I. Name

Job, Hebrew Iyyob, "the persecuted one," or "the penitent." The book receives its name from its hero not from its author. Who Job was we do not know. He is represented as a man abounding in wealth and eminent for his piety, living in patriarchal times in the land of Uz. The mention of the name in Ezekiel 14:14-20 and James 5:11 is evidence of his historical character. From the language it is probable his home was somewhere northeast of Palestine where the Aramaic language was spoken. We need not suppose that everything happened to him just as here narrated. The author uses that well-known character as a person around whom to group facts in human experience which bear upon the great questions before him. It is not a biography of Job, but a poem discussing the problem of human suffering. Luther says, "I look upon the Book of Job as a true history, yet I do not believe that all took place just as it is written, but that a pious and learned man of genius brought it into its present form."

II. Text

There is a remarkable difference between the Hebrew text and the oldest form of the Greek Septuagint, the latter being over seven hundred verses shorter than the former. No very satisfactory reason for this has been given, but Hatch, Essays in Biblical Greek, p. 215, offers a solution which has much to commend it. He thinks that the Hebrew text was enlarged after the Greek translation was made and that Origen in his great work, The Hexapla, enlarged the Greek text so as to make it conform to the Hebrew as he found it. Margoliouth, Lines of Defense of The Biblical Revelation, p. I38ff, explains many difficulties in the text by assuming an Arabic original which was afterward translated into Hebrew.

III. Authorship

The author's name is not attached to the book, neither is there anything in the book from which we can draw a positive conclusion as to its authorship. We must decide from a study of its contents and hence many opinions have been advanced. These opinions may be thus classified:

1. It was written by Moses. In favor of such early authorship the following considerations are offered:

(1) The Jewish and early Christian traditions

(2) Its utter silence in regard to Jewish ritual.

(3) Its strong foreign tone.

(4) The divine names are those used by the patriarchs. Elohim is commonly used instead of Jehovah.

But other considerations entirely break the force of such arguments. We must not confuse the date of the hero with the time when the book was written. The teachings of the book presuppose an advanced state of society, they point to a period when serious thought on the great problems of life was well advanced. The troubled and uncertain condition of affairs also bespeaks a period later than the patriarchs.

2. Going to an opposite extreme some fix the date of the book during or after the exile. Such claim that the book is designed to comfort the Jews, personified in Job, during the fearful struggles which came upon them when their State was destroyed. Much stress is also laid on the character of the language, which is said to be weakened by words and idioms used by the surrounding nations at that late period. They tell us further that the advanced ideas of God, and of His government, and of Satan demand a late date, since the Jews did not have them until they came into contact with other nations, and especially after they were in Babylon.

But against this we may say that the doctrines found in the Psalms and other pre-exilic literature are similar to the teachings found in Job. The peculiarities may be due to the idiosyncrasies of the author, for different sections of the land had many local variations both in words and in grammar. Besides it is altogether likely that the book came originally from beyond the boundaries of Palestine. The spiritual teachings of the book are not beyond those found in the writings of Solomon and Isaiah and the book may be safely referred to that period.

3. A third class assign it to the time when such literature was most flourishing among the Jews, the time of Solomon or the literary period following. The artistic structure, the philosophic speculation, the cosmopolitan civilization of that period, the tendency to use words brought among the Jews by their contact with foreign nations and the advanced religious ideas all seem to favor such a date. During the exile and later we do not find such a tendency to speculation. The troubles of the captivity and the demands made by the return to Palestine were not suited to the production of such literature. Its general harmony with the Psalms and the wisdom literature of that period furnishes a suitable background for such a discussion.

IV. Teaching of the Book

The question before the author is nothing less than the purpose of God in the afflictions of the righteous. The idea that suffering is infallible proof of intentional sin sometimes fails to explain God's dealings with men. The devout, upright man sometimes carries the heaviest burden of sorrow, and life ends without any vindication for him who goes to his grave conscious that his character is not to be measured by his sufferings. Job was such a man. When his friends insisted that he must be guilty of some secret sin, he stoutly maintains his innocence. Even when the darkness shuts out all hope of a vindication in this life, he declares his conviction that God will in some way and somehow remove the brand and show that He approves him. This is the height of the argument. When Job casts himself upon God and declares his willingness to wait for his justification until this life is ended, he reveals a conviction concerning the government of God which is far in advance of his friends. He regards his sufferings not as a punishment for his sins but as a test of his character, a discipline which will yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness if received in a spirit of humble resignation to the will of God.

V. Its Structure

That the book of Job is poetical in form as well as in sentiment is generally admitted. The ancient Jews made it one of the three books to which they gave the name "Poetical." The question which has agitated critics is the kind of poetry to which they should assign it.

Many have found in it the essential elements of a dramatic production. The clearly defined characters and their parts are preserved with absolute precision, and while it lacks the details of the Greek or modern drama, its steady movement toward the vindication of a noble but maligned character is highly dramatic.

Others have contended for an epic form. It has its hero whose virtues are praised and whose trials are unique and thrilling, and the strength and nobility of his character are in the end admirably vindicated.

It is not necessary to go into minute details on such a question, for in those early ages the modern distinctions had not been established. But it is of the utmost importance that its poetical structure be clearly recognized as preliminary to any just conception of its grandeur.

VI. Contents

In a general way we note the division into three parts, the prologue, the discussion and the epilogue. Looking farther we notice that the discussion is divided into three parts, the dispute between Job and his three friends, the addresses of Elihu and those of God who ends the controversy. Again, the three friends each make three addresses, except that Zophar fails to speak the third time, giving way, apparently, to Elihu.

The course of thought is as follows:

1. The Introduction. Chs. 1 and 2. (In prose.) Job's position and character, Ch. 1:1-5. His trials, Ch. 1:6-2:10. The visit of his three friends, Ch. 2:11-13.

2. The argument with the three friends, Chs. 3 to 31. (In poetry).

First Course. Chs. 3 to 14. Job's lament. Ch. 3. Eliphaz accuses Job. Chs. 4 and 5. Job justifies himself. Chs. 6 and 7. Bildad reproves Job. Ch. 8. Job maintains his innocence. Chs. 9 and 10. Zophar severely censures Job. Ch. 11. Job attacks his friends and bewails his lot. Chs. 12 to 14.

Second Course. Chs 15 to 21. The controversy becomes more personal and bitter. Eliphaz argues that suffering proves sin. Ch. 15. Job bewails the injustice of his accusers and longs for vindication. Chs. 16 and 17. Bildad calls Job a boaster and warns him. Ch. 18. Job turns from his friends to God. Ch. 19. Zophar tells of the bitter lot of the ungodly. Ch. 20. Job answers that the wicked often prosper while the good suffer. Ch. 21.

Third Course. Chs. 22 to 31. The controversy reaches its climax. Eliphaz accuses Job of secret sin and urges him to repent. Ch. 22. Job calls on God for vindication. Chs. 23 and 24. Bildad contrasts God's greatness and man's vileness. Ch. 25. Job ridicules Bildad and speaks of God's sovereignty. Ch. 26. Zophar fails to appear. Job reasserts his innocence and intimates that the true way to receive chastening is reverent submission to the divine will. Chs. 27 to 31.

3. The argument with Elihu and God. Chs. 32 to 42:6 (In poetry). Elihu makes four addresses to which Job makes no reply. He speaks

(1) Of the ground and object of suffering. Chs. 32 and 33.

(2) Of the righteousness of God. Ch. 34,

(3) Accuses Job of self-righteousness. Ch. 35.

(4) The righteous and beneficent government of God. Chs. 36 and 37

God closes the discussion. He shows the folly of contending with God. Chs. 38 to 40:2 Job's reply. Ch. 40:3-5. God's power and majesty. Chs. 40:6 to 41:34. Job's humble confession. Ch. 42:1-6.

4. The Epilogue. Ch. 42:7-17. (In prose.) The judgment on the three friends. Ch. 42:7-9. The restoration of Job. Ch. 42:10-15. The death of Job. Ch. 42:16, 17.

VI. The Integrity of the Poem

Various objections have been raised against the work as it now stands.

1. One is against the Prologue and the Epilogue. Objections are made that these are in prose while the body of the work is in poetry, that Jehovah is the name for God in them while Elohim is used elsewhere, that the character of Satan is foreign to early Jewish history and thought.

To this we answer that the choice of prose for the historical statement is a habit of the author, Chs. 32:iff; 38:1, and if these parts had been written by a forger, he would have imitated the manner of the rest of the poem instead of changing to prose. As for the change in the divine names, it was common for the Jews to call God Jehovah, while a foreigner, or a Jew writing for a foreigner, more frequently used the name Elohim. As for Satan, a careful study of what is said of him removes the objection, for he is represented not as the antagonist of God, but as the agent by whom Job's integrity was tested, and the idea of God employing agents to accomplish His purpose is as old as the Jewish nation.

2. Objection is made against Ch. 27:7-23, on the ground that it contradicts the sentiments of Job expressed elsewhere in the poem, in regard to the retributive justice of God. But there is nothing in the passage which suggests another speaker than Job and the ideas advanced do not necessarily conflict with what he has to say elsewhere. They help to explain his previous statements.

3. A third objection is against the general tone of the speeches attributed to God, and claiming especially that the long passages describing the behemoth and leviathan are not on a level with the sublime energy of the rest of the discourse. But if the daring of the poet in putting such a lengthy address in the mouth of God is very unusual, it is entirely in keeping with other strange features of the poem, and the nature of the discussion makes it very appropriate that when all the resources of men are exhausted, then God should be heard. There is absolutely nothing to show that these addresses were not a part of the original work, and they serve admirably to bring Job and his friends back to the necessity of an uncomplaining trust in the goodness and justice of God. As for the description of the behemoth and leviathan, if they seem rather heavy and unapt to a modern, western mind, we must remember that to an oriental mind, moving in the circle of ideas which then prevailed, it would seem very different. Whether they add to or detract from the poem is simply a matter of taste and has no bearing on the question of authorship.

4. The most persistent objection is against the introduction of Elihu. This is claimed to be an interpolation because he is not mentioned in the Prologue or Epilogue with the other speakers, his speeches add nothing to the argument, they disturb the movement of the plot and his style differs from the rest of the book.

But we answer that a brief introduction is not supposed to mention all the subordinate characters introduced in the discussion, and if the part attributed to Elihu had been an interpolation, the person inserting it would have been likely to add his name in the Epilogue so as to make it seem more like an integral part of the poem, while the author of the rest of the book, not having mentioned Elihu in the Prologue, because he was not one of the main characters, would naturally omit him from the Epilogue for the same reason. He is introduced simply to add what the others have failed to say.

It is evident also that instead of being a superfluous element the teaching of Elihu adds much to the discussion. He emphasizes the goodness of God which has been overlooked by the others and which must always be taken into account when trying to explain the dealings of God with men. God is not the impersonation of arbitrary power but a being who deals with men for their good. Whether He gives prosperity or overwhelms with suffering and sorrow the same love inspires His action. This is very different from and superior to the arguments advanced by the three friends who have preceded Elihu, and if Job does not make a formal answer it is not because he does not think his words are unworthy of notice, but because he feels that his argument is sound and meets his case. Under such conditions he had promised silence. 6:24, 25.

That the movement of the poem is interfered with or the final issue needlessly delayed by the introduction of Elihu is then an unjust criticism. So important a consideration demanded recognition and the poem would have lacked one of its best elements if Elihu had not spoken.

LITERATURE

Commentaries: Watson in The Expositors Bible; Cook in The Speaker s Commentary; Davidson in The Cambridge Bible for Schools; Hengstenberg; Lange; Delitzsch. Green, The Argument for the Book of Job; Gilbert, The Poetry of Job; Genung, The Epic of the Inner Life; Margoliouth, Lines of Defense of the Biblical Revelation, p. 138; Dillon, The Sceptics of the Old Testament; Cheyne, Job and Solomon; Hatch, Essays in Biblical Greeks p. 215; Introductions of Driver, Bleek, Keil; Article "Job" Bible Dictionaries of Smith, Kitto, Hastings, and in Encyclopedia Britannica. For poetical features see Lowth, Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews; and Taylor, Spirit of Hebrew Poetry.