One of the most celebrated books of the Bible, the Book of Job differs markedly from the rest of Old Testament literature in both genre and content...
One of the most celebrated books of the Bible, the Book of Job differs markedly from the rest of Old Testament literature in both genre and content. It is a book in the form of a parable, a reflection on human life as such, without a direct connection to the context of sacred history. Many interpreters, including highly authoritative ones, regarded the Book of Job as historical and even tried to determine precisely when and where its events took place. We cannot rule out the possibility that the legend, extensively reworked as literature by an unknown author, does indeed have a historical basis. In terms of the book's own content, however, what matters is that its hero represents humanity in general, knowing God not through the Revelation given to the chosen people, but through inward spiritual experience.
As far as one can judge from evidence within the Bible and from the book itself, the legend of the long-suffering Job had been known in the Old Testament world since remote antiquity; similar traditions also exist in the literature of the peoples surrounding the biblical world. The date of the Book of Job's composition is highly disputed. Its events take place in the patriarchal period, long before the covenant at Sinai, and many interpreters, chiefly ancient ones, date its composition to that period or a somewhat later one. Modern scholars, however, consider the Book of Job to have been written at the end of the fifth century BC. If this view is accepted, the second half of the Book of Zechariah, the Book of Joel and the entire extensive literature of the ‘sages of Israel’ should be regarded as contemporary with Job. Though stylistically close to the latter, the Book of Job differs markedly from it in meaning and tone. In content, Job's author is much closer to the authors of the second half of Zechariah and of Ecclesiastes. Like Ecclesiastes, the author of Job is concerned first and foremost with the meaning of an individual's life, with personal tragedy and a personal relationship with God. This is a strong argument for the Book of Job having been written precisely in the fifth century BC, after the preaching of the great prophets and under their influence.
The plot itself is fairly simple: it tells of a prosperous righteous man who suddenly loses everything he possessed—wealth, family and health. His friends come to the sufferer, trying to comfort Job and make sense of what has happened together with him. In the end, the Creator himself intervenes and delivers Job. For his faithfulness and patience, he is rewarded with the restoration of everything he lost. The main, poetic part of the book contains Job's conversations with his friends; the narrative framework is set out in the prose prologue and epilogue.
The opening lines portray Job as devout and prosperous. In reading them, it is important to remember that traditional Old Testament religiosity presupposed a direct connection between righteousness and prosperity, sin and misfortune. Old Testament authors did not know the idea of recompense after death; a person's fate after death was imagined as something like suspended animation. In Sheol, ‘the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for even the memory of them is forgotten’ (Eccl. 9:5). The author deliberately paints an idyllic picture in the prologue: Job is righteous, and therefore wealthy and prosperous. But this idyll is far from real life; it is merely the narrative's theoretical starting point. Real life is full of inexplicable suffering in which righteousness goes unrewarded. The prophet Habakkuk had already asked God about the reasons for such injustice; the example of Jeremiah and other prophets, and indeed the whole history of the exile, confirmed the question's relevance. Ecclesiastes bitterly acknowledged the impossibility of answering it through reasoning.
Within the paradigm of a direct relationship between righteousness and earthly prosperity, the origin of evil and the suffering of the righteous cannot be explained. The author of Job therefore portrays a strange dialogue between God and Satan. For the modern reader—and, I think, for the ancient reader too—this scene raises burning questions. Satan slanders Job, claiming that he is faithful to God only because of the gifts the Creator has bestowed on him. To refute these fabrications, the Creator allows Satan to deprive Job of everything he possesses by God's mercy. Job himself thus becomes a ‘pawn’, a blind plaything of Satan and... of God, who withdraws his hand from Job without the slightest concern for what it will be like for Job to endure this. For a modern person, this is so incompatible with the idea of God as a loving Father that it often causes their faith to waver. Reaching verse 12, people close the book in horror, afraid to look further. That is why it is important to remember that the Book of Job was written before the Incarnation of the Son of God and is a work of literature.
And so, in a single day, Job loses everything. His sons and daughters perish, in whom alone, according to Old Testament ideas, he could hope for his life to continue; all his wealth vanishes like smoke. Yet Job remains patient in calamity. This confirms that he does not bless God for gain. How many people would be capable of remaining faithful and not murmuring against God in such a situation? But even this is not enough for Satan: he claims that if Job himself is struck, he will turn away from God. The Lord again agrees to this trial, and Job is struck with leprosy, which causes him terrible torment. Once again the reader asks: why did God agree to test Job? Does he have the right to do so? Is the reader willing to honour such a God, and does he not remind the reader of bloodthirsty Baals? In any case, does an all-knowing God need to test a human being?
But these are the reader's questions. The book's author does not look at his hero's suffering from the outside, and an entirely different question matters to him: what is life for at all, if it is filled with suffering? ‘Curse God and die,’ Job's wife suggests. It is very important that blessing God and blaspheming against him mark the boundary between life and death. Yet Job shows incomprehensible humility, agreeing to receive both good and evil from God. It is precisely this humility that gives him grounds to lament his lot and demand justice. For in the story, Job knows nothing of Satan's slander against him, or of God's agreement to test him in order to settle a dispute with Satan. So too in life, the causes of misfortune often remain unknown to a person; still more hidden is the meaning of their suffering. Like Job, we can only thirst for an explanation and seek the causes and meaning of suffering. Not that this makes it easier—of course not. But with an understanding of its cause and meaning, one can somehow go on living. Otherwise, a person feels like a plaything in the hands of higher powers to whom they are worth nothing. This is why, among other things, the Book of Job becomes a herald of biblical personalism.
1 Job's piety, children, substance, Job 1:1-5.
Satan obtains leave to try him, Job 1:6-12.
His oxen, sheep, camels and servants destroyed, Job 1:13-17.
His sons and daughters killed, Job 1:18-19.
His patience and piety, Job 1:20-22.
1:1 Uz - Part of Arabia. Perfect - Not legally or exactly, but as to his sincere intentions, hearty affections, and diligent endeavours to perform all his duties to God and men. Upright - Heb. right, exact and regular in all his dealings, with men; one of an unblameable conversation. Feared - One truly pious, and devoted to God.Eschewed - Carefully avoiding all sin against God or men.
1:3 Camels - Camels in these parts were very numerous, and very useful, both for carrying burdens in these hot and dry countries, as being able to endure thirst much better than other creatures, and for service in war. Asses - He - asses also may be included in this expression, because the greatest part of them (from which the denomination is usually taken) were she asses. The greatest - That lived in those parts.The account of his piety and prosperity comes before the account of his afflictions, to shew that neither of these will secure us from the common, no, nor from the uncommon calamities of human life.
1:4 Feasted - To testify and maintain their brotherly love.His day - Each his appointed day, perhaps his birth - day, or the first day of the month.
1:5 When - When each of them had had his turn. Satisfied - He exhorted them to examine their own consciences, to repent of any thing, which had been amiss in their feasting, and compose their minds for employments of a more solemn nature. Early - Thereby shewing his ardent zeal in God's service. May be - His zeal for God's glory, and his true love to his children, made him jealous. Cursed - Not in a gross manner, which it is not probable either that they should do, or that Job should suspect it concerning them, but despised or dishonoured God; for both Hebrew and Greek words signifies cursing, are sometimes used to note only, reviling or setting light by a person. Hearts - By slight and low thoughts of God, or by neglecting to give God the praise for the mercies which they enjoyed.Thus - It was his constant course at the end of every feasting time, to offer a sacrifice for each. Parents should be particular in their addresses to God, for the several branches of their family; praying for each child, according to his particular temper, genius and disposition.
1:6 A day - A certain time appointed by God. The sons - The holy angels, so called, chap.Job 38:7 Job 1, Dan 3:25, Dan 3:28, because of their creation by God, for their resemblance of him in power, and dignity, and holiness, and for their filial affection and obedience, to him. Before - Before his throne, to receive his commands, and to give him an account of their negotiations. But you must not think that these things are to be understood literally; it is only a parabolical representation of that great truth, that God by his wise and holy providence governs all the actions of men and devils: It being usual with the great God to condescend to our shallow capacities, and to express himself, as the Jews phrase it, in the language of the sons of men. And it is likewise intimated, that the affairs of earth are much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us: but we lie open to it.
1:9 For nought - Out of pure love and respect to thee? No. It is policy, not piety, that makes him good; he doth not serve thee, but serveth himself of thee, serving thee for his own ends.
1:12 Behold, etc - It seems strange, that, God should give Satan such a permission as this. But he did it for his own glory, for the honour of Job, for the explanation of providence, and the encouragement of his afflicted people in all ages.
1:14 Messenger, etc - One messenger immediately followed another; Satan so ordering by God's permission, that there might seem to be more than ordinary displeasure of God against him in his troubles, and that he might not have leisure to recollect himself, but be overwhelmed by a complication of calamities.
1:15 Sabeans - A people of Arabia, who led a wandering life, and lived by robbery and spoil. I - Whom Satan spared, that Job might have speedy and certain intelligence of his calamity.
1:16 The fire of God - As thunder is the voice of God, so lightning is his fire. How terrible then were the tidings of this destruction, which came immediately from the hand of God! And seemed to shew, that God was angry at his very offerings, and would receive no more from his hands.
1:17 Chaldeans - Who also lived upon spoil, as Xenephon and others observe.
1:19 The young men - This was the greatest of Job's losses, and therefore Satan reserved it to the last, that if the other provocations failed, this might make him curse God. They died by a wind of the devils raising, but which seemed to be the immediate hand of God. And they were taken away, when he had the most need of them, to comfort him under all his other losses. Such miserable comforters are creatures: in God we have a constant and sufficient help.
1:20 Shaved - Caused his hair to be shaved or cut off, which was then an usual ceremony in mourning. Worshipped - Instead of cursing God, which Satan said he would do, he adored him, and gave him the glory of his sovereignty, of his justice, and of his goodness also, in this most severe dispensation.
1:21 Naked - I brought none of these things with me, when I came out of my mother's womb into the world, but I received them from the hand of God, who hath now required his own again. Return thither - I shall be as rich when I die as I was when I was born, and therefore have reason to be contented with my condition, which also is the common lot of all men.Into the lap of our common mother, the earth, as the weary child lays its head in its mother's bosom. We go out of the world naked; the body doth, tho' the sanctified soul goes clothed. (Co2 5:3.) Death strips us of all our enjoyments: clothing can neither warm nor adorn a dead body.Taken - He hath taken away nothing but his own, and what he so gave that he reserved the supreme disposal of in his own hand. And what is it to me, by what hand he that gives, resumes what he gave?
1:22 Charged - Heb. not imputed folly to God; so far was he from blaspheming God, that he did not entertain any dishonourable thought of God, as if he had done anything unworthy of his infinite wisdom, or justice, or goodness, but heartily acquiesced in his good pleasure, and in his righteous though sharp proceedings against him. Discontent and impatience do in effect impute folly to God. Against the workings of these we should carefully watch, acknowledging that God has done well, but we have done foolishly.
2 Satan moves for another trial of Job, which God permits, Job 2:1-6.
Satan smites him with boils from head to foot, Job 2:7-8.
He is tempted by his wife, but resists the temptation, Job 2:9-10.
His friends come to comfort him, Job 2:11-13.
2:3 Still - Notwithstanding all his afflictions, and thy suggestion to the contrary. Movedst - This, as the rest of this representation, is not to be understood literally: But the design is to signify both the devil's restless malice in promoting man's misery and God's permission of it for wise and holy ends.
2:4 Skin, etc - The sense is, this is so far from being an evidence of Job's sincere and generous piety, that it is only an act of mere self - love; he is contented with the loss of his estate, and children too, so long as he sleeps in a whole skin; and he is well pleased, that thou wilt accept of these a ransom in his stead; and it is not true patience which makes him seem to bear his crosses so submissively, but policy, that he may appease thy wrath against him, and prevent those farther plagues, which, for his hypocrisy, he fears thou wilt otherwise bring upon his own carcase.
2:6 In thine hand - If God did not chain up the roaring lion, how soon would he devour us! As far as he permits the wrath of Satan and wicked men, to proceed against his people, he will make it turn to his praise and theirs, and the remainder thereof he will restrain. Job, in being thus maligned of Satan, was a type of Christ. He had permission to bruise his heel, to touch his bone and his flesh; yea, and his life also; because by dying he was to do what Job could not do, to destroy him that had the power of death.
2:7 Boils - Like those inflicted upon the Egyptians, which are expressed by the same word, and threatened to apostate Israelites, Deu 28:27, whereby he was made loathsome to himself, and to hisnearest relations, and filled with consuming pains in his body, and no less torments and anguish in his mind.
2:8 Scrape - This he did not with soft linen clothes, either because he had not now a sufficient quantity of them; or because therein he must have had the help of others who abhorred to come near him. Nor with his own hands or fingers, which were also ulcerous, and so unfit for that use; but with potsherds, either because they were next at hand, and ready for his present use; or in token of his deep humiliation under God's hand, which made him decline all things that favoured of tenderness and delicacy.Heb. in dust or ashes, as mourners used to do. If God lay him among the ashes, there he will contentedly sit down. A low spirit becomes low circumstances, and will help to reconcile us to them.
2:9 Then said his wife - Whom Satan spared, to be a troubler and tempter to him. It is his policy, to send his temptations by the hands of those that are dear to us. We must therefore carefully watch, that we be not drawn to any evil, by them whom we love and value the most.Die - I see thou art set upon blessing of God, thou blessest God for giving, and thou blessest God for taking away, and thou art still blessing God for thy loathsome diseases, and he rewards thee accordingly, giving thee more and more of that kind of mercy for which thou blessest him. Go on therefore in thy generous course, and bless God, and die as a fool dieth.
2:10 Shall we - Shall we poor worms give laws to our supreme Lord, and oblige him never to afflict us? And shall not those great and manifold mercies, which from time to time God hath given us, compensate these short afflictions? Ought we not to bless God for those mercies which we did not deserve; and contentedly bear those corrections which we do deserve. And if we receive so much good for the body, shall we not receive some good for our souls? That is, some affliction, whereby we may be made partakers of his holiness? Let murmuring therefore, as well as boasting, be forever excluded. Sin with his lips - By any reflections upon God, by any impatient or unbecoming expression.
2:11 They - Who were persons eminent for birth and quality, for wisdom and knowledge, and for the profession of the true religion, being probably of the posterity of Abraham, a - kin to Job, and living in the same country. Eliphaz descended from Teman, the grandson of Esau, Gen 36:11.Bildad probably from Shuah, Abraham's son by Keturah, Gen 25:2.Zophar is thought to be same with Zepho, (Gen 36:11.) a descendant from Esau. The preserving of so much wisdom and piety among those who were not children of the promise, was an happy presage of God's grace to the Gentiles, when the partition wall should be taken down.
2:13 Upon the ground - In the posture of mourners condoling with him.Seven days - Which was the usual time of mourning for the dead, and therefore proper both for Job's children, and for Job himself, who was in a manner dead, while he lived: not that they continued in this posture so long together, which the necessities of nature could not bear; but they spent the greatest part of that time in sitting with him, and silent mourning over him. None spake - About his afflictions and the causes of them. The reason of this silence was the greatness of their grief for him, and their surprize and astonishment at his condition; because they thought it convenient to give him time to vent his own sorrows, and because as yet they knew not what to say to him: for though they had ever esteemed him to be a truly good man, and came with full purpose to comfort him, yet the prodigious greatness of his miseries, and that hand of God which they perceived in them, made them now question his sincerity, so that they could not comfort him as they had intended, and yet were loth to grieve him with reproofs.