A comparison and contrast of the lives of Job and Dorothy
by Theodore Wright.
 

Have you ever read the Book of Job in the Bible?
I did many times. This is how the book begins…

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. – Job 1:1 (NKJV)

Has this thought ever come into your mind reading this? That instead of thinking about the “land of Uz” you recall the movie, “The Wizard of Oz”? This has happened to me many times actually. Uz actually is not a mythical place, though. It resided in the land of Edom. (See Lam. 4:21)
 

I, myself, could just not resist making a comparison to notice the similarities and contrasts of Job from the Holy Bible with Dorothy from Kansas in the Wizard of Oz. Did you ever notice this yourselves? Let us discuss this if we may.

Job went through some terrible difficulties with the loss of his family with a tremendous loss of health and property. Dorothy was separated from her family and cried out for them. While others may have looked like people she knew, there was no one in Oz that looked like her mother and father.
 

Dorothy quickly became familiar with the Wicked Witch of the West whose sister was slain by her home. Yet, Job did not know it was the devil bringing accusations against him…

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”- Job 2:1-2 (NKJV)

Dorothy’s difficulties being swept so far away into the colorful land of Oz, however, was not a lonesome experience. She made three friends, namely, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. Likewise, Job had three friends who came close to him…

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him.
– Job 2:11 (NKJV)

Dorothy’s three friends did not have everything in common with Job’s three comforters.
Let us observe below…

Eliphaz the Temanite was the first to speak to Job saying…

“Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
– Job 4:7-8 (NKJV)

I suppose that both Job and Dorothy were innocent. Let us read more.
 

Then followed the next of Job’s comforters…

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
“How long will you speak these things, and the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression.
– Job 8:1-4 (NKJV)

The last of the three was Zophar the Naamathite…

Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak, and open His lips against you, that He would show you the secrets of wisdom! – Job 11:3-6a (NKJV)

Job replies to his comforters…

“No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you!
– Job 12:2

“I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all!
– Job 16:2

True! Dorothy’s companions are not quite like Job’s comforters, yet you should realize and admit, though, that Job’s comforters did pick at straws, have an axe to grind, and roar in ignorant fear.
 

Dorothy was comforted by her dog Toto while Job needed to beware of the bite from the young man Elihu…

So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
– Job 32:1-3 (NKJV)

Dorothy was finally able to look behind the curtain to see the Wizard of Oz. Similarly, Job was able, remarkably enough, to see God!

“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
– Job 42:5-6 (NKJV)

Finally, Dorothy was sent back to Kansas by the Good Witch of the East where there’s no place like home. Job was also restored by God…
 

“Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days. – Job 42:12-17 (NKJV)

I know it does seem quite unusual, now doesn’t it? There are similarities that do show between these two differing individuals. Though it is that Job was real and Dorothy a mere fiction. People have had ways of relating to the character of Dorothy watching the movie but especially about relating with the person of Job in our lives. Though yet, Job is not for everyone, Dorothy.

Still, not such an unusual theme, now is it? My apologies if you will not be able to view the Book of Job, nor the movie of “The Wizard of Oz”, in the same light again.