The Old Testament

Job

Author: The Old Testament

Chapter: Job

Theme

The book of Job has been called the greatest of the wisdom books, but it goes far beyond the practical and prudential advice of much wisdom literature. It probes the mystery of undeserved suffering and the existence of evil in a world supposedly created by a good and all - powerful God. The starting point is an old folktale, which had been in circulation since the second millennium B.C. It tells how a blameless man, Job, is tempted by "The Satan" to curse God. Afflicted with disease, stripped of his possessions and his family, Job remains steadfast and in the end is rewarded with new wealth and a new family. Between the beginning and the end of this story, the author or authors of a later time have composed a magnificent dialogue, including hymns, laments, and prayers, which express different views of the problem of evil and of the relationship between God and man.

Antiquity of the Theme

The just man who suffers is the subject of several other Near Eastern works. The so - called Babylonian Job is a monologue in which the speaker complains that the Lord Marduk, although he is supposed to be just, allows his followers to suffer. Another Babylonian text has a dialogue between a sufferer and his friend. The sufferer asks, "How have I profited that I have bowed down to my God?" Akkadian and Sumerian texts also deal with the problem of suffering. The Egyptian "Dialogue of the Suffering one," in which the central character speaks to his own soul about his miseries, was written at about the time when the Hebrews were living in Egypt. While none of these works can be shown to have influenced the Biblical Job, they attest to the antiquity of the theme and of widespread interest in it.

Cosmopolitan Author

There is internal evidence that the author of Job was a sophisticated, well - traveled man. He knew the busy life of the town as well as the life of the lonely nomads, who might be in danger from raiding parties. There are a number of references to Egypt, to its palaces and pyramids, to the Nile, canals, reeds, and papyrus, to the crocodiles and the hippopotamus. The writer is also familiar with wild life, with the lion cubs crouching in their covert, the wild goats giving birth to their young, the wild ass wandering on the steppes, the ostrich laying her eggs to be warmed by the sun.

The prose story takes us back to a nomadic period when a rich man's wealth consisted of sheep, oxen and slaves, though the introduction of the Satan belongs to a later period.

Date

The date of the composition of the Job poem is very difficult to determine, except that we know that it as written after the Exile. There are no references to external events. Some historians conjecture a date after Jeremiah but before II Isaiah, since the author of Job makes no use of the idea of vicarious suffering. The place (Uz) is supposed to be Edom and the friends of Job come from northwest Arabia, i.e., they are non - Jewish. It is also of interest that except in the folk story the cult name for God, Yahweh, is avoided, as is Elohim, the general terms for God. Instead, El, Eloah, and Shaddai are used.

Structure

The plan of the poem is clear. After Job's lament, there are three cycles of speeches. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar speak in turn and Job answers. This order is repeated twice, but the third cycle has been disturbed by editors who tried to make Job sound more orthodox. They inserted a poem on wisdom (Ch. 28), in place of Job's speech, and added a new character, Elihu, who is made to upbraid Job at some length from the point of view of orthodox Judaism. The original order is resumed with the interchanges between Job and God. The whole is rounded out with the last part of the folk story.

Prologue 1 - 2

"There was a man" is the equivalent of our "Once upon a time" and immediately suggests a folktale. Job is pictured as a great personage, rich in large numbers of sheep, camels, oxen, and asses and blessed in his seven sons and three daughters. "Blameless and upright," he regularly makes burnt offerings for his children, in case they should commit some sin unconsciously.

Suddenly we are in the court of heaven, where Yahweh is receiving the angelic beings in the manner of an Oriental monarch. Among these is the Satan, literally "the Adversary," not the adversary of God, the Satan of later Jewish and Christian thought, but an angel whose task was to look into earthly affairs. Yahweh is boasting about his servant Job, "There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil." The Satan suggests that Job would not be so pious if he were not so happy and prosperous, "But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." Yahweh allows him to be put to the test. "Behold, all that he has in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand." A series of catastrophes follows. Nomads steal the oxen and asses. The servants are consumed by fire from heaven. Chaldean raiders take the camels. The sons and daughters are killed in a whirlwind. Job tears his garments and shaves his head, Eastern manifestations of grief, but worships God saying, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Dissatisfied, the Satan gains permission to take Job himself, "his bones and his flesh." Job's whole body is afflicted with "loathsome sores" (RSV) which he has to scrape with a bit of broken pottery. His wife urges him to "curse God and die," but he remains steadfastly patient. He is so disfigured that the three friends who come to visit him do not at first recognize him. They tear their garments, sprinkle dust upon themselves and sit with him for seven days (the usual time for mourning) without speaking.

Job's Lament 3

In an anguished lament, Job curses his birth and wishes he had been stillborn. Then he would have been in Sheol, where all alike find peace:

There the wicked cease from troubling; And the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together They hear not the voice of the oppressor.

First Cycle of Speeches, 4 - 14. Eliphaz' Rebuke

Eliphaz speaks courteously, offering the traditional Hebrew answer to the problem of evil. Suffering is punishment for evil. "Whoever perished, being innocent?" Job, who has strengthened the weak in the past, should not so easily give way to despair. "Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." If God is chastising him, it is for his own good, and he should commit his cause to God.

Job's Complaint

Job does not now answer Eliphaz directly. He speaks of his isolation and of his disappointment in his friends, saying, "Oh, that my grief were thoroughly weighed" and "To him that is afflicted pity should be showed for his friend." They offer him no affection or sympathy, but speak only cold words and to "one that is desperate." He speaks with anguish of the brevity of life:

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle And are spent without hope.

In this brief life, God is an everpresent tormentor, who haunts Job even when he is trying to ease himself with sleep, frightens him with bad dreams, and does not even give him time to swallow in peace.

And why dost thou not pardon my transgression And take away more iniquity? For now I shall sleep in the dust; And thou shalt see me in the morning, but I shall not be.

Bildad's Speech

Impervious to Job's anguish, Bildad reasserts the justice of God, who only casts away the sinner.

If thou wert pure and upright, Surely now he would awake for thee.

Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will he keep the evil doers.

Job's Reply

"How should a manrbe just with [i.e., before] God?" asks Job. God is all - powerful, he can remove mountains and command the sun; he is elusive, breaking Job with a storm and multiplying his injuries. "He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked . . . he will laugh at the trial of the innocent." Job longs for a confrontation with God, an accounting at which he would demand justice fearlessly, an umpire who won't judge between him and God - but God is not man and cannot be brought to count. Why has he fashioned Job with such care, only to destroy him like clay, to pour him out like milk? God seems to be unceasing in his anger toward him, and Job longs for a little peace before his brief life is over.

Zophar's Speech

Zophar is annoyed by Job's presumption and garrulousness. He wishes God would speak to Job and tell him how wicked he is. God is inscrutable and cannot be besieged with anger such as Job has shown. If he will put away iniquity and stretch out his hands toward God, he will rest in safety.

Job's Defense

Job replies ironically, "No doubt but ye are the people and wisdom shall die with you." He has, he asserts, his own brand of wisdom which is based on experience, not merely on received dogma. He knows as well as his friends, who are "worthless physicians" (RSV), that God is the creator of all nature and the master of men and nations. "Surely I would speak to the Almighty," he claims, "and I deserve to reason with God." Even if God slays him, he wants to defend himself, arguing that a godless man will not dare to come openly before God, and that if God will hear him, he will be vindicated. Once more he muses on the brevity of life. "Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble." He is gone as quickly as a fading flower or a shadow. A tree which is cut down can bud again. But "man dieth and wasteth away, yea, man giveth up the ghost and where is he? . . . If a man die, shall he live again?" Momentarily a note of hope breaks into his bleak pessimism. Perhaps God would hide him in Sheol until his wrath is past, and set a time for remembering him.

All the days of my appointed time I will wait Till my change [turn] comes Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

But the hope is brief and soon destroyed. God prevails against man and he passes from this earth, not knowing the fate of his sons and conscious of only his own pain.

Second Cycle of Speeches, 15 - 21; Eliphaz' Second Speech

Eliphaz no longer tries to be polite. In caustic terms he accuses Job of undermining religion by his arrogance and blasphemy. He drinks iniquity as if it were water and will suffer the fate of all wicked men to be cast out and stripped of everything.

Job's Reply

"Miserable comforters are ye all," replies Job, who feels that both friends and God have turned against him. God has torn him, gnashed his teeth at him, slashed at him, and given him over to the ungodly. He asks that his blood may find no resting place, so that it may cry out to a witness in heaven for his revenge. Since blood (life) belongs to God, he will be forced to take action. However, Job soon reverts to deep gloom. "My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me" (RSV). He has no past and no future except in Sheol.

Bildad's Second Speech

Bildad taunts Job for his long speeches and for tearing at himself in his wrath. There is no hope for the sinful man.

Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out And the spark of his fire shall not shine.

Bildad describes the progress of the wicked man. He is entrapped, he suffers terror, he loses confidence and strength, he has no offspring, and finally only the appalling memory of his fate remains.

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Job's Reply

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"How long will ye vex my soul and break me in pieces with words?" Job is wearing of his friends' attacks, as they are of his rebellious words. He insists that God has wronged him and that he cries out for justice in vain. His family, his friends, his servants have all forgotten him, yet paradoxically he begs his friends for pity. He wishes his words were written down, so that succeeding generations might vindicate him. Again, he has a moment of faith that he will be vindicated. "I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." (Perhaps "Redeemer" should be translated "Vindicator.") The next verse, 26, is corrupt and obscure, but it seems clear that Job, who has already longed for an umpire in court (9:33) and a witness in heaven, (16:19), now longs for someone who will vindicate his honor before God, or perhaps secure the confrontation he so much desired.

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Zophar's Second Speech

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Zophar, much troubled by Job's intransigence, tries to show that the wealthy and powerful get their pleasure from their riches and power. God will take away their prosperity and heaven and earth will rise up against their iniquity.

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Job's Reply

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Job's answer is a refutation of the whole doctrine of retribution. "After I have spoken, mock on," he begins, and points out that, contrary to what they have all been saying, the wicked do prosper, keep their possessions, live to old age in safety and wealth, enjoy their children. (Some verses expressing orthodox views have been inserted here.) He repudiates belief in hereditary guilt. He observes that anyone may "in a moment go down to the grave," and that death is arbitrary, for "one dieth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet," while "another dieth in the bitterness of his soul" - "They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them." The wicked may indeed have an honorable funeral, with a watch kept over his tomb, and a pleasant grave. "How then will you comfort me with empty nothing? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood" (RSV).

Third Cycle of Speeches 22 - 31

(Note: as explained in the introduction, the order in this cycle has been disturbed by editors who were troubled by Job's views. There have been many attempts to restore the proper order. The one followed here is that of Samuel Terrien, Interpreter's Bible, III, 888.)

Eliphaz' Third Speech

The wise man, says Eliphaz, is profitable, not to God, but to himself. He goes on to list sins for which Job might be punished, the sins of social injustice emphasized by the prophets, neglect of nakedness, thirst, hunger, the widow and the orphan. Eliphaz recommends that Job should humble himself now and make his peace with God; then he will be saved.

Job's Reply

Job pays no attention to these comforting suggestions. He continues his anguished search for God: "Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat (presence). I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments." This momentary, confidence soon disappears as Job's search fails. He insists that he has been obedient to God, but that now he is terrified in his presence. Yet the wicked go free. Job's catalog of wicked actions includes the deprivations forced upon the poor - hunger, nakedness, cold, thirst. The passage is full of vivid pictures, e.g., of the poor, soaked with rain, clinging to the rocks for shelter. Murder, adultery, theft are the sins of those who "rebel against the light." Through God's power, the wicked survive for a while, but soon "wither and fade like the mallow."

Bildad's Third Speech

Since power and fear are with God, how can a man be righteous before him, asks Bildad? Job thanks him ironically for his help and counsel. Bildad speaks further about the power of God over the earth, the clouds, the moon, the sea. (Some critics think this portion, 25:4 - 14, is an insertion.)

Job's Reply

Job asserts once more that he will cling to his integrity so long as the spirit of God is in him. The rest of the chapter, 27:13 - 23, is a conventional picture of the ephemeral prosperity of the wicked which seems to belong to one of the friends. Ch. 28 is a hymn, in praise of wisdom, of a later date, beautiful in itself but inappropriate here since it is out of key with Job's rebellious, anguished spirit. Man can successfully mine for gold and silver, but only through God can he find true wisdom.

Job's Final Defense 29 - 31

In these three poems Job contrasts his past happiness with his present misery and makes a final assertion of his integrity. He thinks first of the past when God preserved him.

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When his candle shone upon my head, And when by his light I walked through darkness . . . When the Almighty was yet with me, When my children were about me.

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Then he was respected by young and old; and through him the orphan was blessed, the widow's heart sang for joy, the blind and the lame were helped, the wicked were despoiled of their prey. "My glory was fresh in me," he recalls, "Unto me men gave ear and waited, and kept silence at my counsel."

Now in his present misery, he is mocked by youths whose fathers he despised and even by outcasts who live like animals in the caves and bushes of the wilderness. In his good days he wept for the poor and the unfortunate, but now no one hears his cries for help. He is a companion of jackals and ostriches, his skin blackens and falls off, his bones burn with the heat. (Much in this chapter is obscure, but the general sense is that Job feels alienated and in pain.)

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The last verse is a quiet and solemn disavowal of sins, sometimes called a "negative confession." It has some parallels in the Egyptian Book of the Dead and is evidence of the very high ethical standards of the author. In a series of oaths, Job curses himself if he is guilty of any of the sins he mentions. For example,

If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, Or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door; Then let my wife grind unto another, And let others bow down upon her.

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i.e., let her be a slave. With great vividness of expression, Job claims that he has not looked upon a virgin, he has avoided falsehood and deceit, he has been fair and considerate to his servants, he has shared food and clothing with the poor, he has not been over - proud because of his wealth, he has avoided pagan worship, he has been generous to his enemies and hospitable to wayfarers. "Oh that I had one to hear me!" he cries, "Here is my signature. Let the Almighty hear me ... Like a prince I would approach him" (RSV).

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Speeches of Elihu 32 - 37

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Job's challenge to God at the end of Ch. 31 seems to anticipate the Lord's appearance in Chs. 38 - 42. But now there is an interruption by one Elihu, who claims to speak because he is more upright than Job. He is a young man, but since his elders have failed, he would like to present his own arguments. Most scholars agree that Elihu's discourses by a speaker so far unmentioned and in quite a different style are a later interpolation by a poet who had new points to make. He is also more sympathetic than the previous speakers. He insists that God does have ways of answering men, through dreams or visions, even through suffering itself, which may chasten the sufferer and prepare him for repentance and divine mercy. To Job's complaint that his God is unjust, Elihu replies that God's justice is above human pretensions and that he afflicts both the righteous and the unrighteous. (This is a contrast to the retribution doctrine of the friends.) If only the sufferer accepts the affliction in the right spirit, he will learn from it (a theme common in Sophocles' plays). Elihu's passages on God's power as displayed in his creation, in lightning and storm anticipate Job's own speeches, but instead of letting creation speak for itself in all its majesty, Elihu tells Job that the crashing of lightning may convey God's wrath at iniquity, the raincloud may bring "correction" or "love" (RSV, 37:13). He concludes:

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The Almighty - we cannot find him; He is great in power and justice, And abundant righteousness he will not violate, Therefore men fear him; He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.

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God's Confrontation of Job 38 - 42:6

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This should probably follow Job's final challenge at the end of Ch. 31. God speaks out of the whirlwind, a traditional setting for a theophany. "Who is this that darkeneth counsel?" he asks, "Gird up thy loins like a man!" But instead of answers to his urgent questions, Job is bombarded with God's questions, beginning "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?" God does not pity Job, does not even try to be civil to him, nor does he reproach him for his faults. He announces how he measured the earth at the dawn of creation, "when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy." He controlled the sea and commanded the dawn, he knows where light and darkness dwell, and the secrets of snow and storm. "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion?" (RSV), he asks, reminding Job of the grandeur of the universe. With further questions, he points out the variety of the animal kingdom, the lion, the raven, the mountain goat, the wild ass, the wild ox, the horse, the hawk, and the eagle. Can Job create, feed, and direct such creatures?

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Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, And stretch her wings towards the south? Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, And make her nest on high?

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He concludes:

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Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it.

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Job, who challenged God as a prince, is stunned by the revelation of the creator's power. "Behold," he acknowledges briefly, "I am of small account. What shall I answer thee? I lay my hand upon my mouth" (RSV).

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God again speaks to Job from the whirlwind, telling him again to gird up his loins like a man. "Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?" Evidently he felt that Job was not really convinced, for he speaks next of Behemoth and Leviathan, enormous creatures of the deep, based on the hippopotamus and the crocodile, but described in semi - mythological terms. Behemoth is a sort of Rabelaisian beast who can drink up the Jordan, while the Leviathan's sneezes flash light and his mouth emits flames of fire. The fanciful, grotesque description suggests that God delights in all his creation, even in these strange beasts.

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In there any comfort in this for Job? Certainly his demands for justice are not met, indeed they are ignored, but so is the God of retributive justice of the friends, who seems utterly puny and unbelieveable. God has not, as Job hoped, justified him as a pious man, but he has come to him in person and shared with him the joy and power of his creation. Job acknowledges this.

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I know that thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of thine can be thwarted . . . Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know (RSV).

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Comforted by the majesty of the creator, Job realizes how little he can accomplish and perhaps his claims for vindication seem irrelevant. He has experienced the presence of God.

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I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, But now mine eye seeth thee.

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Describing himself as nothing, he repents in dust and ashes. (The word translated "repent" here has connotations of deep sorrow and self - depreciation.)

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Epilogue 42:7 - 17

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Here the folk story resumes. The Lord reproaches the three friends for misrepresenting him and orders them to make burnt offerings. Job is to pray for them, and they will not be punished for their folly. After he has prayed, the Lord restores his wealth and children. His brothers and sisters reassemble to eat with him, and the Lord gives them money and a gold ring. Job receives double the number of sheep, camels, etc., that he had before. Again he has seven sons and three daughters, Jemimah, Kesiah and Kere - happuch. Their names quaintly suggest beauty: "dove," "cinnamon" and "horn of eye - paint." Job, presumably healed of his disease, lives to a great age and sees "his sons and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days."

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See - Job: Job and a messenger.

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Interpretations of the epilogue vary. Some critics regret that the poet retained it, since it contradicts the poem. Job's piety is rewarded and the doctrine of retribution is reaffirmed. Others point out, however, that Job's reward follows his prayer for his friends, and that he is restored to his true selfhood only after a confrontation with the deity. Few would disagree with the judgment that the book of Job "speaks to our condition" as no other Biblical book speaks.

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