Job, Book of. (original) (raw)

A blemished perfection: The book of Job in Context

1996

The present study is concerned with literary, theological, and linguistic aspects of the book of Job, and its place in biblical and ancient Near Eastern literature. It developed from my examination of the unique features of these aspects of the book of Job and the attempt to ...

The Book of Job

Job, 2019

This is a full length thematic commentary on Job putting forward a parabolic reading developing and correcting the published approach of David Wolfers' 1994 Eerdmans commentary. It reads Job as a script for a play debating and discussing the problem of the suffering of Hezekiah and the nation during the Assyrian crisis of 701. The contribution of the commentary is that it gives an exegesis of all the book in this light and from a conservative standpoint. Wolfers' commentary gave a critical exegesis of the material that was more amenable to a parabolic reading leaving the more difficult stuff to one side. We address this deficiency. The intertextual connections with Isaiah and the Hezekiah psalms make up our argument. Job has been traditionally read on the surface in the genre of Wisdom literature but it is in fact prophetic commentary on what was recent Israelite history

On prose and poetry in the book of Job

The Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, 1996

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between the poetic sections of the book of Job and the prose tale by means of stylistic criteria. This relationship is highly problematic. The prose tale recounts the fate of a moral hero whose life is ruined by the ¶ a t an , whereas the speeches show how the righteous victim bewails his fate and asserts his justness in the face of his friends, who try tõ nd a moral justi˜cation for his a˙ictions. It is not, however, easy to say whether the prose tale is merely the framework which provides the background for the debate in the poetic sections, 1 or an independent work of art. 2 Does it have a subject of its own, viz., the question whether human righteousness is a matter of expedience or a good in its own right, or is this issue raised as an ironic comment on the attitude of his peers? The attitude of Job seems problematic since the hero of the prose tale accepts his fate (1:21; 2:9-10), while the poetic sections center on Job's emotional expression of his doubts concerning divine justice. Is this contrast a matter of diˆerence 1.ÙThe most impressive presentation of this view is still to be found in

The Testament of Job as an Adaptation of LXX Job

Text-critical and Hermeneutical Studies in the Septuagint, J. Cook and H.-J. Stipp (eds). (Vetus Testamentum Supplement Series 157. Brill: Leiden) pp. 409-422., 2012

The book of Job has generated an impressive volume and range of retellings across a wide variety of media and genres. This is indicative of the diverse reading strategies, the precommitments and interpretative choices that readers bring to this complex text. This chapter is concerned with one particular instance of the reception of the book of Job, the pseudepigraphic Testament of Job , written somewhere in the period 1st century B.C.E. to 1st century C.E. In claiming that Testament of Job is an adaptation of LXX Job, the author argues for a familiarity with the actual text of LXX Job, and not just dependence on a generally circulated memory of the story of Job. The Testament of Job takes up the actual text of LXX Job in places and it respects the order of events in its precursor. Keywords:LXX Job; Testament of Job

From Sorrow to Submission: Overlapping Narrative in Job's Journey from 2:8 to 2:10

This dissertation investigates the tension between the two portrayals of Job in the current form of the biblical book of Job in light of narrative literary theory (ch. 1). It supports the current consensus that the two portraits of Job are best understood as belonging to two separate accounts about Job—one written primarily in prose and serving as a literary frame and the other written primarily in poetry—and confirms that the appropriate division between the two accounts is between 2:10 and 11 and between 42:9 and 10, thereby giving each account a complete literary plot structure (ch. 2). This dissertation then advances current scholarship by examining each account in isolation in order to identify its unique characterization and plot elements and by showing how many texts that appear to conflict with each other are actually consistent within their own accounts (chs. 3, 4). A close reading of texts that appear near the seams between the two accounts highlights the thematic, verbal, and characterization links that connect 2:8 with the beginning of the poetic account and 2:10 with the end of the poetic account. This dissertation then applies the insights and terminology of the Russian Formalist school of literary criticism to the book of Job in order to propose that the most coherent reading of Job emerges when the two accounts are read non-sequentially—that is, when entire poetic account is understood to overlap with 2:8-10 in the prose account (ch. 5). The proposed, overlapping reading of Job succeeds both in accounting for conflicts between the prose account—where Job responds to his calamities with instant and extraordinary piety—and the poetic account—where Job’s eventual pious response comes only after prolonged bitterness, accusations, and discontentment—and in explaining the overarching coherence of the combined accounts, which may now be understood to provide a unified perspective on the Principle of Retribution, on the Satan, on God, and on Job. Together, the two accounts reveal all that transpired to bring about Job’s transformation from bitter sorrow in 2:8 to remarkable submission to God in 2:10.

A brief exposition on the notions of Human Suffering, Theodicy and Theocracy in the Book of Job

Pharos Journal of Theology, 2022

It is suggested that in the face of malevolence, such as that faced by Job, God’s omnipotence and also His benevolence can be upheld. This article thus explores the notions of human suffering, theodicy and theocracy and how they are understood in the book of Job from an Old Testament perspective. The exegesis of the Book of Job has vexed people for epochs and it grasps the depths of human despair, the anger of moral outrage, and the anguish of a felt desertion by God on the part of the protagonist. From one man’s agony it reaches out to the mystery of God, beyond all words and explanations. The Scriptures including the book of Job has several distinct ways of reconciling human suffering with the justice of God. In the end, it is only God as King and Ruler, Himself who brings justice, victory and joy to the life of the suffering man. And when all is said and done, the mystery remains that God stands as King and Ruler revealed in His hiddenness, an object of terror, adoration and love...