tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939290855438272306.post9205286579302695105..comments2023-09-19T08:52:46.269-05:00Comments on Alms for Oblivion: The Trial, by Franz Kafkapiershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12042745369869839918noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939290855438272306.post-79190021856036455012008-07-22T18:39:00.000-05:002008-07-22T18:39:00.000-05:00Kafka's story is a retelling of the question that ...Kafka's story is a retelling of the question that God asked Job when Job requested a reason for all the suffering he had undergone. God, speaking as a voice in a whirlwind, answers the question with another question: "Where wast thou when I created the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou has understanding."<BR/><BR/>If we have read the Book of Job, we know that God had agreed to inflict suffering and tragedy upon Job in order to prove to Satan that Job would retain his faith. Satan was leading God into temptation. God sinned by bringing Job painful physical ailments, destroying his wealth, and killing his children in order to win His bet with Satan. By asking "Where wast thou...," God is evading Job's question.<BR/><BR/>Part of the Lord's answer to Job out of the whirlwind included the question "Knowest thou the time when wild goats of the rock bring forth? Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?" (Job 39.1). I googled "mountain goat gestation" and learned that kids are born in May through June and that the gestation period of the mountain goat is 180 days. Once again, the Lord is evading Job's question, knowing that Google, not yet having been invented, was not available to Job. The Lord was prevented by His vanity from simply admitting that Job had helped Him win His bet with Satan. He could not bring Himself to praise Job for his faith, loyalty, and patience.Lao Qiaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15295030239306528508noreply@blogger.com