Playwright Neil Simon has written a comedy, God's Favorite, based on a contemporary Job, a tycoon whom Simon names "Joe Benjamin" or "Joe B." for short. The setting is Long Island, where Joe B. lives in a nineteen-room mansion with his wife, a prodigal son, and a pair of kooky twins. The family's assets include priceless paintings, irreplaceable antiques, including a Gutenberg Bible, half a million dollars in jewelry, swimming pools, and domestic servants.

Joe was not always wealthy, having grown up in a tenement. When he was a young man, the holes in his socks were so big that he could put them on from either end. Joe is now a prominent citizen and businessman, a patient and generous person, trusting that how we live and how we die is in the hands of God. He attributes all his success to…