14. Job

   

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14. JOB

I. OUTLINE-BRIEF

1. Job, Eliphaz, and Bildad. 1-10.

2. Zophar, Job, Eliphaz, and Bildad. 11-31.

3. Elihu. 32-37.

4. God. 38-41.

5. Job. 42.

II. OUTLINE-COMPLETE

1. Prologue. 1:1-2:13.

2. Poetic Discussion. 3:1-31:40.

A. Lament of Job. 3:1-26.

B. First Cycle of Discussion. 4:1-14:22.

C. Second Cycle of Discussion. 15:1-21:34.

D. Third Cycle of Discussion. 22:1-27:23.

E. Hymn on Wisdom. 28:1-28

F. Job's Peroration. 29:1-31:40.

3. Discourses of Elihu. 32:1-37:24.

A. Preface in Prose. 32:1-5.

B. Poetic Introduction. 32:6-22.

C. First Part, Job's Defense. 33:1-35:16.

D. Second Part, Mercy of God. 36:1-37:24.

4. Voice from the Whirlwind. 38:1-42:6.

A. First Discourse of Yahweh. 38:1-40:5.

B. Second Discourse of Yahweh. 40:6-42:6.

5. Epilogue in Prose. 42:7-17.

A. Job's Intercession for Friends. 42:7-9.

B. Job's Restoration. 42:10-17.

III. AUTHORSHIP

1. The author or authors are unknown. Probably more than one-not to mention numerous subsequent editors.

2. The author may have been a Jew or an Edomite.

3. The author was a scholar of great learning-had a vast vocabulary. He was an original theological thinker.

4. The author of Job is the only Biblical writer who has been compared to Shakespeare.

5. The book is based on an ancient legend-the folk tale of Job.

6. Ezekiel knew about the story of Job in the sixth century-possibly before the present book was written. He refers to Job, along with Noah and Daniel (Eze. 14:14).

IV. AN OVER-ALL LOOK AT JOB

1. We often hear about "the patience of Job." (Jas. 5:11 King James Version) But few people know very much about the book of Job.

2. Job is a poem dealing with the meaning of life-relation of suffering to religion.

3. Job belongs to the so-called wisdom type of Hebrew literature.

4. In the Urantia Book, Jesus presents an instructive discussion of Job on (1662.3) 148:6.1.

5. Jesus calls Job a "masterpiece of Semitic literature."

6. There are many earmarks of Edomite influence in Job. The original folk tale may have located Job in Edom.

7. There are folk stories similar to Job in India, Egypt, Babylon, and the Near East.

8. There are also numerous cases of "betting" between God and Satan.

9. Job is a revolt against the doctrine that there is only one cause of human suffering.

10. Job is the story of a just soul who suffered and despaired, but battled through to peace, hope, and victory.

11. Job is a tragic drama. It is in reality a philosophical debate.

12. The author of Job was an original thinker, a philosopher, a theologian, and a practical sociologist.

13. Job indicates that the time had come when Jews no longer believed that God was responsible for everything-including evil.

14. Personal experience triumphs over pessimistic theology.

V. COMPOSITION AND DATE

1. The prologue and epilogue are in prose; the book itself is a poem.

2. The book was put in its present form after the exile, during a time when Satan had appeared in Jewish theology, and could be held responsible for evil.

3. The psychology of Job is both profound and modern. The authors were well versed in the wisdom of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

4. The vocabulary "affinities" in Job number fifteen to twenty, but are not sufficient to prove connection with any other Biblical books.

5. The Job story is as old as the eighth or even tenth century B.C. But the present book was written about the third or fourth century B.C.

6. The hymn of wisdom (Chap. 28) is an interruption of the narrative and may have separate authorship.

7. There are many passages in Job that suggest familiarity with the writings of Jeremiah.

8. There are also a few verses that suggest passages in the Second Isaiah.

9. The introduction to the discourse by Elihu is both ponderous and redundant -vastly different from the rest of Job.

10. The discourses of Yahweh seem to be directed toward raising the controversy from the finite level of man to the infinite level of God.

11. In the vocabulary of Job there are many expressions not found anywhere else in the whole Bible.

12. The literary style of Job is unsurpassed on the Bible. The sensibility, vigor, and elegance are superior to that found in any Hebrew writings.

13. The author knows astronomy. He talks about Orion, the Pleiades, and the Southern Cross.

VI. THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

1. There are a number of serious problems presented in Job:

A. Why do the righteous suffer?

B. Job's friends present a sixth century view of pain and affliction; the latter part of Job tends toward the third century attitude.

C. The meaning of living faith.

D. The wisdom of God vs. the wisdom of men.

2. The drama represents the revolt of individual conscience against the tyranny of orthodoxy.

3. The book attacks the problem of retributive justice.

4. It contrasts the divinity of God and the humanity of man-relations between man and God-the mission of GRACE.

5. The paradox of adversity as the reward of integrity-the mystery of the circumstances of life.

6. How the innocent can be struck with misfortune in heroic proportions.

7. Job, in facing death, begins to wonder about the future life. "If a man die, shall he live again?"

8. Job wants to prove that orthodoxy is a sort of theological sin.

9. Job craves a mediator-he wants someone to help him in dealing with the power, mystery, and perfection of God. He really foreshadows the ministry of the incarnation of Christ.

10. At last he concludes: "Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high."

11. Job asserts his faith in the resurrection, and exclaims: "I know that my Redeemer (Vindicator) lives."

12. Job says: "When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

13. Belief becomes living faith. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee."

14. And the final conclusion: "That righteousness is not the work of but the gift of God." man

VII. SELECTED TEXTS

1. The sons of God. "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them." 1:6.

2. The Lord gives. "'The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'" 1:21.

3. Power of suggestion. "'For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.'" 3:25.

4. Cause and effect. "'For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.'" 5:6.

5. Arrows of the Almighty. "'For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.'" 6:4.

6. God's presence. "'Lo, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.'" 9:11.

7. Tribulation. "'Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble.'" 14:1.

8. Miserable comforters. "Then Job answered...'miserable comforters are you all.'" 16:1.

9. My Vindicator lives. "'I know that my Redeemer (Vindicator) lives.'" 19:25.

10. Be at peace. "'Agree with God, and be at peace.'" 22:21.

11. The cosmos. "'He stretches out the north over the void, and hangs the earth upon nothing.'" 26:7.

12. Man's spirit. "'But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.'" 32:8.

13. The spirit of God. "'The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.'" 33:4.

14. Divine acceptance. "'Then man prays to God, and he accepts him, he comes into his presence with joy.'" 33:26.

15. Salvation. "'"I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not requited to me. He has redeemed my soul."'" 33:27,28.

16. Morning stars. "'When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.'" 38:7.