could. In this place of building humiliation, void of all distractions, feeling cool breezes on his face, hearing only rustling palm leaves, he began to discover his true worth to God, the blossoming of his faithfulness, his ardent love for God, never taking it in place of his deeds, making it his greatest treasure, inviting him to embark on building righteousness, reaching out to God's covenant, searching His ways to develop his virtues.
Joseph: I exalt my God, praising Him forever, His greatness most worthy of praise, His majesty unmeasurable, as I joyously meditate on His glorious splendor, proclaiming His mercy and compassion, being slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, establishing goodness as part of everyone, for all know He always keeps his promises, is gracious in all He does, righteous in every thought and deed, close to all who call on Him, ones seeking Him in truth, trusting I will praise Him forever, hoping everyone on earth will bless His holy name forever and ever.
Ishmaelite cousin: How can you praise God, choosing your afflictions to make you suffer?
Joseph: It would ease my discomfort if someone would unchain me.
Ishmaelite chief: Knowing one like you, you would try to escape at your first chance.
Joseph: Where would I flee to, surrounded by nothing but sand in this expanse of desert, waiting for dawn to dry me to a bone?
Ishmaelite chief: You are smarter than most. You can be released but restrict yourself no further than the vagrant over yonder, one making his home here who we call has-been Job. He has been waiting on his friends for consolation, seeking some way to speak with God.
Joseph: Why do they call him has-been? Has he always been homeless?
Ishmaelite chief: Ask him.
Joseph: Are you a leper, forced to live here, isolated from all others?
Job: My fortunes have failed me, testifying to my isolation in this no-man's land of nothingness.
Joseph: You look familiar, remembered from some chance meeting earlier, recounting how God holds you blameless and upright, leaving me to wonder why you have changed, disfigured to the point I hardly recognize you.
Bystander: Job is blameless and upright because he fears God, trusting fear drives him to obedience and its lasting. Being blameless, he never feared or dreaded anything, nothing evil to befall him, but trouble came, sneaking in unexpectedly.
Job: Fearing God is never enough, needing something additional, more than terrorizing one to demand reverence, more than advice of human reason, trusted human wisdom, encountering its failure, springing on one unseen, unexpected in its effects, making me hardly recognizable to ones like you, encountered as a different person in the past, bringing me to ask God why, why me.
Joseph: Fear is never the power driving me to be obedient. My love for God cannot move me to disobey His instructions for life, trusting any fear of Him would help me little.
Bystander: Defying reason, moving you to be more humble, grows your mind to become wiser.
Job: It all began for no reason whatsoever. God met with Satan, asking where he had been, Satan giving him the answer of to and fro. Since God knows all, why would he ask Satan where he had been, a question more likely coming from some unknowing demon-god? And why would God ask specifically about me, thinking to allow Satan to tempt me, a blameless, upright man, already recognized as such by His omniscience, trusting my virtues, while seeking to determine if I believe in God? My God tempts no one, but Satan, the aspiring-to-be deity, tells me all my treasures are now under his power, their giving and taking at his discretion, involving all my gifts having come from God, blessed with His love, but now unprotected by His consent, everything I had no longer encircled with a hedge of security, guarding all I am and had.
Bystander: Scribes tell us Satan tempted God to believe, Put forth thy hand now and touch all Job's possessions, and watch as he curses you to your face, but only upon himself leave protection, do not put forth your hand. Whose words do you trust knowing God cannot be tempted? God restricts Satan to be no more than a messenger, having no powers to destroy anything God created. God does not temporarily change in order for Satan to prove his lie, giving His nemesis a victim, one of His creatures to work over, but He could allow demon-gods to implement Satan's suggestions. A God of love values nothing Satan has to say, never considering to meet him face-to-face, inviting him to tea for entertaining his thoughts. Satan sought power God had never given him, suggesting what He could do to test humans, relying on demon-gods to implement his suggestions, satisfying evil, seeing all people's treasured accumulations destroyed, gifts from God's generosity. Scribes describe how created beings can interfere with God's plans, proposing actions God gives to no one, giving advice they are not empowered to offer. If you must fear anything, dread a demonic witness called on by your will, never sent by your Lord, needing no one seeking evidence for your judgment on the Day of The Lord.
Job: There was a day my sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, when I was interrupted by a messenger coming with bad news, reporting on the fate of oxen plowing and asses feeding beside them, fallen to theft by Sabeans, slaying the servants in charge, followed by a second messenger telling of fire of God, falling from heaven, burning up sheep and servants, succeeded by a third messenger reporting on Chaldeans raiding upon camels and slaying more servants. Concluding this day of infamy was news on the fate of my children feasting and drinking in the eldest brother's house, carried by a messenger saying, Behold, a great wind came across the wilderness, striking the four corners of the house, demolishing it, burying all the young people in death, shaming all the idols within, failing their protection, witnessing to wicked ungodly ruling ones.
Bystander: The earth can tremble at the Lord's discretion, driving people to fear, waking them from complacency to question their worldly truths, alerting them to hear eternal truths, sending them messages to heed God's voice. This happens when evil prophets deceive God's people, saying all is peaceful when there is no peace, where people have built flimsy walls, reinforced by prophets camouflaging them with lies, never based on truths from God. Telling these oracles such walls will soon collapse, the sovereign Lord says, I will sweep away your whitewashed walls with a storm of indignation, sending a great flood in a mighty wind of anger with hailstones of fury, destroying idols these people have implanted in their hearts, sweeping away gods they embrace, causing them to fall into sin. God never deceives people, sending them prophets bearing messages not from Him, telling all is well; be assured, the wicked will not rule the land of the godly.
Job: By my understanding all was well, needing adjustments by no one.
Bystander: God's voice carried a message in the wind coming upon your children's house, toppling it with its celebrants within. This house was never constructed with substance of solid materials, lacking virtues to withstand the world, swaying in warning winds, prophetically telling of worse to come, until it finally collapsed. Job failed to prepare his children for the world's natural ways, giving them confidence in their own wisdom, teaching how their common sense can protect them from natural disasters.
Joseph: Could there be reasons for God to allow misfortune to descend on one He had favored?
Bystander: Could Job's children have sinned, tarnishing God's trust in Job being upright and blameless? How could any of them know if they had all forgotten sin's nature or if some human had redefined sin? When we change the hallmarks of sin, we curse God in our hearts. Feasting in self-assured harmony, how could life be better, following tribunals we have chosen, basking in praise for being blameless and upright, worthy of embellished pride, serving as a necklace covering our violence, soon to speak wickedly on injustice as our tongue walks through the earth? Were all Job's blessings, his well-off family and his personal wealth, rewards from God testifying to some righteousness he never deserved, assuring him of being blameless and upright? When did God begin rewarding us so, inciting us to name it and claim it?
Job: I did not try to name and claim anything. I w
orked hard for the rewards of my endeavors, expecting no one would steal or destroy them.
Bystander: Must Job be rightly judged, evaluating his worthiness, different from criteria rewarding him with many children and possessions? How does God judge anyone, meriting them to receive His blessings, ones acknowledging everything belongs to Him, distributed by His will, perhaps rewarding their upright status, reflecting the wealth of their toils, but being riches eventually deteriorating to nothingness? Does Job's wealth promote him to be one of greatest in the East, serenely satisfied as ones proud, trusting in themselves, their lives warped by vanity, without understanding wealth can be treacherous, blossoming arrogance, roaming in sincerity, disturbing values, seldom boasting of virtue, ignoring invisible messages, blocking paths to righteousness, dismissing a life faithful to God, believing wealth buys security, assuming wealth itself is a virtue, putting a family's nest beyond the reach of danger?
Joseph: What more promotes one to greatness, assuring a legacy to inscribe on one's gravestone, if not