The essence of the Book of Job really focuses on the Lord rather than on Job or any other individual. The agency that mankind was given allows a choice of following the Lord with progress that develops Godlike characteristics or following our own inherent aptitudes and the less-than-maximum possibilities God gave us.

The following quotes give some Jewish insight on the subject of Job.

"The Book of Job is the story of one man, Job, and his acceptance of the sufferings God brings upon him and his family. But the problem of the final meaning and message of the book has over the centuries aroused a wide variety of responses. To some sages of the Talmud and Midrash, Job is to be regarded as one of the few truly God-fearing men of the Bible, the most pious non-Jew whoever lived. To others he was a blasphemer."

"Because of the experience of the aged, old age and wisdom are sometimes regarded as going together. Thus, throughout the Bible and Talmud, the word "elder" means judge, leader, or sage. On the other hand, the Book of Job also stresses that there are young men who are wiser than old men. Nevertheless, respect for the aged is always a mitzvah . . ."

"The Talmud states that Moses wrote the Book of Job, and records a difference of opinion as to whether Job ever really existed, or whether the story is a parable."

"Job, like Abraham, had open doors on all four sides of his house so that strangers might have easy access. Breaches of hospitality, on the other hand, were considered punishable offenses."

The Book of Job is one of the ketuvim, which make up the third part of the canon of the Bible, is a profound expression of religious experience written by an unknown poetic genius, probably around the fifth century B.C.E. The problem posed by the book is how to reconcile seemingly unjustified suffering with belief in God who is all-powerful and just."

"The book's hero, the gentile Job (whose name possibly derives from ay'av --- ("where father?") was an inhabitant of the land of Uz; his wealth in livestock and slaves exceeded that of any other man among the Edomites. Job was a righteous man and would offer sacrifices to expiate any possible sins of his ten children. Seeing his piety, an accusing angel argued with God that the true test of Job's loyalty required that he be stripped of his wealth. God agreed to test His subject, and so the story tells how Job loses all his property, his children and then his health and is reduced to disease and ruin. Yet in his suffering he utters no word of complaint against God. On the contrary, he declares "Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked again will I depart. The Lord has taken what the Lord gave. The names of the Lord are blessed. "His wife attempts to persuade him to denounce God but he replies "Can we both accept the good from God and not accept the bad?" His three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, journey to his home to console him in his sufferings, which they take to be a punishment for sin, but Job adamantly rejects their comforts as illusory and denies that he is guilty of anything. He cries out against his fate and challenges God directly to justify what appears to him as mere spite. How can God require purity from creatures who are by nature impure? God replies that man is impertinent to seek answers for his suffering. Job ultimately acknowledges his ignorance in the face of the inscrutable divine, "seeing I am but dust and ashes. "God commends his stoic humility and restores him to wealth and health."

"Opinions regarding the meaning of the Book of Job have varied throughout the ages. To some sages of the Talmud and Midrash, Job was one of the few truly God-fearing men of the Bible, while to others he was a blasphemer. According to one sage of the Talmud, Job served God out of love, while another thought his motivation was fear. Maimonides thought that Job's anguished questioning of God arose from an inadequate understanding of the divine."

"Modern commentators are equally divided as to what the author of the Book of Job wanted to tell his readers. For in His reply to Job from the whirlwind, God majestically ignores the questions which most trouble the hero. To say that man is presumptuous is no real answer to the question of why innocence suffers. The book appears to make three main points: that there is no causal connection between earthly suffering and moral evil (that is, the good may suffer at least as much as the bad), that the vast beauty, power and complexity of Nature are a proof of an omnipotent order beyond human understanding, and that the gulf between man's actual fate and what he thinks he deserves is a fact about which God prefers to remain silent."

"Job's patience in his suffering has become proverbial and the phrase "the patience of Job" is used to refer to anyone with a great deal of patience. In the aggadah, most references to the Book of Job do not consider its hero to have been a real person. Job's sufferings are considered to be a test rather than a punishment, and he is frequently compared with Abraham, who was also tested."

" In its original application in the Bible, "Satan" appears not as a proper name, but rather as a common noun denoting an adversary who opposes or obstructs. Its related verb also has the function of describing the actions of an antagonist in the most general sense. However, in the later books of the Bible (Zechariah and Job), "The Satan" can be found as the accepted name of a particular angel --- a prosecutor in the heavenly court. Thus it is "The Satan" who asks for and is given permission by God to test Job's piety by inflicting upon him a whole series of personal ordeals. He is, however, definitely subordinate to God and unable to act without divine permission."

" One of the most serious challenges to religion is the problem of suffering. If God is all-powerful and good, as Judaism claims He is, how is it possible that He allows His creatures to suffer? This is not a new problem. The Bible is aware that suffering and pain are characteristic of human existence and many of the books of the Bible are concerned about the theological issues involved. The Book of Habakkuk, when it deals with one of the aspects of the problem, says that "the righteous man must live by his faith." This seems to mean that it is beyond the ability of human intelligence to understand the question and that man must have faith that God is doing the right thing . . ."

The rabbis of the Talmud and the medieval Jewish philosophers were also troubled about the problem of suffering. Some thinkers suggested that the innocent suffer in this world so that their share in the world to come will be greater, but other philosophers rejected this idea. Another solution suggested was that suffering comes on a man in order to warn him to mend his ways and that "when a man sees that he is suffering, let him examine his deeds." The rabbis of the Talmud believed that it is a great religious virtue to bear one's suffering "with love," i.e., patiently and without becoming rebellious."

"Whatever the solution to the theological problem of suffering, Judaism absolutely forbids inflicting suffering on other people and even on animals. Also, no man may ignore the suffering of others but must do everything in his power to help remedy the situation. This applies to physical suffering, to poverty and to psychological suffering. Furthermore, no man has the right to enjoy himself if the rest of the community is suffering." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

In Judaism today, there is a definite trend away from an atonement of our sins by someone else. Obviously, the effort to steer away from Jesus who paid the ransom as the atoner has amplified this. That is probably why the Book of Job in Jewish thought is viewed as is expressed above. The Latter-day Saint view is beautifully expressed as follows.

"When the prophets speak of an infinite atonement, they mean just that. Its effects cover all men, the earth itself and all forms of life thereon, and reach out into the endless expanses of eternity. "The word atonement,"it is written in the Compendium, "signifies deliverance, through the offering of a ransom, from the penalty of a broken law. The sense is expressed in Job 33:24: `Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.' As effected by Jesus Christ, it signifies the deliverance, through his death and resurrection, of the earth and everything pertaining to it, from the power which death has obtained over them through the transgression of Adam. Redemption from death, through the sufferings of Christ, is for all men, both the righteous and the wicked; for this earth, and for all things created upon it." (Compendium pp. 8-9.)" (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, Pg.64)