Job

THE BOOK OF

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INTRODUCTION

JOB A

REAL

PERSON.--It has been supposed by some that the book of

Job is an allegory, not a real narrative, on account of the artificial

character of many of its statements. Thus the sacred numbers, three and seven, often occur. He had seven thousand sheep, seven

sons, both before and after his trials; his three friends sit down

with him seven days and seven nights; both before and after his

trials he had three daughters. So also the number and form of the

speeches of the several speakers seem to be artificial. The name of

Job, too, is derived from an Arabic word signifying repentance.

But

Eze 14:14

(compare

Eze 14:16, 20)

speaks of "Job" in conjunction with "Noah and Daniel," real persons.

St. James

(Jas 5:11)

also refers to Job as an example of "patience," which he would not have

been likely to do had Job been only a fictitious person. Also the names

of persons and places are specified with a particularity not to be

looked for in an allegory. As to the exact doubling of his

possessions after his restoration, no doubt the round number is

given for the exact number, as the latter approached near the former;

this is often done in undoubtedly historical books. As to the

studied number and form of the speeches, it seems likely that the

arguments were substantially those which appear in the book, but

that the studied and poetic form was given by Job himself,

guided by the Holy Spirit. He lived one hundred and forty years after

his trials, and nothing would be more natural than that he should, at

his leisure, mould into a perfect form the arguments used in the

momentous debate, for the instruction of the Church in all ages.

Probably, too, the debate itself occupied several sittings; and the

number of speeches assigned to each was arranged by preconcerted

agreement, and each was allowed the interval of a day or more to

prepare carefully his speech and replies; this will account for the

speakers bringing forward their arguments in regular series, no one

speaking out of his turn. As to the name Job--repentance

(supposing the derivation correct)--it was common in old times to give

a name from circumstances which occurred at an advanced period of life,

and this is no argument against the reality of the person.

WHERE

LIVED.--"Uz," according to GESENIUS, means a light, sandy

soil, and was in the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine and

the Euphrates, called by PTOLEMY (Geography, 19) Ausitai or

Aisitai. In

Ge 10:23; 22:21; 36:28;

and 1Ch 1:17, 42,

it is the name of a man. In

Jer 25:20;

La 4:21;

and Job 1:1,

it is a country. Uz, in

Ge 22:21,

is said to be the son of Nahor, brother of Abraham--a different person

from the one mentioned

(Ge 10:23),

a grandson of Shem. The probability is that the country took its name

from the latter of the two; for this one was the son of Aram, from whom

the Arameans take their name, and these dwelt in Mesopotamia, between

the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Compare as to the dwelling of the sons

of Shem in

Ge 10:30,

"a mount of the East," answering to "men of the East"

(Job 1:3).

RAWLINSON, in his deciphering of the Assyrian

inscriptions, states that "Uz is the prevailing name of the country at

the mouth of the Euphrates." It is probable that Eliphaz the Temanite

and the Sabeans dwelt in that quarter; and we know that the Chaldeans

resided there, and not near Idumea, which some identify with Uz. The

tornado from "the wilderness"

(Job 1:19)

agrees with the view of it being Arabia-Deserta. Job

(Job 1:3)

is called "the greatest of the men of the East"; but Idumea was not

east, but south of Palestine: therefore in Scripture language, the

phrase cannot apply to that country, but probably refers to the north

of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine, Idumea, and the Euphrates. So the

Arabs still show in the Houran a place called Uz as the residence of

THE

AGE

WHEN

LIVED.--EUSEBIUS fixes it two ages before Moses,

that is, about the time of Isaac: eighteen hundred years before Christ,

and six hundred after the Deluge. Agreeing with this are the following

considerations: 1. Job's length of life is patriarchal, two hundred

years. 2. He alludes only to the earliest form of idolatry, namely,

the worship of the sun, moon, and heavenly hosts (called Saba, whence

arises the title "Lord of Sabaoth," as opposed to Sabeanism)

(Job 31:26-28).

3. The number of oxen and rams sacrificed, seven, as in the case

of Balaam. God would not have sanctioned this after the giving

of the Mosaic law, though He might graciously accommodate Himself to

existing customs before the law. 4. The language of Job is

Hebrew, interspersed occasionally with Syriac and Arabic expressions,

implying a time when all the Shemitic tribes spoke one common tongue

and had not branched into different dialects, Hebrew, Syriac, and

Arabic. 5. He speaks of the most ancient kind of writing, namely,

sculpture. Riches also are reckoned by cattle. The Hebrew word,

translated "a piece of money," ought rather be rendered "a lamb." 6.

There is no allusion to the exodus from Egypt and to the miracles that

accompanied it; nor to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (PATRICK, however, thinks there is); though there is to

the Flood

(Job 22:17);

and these events, happening in Job's vicinity, would have been striking

illustrations of the argument for God's interposition in destroying the

wicked and vindicating the righteous, had Job and his friends known of

them. Nor is there any undoubted reference to the Jewish law, ritual,

and priesthood. 7. The religion of Job is that which prevailed among

the patriarchs previous to the law; sacrifices performed by the head of

the family; no officiating priesthood, temple, or consecrated altar.

THE

WRITER.--All the foregoing facts accord with Job himself having

been the author. The style of thought, imagery, and manners, are such

as we should look for in the work of an Arabian emir. There is

precisely that degree of knowledge of primitive tradition (see

Job 31:33,

as to Adam) which was universally spread abroad in the days of Noah and

Abraham, and which was subsequently embodied in the early chapters of

Genesis. Job, in his speeches, shows that he was much more competent to

compose the work than Elihu, to whom LIGHTFOOT

attributes it. The style forbids its being attributed to Moses, to whom

its composition is by some attributed, "whilst he was among the

Midianites, about 1520 B.C." But the fact, that

it, though not a Jewish book, appears among the Hebrew sacred writings,

makes it likely that it came to the knowledge of Moses during the forty

years which he passed in parts of Arabia, chiefly near Horeb; and that

he, by divine guidance, introduced it as a sacred writing to the

Israelites, to whom, in their affliction, the patience and restoration

of Job were calculated to be a lesson of especial utility. That it is

inspired appears from the fact that Paul

(1Co 3:19)

quotes it

(Job 5:13)

with the formula, "It is written." Our Savior, too

Mt 24:28),

plainly refers to

Job 29:30.

Compare also

Jas 4:10

and 1Pe 5:6

with Job 22:29;

Ro 11:34, 35

with Job 15:8.

It is probably the oldest book in the world. It stands among the

Hagiographa in the threefold division of Scripture into the Law, the

Prophets, and the Hagiographa ("Psalms,"

Lu 24:44).

DESIGN OF THE

BOOK.--It is a public debate in poetic form on an

important question concerning the divine government; moreover the

prologue and epilogue, which are in prose, shed the interest of a

living history over the debate, which would otherwise be but a contest

of abstract reasonings. To each speaker of the three friends three speeches are assigned. Job having no one to stand by him is allowed to

reply to each speech of each of the three. Eliphaz, as the oldest,

leads the way. Zophar, at his third turn, failed to speak, thus

virtually owning himself overcome

(Job 27:1-23).

Therefore Job continued his reply, which forms three speeches

(Job 26:1-14;

27:1-23; 28:1-28; 29:1-31:40).

Elihu

(Job 32:1-37:24)

is allowed four speeches. Jehovah makes three addresses

(Job 38:1-41:34).

Thus, throughout there is a tripartite division. The whole is divided

into three parts--the prologue, poem proper, and epilogue. The

poem, into three--(1) The dispute of Job and his three friends;

(2) The address of Elihu; (3) The address of God. There are

three series in the controversy, and in the same order. The

epilogue

(Job 42:1-17)

also is threefold; Job's justification, reconciliation with his

friends, restoration. The speakers also in their successive speeches

regularly advance from less to greater vehemence. With all this

artificial composition, everything seems easy and natural.

The question to be solved, as exemplified in the case of Job, is,

Why are the righteous afflicted consistently with God's justice? The

doctrine of retribution after death, no doubt, is the great solution of

the difficulty. And to it Job plainly refers in

Job 14:14,

and Job 19:25.

The objection to this, that the explicitness of the language on the

resurrection in Job is inconsistent with the obscurity on the subject

in the early books of the Old Testament, is answered by the fact that

Job enjoyed the divine vision

(Job 38:1; 42:5),

and therefore, by inspiration, foretold these truths. Next, the

revelations made outside of Israel being few needed to be the more

explicit; thus Balaam's prophecy

(Nu 24:17)

was clear enough to lead the wise men of the East by the star

(Mt 2:2);

and in the age before the written law, it was the more needful for God

not to leave Himself without witness of the truth. Still Job evidently

did not fully realize the significance designed by the Spirit in his

own words (compare

1Pe 1:11, 12).

The doctrine, though existing, was not plainly revealed or at

least understood. Hence he does not mainly refer to this

solution. Yes, and even now, we need something in

addition to this solution. David, who firmly believed in a future

retribution

(Ps 16:10; 17:15),

still felt the difficulty not entirely solved thereby

(Ps 83:1-18).

The solution is not in Job's or in his three friends' speeches. It

must, therefore, be in Elihu's. God will hold a final judgment, no

doubt, to clear up all that seems dark in His present dealings; but He

also now providentially and morally governs the world and all

the events of human life. Even the comparatively righteous are not

without sin which needs to be corrected. The justice and love of God

administer the altogether deserved and merciful correction. Affliction

to the godly is thus mercy and justice in disguise. The afflicted

believer on repentance sees this. "Via crucis, via salutis"

["The way of the cross, the way of deliverance"]. Though afflicted, the

godly are happier even now than the ungodly, and when affliction

has attained its end, it is removed by the Lord. In the Old Testament

the consolations are more temporal and outward; in the New Testament,

more spiritual; but in neither to the entire exclusion of the other.

"Prosperity," says BACON, "is the blessing of the

Old Testament; adversity that of the New Testament, which is the mark

of God's more especial favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you

listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as

carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost has labored more in describing

the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is

not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without

comforts and hopes." This solution of Elihu is seconded by the

addresses of God, in which it is shown God must be just (because

He is God), as Elihu had shown how God can be just, and

yet the righteous be afflicted. It is also acquiesced in by Job, who

makes no reply. God reprimands the "three" friends, but not Elihu.

Job's general course is approved; he is directed to intercede for his

friends, and is restored to double his former prosperity.

POETRY.--In all countries poetry is the earliest form of composition

as being best retained in the memory. In the East especially it was

customary for sentiments to be preserved in a terse, proverbial, and

poetic form (called maschal). Hebrew poetry is not constituted by

the rhythm or meter, but in a form peculiar to itself: 1. In an

alphabetical arrangement somewhat like our acrostic. For instance,

La 1:1-22.

2. The same verse repeated at intervals; as in

Ps 42:1-11; 107:1-43.

3. Rhythm of gradation. Psalms of degrees,

Ps 120:1-134:3,

in which the expression of the previous verse is resumed and carried

forward in the next

(Ps 121:1-8).

4. The chief characteristic of Hebrew poetry is parallelism, or

the correspondence of the same ideas in the parallel clauses. The

earliest instance is Enoch's prophecy

(Jude 14),

and Lamech's parody of it

(Ge 4:23).

Three kinds occur: (1) The synonymous parallelism, in which the second

is a repetition of the first, with or without increase of force

(Ps 22:27;

Isa 15:1);

sometimes with double parallelism

(Isa 1:15).

(2) The antithetic, in which the idea of the second clause is the

converse of that in the first

(Pr 10:1).

(3) The synthetic, where there is a correspondence between different

propositions, noun answering to noun, verb to verb, member to member,

the sentiment, moreover, being not merely echoed, or put in contrast,

but enforced by accessory ideas

(Job 3:3-9).

Also alternate

(Isa 51:19).

"Desolation and destruction, famine and sword," that is, desolation by

famine, and destruction by the sword. Introverted; where the

fourth answers to the first, and the third to the second

(Mt 7:6).

Parallelism thus often affords a key to the interpretation. For fuller

information, see LOWTH (Introduction to

Isaiah, and Lecture on Hebrew Poetry) and HERDER (Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, translated by

Marsh). The simpler and less artificial forms of parallelism prevail in

Job--a mark of its early age.