BS 511: WRITINGS & WISDOM LITERATURE – THE “BOOK OF JOB”

BS511: WRITINGS/WISDOM LITERATURE

BOOK OF JOB

Wisdom Literature and the Book of Job

Wisdom literature is the kind of writing that emerged in the ancient Middle East during the 5 th
century BC. In Israel particularly, wisdom literature emerged during the post-exilic period (Israelites
returned from captivity) when Israel became aware of being a nation. The wisdom writings in the
Bible are Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Job. However, some wisdom thinking are also
found in Psalms and other books. Those who teach wisdom are called the “council of the wise”.
Family was the first social order to preserve the sayings of the wise.

Wisdom Literature falls into two classes:

i. Practical advises to the young on how they attain a good life;
ii. Reflections on the meaning of life, often in sceptical mood.

Proverbs falls in the first class while Job and Ecclesiastes fall in the second. Wisdom Literature is
distinct in the sense that it uses poetic and metaphorical language. Because of its poetic style, books
such as Job must be read and understood in its entirety, not verse by verse.

Job and Other Wisdom Literature

The Book of Job is all about the suffering of the righteous. Some theories suggest that the writing of
Job was influenced from other wisdom literatures in the ancient Middle East.
Examples:
a) First, the author may have been acquainted with a Babylonian story often referred to as the
“Babylonian Job”. According to this story, a man who was originally rich and influential was
suddenly stricken with great illness and trouble. Bitterly he complained that his prayers and
sacrifices had been in vain. Like Job, he protested his innocence and insisted that the will of
the god was beyond human understanding.
b) Second, the Book of Job might have been influenced from the Sumerian poem called “A Man
and His God” which describes the complaint of a sufferer to the gods about his tormented
situation.

Despite these speculations, there is a wide agreement in scholars that the Book of Job was written
from the perspective of the faith of the Israelites, not from the perspective of these foreign stories.

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BS 511: WRITINGS & WISDOM LITERATURE – THE “BOOK OF JOB”

Authorship
Scholars have been struggled for many years to find the book’s author. Three theories are assumed:
a) The Jewish rabbis held to the tradition that Moses was the author of Job which therefore
gives the book the time of the Patriarchs. It is believed that Job married a daughter of
Abraham. However the basis of this assumption is not clear since it is not in line with what is
found in the text.
b) Some believe that the Book of Job was written by King Solomon. However there is no firm
basis for this argument.
c) The most basis statement that can be made is that the author was an Israelite. He was part
of the Wisdom tradition of Israel. He was competent with literary techniques of Wisdom.
The mention of animals and the environment (4:10-11) suggest that the author must be an
outdoor man who hunted (18:8-10) mentions that the author is familiar with traps). He
knows about gems and was aware of weather patterns (28:1-11). He was also
knowledgeable about foreign cultures. The characteristics point to a highly educated and
well-travelled person from the Wisdom literature.

Date and Place of Writing

The date of the Book is equally unknown. Four theories are assumed concerning the date of
composition.
a) Some scholars believe the Book comes from the patriarchal period (the time of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob) and thus they would date it to 1600 BC.
b) Others suggest that the writing of Job was during the time of Isaiah, about 700 BC.
c) Some suggest that it comes after the Fall of Jerusalem to Babylon around 550 BC.
d) The last group suggest that the book comes from the post-exilic period, about 400-300 BC.

Most of the scholars do agree with c) and d) because it matches the suffering and the agonies that
are experienced in the Book. The suffering of Job represents the suffering of the people of God
during the Fall of Jerusalem especially during the time of the Greek invasion.

The place of writing cannot be known. Job was described in the first verse as a man of Uz. The
location of Uz is uncertain. Some suggest Uz is near Edom, south of the Dead Sea. Some suggest that
Uz is near Haran, the home territory of Abraham and Laban. These are only theories, but we do not
know whether the Book was written in Uz or somewhere else in the Middle East.

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Does Job Exist?

Some Bible scholars believe that there was a historical person named Job. This man must have had
some spiritual reputation for righteousness and perhaps patience as reflected in Ezekiel and James.
However, most scholars believe that the author of Job created a character tot each spiritual lessons
as Jesus did in the parables. The author composed the dialogues to show the different theological
positions used in Israel to explain suffering.

Flow of the Book

The Book of Job opens portraying Job as a wealthy and righteous nobleman. He has a large family,
many flocks of animals, many servants, a large home, perhaps an estate. His righteousness is
carefully designed to protect his family. He even offers sacrifices for sin that might have been
committed by his children during the feasts celebrated.

Having introduced Job, the author shifts the scene to the court of heaven where Yahweh (the proper
name of God in the OT) praises Job for his righteous character. The heavenly adversary, Satan,
replies that Job acts righteous, but accuses him of doing so simply in order to receive all God’s
blessings. Satan then challenges God to let him (Satan) afflicts Job with the loss of all his material
blessings to see whether or not Job’s devotion to God is genuine or not.

God accepts the challenge with the only stipulation that Satan not harm Job physically. We then
overhear a series of reports to Job describing the loss of his children and all his possessions to
natural calamities and/or enemy tribes. Job begins to grieve but the text notes that he does not sin.
Satan then acknowledges Job’s faithfulness to God but claims that such faithfulness would crumble
in the face of illness. God then gave Satan permission to afflict Job’s body with the restriction that he
not be killed. Satan then attached Job with “loathsome sores” from the top of his head to the
bottom of his feet.

Structure of the Book of Job

The structure of Book can be seen as followed:
A. Prologue
a. Job (1:1-5)
b. The Heavenly Council (1:6-12)
c. First Trial (1:13-26)
d. Second Trial (2:7-13)

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BS 511: WRITINGS & WISDOM LITERATURE – THE “BOOK OF JOB”

B. Dialogue with Friends

a. Words of Job (3:1-26)
b. First Cycle of Dialogue
i. Eliphas speaks (4:1-5:27); Job responds (6:1-7:21)
ii. Bildad speaks (8:1-22); Job responds (9:1-10:22)
iii. Zophor speaks (11:1-20); Job responds (12:1-14:22)
c. Second Cycle of Dialogue
i. Eliphas speaks (15:1-35); Job responds (16:1-17:16)
ii. Bildad speaks (18:1-21; Job responds (19:1-29)
iii. Zophor speaks (20:1-29); Job responds (21:1-34)
d. Third Cycle of Dialogue
i. Eliphas speaks (22:1-30); Job responds (23:1-24:25)
ii. Bildad speaks (25;1-6); Job responds (26:1-27:23)
e. Words of Elihu
i. Concerning Job’s friends (32)
ii. Concerning Job (33)
iii. Righteousness and Dignity of God (34-37)
C. Dialogue with God
a. God speaks (38:1-40:2); Job responds (40:3-5)
b. God speaks (40:6-41:34); Job responds (42:1-6
D. Epilogue (42:7-17)

Purpose
The purpose of the Book is summed up in two views:
a) It is an answer to the Deuteronomistic theology of the Israelites that “obedience leads to
blessings and disobedience leads to curse”. In other words, illness, sufferings and death that
encounter us are the results of directives from God. The righteous do not suffer, only the
disobedience. In the Book of Job, it states Job is a righteous man and that he is obedient to
God, but he suffered intensely because of his faith.
b) It is an answer to the questions that continue to puzzle the faithful: “Why do the righteous
suffer? Where is God in the suffering and pain that the faithful are facing?” In the Book of
Job, the author is bringing up the questions of faith that continue to haunt us in the time of
suffering. In other words, the book was written to show the purpose of God for the faithful
and their stand in the time of suffering.

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BS 511: WRITINGS & WISDOM LITERATURE – THE “BOOK OF JOB”

Message and Theology

The message of the Book is not about the “patience” of Job as it is traditionally believed. The
message and theology can be summed up in three views:
1. It gives an insight to the problem of “theodicy” that Christians are facing. “Theodicy” simply
refers to the question of how a righteous God can allow innocent people to suffer. Where is
God in the time of suffering? Why does not God do anything to free us from suffering? These
questions cannot be easily answered. However, the Book gives three reasons to the problem
of theodicy:
a. Human beings cannot fully define the reason why people suffer. Even the educated
mind cannot simply speculate on the purpose of God behind suffering. In fact, we
cannot answer the questions raised above if we try to answer them from human
knowledge. We can only do so from the perspective of faith. Go’s ways are not our
ways. A firm faith is that which is born out of suffering and pain.
b. Suffering and death are not caused by personal sin as the Deuteronomistic theology
holds. From the perspective of Job’s friends, death and suffering are the results of
disobedience. In the Book, it highlights that pain is not just loss of possessions or of
health. Job also suffers alienation from his family and friends. The crowds mock him,
he is terrified and dismayed by his circumstances, and Job demonstrates many of
the dimensions of suffering of which we are unaware until tragedy strikes us. Part of
what we can learn from Job is what it means to suffer. Sin or no sin, faithful or
unfaithful, still we are prone to suffering. In fact, the faithful are the most affected.
c. Suffering an death are challenges to the faithful. Times of suffering are often times
of neglecting our faith and our God. We sense that God is abandoning us. Job leads
us through a range of feelings and thoughts that we experience in the face of
tragedies. Job maintains his own innocence throughout but in the presence of God
he humbly confesses his trust. For a righteous person suffering will challenge that
person’s sense of relationship with God, but it does not need to destroy that
relationship. Tragedies and suffering are never simple issues. Faith is rocked and one
wonders which way to turn. Characteristic of most false comforters is that they give
simplistic answers to life’s most painful questions. The strength of the Book of Job is
that it allows all sides of the issue to submerge – the simple answers of Job’s friends
and the emotional turmoil of Job. In fact, in the midst of suffering, God does come to
the faithful and affirms his presence and grace.

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2. The Book of Job is also about why the righteous serve God. This was the question posed by
Satan in the prologue. “Does Job fear God for nothing?” If we reword the question: “Do we
serve God for nothing?” From Satan’s perspective, is it possible for a righteous person to
serve God only because of who and what God is rather than for the “rewards” the righteous
derive from their righteousness? Many people serve God because of rewards. Even Job
wakes up early in the morning to give sacrifice for his sons so that whatever sin they may
commit, his sacrifice will cover for them. Satan expresses what we always believe in as
Christians. We serve God not because of God’s sake, but because of our sake. We serve him
to win his favour and rewards. In other words, this can be called “bribe”. This is why Satan
said: “But stretch out our hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your
face” (1:11). Often our answer in the time of suffering is cursing God. We give so much to
God through the Church and still we go through suffering and pain. We ask: Is this the result
of being honest and faithful to God? This is the question presented by Job’s wife: “Curse God
then you will be fine”. We are tempted and challenged to face this issue of mistrusting God
in the time of suffering. We ask questions such as: “What is the purpose of holding firm to
our faith and making offerings to God if we still face suffering and pain?” The Book answers
that our Christian faith is not founded on “Rewards” but on the belief that “God is love”.
Until we understand God through faith, only then we are able to answer our questions of
suffering. In fact, Job confesses that because of his suffering, he sees clearly the purpose of
God for him. He said: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see
you” (42:5). In other words, we tend to see clearly the face of God especially in the time of
suffering. Through suffering our allegiance to God is challenged but suffering is made to
draw us closer to God.
3. At various times in Christian history the Book of Job has been interpreted specifically in
terms of Christ. The sufferings of Job are seen as a pre-figurement or even a prediction of
the sufferings of Christ. Jesus Christ entered into the pain of human suffering as he came to
identify completely with us (John 1:14). Both Job and Jesus help us understand our suffering
and they help us turn towards God for strength and grace. The time of suffering is the time
of turning towards God, not turning away from him. However, Jesus provides more than Job
because his sufferings were redemptive.