Job: A Comedy of Justice

Or, perhaps, I should call this "Job: Revisited".

This book is a retelling of the story of Job from the Bible. For those of you not familiar with the story, Job is an upright man of God, and God decides to put him to the test, to determine if he will keep his faith, under distress. God proceeds to cause, or allow to be caused, many calamaties to befall our poor hero, Job.

The author is Robert Heinlein, who is a master science fiction storyteller who has written many great works, with religion being a theme of many of his books, although not generally the primary theme.

Along the way, Robert often debunks popular myths, such as the popular interpretation of the commandment against lying. In this particular case, the popular understanding of the commandment is "Thou Shalt Not Lie". The protagonist is struggling with the dishonesty his struggles are putting him through - namely that if he admitted that he believes God is persecuting him, he would probably be labeled a crazy person and confined to an institution. So, he comforts himself by reminding himself that the commandment is actually "Thou Shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." (Exodus 20:16.)

When I say he debunks popular myths, I am referring to a strict interpretation of the ninth commandment, in the sense that no lie is ever acceptable. When I look around at the world, I see something quite different - it seems almost as if people lie all of the time, and it is merely a matter of degree - whether it is pretending you like someone just to be polite, or whether it is stating an opinion about a matter for which you have no knowledge, or simple white lies like "you look fine".

Heinlein's books often make me think, by scattering nuggets like the above throughout the text, often prompting me to do research later on what the Bible text says, and what other thinkers have to say about it.

In the Biblical story, along the way we discover many attitudes that are uncomfortable today, such as the concept that Job is finally rewarded for his faith by being given new wives and properties, and particularly that he is happy with these. In other words, wives and children are generic and interchangeable. He is not given his original wives back, but new ones, and he is well pleased by the quantity and quality of these new wives.

In the Heinlein story of Job, we find other ways to be uncomfortable. The hero in this story is one Alexander Hergensheimer, who has long been the successful fund raiser for an ecumenical brotherhood of Christians. Unfortunately, the works of this brotherhood are not the praiseworthy (in my mind) comforting of the sick, feeding of the hungry, and housing of the poor. This brotherhood works for political change and counts a long list of accomplishments, among them the outlawing of abortion, banning of birth control, censoring of books, and so forth. Future plans include the ghetto for black people, bans on Catholic churches, and similar ideas which would not currently be regarded as examples of Christian love.

However, Alexander proves that he is faithful to God, and refuses to curse Him, no matter how many trials he is put through. He continues to work for the salvation of others, and is in a perfect state of grace, kneeling penitent in prayer when the Trump and Shout occur, and he is taken bodily up to Heaven.

The book is excellent, thought provoking, and a great read. I recommend it highly. I'd love it if others would read it and post their comments.