Oedipus & Job the Suffering

Oedipus & Job The suffering of the blameless in two different ancient contexts -- the tragedy of King Oedipus and the wisdom of Job Both the ancient Greek play "Oedipus the King," and the Hebraic "Book of Job" portray heroes who suffer unjustly. Both Oedipus and Job are forced to endure punishments of a horrific nature far exceeding any crimes they have committed.

But while the suffering of Oedipus is meant to show the capricious and arbitrary nature of the gods and thus the irredeemable harshness of human fate, the book of Job highlights the ability of suffering to teach the believer about the awesome and incomprehensible nature of divine majesty. Oedipus' suffering evokes pity and fear in the hearts of the viewers, but his suffering does not instruct him, other than the fact that the gods are cruel.

In contrast, the way in which Job bears his suffering is morally instructive to the book's readers. Job illustrates the proper way for an afflicted man or woman view and approach his or her own difficulties, as experienced in the world. At the beginning of the play, "Oedipus the King," King Oedipus attempts to discover why the people of Thebes have been afflicted with a plague. The city's king vows to swiftly punish the offending individual who has so displeased the gods, by killing the former king.

He proclaims, if he cannot: "I pray / the curse I laid on others fall on me," he says, with great confidence in his ability to mete out justice. Gradually, over the course of Sophocles' play, it becomes clear that no one has willingly and knowingly offended the gods. Instead, Oedipus realizes that he has accidentally fulfilled the divine prophesy about his foretold destiny. He has married his mother and killed his own father.

Although he fled from the humble people whom he thought were his parents, after he heard of his destiny, it was to no avail. Thus, the play "Oedipus the King" suggests that even if one acts morally, the individual still will fulfill his or her destiny, because that is the nature of fate. Creon says to Oedipus at the play's beginning, "now the god's command is plain: / Punish his takers-off, whoe'er they be." Because of the suffering that was his unavoidable destiny, Oedipus must punish himself.

He mutilates himself and ostracizes himself from Thebes, according to his own proclamation. Job, like Oedipus, is not a witting criminal at the beginning of the Biblical book he bears his name. Job is prosperous and respected, like Oedipus, and a man who "was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil." (1:1) but fate moves against Job, as Satan states that he doubts Job would be so holy had.