The Tanakh Podcast

Iyov continues his response.

On the one hand he seems to want to die, he repeatedly speaks of his descending to his grave; on the other hand he expresses exasperation with his interlocutors and a des…

Iyov barely responds to his critics.

Instead he expresses that he feels God has handed him over into the hands of some evil force who is tormenting and torturing him.

Moreover, he calls his gaunt sca…

The second round of discussions get underway.

Eliphaz speaks first.

In essence he will accuse Iyov that his troubles and torments are his own fault. He is a sinner. He has gotten what he deserves.

Today we tell the story of Rabbi Akiva who found faith in the future from watching water smoothing out a rock. He quoted the verse from our chapter (14:19) 'water wears away stone' . As we will see, …

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus taught: Job served the Holy One, Blessed be He, only out of love, as it is stated: “Though He will slay me, still I will trust in Him” (Job 13:15).

Why is Iyov the ultimat…

Iyov speaks to God with a series of direct and powerful questions about the way that God is treating him.

At the centre of the chapter is the challenge of the absurdity of the human situation: If God…

Iyov responds to Bildad by saying that he would love justice - he would love to bring God to trial and vindicate himself. But that with the radical power disparity between humans and God, theer will …

Bildad is the second friend of Iyov,

He also offers accusation rather than support.

In his attempt to justify God, he essentially claims that Iyov's children must have died for their sins; and that I…

In this chapter Iyov asks God why he is subject to such close scrutiny?

How much attention do we want from God?

Is God's attention a good thing or a bad thing?

Iyov and his friend Eliphaz are not merely having a philosophical argument, they are speaking at cross-purposes, they are engaged in different languages.

In this podcast we speak about how we might a…

Eliphaz appeals to Iyov, that in the broad long run of history, God might sometimes strike a bitter blow, but in the broad calculus of time: "He {God} injures, but He binds up; He wounds, but His han…

In this chapter, after 7 days of silence, Job begins to speak.

He 1. curses the day he was born, and the night of his conception. 2. Longs for death when his pain will be over.

If ch.1 gave us the awful loss of Job's wealth and the death of his ten children, today we see Satan take a step forward and afflict Job with the agony of boils or sores over his entire body, from he…

What happens when the man who has it all loses everything?

What happens when a world of order turns to disarray?

What happens when Satan makes a wager with God?

Who is this "woman of valour" who we sing about every Shabbat?

How does this alphabetical poem fit into Sefer Mishlei?