From the simple and beautiful language of the prose tale, to the verbal fireworks of the dialogue between job and his friends, to the haunting beauty of the poem on wisdom and the sublime poetics of the divine speeches, this book provides an intense encounter with the aesthetic resources of hebrew verbal art. This is the question, the answering of which is made the theme of the book of job looking to the conclusion of the book, the answer stands. Job is a pious believer who is struck by misfortune so great that it cannot be explained in the usual way as a prompting to repentance, a warning, let alone a punishment the arguments later. Its place in the canon is between psalms and proverbs. The prose prologue chapters one and two and the epilogue 42. Malbim believed the massoretic hebrew text of the book of. The book of ezekiel itself is somewhat problematic since it talks about events that occurred in the midsixth century b. Job is one of the most troubling books in the bible for me. It has already been said that the book of job was ascribed by the rabbis to moses. Now, the book of job has been rendered into english by the eminent translator and scholar stephen mitchell, whose versions of rilke, israeli poetry, and the tao te ching have been widely praised. The book of job hadavar messianic ministrieshadavar. The talmud starts with the assumption that the book of job was authored by moses, an assumption that makes sense if job lived in his time or earlier, or if the story is a parable. Kushner offers an analysis of the book of job, one of. The book of job is fascinating, and the last 2,000 years volumes have been written about it.
Addressing the problem of theodicy the vindication of the justice of god in the light of humanitys suffering it is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. It relates the story of job, his trials at the hands of satan, his theological discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, and finally a response from god. Translation and annotation by donald kraus foreword by dr. The complex and delicate nature of the subject matter. One of the amoraim expressed his opinion in the presence of samuel b. In either case, the book is an example of the inconsistent and paradoxical doctrines in the bible. Holocaust jewish interpretations of job oxford handbooks.
The use of this preexisting material very cleverly placed the problem outside of palestine, thereby excluding the possible objection of orthodox theology that such a casea perfectly righteous man persecuted by yhwh. With clarity and insight, eisen shows how six jewish philosophers grappled with the challenging enigmas of the book of job. Job to be a coherent whole, that faithfully records what the. Although most of the book consists of the words of job and his friends, job himself was not the author. Job responds in the first few verses of chapter 42, and submits. Messianic implications in elihus mediator speech job 33. The book of job, in my view, is widely misunderstood it is the classic book of the hebrew bible that seemingly is orthodox correct belief and theological in nature in dealing with the. Professor of old testament the masters seminary ets annual meeting november 19, 2003 introduction the following paper is still a work in progress. Gods explanation if you can call it that is that job, being a mere human. Aug 06, 2019 there is also a tradition that job kept the torah, even so far as to voluntarily keep the tithing commandments that are applicable only within the land of israel.
Of special interest is the problem of evil and how it can be that a sovereign, loving god would allow evil and suffering to exist. Book of job perspectives from faith communities in practice. Job is a fascinating book, and delitzschs commentary on it is a scholarly work of the highest order. It poses the difficult and wellknown question oftheodicy. She defends her husband, though he is reduced to wretched poverty and near starvation. An explanation of major themes within the book of job based mainly on the writings of the malbim rabbi meir leibush malbim with important additions from the ramban nachmanides and the biur hagra commentary of the vilna gaon. Whatever would possess the rabbis to include the book of job as one of the official books in the canon of holy writ. This book has a definite kinship with eastern chokma wisdom literature.
The book starts with god and satan discussing job, a perfect and upright. Jul 05, 2010 the book of job cannot excuse suffering or argue it away, but it shows us a process by which it can be made bearable mon 5 jul 2010 05. Consider job and all of his problems that he faced. Whereas the book of proverbs is a collection of the short wisdom sayings, job is a thorough analysis of the relationship between suffering and divine justice put in a dramatic poetic form. Assuming that job was a historical figure, he most likely would have been an israelite, though its unclear in the book of job where the land of uz where job is from is in relation to israel or judah. There is also a debate as to whether job is a jew or a nonjew. At one point in history, perhaps somewhere around the sixth century a. The book of job explores the morality of divine justice through the experience of human suffering, primarily the suffering of job himself. For example, that the book of job is in fact in all likelihood a patchwork of at least 2 or 3 different works, written by different people in different times. Literary features of the book of job 215 his polyphonic workwisdom types, a genre from psalms, and a genre from the legal sphere. Tsevat suggests that the content of gods speech is intended to convey a picture of the universe deliberately at variance with that held previously. In this brilliant new study, carol newsom illuminates the relation between the. In the book of jonah god is said to change his mind and not bring destruction on nineveh but god doesnt change his mind. Bruce vawter says in his job and jonah, it is the poetic job and the poetic job alone who is of interest to the sensitive.
The book of job is one of the most problematic portions of the bible and has called forth a variety of interpretations. Its incredibly complex and obscure hebrew allowing for multiple translations and meanings. Jan 19, 2016 assuming that job was a historical figure, he most likely would have been an israelite, though its unclear in the book of job where the land of uz where job is from is in relation to israel or judah. Job, ecclesisates, proverbs, psalbs, lamentations, songs of solomon, the. Nevertheless, it is well within the reach of any serious student of the bible who will put forth the effort. Apply to school teacher, jewish institutional ledgers project cataloger, social studies teacher and more. The commentary includes the hebrew text plus an english translation of the entire book of job. See, the lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Back to prose, the narrative describes how job is restored to wealth and a new family. It has also been suggested that the focus of the book is not general, universal human suffering, but the specific suffering of the jewish people. The book of job is one of the literary masterpieces of all time, and provides a profound discussion on the suffering of a just man. It considers a range of postholocaust jewish interpretations of job and the. Presented by rabbi yitzchak schwartz, rosh hayeshiva dean of orchos chaim yeshiva in jerusalem the malbim, in.
Hebrew union college jewish institute of religion, cincinnati. A quite different interpretation has been proposed by matitiahu tsevat in his essay, the meaning of the book of job. Maimonides, a famous medieval jewish scholar, thought a lot about the book of job. Owing to the importance of the book of job, the talmudists occupied. Epicurus was not as bad as he is portrayed heaven and hell are not ancient jewish and christian ideas an. Messianic implications in elihus mediator speech job. This book asks the big question as to why there is evil in the world. What is the book of enoch and should it be in the bible. Getting biblical in daily life jewish perspective thinking for yourself. The book of job a widely misunderstood book jeffrey. Owing to the importance of the book of job, the talmudists occupied themselves frequently with its chief character. Were there originally two endings to the book of job. Is the book of job meant to be an allegoryparable or a true.
The book of job tells how one man suddenly awakened to the anarchy rampant in the world, yet his attachment to god outlived the ruin of his tidy system. Here are some of my reactions to using this book as a reference. For both of these principles were interpreted in an entirely external way. Is the book of job meant to be an allegoryparable or a true history of a real person. The underlying pain in this question has bothered the great thinkers in every generation. Ezekiel mentions job, which means that the book of ezekiel must have been written, or at least edited, after the job story had reached mainstream jewish writers. Introduction to the book of job nach yomi ou torah. This is, as with many passages in job a poetic book.
In this book jobs wife sitidos plays a more important role than she does in the biblical book of job. Some authors sefer hamefoar, parshat behaalotecha interpret this not as an. Why is there a book of job, and what does it do to you if you read it. This summary of the book of job provides information about the title, authors, date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the book of job. The book of job is a book in the ketuvim writings section of the. The author of the book of job incorporated the folk book into his work in a manner still showing traces of the component parts. The sages compare jobs suffering to that of israels. Job deals with suffering but raises other challenging aspects of human life and the nature of god. The opinions on this also vary based in large part upon assumptions of when job lived. Consequently it can be concluded that the book of job is a mixed genre in which its author expertly blended a variety of literary types in.
Why do afflictions upon afflictions befall the righteous man. There is also a tradition that job kept the torah, even so far as to voluntarily keep the tithing commandments that are applicable only within the land of israel. This work is found in four greek manuscripts, in a fragmentary fifthcentury coptic manuscript and in a slavonic version, which is reconstructed from three manuscripts. Dont waste your time allowing the book of job to confuse you, because it isnt true. Also the entire book of nahum is dedicated to the fall of nineveh. The book of job challenges the simple equation of suffering with punishment. Robert eisens the book of job in medieval jewish philosophy is the first attempt to evaluate the rich and fascinating tradition of job exegesis in medieval jewish philosophy. The medieval jewish scholar maimonides declared his story a parable, and the medieval christian thomas aquinas wrote a detailed. It is, however, on other levels that malbims job really. Job, possibly the strangest book in the bible, is based on legends going back.
The biblical book of jude quotes from the book of enoch in verses 1415, enoch, the seventh from adam, prophesied about these men. However, the name does occur in genesis 46 and ezekiel 14. The book ends with nahor, job s seven sons, and others singing a brief dirge. The malbim, in the introduction to his commentary on this holy book, explains that the main purpose of the book of job is to expound upon one of the most perplexing phenomena in the human experience. Old testament hebrewenglish holy name king james version with strongs numbers. Job is a book that ranks as one of the most difficult books in thetanach bible, for two reasons. Job to be a coherent whole, that faithfully records what the books original author. Job, gentiles, and the ninth of the month of av discover. The high priest read the book of job for diversion before yom kippur.
It then explores the complexities and tensions within the biblical book of job. He lost his animals, wealth, children basically everything except one thing his wife. Smick modern redaction theory assumes that some parts of the book of job are less genuine than others. Loingirding and other male activities in the book of job.
Open gallery view the book of job has aspects that seem to predate the babylonian exile that began in 586 bce, and elements that seem to postdate the exile. Prov, eccl, and, in a sense, s of sol applied foundational mosaic revelation to the problems of human existence and conduct as they were being formulated in the philosophical circles of the world of that day. Many people see the book of job as merely a book about suffering. We have reproduced the text exactly as it is in the english translation of the keil. The book of job by anonymous meet your next favorite book. The book of job is the first document in history to take seriously the question of why really bad things happen to really good people. It should be kept in mind that job is not the author.
This reference in james is the only time job is mentioned by name in the n. In essence, job is an essay on the problem of evil. Instead, i sampled his work focusing on one chapter of the book of job, chapter 38, on which i was doing a special study. Sefer iyov begins with a narrative about an extremely righteous person named iyov, who is to be tormented by hashem. Kushner doesnt take the time to go verse by verse and explain what is being said and i think that is a good in this book, rabbi h. Job also questions exactly what is our relationship with god. The book of job explores the morality of divine justice through the experience. Job is commemorated by the lutheran church missouri synod in their calendar of saints on may 9, by the roman catholic church on may 10, and by the eastern orthodox church on may 6. The book of job is one of the books of the hebrew bible. According to the talmudists, he who sees the book of job in a dream may anticipate a misfortune. It is a book that shows tests and trials that a man named job went through.
A number of email responses concerning the book of job. Like anything in life, the reward for success reflects the amount of effort put. Jun 24, 2018 the book of job, in my view, is widely misunderstood it is the classic book of the hebrew bible that seemingly is orthodox correct belief and theological in nature in dealing with the. A major difficulty in understanding the meaning of the book is, what insight leads job to submit so humbly to god at the end. The theme of the book of job is nothing less than human suffering and the transcendence of it. Consequently it can be concluded that the book of job is a mixed genre in which its author expertly blended a variety of literary types in order to serve the function of the book. There is no question that the book was already written by the second century bce, since an aramaic translation of the book of job was discovered among the dead sea scrolls. In the book of job, satan comments on jobs devotion to. The book of job has been widely given the theme of patience and we see this mentioned in the new testament book of james. Chapter one describes a wager god made with the adversary.
All too often the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. Literary features of the book of job gordon college. The job of the prolog is not the job of the dialog. The name job is mentioned only 54 times and mostly just in the book of job. Oct 30, 2001 job responds in the first few verses of chapter 42, and submits.