I got an email stating: "Job is not pious fiction. D&C 121:10 reads, 'Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job.'"
I responded:
I understand your point. But could it also mean "you are not yet like Little Orphan Annie, you still have a family," or another similar analogy? That is, the Lord refers to the character to illustrate a circumstance. That would be akin to His use of parables to communicate truth.
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The reference in Section 121 does not settle the question of historicity. It merely employs Job as a reference point to console the imprisoned Joseph Smith. That leaves whether or not Job is a real person unresolved.
Job, like many of the Psalms, was borrowed from other surrounding cultures and adopted as part of the Jewish religious text. This has resulted in many scholars concluding that he wasn't a real person, but a character developed to tell a morality tale. I'm not challenging that view, I'm accepting it. If he was a real person, then I suppose one day we will all meet him. In the meantime, his story does help us understand truths about this life.
