THE HEBREW BOOK OF JOB.

The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible, is the story of a good man who suffers total disaster. He loses all his children and property and is afflicted with a repulsive disease. Then in three series of dialogues the author shows how Job's friends and Job himself react to these calamities. Job cannot understand how God can let so much evil happen to one like himself, and he boldly challenges God.
God speaks from a whirlwind. His speeches neither explain Job's suffering, nor defend divine justice, nor enter into the courtroom confrontation that Job has demanded, nor respond to his oath of innocence. He does not give an answer to Job's questions, but He does respond to Job's faith by overwhelming him with a picture of His divine power and wisdom.
Job then humbly acknowledges God as wise and great, and repents of the wild and angry words he has used. Job is restored to his former condition, with even greater prosperity than before. God reprimands Job's friends for failing to understand the meaning of Job's suffering. Only Job had really sensed that God is greater than traditional religion had depicted Him.
Job 38: Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job: "Who are you to question My Wisdom with your ignorant, empty words? Now stand up straight and answer the question I ask you."Were you there when I made the world?"... "Who decided how large it would be? Who stretched the measuring line over it?"... "What holds up the pillars that support the earth? Who laid the cornerstone of the World? In the dawn of that Day the stars sang together, and the heavenly beings shouted for joy."
"Who closed the Gates to hold back the sea when it burst from the womb of the earth? It was I Who covered the sea with clouds and wrapped it in darkness. I marked a boundary for the sea and kept it behind bolted Gates. I told it, 'So far and no further! Here your powerful waves must stop.' "
"Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a Day to dawn? Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth and shake the wicked from their hiding places? Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out like the folds of a garment, clear as the imprint of a seal on clay. The light of Day is too bright for the wicked and restrains them from doing violence."
"Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea? Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?"
"Has anyone ever shown you the Gates that guard the Dark World of the Dead? Have you any idea how big the world is? Answer Me if you know."
"Do you know where the Light comes from or what the source of Darkness is? Can you show them how far to go, or send them back again? I am sure you can, because you are so old and were there when the World was made!"
"Have you ever visited the storerooms, where I keep the snow and the hail? I keep them ready for Times of Trouble. for Days of Battle and War."
"Have you been to the place where the sun comes up, or the place from which the East Wind blows?"
"Who dug a channel for the pouring rain and cleared the way for the thunderstorm? Who makes rain fall where no one lives? Who waters the dry and thirsty land, so that grass springs up?"
"Does either the rain or the dew have a father? Who is the mother of the ice and the frost, which turn the waters to stone and freeze the face of the sea?"
"Can you tie the Pleiades together or loosen the bonds that hold Orion? Can you guide the stars season by season and direct the Big and the Little Dipper? Do you know the Laws that govern the skies, and can you make them apply to the earth?"
"Can you shout orders to the clouds and make them drench you with rain? And if you command the lightning to flash, will it come to you and say, 'At your service'?"
"Who tells the ibis when the Nile will flood, or who tells the rooster that rain will fall?"
"Who is wise enough to count the clouds and tilt them over to pour out the rain, rain that hardens the dust into lumps?' ..... 38: 1-38