The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible

1. Throughout The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible Job struggles with the question of theodicy, trying to reconcile a just God with the suffering and evil that Job (and thus humanity) endures (see especially Job’s speech in sections 9– 10, and God’s reply in sections 38– 42). In a short essay, detail Job’s struggle and his final decision about God. Based on ONLY the evidence provided in the text, does this decision make sense? Why or why not? 2. In a short essay, compare and contrast the mourning rituals and funeral rites at the end of Ibn Ishaq: The Biography of the Prophet to those of Scyld Scefing in the opening lines of Beowulf (lines 25– 51). 3. Christianity and Judaism often describe the Fall (original sin) as an abomination, but some scholars see it as a necessary event to prove that free will was more than a theoretical possibility. In Paradise Lost, does Milton appear to glorify or criticize Adam and Eve’s decisions surrounding temptation and the Fall?