how I imagine God asking Satan “What have you been doing?” It’s not so much ‘what have you been doing?’, but ‘Who have you been doing? Without me?’
Satan has been gallivanting around on Earth, living up to his OT reputation, opposing humans here and there (Job 1:6).
Unable to keep his mouth shut, twitching with the need to show his ex that he’s thriving, and desperate to show that he’s moved on, God mentions his favourite human, Job.
“Did you notice my servant Job?” the Lord asked. “There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do anything evil.” (Job 1:8 GNT)
I can picture it now. God and Satan standing off to the side of the free bar, looking at all the other heavenly beings at the party so as to avoid eye contact with each other. Smiling and speaking through gritted teeth. “My new boyfriend treats me better than you ever did,” says God.
I Ain’t Sayin’ He’s a Gold Digger
Satan can barely contain his mirth. Why is God being a celestial Sugar Daddy, giving this straight Earth man all these riches? “Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it?” (Job 1:9) Satan says that if Job hadn’t been given so much property and children by God he probably wouldn’t have the same devotion to God.
“Suppose you take away everything he has — he will curse you to your face!” (Job 1:11) says Satan.
God is unable to walk away from Satan’s taunts. “All right,” the Lord says to Satan, “everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself.” (Job 1:12). And just like that, God cucks himself.
But instead of God being forced to sit back and watch his most faithful human servant be pleasured by Satan, God now watches Job have all his wealth destroyed. First, the donkeys were stolen, then the servants slaves were killed, then lightning struck the sheep and the shepherds, the camels were stolen and more servants slaves were killed. His children were killed by the house collapsing on them during a storm.
Job cries, he tears his clothes off, he shaves his head, and throws himself on the ground, wailing “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. May his name be praised.” (Job 1:21)
Now, you and I know the back story. God and his ex-favourite were having a little kiki, a little wager, that God’s new favourite wouldn’t blame God for taking away his property and kids. And he didn’t. Job didn’t blame God for losing everything, even though it was very definitely God’s decision to do that.
Look What You Made Me Do
The Lord hosts another gathering for all the heavenly beings, and Satan is there, again. There is no mention of God restoring Job’s riches between these tête-à-têtes between him and Satan. God speaks to Satan first and says, “You persuaded me to let you attack him for no reason at all, but Job is still as faithful as ever.” (Job 2:3)
Who is really in charge here if God can be persuaded by Satan? Or is God claiming that he’s the victim of Satan’s charms? “Look what you made me do!”
God once again can’t let Satan believe that his new favourite doesn’t love him more than Satan ever did. And once again Satan needs to poke the bear. Satan wagers again, “A person will give up everything in order to stay alive. But now suppose you hurt his body—he will curse you to your face!” (Job 2:4-5) And like a cum-drunk, love-sick fool God says Bet! “Do what you want to his body, but don’t kill him.” (Job 2:6)
Job breaks out in pus-filled sores. His wife asks him “Why don’t you just curse God and die?” Because it has to be a woman that suggests the man turn his back on God. I notice that Job’s wife was not among the possessions destroyed by God and Satan’s bet, and I figure it’s because she has to bear him children in the future.
Pus-y Job isolates himself by going out of town to sit by the local dump to hide his hideous form. Three of his friends come by and sit with him for a week, holding space for Job’s agony and suffering. That might sound nice, but as we’ll see later, these are shitty friends. Job finally breaks the silence and curses the day he was born. He blames his mother for holding and feeding him (because of course he does), and wishes he’d been a stillborn.
What Were You Wearing?
One of his friends, Eliphaz, says Job must have done something wrong for God to treat him this way. Eliphaz urges Job to just think back on what he did wrong, and maybe he can atone for it. This makes Job despair even further. Even his friends believe that Job’s suffering is Job’s own fault. “We bring trouble on ourselves, as surely as sparks fly up from a fire.” (Job 5:7)
Eventually we are told that Eliphaz is wrong about this. We are not to believe that Job actually sinned and invited the wrath of God. No, we are eventually meant to believe something far more abusive and manipulative than that.
Thank SkyDaddy for Hurting You
Eliphaz also says Job should be happy that God has “corrected” him.
This isn’t the sexyfuntimes kind of ‘Thanking Daddy Dom for a Spanking’. In that situation one would hope everyone was consenting, but Job hasn’t given his consent. The only beings getting pleasure out of this are God and Satan.
But Eliphaz’s point is more that God wouldn’t do this without reason, so what is Job not acknowledging?
Unbeknownst to Job and Eliphaz, the reason God is doing this is because he’s being a messy bitch with his ex, Satan. Why does God give two hoots about what Satan thinks of his heterosexual sugar baby on Earth?
I would also argue that doing things without reason is a fundamental feature of God’s personality. He’s not reasonable, or rational, and he’s not to be argued with. God even pretends he doesn’t know his new favourite, when he eventually speaks to him. God treats Job appallingly, and Job still believes the he should be loyal and faithful to him. “Who is this who keeps darkening my counsel without knowing what he’s talking about?” (Job 38:1)
It’s an archetypical abusive relationship.
This Song Is About You
There are countless resources available that can educate us on the signs of abuse in relationships. Let’s look at a few.
Monitoring
People who are abusive sometimes try to monitor their target’s communications or behaviour. God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient; he monitors everything. He monitors Job so much that he told Satan about how good he is.
This is often presented as God watching over us as though we were a baby in a crib. It is equally presented as God knowing all of our deepest, darkest secrets, and being the seed of shame. God is the prison guard in Bentham’s Panopticon; believers must behave as if he is watching over them at all times.
And of course this is weaponised against believers. Read any ex-Mormon’s or ex-Catholic’s account of deconstructing their sexual repression and you’ll know that even thinking about sex is a sin, and God knows it. This is used to control the thoughts, words, and deeds, of believers by saying that sexual thoughts, words, and deeds lead to the damnation of one’s soul.
(I’m not sure just how effective this is because as long as you repent, you’re good. At least, that’s what they tell the pedophiles. It is wild to me that religious organisations will tolerate such high levels of pedophilia, but go completely crazy should a teenager want to rub one out. How many congregations are told they should forgive their predatory leader because “he is a vessel of God”?)
So, when you see those religious zealots talking about what kids should be taught, and how women should behave, remember they haven’t had a wank in forever. I’m no sex therapist, but maybe having a wank and a good night’s sleep might help them calm down a bit. Please, for the love of God, have a wank.
Financial Control
God gave Job his financial assets, and God took them away.
I’ve seen scholars argue that we are not infer from this that God rewards good people with material things, and God punishes bad people with poverty. Indeed, this is one of the major lessons of this book! The lesson we’re meant to learn is that God can make bad things happen to good people because God loves them and wants to test them.
What a tiny, insecure, little deity.
In some abusive relationships, the abuser will find a way to take control of their target’s money. They might try to get their target to quit their job, hide debit / credit cards, or take cash as a way to make it more difficult to leave.
Statistically, it takes approximately 4-7 attempts to leave an abusive relationship for good. Where was Job going to go when God took away all of his wealth? And when he became covered in sores? He took himself to the local dump.
Emotional Manipulation
The most common type of abuse is emotional abuse. This is usually inflicted upon someone via insults, humiliation, denying the truth to make you feel like you’re “going crazy”, name-calling, and making you feel guilty for completely normal activities such as going out with friends, eating what you like, or asking questions.
Even if you wanted to blame Satan for Job’s humiliation and suffering, the final chapters when God speaks to Job are further evidence that God is onboard with making Job feel like he’s going crazy for even questioning why this was happening to him.
One of the key take aways of this book is that you should not question God. I wonder what questions Job would have asked if he’d known that the reason for his suffering was because God had made a bet with Satan.
God shows some classic narcissistic personality traits here too.
Triangulation
Narcissists like to pit people against each other. They will introduce a third person into a conflict with the intent that the third person will side with them. Every Narcissus needs an Echo. I’m not sure whether we should ascribe the role of Echo to Satan, or to Job’s friends who turned up to comfort him. If we stick to the lore, God has his beings that do his bidding on Earth, and Satan is amongst them.
Silent Treatment
God purposefully ignores Job’s lament for at least a week, until Job’s mates turn up. And even then God continues to ignore Job’s crying until God’s had enough.
Imagine the scenario where a parent ignores their child’s crying. Child Protective Services would be called. But to be fair, we see this reflected in the practices of churches all over the world. Religious organisations around the world ignore children’s crying; I’d argue some even get off on it. Literally.
The silent treatment from abusers is meant to make you feel isolated. It is used to ostracise people, destabilise them, and is a passive-aggressive form of emotional abuse.
When God does finally answer Job, he’s even more passive-aggressive and convinces Job that he has no right or reason be crying.
“Who are you to question my wisdom
with your ignorant, empty words?
Now stand up straight
and answer these questions I ask you.” (Job 38:2-3)
Narcissists love to deflect responsibility. While not actually denying he allowed all this misery to happen, God shifts the focus, 'HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME!!!’
It’s Spiritual Manipulation, Darling. You’re Not Meant To Understand
At this point God goes on a three chapter rant about how powerful he is, which is mostly God asking Job a tonne of impossible questions, but giving him no opportunity to answer.
What holds up the pillars that support the earth? [Job 38:6]
Job have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn? [Job 38:12]
Have you ever visited the storerooms, where I keep the snow and the hail? [Job 38:22]
Can you shout orders to the clouds and make them drench you with rain? [Job 38:34]
Do you find food for lions to eat? [Job 38:39]
Who gave the wild donkeys thie freedom? [Job 39:5]
Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong and gave them their flowing manes? [Job 39:19]
Does an eagle wait for your command to build its net high in the mountains? [Job 39:27]
Remember, God is asking Job these questions while Job is still covered in pus-filled sores, while Job is still suffering, thanks to God’s little wager with Satan.
These questions aren’t like Zen koans, intended to encourage thinking and intuitive understanding. They are intended to overwhelm, berate, shame, humiliate, and to put Job in his place as servant to God.
Chapter 40 is particularly chaotic, with God jumping from asking whether Job is trying to prove that “[God] is unjust - to put me in the wrong and yourself in the right? Are you as strong as I am? Can your voice thunder as loud as mine?” (Job 40:8)
Here, God reminds me of one of the worst people I have ever met and worked for. That person had a cocaine habit that exacerbated his profound personality and character flaws. He loved to go on monologues where he would meander all over the place with jargon-filled word salad. He would berate his target of the month with deranged rants, until his target was having a panic attack. He would get people to do work, and then not pay them in a timely manner. At one point he sent a company wide email that read, “If you see me around the office during the next week, please don’t talk to me, I’m very busy and preoccupied with something.” He was quite short.2
Chapter 40 gives me the same energy as that horrible boss. Completely unhinged, deflecting all responsibility, flooding the nervous system of his target until they are completely overwhelmed and unable to challenge the insanity. In Chapter 40, God sounds exactly like a narcissist who has been caught.
I may have digressed. The point I’m trying to make is we are not meant to take from this that God rewards obedience and punishes disobedience, but rather that it is all beyond our tiny human comprehension and we should not question God.
God’s own booming voice shows he is not rational, nor reasonable, nor fair. He is a chaos monster, and he does whatever the fuck he likes because he is God, and our tiny, little minds couldn’t possibly imagine what he was thinking. But he’s very powerful, so we best still believe in him, and believe that he hurts us for our own good.
I could never love a God like that. Or a human for that matter.
I’m Outta Love
The Book of Job describes abuse in the name of love, and is a blueprint for abusive relationships. It certainly maps to the cycle of abuse.
The torment of Job doesn’t give Job any real wisdom. Job simply silences himself [Job 40:4], and learns that his pain is nothing compared to the fragile ego of his abuser. I also don’t believe that the lesson from this myth is about patience, if anything it is about blurring the lines of love and abuse (though to me, there the two couldn’t be further apart).
The Book of Job also reads like a story about God’s internalised homophobia, and how much he hates himself for loving Satan. God acts out against Job because he knows that Job will never be like his former favourite, Satan. We see it play out time and time again in reality. How many hyper-religious, anti-LGBTQ+ politicians are out there hiding their same-sex lovers, because they hate themselves?
I’ve been obsessed with the Myth of Job because on the surface it presents itself as a lesson in perseverance and trusting God to get us through our worst times, but scratch that surface and it all begins with the hypocrisy of God. It is a masterclass in physical, mental, and financial abuse allowed under the umbrella of God’s “protection”.
THIS WEEK:
Most listened to song: Broken Bones by KALEO
Favourite thing I’ve watched: Speculation about the AI bubble bursting
Favourite thing I’ve read: Dark Neighbourhood by Vanessa Onwuemezi
I’m most excited by: Excitement is not possible right now
I can’t take credit for the subtitle, that goes to Mickey Atkins in her fabulous video Therapist Reacts: Girl Defined Thinks You Don't Deserve Happiness.
No, I have never worked for a politician.