The book of job is among the other old testament books both a philosophical riddle and a historical riddle. The book delves into issues near to the heart of every human who experiences suffering. The setting for this narrative is in patriarchal times. The date of the authorship of the book of job would be determined by the author of the book of job. In rabbinical literature, job is called one of the prophets of the gentiles. Its author is unknown yet it is possible that job himself wrote it. It has been widely praised for its literary qualities, with alfred lord tennyson calling it the greatest poem of ancient and modern times. The use of this preexisting material very cleverly placed the problem outside of palestine, thereby excluding the possible objection of orthodox theology that such a casea perfectly righteous man persecuted by yhwh. The jewish rabbis held to the tradition that moses was the author of job.
Is the book of job meant to be an allegoryparable or a. Is the book of job meant to be an allegoryparable or a true history of a real person. Although most of the book consists of the words of job and his friends, job himself was not the author. A lot of books today may have a ring of historical accuracy, they say, just like. Job himself, moses, solomon, isaiah, ezekiel and baruch. The third division is the historical conclusion, in prose. The hebrew book of job is part of ketuvim writings of the jewish bible. The book of job does not mention any indications of data and only very few indications of places. The book of job is the closest thing that the hebrew bible has to a work of theology. Job, possibly the strangest book in the bible, is based on legends.
Rather, jobs agony ends only in a deeper vision of god 42. Whether this reference to job speaks of the same person found in the book of job is not known. A few bible scholars believe that character of job of the book of job was an actual historical person described in the prologue and epilogue and who spoke all the words attributed to him in the dialogues. Jun 24, 2018 the book of job, in my view, is widely misunderstood it is the classic book of the hebrew bible that seemingly is orthodox correct belief and theological in nature in dealing with the.
Is the book of job a true story or a parableallegory. Then, through a series of dialogues and monologues arranged in a pattern of threes, human wisdom attempts to explain the. It is found in the third section of the biblical canon known as the ketuvim writings. Job does not seem to be an israelite, because he is said to be from the land of uz job 1. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of bible. A major difficulty in understanding the meaning of the book is, what insight leads job to submit so humbly to god at the end. Is the book of job meant to be an allegoryparable or a true.
John barton, times literary supplement an excellent summary of the historical and spiritual impact of this most controversial of biblical books. Rather, the book of job deals with questions of wisdom in the context of a narrative dealing with jobs profound anguish and excruciating pain. The book of job is dramathe greatest drama in the worldjudged simply as a piece of literature. Literary features of the book of job 215 his polyphonic workwisdom types, a genre from psalms, and a genre from the legal sphere.
Key personalities of this book include job, eliphaz the temanite, bildad the shuhite, zophar the naamathite, and elihu the buzite. Because the book of job is so often neglected, yet presents a valuable lesson and is so highly praised by even people of the world, christians should certainly take the time to study this portion of gods word. If we could be certain of the history of the hebrew language or of the relations between one. Reception of job in visual art various communities throughout history have found the book of job to be a rich resource for producing visual art that seeks to soothe sufferers, spread hope, and even encourage rebels. Historical background of job it is not surprising that such a profound book might be difficult to understand. Job, on the other hand, seemed to know about adam 31. List of books and articles about book of job online. Every other figure mentioned in the book of james is an actual, historical person, including abraham, rahab, and elijah.
The book of job explores the nature of true piety and the problem of innocent suffering. It is possible that job is the oldest of any book of the bible written approximately 21001800 b. The book of job itself, together with three other biblical books, presents job as being an historical figure. But was job himself a real, historical character like john bunyan, or is job a mythic legend like paul bunyan. The wisdom that is found in the book of job is not communicated in the form of proverb. Job is lacking references to historical events and reflects a nonhebraic cultural background which little is known about. The book itself is completely silent about its time, with no allusions to historical events or topical subjects some take 12. Job may serve as a rebuke to the historical tradition of sin and repentance, represented by the deuteronomic historian and the surrounding wisdom traditions in ecclesiastes and proverbs. The assumption of this text is that job was as real as noah and daniel.
The first two places his name is found aside from the book of job is in ezekiel 14, verses 14 and 20. Instead, he uses historical literary evidence and comparisons with other ancient near eastern texts, along with analogy, to argue that the job of the bible is actually an antijobthe original job tradition probably depicted a suffering job more along the. The book of job makes no mention of its author and gives no clue to his or her identity. The question comes to us from a listener named lori.
Background and outline job bible commentary theology. Sep 14, 2016 there is no question that the book was already written by the second century bce, since an aramaic translation of the book of job was discovered among the dead sea scrolls. Although the author was an israelite, he mentions nothing of israels history. Job overview spurgeons verse expositions of the bible. Elihu came from the buzites who lived next to the chaldeans in northeast arabia 4.
During the course of time the following authors have been supposed. Job pronounced jobe, was a rich farmer living in the land of uz, somewhere northeast of palestine. Job is a profound book on human suffering, worthy of a lifetime of study. Jobs friend, eliphaz, came from teman, a city in edom. The book of job is one of the most problematic portions of the bible and has called forth a variety of interpretations. These biblical references alone authenticate job as an historical person.
The book of job does not present concrete solutions about why innocent people suffer. The book of job has aspects that seem to predate the babylonian exile that began in 586 bce, and elements that seem to postdate the exile. The book of job is a book in the ketuvim section of the hebrew bible, and the first poetic book in the old testament of the christian bible. In fact, job is mentioned in three different verses in scripture outside the book of job, none of which lead one to believe that job is a fictional character.
It takes on the problems of suffering and evil with astounding aporia. As far as the symposium is concerned, the authors purpose seems to be none other than to challenge the view presented by both prophets and historians to the effect that suffering is in itself evidence of wrongdoing. Background and outline job bible commentary theology of. The new testament makes a similar reference to job. Job is a pious believer who is struck by misfortune so great that it cannot be explained in the usual way as a prompting to repentance, a warning, let alone a punishment the arguments later. Addressing the problem of theodicy the vindication of the justice of god in the light of humanitys suffering it is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. But the fact is, job is mentioned in three different verses in scripture outside the book of job, and in all three passages he is considered a real, historical figure. In the case of job, there are several good reasons to interpret the book as historical rather than allegorical.
These include the way in which job is introduced, references to job in the book of ezekiel, and references to job in the book of james. Job 1 niv bible in the land of uz there lived a man whose. In chapter 1 of the book of job, we learn that as one of jobs servants was. Various communities throughout history have found the book of job to be a rich resource for producing visual art that seeks to soothe sufferers, spread hope, and even encourage rebels. Intro to job biblica the international bible society.
Book of job overview insight for living ministries. The author of the book of job incorporated the folk book into his work in a manner still showing traces of the component parts. It is common to view the narrative frame as the original core of the book, enlarged later by the poetic dialogues and discourses, and sections of the book such as the elihu speeches and the wisdom poem of chapter 28 as late insertions, but recent trends have tended to concentrate on the. Further, given that the fathers are unanimous in considering job to be a real and historical person, catholic scholars ought not feel to free to teach the contrary. The prologue provides a fascinating peek into the back storywhy god allowed satan to afflict job with such pain and turmoil. Jan 02, 2020 in the case of job, there are several good reasons to interpret the book as historical rather than allegorical. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. And does it really matter in the end which he was fact or folklore. The most likely candidates are job, elihu, moses, and solomon. Job lived after the flood, because it was after the flood that uz was born, uz was one of the decendant of ham son of noah, so most likely he was born by uz and dwelt there and became great and god fearing than his brothers.
The books theme is the eternal problem of unmerited suffering, and it is named after its central. As far as the symposium is concerned, the authors purpose seems to be none other than to challenge the view presented by both prophets and historians to the. Ayyub is also considered a prophet job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is beset by satan with gods. Job speaks, then each of the three speaks in turn, with job replying each time. Jun 07, 2019 the book of job is a profound work on human suffering, worthy of a lifetime of study and reflection. The events of jobs odyssey appear to be patriarchal. Although most of the book consists of the words of job and his friends, job himself. The book of job, in my view, is widely misunderstood it is the classic book of the hebrew bible that seemingly is orthodox correct belief and theological in. Job opens with jehovah holding court among a number of divini. Not much is known about job based on the masoretic text of the jewish bible. Consequently it can be concluded that the book of job is a mixed genre in which its author expertly blended a variety of literary types in order to serve the function of the book. Some bible scholars debate whether he was an actual person or legend, but job is mentioned as a historical figure by the prophet ezekial ezekial 14. These cultural and historical features found in the book appear to place the events chronologically at a time probably after babel gen.
Apr 29, 20 job lived after the flood, because it was after the flood that uz was born, uz was one of the decendant of ham son of noah, so most likely he was born by uz and dwelt there and became great and god fearing than his brothers. He laid the foundation for israels army, and was erased from history. The book of job does not specifically name its author. It is surprising that we know so little about the historical background of job. Historical context for job by unknown the core curriculum. We may be sure that the author was an israelite, since he not job or his friends frequently uses the israelite covenant name for god yahweh. The characters in the book of job consist of job, his wife, his three friends bildad, eliphaz, and zophar, a man named elihu, god, and angels one of whom is named satan. Fourth, the book of job was a fixed document of the old testament centuries before the coming of christ in the first century. The book of job consists of a prose prologue and epilogue narrative framing poetic dialogues and monologues. Rather, he is considered an actual, historical figure. The book of job is not only the finest expression of the hebrew poetic genius. Catholic commentators, however, almost without exception, hold job to have actually existed and his personality to have been preserved by popular tradition. There is no question that the book was already written by the second century bce, since an aramaic translation of the book of job was discovered among the dead sea scrolls.
Job, book of webbible encyclopedia christiananswers. Many look upon the entire contents of the book as a freely invented parable which is neither historical nor intended to be considered historical. In the second temple period 500 bce 70 ce job began being transformed into. If moses was the author, the date would be around 1440 b. Controversy has long raged about which parts of this epic belong to its original scheme and which are interpolations of considerably later date. Ones understanding of date below contributes to ones understanding of the author c. The book of job tells how one man suddenly awakened to the anarchy rampant in the world, yet his attachment to god outlived the ruin of his tidy system. Other talmud scholars ascribe it to the time of the patriarch jacob, or to the time just before the first temple, or to the persian period, or. The main part of the book is cast in poetic form and consists of speeches by job and three friends who come to comfort him.
Job is the first of five books commonly referred to as the books of poetry. The events described in the book of job must have occurred many centuries before they were finally written. The book of job is a profound work on human suffering, worthy of a lifetime of study and reflection. Further, the book never resolves jobs suffering by pointing to some spiritual growth on his part. This is why this so very special book cannot be arranged in precise historical order. It would not be very comforting if job were nothing more than a jack and the beanstalk story. The background to the book of job whenever it is possible, a person should seek to get the background of any portion of the word of god in order that he might understand what he reads more perfectly and accurately. In some ways job fits in the period of the patriarchs.
May 10, 2012 the book of job itself, together with three other biblical books, presents job as being an historical figure. In either case, the book is an example of the inconsistent and paradoxical doctrines in the bible. A recent work on job describes it as one of the classics of western culture with manifold influence. It would now seem that the language and theology of the book of job can be better explained by supposing it to be a portion of minean southern arabia literature obtained by moses in midian than in any other way. Literary features of the book of job gordon college.
The book of job a widely misunderstood book jeffrey. The talmud tractate bava basra 15ab claims that the book of job was written by moses, although the sages have always debated whether it was based on historical reality, or intended as a parable. Job may have lived during the time of the patriarch abraham, about 2000 b. Apply to archivist, cultural knowledge elder and more. The book of job, book of hebrew scripture that is often counted among the masterpieces of world literature. Jacques bolduc suggested in his commentary of 1637 that the book of job may have been authored in a secondary way by moses who found it in its original aramaic form and translated it into hebrew 2 1.
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