3. Introduction to the Book of Job

1
3. Introduction to the Book of Job
2
1. Title and Place in Canon

• 1.1 As in the case of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes),
  the disturbing thoughts of Job did not prevent
  its acceptance in the biblical canon. An
  occasional rabbinic dissent against the
  historicity of the character Job has survived
  (Baba Bathra 15a), and one Christian thinker,
  Theodore of Mopsuestia, questioned the books
  sacred authority. The sequence of writings varied
  at first, Job being placed between Psalms and
  Proverbs in the Talmud, and in Codex
  Alexandrinus, but preceding Psalms and Proverbs
  in Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Jerome,
  Rufinus, and the Apostolic Canons. Jewish
  tradition designates the two different sequences
  by the acrostic abbreviations )mt (truth) for
  Job ()iyob) Proverbs (misle), and Psalms (
  tehill_m ), and t)m (twin) for Psalms, Job,
  and Proverbs. The Council of Trent fixed the
  order with Job in the initial position. James
  L. Crenshaw, Job, Book of, Anchor Bible
  Dictionary, CD-Rom Edition (New York Doubleday,
  1992, 1997)

3
1. Title and Place in Canon

• 1.2 The LXX placed all the poetical books after
  the historical writings but before the prophets,
  with the result that Psalms, Proverbs,
  Ecclesiastes, and Canticles preceded Job. This
  order was altered somewhat in Codex Alexandrinus,
  which placed Job between Psalms and Proverbs,
  while some of the early Fathers, including Cyril
  of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, and Jerome, knew of a
  canon in which Job preceded the Psalter and
  Proverbs. R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the
  Old Testament, (Grand Rapids Wm. B. Eerdmans,
  1969), 1022
• 1.3 The Syriac Peshitta places Job after
  Deuteronomy in honor of the tradition that Moses
  was its author. John E. Hartley, The Book of
  Job, The New International Commentary on the Old
  Testament, (Grand Rapids, Michigan William B.
  Eerdmans, 1988), 3

4
1. Title and Place in Canon

• 1.4 Talmud, Baba Bathra 14b . . . The order of
  the Hagiographa is Ruth, the Book of Psalms, Job,
  Prophets, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs,
  Lamentations, Daniel and the Scroll of Esther,
  Ezra and Chronicles. Now on the view that Job
  lived in the days of Moses, should not the book
  of Job come first? We do not begin with a
  record of suffering. But Ruth also is a record of
  suffering? It is a suffering with a sequel of
  happiness, as R. Johanan said Why was her named
  called Ruth? Because there issued from her
  David who replenished the Holy One, blessed be
  He, with hymns and praises. Who wrote the
  Scriptures? --Moses wrote his own book and the
  portion of Balaam and Job. . . .

5
1. Title and Place in Canon

• 1.5 Tamud, Baba Bathra 15a . . . You say that
  Moses wrote his book and the section of Balaam
  and Job. This supports the opinion of R. Joshua
  b. Levi b. Lahma who said that Job was
  contemporary with Moses. The proof is that it
  is written here in connection with Job, O that
  my words were now written and it is written
  elsewhere in connection with Moses, For wherein
  now shall it be known. But on that ground I might
  say that he was contemporary with Isaac, in
  connnection with whom it is written, Who now is
  he that took venison? Or I might say that he was
  contemporary with Jacob, in connection with whom
  it is written, If so now do this or with Joseph,
  in connection with whom it is written, Where they
  are pasturing? --This cannot be maintained The
  proof that Job was contemporary with Moses is
  that it is written in continuation of the above
  words of Job, Would that they were inscribed in
  a book, and it is Moses who is called
  'inscriber', as it is written, And he chose the
  first part for himself, for there was the
  lawgiver's portion reserved.

6
2. Text and Versions

• 2.1 General Summary
• Textual problems abound in the book, and the
  much shorter Greek versions seldom resolve the
  difficulties. Often merely a paraphrase, the
  Greek text sometimes elucidates a theological
  bias in the present MT, for example the
  repointing of a negative particle in 1315 to
  affirm trust in God even when faced with the
  prospect of death at the deitys hand. The Syriac
  Peshitta assists in clarifying obscure meanings
  of the Hebrew text. Enough of the Targum from
  Qumran has survived to confirm the same disorder
  in chaps. 2427 as that in the Hebrew. One
  surprising feature of the Targum is its
  termination at 4211 instead of 4217. Jeromes
  Latin translation of the Hebrew text of Job was
  influenced by the Greek translations of Aquila,
  Theodotion, Symmachus, and the Alexandrian
  version as mediated by Origens Hexapla.

7
2. Text and Versions

• 2.2 MT
• 2.2.1 The many rare words and textual
  disturbances make the Hebrew of Job one of the
  most obscure in the OT. The ancient versions
  testify to the fact that many passages were
  unintelligible even to the earliest translators.
  Hartley, The Book of Job, 3
• 2.2.2 As in other books of the OT, so in Job
  variants that materially affect the sense,
  whether between existing MSS of ? or between the
  Qre and Kethib, are not numerous but ? is
  rendered peculiarly difficult in Job by the fact
  that the version is often free and periphrastic
  and the use of ? for determining the original
  text of ? is greatly limited by the fact that
  much of that text was not rendered at all.
  Driver Gray, A Critical and Exegetical
  Commentary on the Book of Job, lxxi

8
2. Text and Versions

• 2.3 LXX
• 2.3.1 The Greek text (LXX) is essentially a
  faithful translation of the Hebrew. A few variant
  readings bear witness to a different Hebrew text
  but many of these variants are attempts to cope
  with an obscure text. Though the translator
  fluctuated between literal renderings and
  paraphrases, in a extensive analysis of the LXX
  Orlinsky has demonstrated that its translator
  strove to render the Hebrew into Greek as
  accurately as possible. His work leads him to
  reject the view that the translator was
  frequently governed by his theological bias in
  his translations. Nevertheless, this translator,
  like any other, was influenced by his theological
  outlook, e.g., on occasion he slated the
  translation toward Gods exalted, unassailable
  perfection. The most remarkable feature of the
  oldest Greek text is that it is shorter than the
  MT by some 400 lines.

9
2. Text and Versions

• 2.3 LXX
• 2.3.2 Driver-Gray Line list

Prologue 1
Chap. 7-14 23-29
Chap. 15-21 59
Chap. 22-31 124
Chap. 32-37 114
Chap. 38-42.6 43
Epilogue 3
10
2. Text and Versions

• 2.3 LXX
• 2.3.3 One explanation for these omissions is
  that the book of Job has been translated into
  Greek before its development was complete. But
  because the number of omissions increases
  significantly in the trite third cycle and in the
  wordy Elihu speeches, and because many of the
  lines omitted are recurring lines and thoughts, a
  more likely explanation is that the Greek
  translator abridged the speeches intentionally.
  Hartley, The Book of Job, 3-4

11
2. Text and Versions

• 2.4 Targums
• 2.4.1 The Targum, the Aramaic translation and
  paraphrase, follows the MT closely but has some
  of its own idiosyncrasies, e.g., interpreting
  some verses in the light of Israels history and
  adding theological explanations (e.g., 1.6, 15
  20.26-28). Hartley, The Book of Job, 4
• 2.4.2 There are two mss of targums (Aramaic
  translations) to the book of Job among the Dead
  Sea Scrolls found at Wadi Qumran a substantial
  text found in Cave 11, consisting of about 20
  percent of the book in 38 fragmentary cols
  (11QtgJob) and two small ms fragments from Cave
  4, essentially comprising about a dozen
  fragmentary lines from two cols (4QtgJob). The ms
  do not overlap the Cave 4 fragments preserve

12
2. Text and Versions

• 2.4 Targums
• text from chaps. 35, while the Cave 11 material
  preserves intermittent text from 1714 to the end
  of the book. Because of the lack of common text
  and, even more, because the Cave 4 Targum is so
  little preserved, it is an open question as to
  whether these two texts preserve the same or
  distinct Aramaic versions of Job. In any case,
  neither of these targums appears to show any
  direct relationship to the standard targum found
  in the Rabbinical Bible and available, for
  example, in the edition of Lagarde.Bruce
  Zuckerman, Job, Targums of, Anchor Bible
  Dictionary, CD-Rom Edition (New York Doubleday,
  1992, 1997)

13
2. Text and Versions

• 2.5 Peshitta
• 2.5.1 The Syriac Peshitta, which was translated
  directly from the Hebrew, offers insight into
  some obscure words and difficult passages. As the
  textual tradition of the MT becomes more fully
  understood, the Peshittas value in the textual
  studies will increase. Hartley, The Book of
  Job, 4
• 2.6 Latin
• 2.6.1 After having translated Job into Latin
  from the Greek at the end of the 4th century AD,
  Jerome decided to improve the translation by
  working directly from the Hebrew text. To help
  him with this task he engaged a rabbi of Lydda,
  who opened the rabbinic tradition to him.
  Therefore, the Vulgate offers some assistance in
  determining the original Hebrew text of Job.

14
3. Language

• 3.1 The language of the book of Job is notable
  for its numerous rare words and unique examples
  of morphology and syntax. Many suggestions have
  been made to account for its singular nature.
  Since the story may have an Edomite setting, it
  has been suggested that the author was an
  Edomite, a descendant of Esau, Jacobs brother
  (Gen 25.23-24). Since Edom was famous for its
  wisdom (cf. Obadiah), it is possible that Job is
  an example of that wisdom tradition. The lack of
  any significant literary documents from that
  region prevents the testing of this hypothesis.
  Hartley, The Book of Job, 5

15
3. Language

• 3.2 From the time of Ibn Ezra (12th cent AD)
  some scholars have thought that Job was
  translated into Hebrew from another language,
  perhaps Arabic or Aramaic. . . . While scholars
  frequently resort to Arabic to help explain some
  of the obscure words, the insights are not
  frequent enough and consistent enough for the
  book to have been composed in Arabic. In another
  effort to account for the peculiarity of the
  language of this book, Tur-Sinai posits that the
  MT arose from a partial translation into Hebrew
  of a lost Aramaic original. In his opinion, the
  translator left many Aramaic words and phrases
  untranslated because of their closeness to
  Hebrew. In addition, the author mistranslated
  various words. Tur-Sinai identifies the language
  as the Babylonian Aramaic of the 6th century B.C.

16
3. Language

• Furthermore, he posits that the Masoretes added
  to the confession by incorrectly vocalizing many
  words. Working with these hypotheses, Tur-Sinai
  makes many new and unique interpretations of the
  MT of Job. But because he goes so far in his
  efforts, his ingenious insights are buried amidst
  many wild speculations. . Hartley, The Book of
  Job, 5
• 3.3 It is clear that the author wrote in a
  dialect distinct from the Hebrew of Jerusalem, in
  which much of the OT is composed. His dialect was
  closer to Aramaic. The author may also have been
  multilingual, as are many inhabitants of a region
  in which many related languages are spoken. He
  drew skillfully on his rich vocabulary and
  knowledge of the various dialects of Hebrew to
  probe the depth of his subject. Hartley, The
  Book of Job, 6

17
4. O.T. Parallels Proverbs
Job Proverbs
4.8 22.8
5.17b 3.11a
12.13 8.14 (cf. Isa 11.2 Ps. 147.5)
15.7b 8.25b
18.5a, 6b 21.7a 13.9b 24.20b
18.7a 4.12
26.6 15.11a
26.10b 8.27b
28.15-19 3.14-15 8.11, 19
18
4. O.T. Parallels Psalms
Job Psalms
5.16b 107.42.b
5.17 94.12a
6.25a 119.103
10.20b 21a 39.14 (Eng. 13)
12.21a 24b 107.40
18.7-10 140.5-6 (Eng. 18)
19.10 52.7 (Eng. 5)
19.13, 14 88.19 (Eng. 18)
22.19a 107.42a
19
4. O.T. Parallels Psalms
Job Psalms
29.12 72.12
33.14 62.12 (Eng. 11)
33.24-25 49.8-10 (Eng. 7-9) cf. Ps 34.7-8 (Eng. 6-7)
34.14-15 104.29
20
4. O.T. Parallels Lamentations
Job Lamentations
6.4 7.20 16.12 3.12
9.18b 3.15a
12.4 3.14 (similar Jer. 20.7b)
16.9b 10a 2.16a b
19.7-8 3.7-9
30.9 3.14 cf. 3.63
21
4. O.T. Parallels Other Books
Job 1.21 Eccl 5.14 (Eng. 15)
Job 19.17 Jer 20.8
Job 19.24 Jer 17.1
Job 5.18 Hos 6.1 (cf. Deut. 32.39)
Job 13.28 Hos 5.12
Job 9.8b Amos 4.13d
Job 9.9a Amos 5.8a
Job 18.16 Amos 2.9c
Job 31.15 Mal 2.10a
22
4. O.T. Parallels Other Books
Job 42.2b Gen 11.6b
Job 42.17 Gen 25.8 35.29
Job 4.16c 1 Kgs 19.12b
23
4. O.T. Parallels Isaiah
Job Isaiah
9.8a 44.24c
12.9b 41.20a
12.24-25 19.14
14.11 19.5
15.35a 59.4d (cf. Ps 7.15 Eng. 14)
16.17a 53.9b
26.12a 51.15b
24
5. Authorship

• 5.1 The author of Job hides nameless in the
  background of his work while demonstrating
  overwhelming sensitivity to the human plight,
  capacity for massive theological understanding,
  grasp of vast areas of culture and learning,
  insight into deep struggles among opinionated
  persons, and skill in literary craftsmanship.
  Rarely in the history of artistic endeavor has
  anyone left such a noble legacy yet so little
  evidence of his identity, circumstances, or
  motive. William Sanford LaSor, David Allan
  Hubbard and Frederic Wm. Bush, Old Testament
  Survey The Message, Form, and Background of the
  Old Testament, (Grand Rapids Wm B. Eerdmans,
  1982, 1st edition), 562

25
6. Literary Genres Used

• 6.1 Lament
• description of suffering 6.2-4, 11-13 7.3-6
  9.25-28 10.1 16.6-17 17.1-2, 6-9 19.13-20
  23.2
• apprehensive fear
• of death 13.28 14.18-22 17.11-16
• of God 23.15-17
• sorrow at general human suffering 7.1-2 14.1-12
• justification of lamenting 6.5-7
• complaint
• against friends 6.14-27 12.2-6 13.1-3 16.2-5
  17.10 19.2-6 21.34 26.2-4.
• against God 7.7-10, 11-21 9.17-18, 21-24
  10.2-7, 13-17 16.7-14 19.7-12

26
6. Literary Genres Used

• 6.2 Lawsuit
• with the friends 13.4-12
• with God 9.2-4, 14-16, 19-20, (28b), 29-33
  13.13-17 (purposed), 18-27 23.3-7 (wish)
• 6.3 Petition
• to the friends 6.28-29 19.21-22
• to God
• wish to die 6.8-10 7.15
• wish for some relief before death 7.7-10, 16-21
  10.18-22 14(5-6), 13-17
• request for the easing of his suffering so that
  he can dispute with God 9.34-35 13.20-21
• plea for vindication 16.18 17.3-4 19.23-24
• plea for deliverance form enemies 27.7-10

27
6. Literary Genres Used

• 6.4 Hymnic lines in praise of God 9.5-13
  10.8-12 12.13-25 23.8-9, 13-14 26.5-14
• 6.5 Avowal of innocence 6.28-30 16.17
  23.10-12 27.2-6
• 6.6 Affirmation of trust in God 16.19-22
  19.25-27 23.6-7
• 6.7 Wisdom instruction 12.7-12
• 6.8 Warning to friends 17.5 19.28-29
• 6.9 Disputation on the success of wicked
  21.2-33 24.1-17 (followed by a curse on the
  wicked, 24.18-24, and a challenge to be proven
  wrong, 24.25)

28
7. Structure of Job

• 1. Prologue 1.1-2.10
• 2. Discourses 2.11-31.40
• 2.1 Setting 2.11-13
• 2.2 Job Curses the Day of his Birth 3.1-26
• 2.3 The First Discourse Cycle 4.1-14.22
• 2.3.1 Eliphaz Speech 4.1-5.27
• 2.3.2 Job Speech 6.1-7.21
• 2.3.3 Bildad Speech 8.1-22
• 2.3.4 Job Speech 9.1-10.22
• 2.3.5 Zophar Speech 11.1-20
• 2.3.6 Job Speech 12.1-14.22

29
7. Structure of Job

• 2.4 The Second Discourse Cycle 15.1-21.34
• 2.4.1 Eliphaz Speech 15.1-35
• 2.4.2 Job Speech 16.1-17.16
• 2.4.3 Bildad Speech 18.1-21
• 2.4.4 Job Speech 19.1-29
• 2.4.5 Zophar Speech 20.1-29
• 2.4.6 Job Speech 21.1-34
• 2.5 The Third Discourse Cycle 22.1-31.40
• 2.5.1 Eliphaz Speech 22.1-30
• 2.5.2 Job Speech 23.1-24.17
• 2.5.3 Bildad Speech 25.1-6 26.5-14
• 2.5.4 Job Speech 26.1-4 27.1-7
• 2.5.5 Zophar Speech 27.8-23 24.18-20, 22-25

30
7. Structure of Job

• 3. A Hymn to Wisdom 28.1-28
• 4. Job Speech 29.1-31.40
• 5. The Words of Elihu 32.1-37.24
• 6. God Answers Job out of the Whirlwind 38.1-42.6
• 6.1 Gods First Answer 38.1-40.5
• 6.2 Gods Second Answer 40.6-42.6
• 7. Epilogue 42.7-17