What kind of God is depicted in the prologue to Job? Is this God recognizable as the God we imagine today?
What sort of reaction to personal tragedy does the book of Job suggest is normal, or reasonable, or desirable?
In what way could the opening of Job be useful for counseling those who are suffering in the present?
Application Questions:
Do you imagine that every story in the Bible tells us something true about the character of God? If so, what does God’s behavior here tell us? How does that shape your understanding of God or the world today?
How does this book contextualize suffering? Is Job’s suffering deserved? How does this impact the way we talk to others who are suffering?
Does it change your view of the story to know that the figure in opposition to God is not who we think of as “Satan” today, but is better understood as “the adversary?”