LOST Theory: The Book of Job

Okay, as promised, here goes my latest LOST theory, spawned by watching The Substitute and The Lighthouse back to back.

First, I’m going to assume you may or may not have any familiarity with the biblical book of Job.  So maybe the best way for me to expound my theory is to give you a brief overview.

Despite it’s position in the middle-ish part of the Old Testament, Job is arguably one of the oldest stories in the Bible.  In fact, there are some scholars who believe it’s not actually a Jewish story at all–but rather a translation of an even older Sumerian text.

It begins… with a debate in heaven.

Satan, who is referred to here as “the adversary” or “the accuser,” and God are debating over whether a man named Job (and by extension, mankind) is capable of being good or righteous of his own free will.

Job was a ”a righteous man.”  If there were a list of the good guys, he would have been on it.

Satan insists that Job is only good because God is manipulating his choices by blessing him and providing for him.

So to prove a point, God gives the adversary permission to remove all of Job’s blessings.  His wealth.  His loved ones.

His loved ones.

(Note: the word used to describe what killed his family was a “ruach”:  (wind/spirit) that knocked over the roof where they were all feasting. )

Even his physical health was LOST.

But the one thing the Adversary wasn’t allowed to take away was Job’s life.  ”Behold, he is in your hand, but don’t touch his life.”

It’s a story of faith versus reason.  Satan reasons that if Job’s possessions are taken away, he’ll lose his faith.

Job’s friends reason that if he’s suffering, it must be because he’s done something wrong.  They urge him to confess so he can regain what he LOST.

Job wrestles with the question of suffering.  Ultimately, God listens as he talks it out, trying to figure it out for himself, before appearing.

When he does finally appear, he doesn’t give clear or direct answers.  Mostly, he just raises more questions.

The picture of God presented in Job is a lot like the picture of life’s greatest mysteries presented in LOST.

Not as a scientific problem with variables, constants and a single, elegant, correct solution.

But rather, as a something to be wrestled with, respected, fully engaged in… and never ignored.