Job

Job, the name of the hero of that remarkable literary monument which is preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures under the title of The Book of Job. It is possible that Job may really have existed in the patriarchal age, and that some tradition of his career may have supplied the theme for what is undoubtedly, as we have it, a -moral romance and not a historical narrative. As to the value, however, of the few facts recorded, we are less able to form an opinion than upon the exploits of Achilles or Romulus. Nor are we in a much better position to judge as to the authorship of the. work or the date of its composition. References that seem to bear upon the Psalms indicate a later origin than the period of Solomon, but in other portions the absence of the name Jehovah or of any suggestion of Mosaic law can hardly be the result of artificial skill. On the other hand, there is a direct mention of Job in Ezekiel, and distinct literary evidence is supplied in Isaiah and Jeremiah. The tone of thought pervading the whole, and the tendency of Hebrew moralists to convey a national as well as a personal ' lesson in their deliverances, would almost justify the theory that the Book of Job was cast into its present shape during the period of the Babylonian Captivity. It is probable that the author incorporated with his book pre-existent materials, and it appears certain that interpolations have been introduced at later periods. The work falls naturally into five sections. 1. The prose introduction wherein the author states the facts that lead up to the ethical problem to be solved. (Chaps, i. and ii.) 2. The poetical debate between Job and his three friends is then begun, the famous verses in which he curses his day supplying the keynote. Thrice Job speaks, and on each occasion the comforters reply in turn, except that in the last encounter Zophar remains silent. (Chap, iii.-xxxi.) The main subject discussed is one which is still puzzling mankind, viz., how can we reconcile with the conception of a Divine Providence the fact that the righteous often' suffer and the wicked frequently prosper ? The Jews, as represented by Job's three visitors, got rid of this awkward difficulty by asserting boldly that all mundane misfortune was a punishment for personal or hereditary sin, and this theory Job passionately confutes. 3. Elihu, the Buzite, who had thus far been a listener only, now comes forward, and reproves alt the previous speakers for presuming to set up their judgments against God or to criticise His government of the universe. (Chap, xxxii.-xxxvii.) Whatever He does must be right and good. There is some reason to believe that this argument, which differs little from the speech of God Himself in the following chapters, has been thrust into the poem by a pious imitator. 4. Provoked by Job's challenge, the Deity speaks at last out of the whirlwind, and in more vigorous language than Elihu repeats the crushing doctrine that no being who does not possess God's wisdom and power can presume to cavil at His government. (Chap, xxxviii.-xlii. 6.) Job, abashed, answers: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." The problem remains unsolved, but we lose all sense of .its importance in the greater mysteries that surround us. 5. The author once more resumes the prose style to mar somewhat the effect of what has gone before by recounting how Job was restored to a prosperity twice as great as that he had enjoyed before, whilst the three friends received a severe rebuke. None of the inspired writings contains grander imagery or appeals more strongly to human sympathies than this product of an unknown mind and an unknown age. It represents, too, that revolt against narrow Semitism which was destined to triumph under the banner of the Cross.