Blake had already traced the course of man's day of judgment in Night IX of _The Four Zoas_, and had painted a fresco of the subject in 1820. In the poem he had used his own peculiar mythology, and closed his poem to nearly all readers. The Book of Job obliged him to drop his own symbolism and use the simple and universal symbols that the drama itself supplies. A brief reference to each design in order will make his purpose clear.
[Illustration: Then went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord]
_Design I._--Job and his wife and family, like true Israelites, are at prayer under a spreading fig-tree. The shepherd sons have for the time left their flocks at rest and hanged their musical instruments on the tree. At first sight the picture presents a scene of idyllic peace. But there are ominous signs. The sun is setting, night is fast coming, and the fig-tree suggests the immemorial symbol of Israel's wrestling during the dark night.
_Design II._--An illustration of the prologue of the Book. It is a marvellous representation of what an initiate only--a Moses, a Blake--could have imagined of the cosmos, with its heavenly portion peopled with the angelic sons of God in the middle, the earth and its inhabitants below, and above and beyond all God in His Heaven.
Satan, a magnificent figure, comes with the Sons of God to present himself before God. In his fiery aura are two shadowy figures making with him a trinity of evil.
_Design III._--The crash of Job's family. He has built his house, and prospered regardless of those who made it possible for him to build it; and in the sudden turn of events it has become a mere ruin.
_Design IV._--Job and his wife are under the fig-tree, the man bearing with noble and unbroken fortitude the arrival of bad news.
_Design V._--Once more the cosmos. Satan is rushing headlong towards earth to wreak his full power on Job in the midst of his charities, yet forbidden to touch the one thing that Job would so gladly surrender, his life. Heaven cannot remain impassive at suffering on earth. Its sun is darkened and the Almighty on His Throne is grieved at His heart.
_Design VI._--Satan's last malice on Job. He is reduced to sheer nakedness and wretchedness. Nothing of his former life that gave him comfort remains to him. He is "wrecked on God." "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the name of the Lord." With such faith and resignation his sun has not quite set.