Job 3

      Above the picture we read: 

"Did I not weep for him who was in trouble" 

"Was not my God afflicted for the poor"

"Behold he is in thy hands but save his life"

His faith threatened by what the messenger had told him, Job attempts to demonstrate what a good Jew he is , pouring money into the hands of a less wealthy brother.

Meanwhile the middle layer of the picture shows Satan about to pour fire upon Job and 'get serious'-- the misfortunes to his children was one thing, bodily harm to himself is something else again.

In this picture Job (at the bottom) and God (at the top) bear a close resemblance. (Blake said something here of real significance: our image of God may be closer to our self image than to any objective idea of God ["Mental Things are alone Real; what is Calld Corporeal Nobody Knows of its dwelling Place; it is in Fallacy & its Existence an Imposture. Where is the Existence Out of Mind or Thought? Where is it but in the Mind of a Fool?" From VLJ (Erdman 565)]

(You might remember the same tired looking old man in the sky in Blake's masterwork called the Sea of Time and Space.)

The middle section of the picture shows a fiery Satan headed downward, about to rain fire upon the Earth. Edinger (p.27) points out that the two old men "have fallen into a neurasthenic state while Satan is in command of intense energies" (can you recall a moment when you might have been in a similar situation?). This indicates the fluctuating balance between psychic energy in the conscious and unconscious states-- like a pendulum swinging back and forth.

Under the influence of an explosion of the Unconscious we, like Blake's Job, may resort to illusory conventional activities. In just that manner we may ward off the Creative impulses coming to us from God, often thought to be from Old Harry, and we rest in the manacles of conventional mediocrity.

The captions under the picture read:"Then went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord." (Job 2:7)
"And it grieved him at his heart" (Psalm 78:40?)
"Who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Mininsters a flaming fire" (Lamentations 2:3)
And below everything else can be seen a monstrous and evil-looking snake.

First Chapter of the Book of Job:

[16] While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

[17] While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

[18] While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

[19] And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

[20] Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

[21] And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

[22] In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

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The Fire of God is fallen from Heaven

And the Lord said to Satan 'Behold, all that he has is in thy power'.

Strange! it seems to imply that 'all that he has' includes his children.

The 'great wind from the wilderness is a antitype of the wind Elijah experienced
in the wilderness.