THE BOOK OF JOB
by
William Blake
The poet and artist, William Blake (1757-1827) had an interpretation of the Bible based on a personal encounter with God. Compare the first and final plates of his etchings on the book of Job:
In the first plate (left), Job and his family seem rigid, holding a book (the Bible), seated or kneeling, with their musical instruments on a tree (recalling verses in the Psalm of Exile, 137: "there we sat down and wept" and "there we hung up our harps"), suggesting Job and his family are in spiritual exile before Job's suffering.
But
in the final plate (right), after Job's suffering and his personal experience with God ("now I see"), there is no book (no Bible); while the family now stand and play their musical instruments to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord," as the psalm of praise, rather than exile, enjoins.
This fulfills the lost time God speaks of, "When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7; plate 14). So Job has now become a "son of God," and not a mere worshiper of God.
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