The Phoenix Jewish news., 1959-04-10

and lecturer on the English Ian
guage, said that every year of his
life he sat down and read and re-
read the Book of Job for the in
sight that it gave to him in life.
WHY HAS this book, of all the SO
books of the Hebrew Bible, left
such a deep imprint upon the
minds and hearts of men in all
centuries? It is because the prob
lem of Job is the problem of the
suffering men who try essentially
to harmonic the justice and good
ness of God with the suffering and
tragedy of man.
This question men have asked
and have struggled with for CEN
turies in order to best know and
understand themselves in relation
ship to the problems of life and
how to face them.
RECENTLY THE great Ameri-
can poet, Archibald MacLeiSh, was
also inspired by the Book of Job.
So touched was he that he wrote a
new play that has been a tremen-
dous success on Broadway. He has
entitled this play "J.B.," and he
has taken Job out of the ancient
Bible and placed him in modern
life.
Though the characters might
change from Job to J.B., the prob
lem which MacLeish deals with is
the problem which troubles the
heart and spirit of every human be-
ing struggling with the problem of
suffering and tragedy in human ex-
iStence.
In the Book of Job, Satan chal-
lenges God to see how refined, re-
spected Job would stand under
tragedy and travail. Will not Job
in the end curse God and seek to
die when he is deprived of his ma
terial wealth, of his family and his
friends? Will he not revolt against
all the suffering that has been
placed upon him and therefore will
seek to destroy God?
In the Bible, Job meets with one
calamity after another-loss of his
business, loss of his dear children.
Finally he is left with nothing until
with great agony he recites, '"The
Lord giveth; the Lord taketh
away; blessed be the name of the
Lord"
In the play J.B. is a prosperous
man with honor, respect, the love
of his wife and children.
Our author brings in two charac-
ters-Mr. Zeus, the symbol of God,
and Mr.. Nichols, the symbol of
Satan. Both discuss whether J.B.
can stand the tragedies of life, and
then there begins one misfortune
after another.
J.B. is tortured with the loss of
one child, the drowning of another,
and finally his wife, in despair,
cries out to him, Course God and
die."
J.B., like Job of the Bible, cries
to the world that he is innocent, al
though now he also is afflicted with
a terrible skin disease which even
he is afraid to look upon. J.B.
cries, "Show me my guilt, 0 God. !"
He continues in three forms: the
IldIlQ OI GOQ lids IOuCIlSQ IIlS' 1OOA
at me. Every hope l ever had,
every task put my hand to, every
work 1 have ever done, annulled;
my children dead, my father S
name obliterated. Love, too, has
left me.
Our author presents three char
acters who have the same name as
in the Bible but represent different
occupations. Cophar is priest,
Eliphaz is a psychiatrist, and Bill
dad is a radical reformer. They
are strange comforters, and each
speaks out of his professional back
ground.
They try to help J.B. but are of
little comfort to him. They say
that God cannot provide an answer
to this problem. Cophar says God
is far above in mystery. The psy-
chiatrist says God is far below in
mindlessness, and that we cannot