Said Elifaz: No man is without sin, yourself included. Who knows what you have done to attract the wrath of God.

Bildad tried gentleness: All right, I am willing to believe that you are innocent, but you must admit that God does not make mistakes. Even if you yourself don’t know what you have done, God surely knows.

The third, Tzofer, used the occasion to reproach him for his vanity: Who are you to question the ways and intentions of the Almighty? Do you think you can do whatever you wish just because you are God’s victim?

Exasperated with his friends, Job chose to turn toward and against God. Understandably so: better to deal with God than with His commentators.

We can also understand why, in the Midrash, Job is compared to the Jewish people. Israel too is alone; its best friends are ready to commiserate in its misfortunes but will do nothing to help. Israel too has been accused of acting against God, forcing Him to resort to punishment. Israel too maintains an endless dialogue with God or on God. Israel too is persecuted by men who, after inflicting pain, denounce its people for attempting to bear suffering in a proud and dignified way. If Job was not Jewish to begin with, he became Jewish. There was no way he could win in a society where friendship was nonexistent and where to suffer and to expiate had the same meaning.

Some of our sages, emulating his three “friends,” tried to console Job by reducing his problem to ordinary dimensions. A motive, a sin, had to be invented at all costs—why use restraint? Some accused him of lack of faith in the resurrection of the dead; others of arrogance and bad temper. Iyov lokeh umevaet, Job balked too much against his pain. Minor sins with disproportionate consequences. No, there had to be a better answer. And anyway, why speak of sin? One Midrash pictured him as martyr of the Jewish people.

Listen: When the children of Israel were about to leave Egypt, Satan rushed to God, protesting: Master of the Universe, think! Only yesterday these men and women were infidels, idol-worshippers, and You plan to perform miracles on their behalf? Are You really going to make them cross the Red Sea? And give them Your Law? Do You really trust them? In order to get rid of him, God pointed to Job and said: Go and take care of him first, we’ll talk later. And while Satan was busy torturing his victim, God managed to free His people from bondage.

This concept is illustrated in the Midrash by the following parable: Imagine a shepherd who sees a wolf getting ready to jump on his flock—what does he do? He pits him against the strongest and fiercest of his rams, and while the wolf is locked in struggle with the ram, the shepherd ushers the rest of his flock to safety.

Logically, both Job and Satan had every reason to become anti-Semites: the Jews had taken advantage of them and the God of the Jews had tricked them.