BOOK OF JOB: AN INTRODUCTION

Why should we study this book? It is in the Bible for a reason. But even if we didn’t accept it as inspired word of God, it would still be worth studying. Alfred Lord Tennyson said “It is the greatest piece of literature produced by any people at any time. Thomas Carlyle said “There is nothing written, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit.” So we will be discussing the book as world literature as well as Scripture.

Plot

Most of us are acquainted with the basic plot of the book. It starts in heaven with a conversation between God and Satan regarding the character of Job. Satan expresses the opinion that Job's faith in God is only surface-deep and that he will abandon it once the going gets tough. As a test, God allows Satan to harass Job in various ways within strict limits. When things are at an all-time low for Job, his friends show up to “comfort” him. However, once they start talking, it becomes apparent that they feel that God must be punishing Job for some hidden sin in his life. They urge Job to confess it, but he knows that the cause must be something else. 

Out of frustration, Job pleads with God to let him know why he is suffering. Instead, God Himself appears to Job and bombards him with questions regarding the nature of His creation to expose Job's ignorance of His ways. Job at last accepts the fact that some things will always be beyond his understanding and accepts God's will for his life, whatever that might be. God restores Job's fortunes and chastises Job's friends for their arrogance in attempting to speak for Him.

Type of Book

Today we will discuss what kind of book it is, beginning in an unlikely place: Jeremiah 18:18. In this verse, the enemies of Jeremiah plot against his life saying, “Come let us make plots against Jeremiah – for instruction shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet.” Here they are alluding to the three basic sources of revealed truth from God, all of which have their rough parallels in the New Testament dispensation.

OT                                                         NT

written law                                         Bible

direct revelation                                Holy Spirit’s guidance

human wisdom or experience          human wisdom or experience

All three types are also represented in the Old Testament: the Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Bible), the Prophets and the Wisdom books. The last category includes Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. The last two of these books have been called anti-wisdom books by some people because they point out the limitations to common human wisdom found in, for example, the Book of Proverbs. Human wisdom is actually the least reliable source of truth out of the three, which is one of the main themes of Job.

Setting–Uz Early tradition held that this was located in Hauran (South of Damascus). Modern opinion is that it was between Edom and N. Arabia.

Time Period At least three pieces of evidence point to the Patriarchial period – the number of slaves and cattle possessed by Job (1:3), the fact that he offers sacrifices himself instead of going through a priest (1:5), and his advanced age of 140 years + (1:16).

Author

1. The traditional view has pointed to Moses, Elihu, Job himself, Isaiah, Solomon, etc.

2. The modern view notes that the author quotes from Proverbs, Psalms, Isaiah, and Jeremiah so it could have been written as late as 300-400 BC. It has also been proposed that more than one author was involved over a period of time and that the book was composed in stages with the prologue and epilogue first, the dialogue next, and finally the speeches of Elihu and God.

3. Conservative view. It is a unified story written about 1000 BC and based on an older story.

“There are few poems in all literature whose date and historical background are of less importance than they are in the book of Job...It is a universal poem, and that is one of the features which gives it its value and interest for us today.”

Genre

What kind of book is it, what type of literature? You may vote for more than one.

A. History – Job is found in archeological records as the name of a Palestinian chieftain from about 2000 BC. See Ezekiel 14:14 and James 5:11. It is doubtful that the Jews would have invented an Edomite hero.

B. Fiction – compare Job 1:1 with 2 Samuel 12:1 and Luke 15:11. The Jews included it with the poetry books of the Bible, not the history books. The Talmud considers it as fiction as did Martin Luther. It is filled with very polished poetic speeches.

Middle Ground from many conservative scholars: it is historical fiction.

C. A Play

D. Theological Discourse

E. Trial Transcript (discuss later)

F. Poetry (save discussion until later)

G. Prose

Like Shakespeare’s historical dramas, it cannot be pinned down to a narrow category.