Job 14

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(These images are from The Book of Job by Adelaide Univ.)

Kathleen Raine reminds us that this Plate is an inner event and that in his fall Satan is accompanied by a man and a woman. They represent the Selfhoods of Job and his wife.

"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven"  (Luke 10-18)
"According to [C. G.] Jung Yahweh became aware of his lack of moral differentiation through Job and therefore had to give satisfaction to Job by incarnating in Christ" (Edinger: Encounter with the Self (p. 59)  
(I don't think of God in those terms, but it's an interesting idea.)
  A small figure at God's left elbow (the right sight of the image) has a halo.  Some think Blake meant Christ there. 

Hell is naked before him & destruction has no covering

The Upper Part of the Image:

Canst thou by searching find out God

Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection

The Accuser of our Brethren is Cast down

which accused them before our God day & night

On the right side Blake wrote:
It is higher than Heaven what canst thou do 
It is deeper than Hell what canst thou know 
The prince of this World shall  be cast out

                                                  At the Bottom:

Thou hast  fulfilled the Judgment of  the Wicked

Even the devils are Subject to Us
thro thy name. Jesus said unto them. 

I saw Satan as lightning fall from Heaven  

God hath chosen the weak things 

of the World to confound the  things which are mighty

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Blake loved John Milton and no doubt made this picture with Paradise Lost in his mind.

But the fall of Satan may be the least of the meaning the picture inspires.


Here are the verses Blake used again; this time with their source:

Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering (Job 26:6)

Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the  Almighty unto perfection? (Job 11:7)

the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night (Revelation 12:10) 

It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know? (Job 11:8). 

..now shall the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:31) 

But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked (Job 36:17) ...even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (Luke 10:17-18) 

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty (I Corinthians 1:17)

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"Blake often addressed his (selfhood) as 'My Satan ..truly thou art but a dunce"; he most often referred to it as 'my Spectre:

"My spectre around me night and day
Like a wild beast guards my way.
My emanation far within
Weep incessantly for my sin....."

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