Except he spends 20-something chapters arguing the opposite, basically saying that he wants to argue his case against God in court (which is what finally happens, beginning with the “Speech from the Whirlwind” in Chapter 32). The Book of Job has been seen as incredibly problematic – not just from the view of “God as Cosmic Abuser,” but also from the perspective of “how dare Job challenge God”. The Elihu chapters (32-37) are clearly a later addition, created by some reader who was so offended by the lack of defense of God’s position by Job’s “friends” that he felt it necessary to add his own midrash in the middle of the book.

I personally do not believe that Job is generally interpreted the way that the original author intended; I think that a better way of understanding it is to see it as a kind of fairy tale – one that visibly demonstrates that traditional understandings of God’s righteousness (“Might defines right”) are morally bankrupt. I fully acknowledge, though, that most do not see it that way.