Book of Job

Books of the Hebrew Bible

Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1–2 Samuel 1–2 Kings 1–2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel other Minor Prophets

The Book of Job (איוב) is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. Job is a didactic poem set in a prose framing device.

According to the Testament of Job, another name for Job is Jobab. Genesis 36:33 identifies a Jobab, as a descendant of Esau, a king of Edom.

The Book of Job has been called the most difficult book of the Bible. The numerous exegeses of the Book of Job are classic attempts to reconcile the co-existence of evil and God and address the problem of evil. Scholars are divided as to the origin, intent, and meaning of the book.

Narrative

Prolog

Job, a man of great wealth living in the Land of Uz, is described by the narrator as an exemplary person of righteousness. He was "blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil." (1:2) He has seven sons and three daughters and is respected by all people on both sides of the Euphrates.

In heaven, even God is impressed with Job's standard of absolute goodness and devotion. One day, the angels—among them "the Satan"—present themselves to God, who boasts of Job's goodness to the Adversary. Satan replies that Job is only good because God blessed him. "Stretch out your hand and strike everything he has," Satan declares, "and he will surely curse you to your face." God takes Satan up on the wager permiting Satan to act as God's agent to put the virtue of Job to the test. God gives Satan power over the innocent Job's property, his slaves, and even his children. Satan then destroys all of Job's riches, his livestock, his house, his servants, and finally his children, who are slain in a series of seeminly natural disasters.

One of William Blake's illustrations of the Book of Job: Satan afflicts Job with boils.

Job mourns deeply at these horrible misfortunes. He rends his clothes, shaves his head, and falls down upon the ground saying. But he still refuses to blame God, saying, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord." (1:20-22)

Satan then solicits God's permission to afflict Job's person as well, and God says, "Behold he is in your hand, but don’t touch his life." Satan smites Job with dreadful boils, so that Job can do nothing but sit in his pain all day. Job becomes the picture of dejection sitting on an ashpile scraping away dead skin from his body with a shard of pottery. His wife even advises him: "curse God, and die." But the righteous Job answers, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

The dialog

In the meantime, three of Job's friends come to visit him in his misfortune—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. A fourth, the young Elihu the Buzite, joins the dialogue later. The friends spend a week sitting on the ground with Job, without speaking, until Job at last breaks his silence. When he does so, his attitude has changed dramatically. Now fully in touch with his feelings, Job no longer blesses God come what may. Instead, "Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth."

Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water.

What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. (3:23-25)

Job's friend Eliphaz respondsd with pious proverbs, scolding Job for not realizing that God is disciplining him: "Blessed is the man whom God corrects," he reminds the miserable Job, "so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty." (5:17)

Job, however, insists on what we have already been told. He has done no wrong, and yet, "The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God's terrors are marshaled against me." (6:4)

Bildad the Shuhite enters the argument at this point in defense of God. "Your words are a blustering wind," he chides poor Job. "Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?" Job is quick to agree that God is indeed all-powerful. This is one point on which all the dialog partners are unanimous. "He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion," decalres Job, "the Pleiades and the constellations of the south." Where Job differs from his companions is on the question of God's goodness. Where they claim that God rewards the good and punishes the evil, Job knows from his own experience that it is not that simple. "He destroys both the blameless and the wicked," Job insists. "When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?" (9:22:24)

Next, Zophar the Naamathite enters the discussion. He accuses Job of mocking God and urges Job to admit his sin and repent. "If you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent," he counsels, "then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear." But Job refuses to say he is guilty when he knows he is not, saying, "I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God." (13:3)

And so the debate contines. Job's friends attempt to convince him that he must be wrong, for God would not punish an innocent man. Job stubbornly insists that he has behaved with integrity throughout his life. When his friends demonstrate the greatness of God, Job agrees with them and goes them one better, describing even the very act of creation and God's primordial victory over the demons of the deep:

He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.

The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke.

By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.

By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent.

And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him!

Who then can understand the thunder of his power?" (26:10-14)

Finally, the Elihu speaks. He "became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job." Speaking with the confidence of youth, he condemns those who have spoken previously. In his defense of God he seems nothing new, echoing Job's other friends in declaring, " It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice." Elihu underscores that Job's desire to make his case before God is problematic, because it presupposes that Job possesses a moral standard that can be imposed upon God. In his opinion, "Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words."

God's response

After several rounds of debate between Job and his friends, in a divine voice, described as coming from a "cloud" or "whirlwind," God describes, in evocative and lyrical language, what the experience of being responsible for the world is like, and asks if Job has ever had the experiences that He (God) has had.

God's answer underscores that Job shares the world with numerous powerful and remarkable creatures, creatures with lives and needs of their own, whom God must provide for, and the young of some hunger in a way that can only be satisfied by taking the lives of others. Does Job even have any experience of the world he lives in? Does he understand what it means to be responsible for such a world? Job admits that he does not.

God's speech also emphasizes his sovereignty in creating and maintaining the world. The thrust is not merely that God has experiences that Job does not, but also that God is King over the world and is not necessarily subject to questions from his creatures, including men. He declines to answer any of Job's questions or challenges with anything except "I am the Lord." Job asks God for forgiveness.

In the epilogue, God condemns Job's friends for their insistence on speaking wrongly of God's motives and methods, commands them to make extensive animal sacrifices and instructs Job to pray for their forgiveness. Immediately thereafter God restores Job to health, giving him double the riches he before possessed (including ten new children added to the ten who predeceased him). His daughters are the most beautiful in the land, and are given inheritance while Job is still alive. Job is crowned with a holy life and with a happy death.

Satan in the Book of Job

The term "the Satan" appears in the prose prologue of Job, with his usual connotation of "the adversary," as a distinct being. He is shown as one of the celestial beings or "sons of God" before the Deity, replying to the inquiry of God as to whence he had come, with the words: "from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:7). Both the question and the answer, as well as the dialogue that ensues, characterize Satan as that member of the divine council who watches over human activity, but with the evil purpose of searching out men's sins and appearing as their accuser. He is, as it were, a celestial "prosecutor," who sees only iniquity; for he persists in his evil opinion of Job even after the man of Uz has passed successfully through his first trial by surrendering to the will of God, whereupon Satan demands another test through physical suffering (Job 2:3-5). Satan challenges God by saying that Job's belief is only built upon what material goods he is given, and that his faith will disappear as soon as they are taken from him. And God accepts the challenge.

The introduction of "the adversary" occurs in the (very short) framing story alone: he is never alluded to in the (very long) central poem at all.

While many, from a Christian perspective, believe Satan to be the Devil, in the Book of Job he is presented as a worker for God known as the "the satan" (ha-satan, 'the adversary'), not Satan as a personal name. He is the ultimate prosecutor for God.

Job's Wife

Job's wife is mentioned only once in the book of Job in Chapter 2. The extra-Biblical Testament of Job adds legendary details about her being named Sitis, who, the legend goes, sold her hair to Satan in exchange for food and money. In the end, she cursed God and died.

Job is said to have had at least four wives in the course of his life (four being from the tribe of Peleg) according to The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is currently unknown which wife this was.

In lieu of the Talmud's discussion of Job's being a contemporary of figures in the Book of Genesis, Genesis, Rabbinic sources have also identified Dinah as a possibility for Job's wife.

Identities of Job's Friends

The first speaker to address Job, 'Eliphaz the Temanite', is likely identified in the Book of Genesis, chap. 36, verses eleven through twelve, in a genealogy: 'And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. Now Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.' This would probably identify the Eliphaz in the Book of Job as a descendant of Teman, and therefore designated as a 'Temanite', meaning 'a relative' or 'a descendant'; 'son of', or 'of the tribe of', rather than as coming from a place called Teman, which there probably was, and also was probably named after its founder, i.e. the original Teman, the son of Eliphaz mentioned in Genesis chapter 36. This would further identify 'Eliphaz the Temanite' in the Book of Job as an Edomite, of the descendants of Esau, Jacob's older brother.

Probable Time of the Book of Job

Although it is not expressly listed in the Book of Job itself, and the timeline of the book is controversial, that is, disagreed upon by Biblical scholars, some inferences can be made about the possible time of the book. First, Job was living in the 'Land of Uz', which may at that time have been controlled by either Edom or the tribes of Israel. Was Job a guest there? Secondly, Job's chief occupation seems to have been as a herdsman, which was his primary source of wealth listed (other than his family), which probably indicates that the region was largely unsettled at this time, and not significantly developed, for instance as a 'land of vineyards or fig trees'; but this is speculation. However, I suggest that the events listed in the Book of Job actually happened during the period known as the 'time of the Judges', described in the Book of Judges in the Bible. As evidence to support this hypothesis, it is mostly inferred from the fact that no king is listed; the tribes of Israel did not have a king (other than God) until the time of Samuel the Seer. Also, the Israelites were constantly being raided during this period known as the 'time of the Judges' by bands of raiders, such as Job's family was (see the first chapter in the Book of Job, verses eleven through twenty-two); and Job himself was a judge by occupation (see the Book of Job chap. 29, verses seven through seventeen). This would put the Book of Job in chronological order right before or after the Book of Judges in the Bible, which could be useful as a reference point.

Themes

Themes include:

• 'What is the extent of God's power and omnipotence?,
• 'The futility of questioning God's actions',
• 'Job as a Type of Christ or Messiah' ^{[citation needed]}
• 'Suffering'
• Theodicy: The Book of Job for the first time entertains the possibility of questioning the morality or justice of God's actions.

Authorship

A great diversity of opinion exists as to the authorship of this book. From internal evidence, such as the similarity of sentiment and language to those in the Psalms and Proverbs (see Psalms 88 and 89), the prevalence of the idea of "wisdom," and the style and character of the composition, it is supposed by some to have been written in the time of King David and King Solomon. Some, however place it in around the time of the Babylonian exile; others have proposed various other theories, the most interesting being that Job is Tobias, Tobit's son. ^{[citation needed]}

The Talmud (Tractate Bava Basra 15a-b) maintains that the Book of Job was written by Moses, although the Sages dispute whether it was based on historical reality or intended as a parable. Although Moses' authorship is accepted as definitive ^{[citation needed]}, other opinions in the Talmud ascribe it to the period of before the First Temple, the time of the patriarch Jacob, or King Ahaserus.

Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich relates that the Book of Job was originally much greater in length, as Job originally lived north of the Caspian Sea, was struck by his first misfortune, moved to the Caucasus and then to Egypt, and then later left Egypt. Moses abridged the book to make it more comprehensible for the Israelites, and Solomon later revised it. Rather than describing four separate misfortunes that befell Job several years apart from each other and in different locations, the final product gives the impression that Job's misfortunes all befell him on the same day and in the same place.

In contrast, secular examinations of the text more generally conclude that, though archaic features such as the "council in heaven" survive, and though the story of Job was familiar to Ezekiel (Chapter 14 verse 14), the present form of Job was fixed in the 4th century B.C.E.. Ezekiel places Job in comparison with other righteous figures such as Noah and "Dan-el." The story of Job apparently originated in the land of Edom, which has been retained as the background. Fragments of Job are found among the Dead Sea scrolls, and Job remains prominent in haggadic legends. The later Greek Testament of Job figures among the apocrypha. Secular scholars agree that the introductory and concluding sections of the book, the framing devices, were composed to set the central poem into a prose "folk-book," as the compilers of the Jewish Encyclopedia expressed it. In the prologue and epilogue, the name of God is the Tetragrammaton, a name that even the Edomites use. Secular scholars agree that the central poem is from another source.

Possible Sumerian source

The Assyriologist and Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer in his 1959 book History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine "Firsts" in Recorded History (1956), provided a translation of a Sumerian text which Professor Kramer argued evinces a parallel with the Biblical story of Job. Professor Kramer drew an inference that the Hebrew version is in some way derived from a Sumerian predecessor.

Later interpolations and additions

In the edited form of Job that we have, various interpolations have been claimed to have been made in the text of the central poem. The most common such claims are of two kinds: the "parallel texts," which are parallel developments of the corresponding passages in the base text, and the speeches of Elihu (Chapters 32-37), which consist of a polemic against the ideas expressed elsewhere in the poem, and so are claimed to be interpretive interpolations. The speeches of Elihu (who, along with the 3 friends, is not mentioned in the prologue) are claimed to contradict the fundamental opinions expressed by the 'friendly accusers' in the central body of the poem, according to which it is impossible that the righteous should suffer, all pain being a punishment for some sin. Elihu, however, reveals that suffering may be decreed for the righteous as a protection against greater sin, for moral betterment and warning, and to elicit greater trust and dependence on a merciful, compassionate God in the midst of adversity.

Subjects of more contention among scholars are the identity of claimed corrections and revisions of Job's speeches, which are claimed to have been made for the purpose of harmonizing them with the orthodox doctrine of retribution. A prime example of such a claim is the translation of the last line Job speaks (42:6), which is extremely problematic in the Hebrew. Traditional translations have him say, "Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." This is consonant with the central body of the poem and Job's speeches, other mortal encounters with the divine in the Bible (Isaiah in Chapter 6, for example), and the fact that there would have been no restoration without Job's humble repentant acknowledgement of mortality faced with divinity in all its majesty and glory.

Exegesis

Exegesis largely concerns the question, "Is misfortune always a divine punishment for something?" Job's three friends argued in the affirmative, stating that Job's misfortunes were proof that he had committed some sins for which he was being punished. His friends also advanced the converse position that good fortune is always a divine reward, and that if Job would renounce his supposed sins, he would immediately experience the return of good fortune.

In response, Job asserted that he was a righteous man, and that his misfortune was therefore not a punishment for anything. This raised the possibility that God acts in capricious ways, and Job's wife urged him to curse God, and die. Instead, Job responded with equanimity: "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord." The climax of the book occurs when God responds to Job, not with an explanation for Job's suffering but rather with a question: Where was Job when God created the world?

God's response itself may be read in a variety of ways. Some see it as an attempt to humble Job. Yet Job is comforted by God's appearance, and the fact that he 'saw God and lived', suggesting that the author of the book was more concerned with whether or not God is present in people's lives, than with the question of whether or not God is just. Job chapter 28 rejects these efforts to fathom divine wisdom.

The framing story complicates the book further: in the introductory section God, during a conversation with Satan, allows Satan to inflict misery on Job and his family. The appended conclusion has God restoring Job to wealth, granting him new children, and possibly restoring his health, although this is more implied than explicitly stated. This may suggest that the faith of the perfect believer is rewarded. However, God speaks directly to this question, condemns Job's friends, and says that Job is the only man who has faithfully represented the true nature of God - that all his friends were wrong to say that faith and righteousness are rewarded. Only after Job's friends make a sacrifice to God and are prayed for by afflicted Job - as God's appointed priest - does God restore all Job's good fortune.

Some theologians have argued that Job's thankfulness at the end of this tale is actually sarcastic, that he does not believe God's rewards make up for the suffering he had endured previously. ^{[citation needed]}

The Testament of Job

The Testament of Job, a book found in the Pseudepigrapha, has a parallel account to the narrative to the book of Job. There are legendary details such as the fate of Job's wife, the inheritance of Job's daughters, and the ancestry of Job.

In folktale manner in the style of Jewish haggada [1], it elaborates upon the Book of Job making Job a king in Egypt. Like many other Testament of ... works in the Old Testament apocrypha, it gives the narrative a framing-tale of Job's last illness, in which he calls together his sons and daughters to give them his final instructions and exhortations. The Testament of Job contains all the characters familiar in the Book of Job, with a more prominent role for Job's wife, given the name Sitidos, and many parallels to Christian beliefs that Christian readers find, such as intercession with God and forgiveness.

Unlike the Biblical Book of Job, Satan's vindictiveness towards Job is described in the Testament as being due to Job destroying a non-Jewish temple, indeed Satan is described in a far more villainous light, than simply being a prosecuting counsel. Job is equally portrayed differently; Satan is shown to directly attack Job, but fails each time due to Job's willingness to be patient, unlike the Biblical narrative where Job falls victim but retains faith.

The latter section of the work, dedicated like the Biblical text to Job's comforters, deviates even further from the Biblical narrative. Rather than complaining or challenging God, Job consistently asserts his faith despite the laments of his comforters. While one of the comforters gives up, and the others try to get him medical treatment, Job insists his faith is true, and eventually the voice of God tells the comforters to stop their behavior. When most of the comforters choose to listen to God's voice, they decide to taunt the one remaining individual who still laments Job's fate.

Medieval views of Job

Throughout the Middle Ages, Job was portrayed as someone who was a patron of music. There is a fifteenth century painting (Brussels, Belgium) where Job handed out gold coins to musicians in order for them to play music. According to a legend ^{[citation needed]}, Job took off the boils from his body, and as soon as it left his hands, it turned into gold coins, which he handed to musicians.

In Judaism

The Talmud occasionally discusses Job. Classical Torah scholarship has not doubted Job's existence. He was seen as a real and powerful figure. Some scholars of Orthodox Judaism maintain that Job was in fact one of three advisors that Pharaoh consulted, prior to taking action against the increasingly multiplying "Children of Israel" mentioned in the Book of Exodus during the time of Moses' birth. The episode is mentioned in the Talmud (Tractate Sotah): Balaam gives evil advice urging Pharaoh to kill the Hebrew male new-born babies; Jethro opposes Pharaoh and tells him not to harm the Hebrews at all, and Job keeps silent and does not reveal his mind even though he was personally opposed to Pharaoh's destructive plans. It is for his silence that God subsequently punishes him with his bitter afflictions. [2].

There is a minority view among Rabbinical scholars, for instance that of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish, that says Job never existed (Midrash Genesis Rabbah LXVII, Talmud Bavli, Bava Batra 15a). In this view, Job was a literary creation by a prophet who used this form of writing to convey a divine message or parable. On the other hand, the Talmud (in Tractate Baba Batra 15a-16b) goes to great lengths trying to ascertain when Job actually lived, citing many opinions and interpretations by the leading sages. Job is further mentioned in the Talmud as follows [3]:

• Job's resignation to his fate (in Tractate Pesachim 2b)
• When Job was prosperous, anyone who associated with him even to buy from him or sell to him, was blessed (in Tractate Pesachim 112a)
• Job's reward for being generous (in Tractate Megillah 28a)
• King David, Job and Ezekiel described the Torah's length without putting a number to it (in Tractate Eruvin 21a)

Two Talmudic traditions hold that Job either lived in the time of Abraham or of Jacob. Levi ben Laḥma held that Job lived in the time of Moses, by whom the Book of Job was written. Others argue that it was written by Job himself (see Job 19:23-24), or by Elihu, or Isaiah.

One midrashic view is that Job was the Pharaoh of Egypt during the time of Moses. Therefore there would be a justification for why Job was punished. Because he allowed the Israelite people to suffer and enslaved them, he deserved everything that happened to him (if one has the ability to prevent suffering, he should).

According to the Talmud, Job was seventy years old when the book started.

Source for Jewish Law

Some of the laws and customs of mourning in Judaism are derived from the Book of Job's depiction of Job's mourning and the behavior of his companions. For example, according to , the behavior of Job's comforters, who kept silence until he spoke to them, is the source for a norm applicable to contemporary traditional Jewish practice, that visitors to a house of mourning should not speak to the mourner until they are spoken to. ^{[citation needed]}

Liturgical use

The Book of Job is rarely used in Jewish liturgy. However, there are some Jews who read the book of Job on the Ninth of Av fast (a day of mourning over the destruction of the Jewish temples and other tragedies).

The cantillations for the book of Job, according to the Sephardic traditions, differ from the rest of the biblical books. A sample of how the cantillations are chanted is found below.

Many quotes from the book of Job are used throughout Jewish liturgy, especially at funerals and times of mourning.

Philosophical approach

Maimonides, a twelfth century rabbi, discusses Job in his work Guide for the Perplexed. According to Maimonides (chs. 22-23), each of Job's friends represents famous, distinct schools of thought concerning God and divine providence.

Bildad, for example, portrays the standard Jewish view, as well as the Islamic Mu'tazili view, that righteousness is rewarded by God (Job 8:6-8), although one may have to be patient for the reward to come. Therefore, if Job is righteous, as he claims to be, God will reward him eventually.

Moreover, Job reflects the view of Aristotle, that God destroys the innocent and the wicked together (Job 9). If Job held this point of view, then he did not believe in divine providence, even if he did believe in God's existence.

According to Maimonides, the correct view of providence lies with Elihu, who teaches Job that one must examine his/her religion (Job 33). This view corresponds with the notion that "the only worthy religion in the world is an examined religion." A habit religion, such as that originally practiced by Job, is never enough. One has to look deep into the meaning of religion in order to fully appreciate it and make it a genuine part of one's life. Elihu believed in the concepts of divine providence, rewards to individuals, as well as punishments. He believed, according to Maimonides, that one has to practice religion in a rational way. The more one investigates religion, the more he/she will be rewarded or find it rewarding. In the beginning, Job was an unexamining, pious man, not a philosopher, and he didn't have providence. He was unwise, simply grateful for what he had. God, according to Elihu, did not single out Job for punishment, but rather abandoned him and let him be dealt with by natural, unfriendly forces.

Conversely, in more recent times, Russian existentialist philosopher Lev Shestov viewed Job as the embodiment of the battle between reason (which offers general and seemingly comforting explanations for complex events) and faith in a personal god, and one man's desperate cry for him. In fact, Shestov used the story of Job as a central signifier for his core philosophy (the vast critique of the history of Western philosophy, which he saw broadly as a monumental battle between Reason and Faith, Athens and Jerusalem, secular and religious outlook):

"The whole book is one uninterrupted contest between the 'cries' of the much-afflicted Job and the 'reflections' of his rational friends. The friends, as true thinkers, look not at Job but at the 'general.' Job, however, does not wish to hear about the 'general'; he knows that the general is deaf and dumb - and that it is impossible to speak with it. 'But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God' (13:3). The friends are horrified at Job's words: they are convinced that it is not possible to speak with God and that the Almighty is concerned about the firmness of His power and the unchangeability of His laws but not about the fate of the people created by Him. Perhaps they are convinced that in general God does not know any concerns but that He only rules. That is why they answer, 'You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you or the rock be removed from its place?' (18:4). And, indeed, shall rocks really be removed from their place for the sake of Job? And shall necessity renounce its sacred rights? This would truly be the summit of human audacity, this would truly be a 'mutiny,' a 'revolt' of the single human personality against the eternal laws of the all-unity of being!" (Speculation and Apocalypse).

Mystical approach

Nachmanides offers a mystical commentary on the Book of Job. According to the mystical approach, Job is being punished because he is a heretic. One reason why Job can be seen as a heretic is because in Chapter 3, he automatically assumed and was convinced that he did not sin and God therefore has no right to punish him. Another reason why Job can be viewed as a heretic is because he did not believe in reincarnation. He believes that once a person dies, it is all over for him/her, without any mention of an afterlife.

According to Job, who reflected the views of Aristotle, God gave the world over to astrology. This is evident in Job's lamentation, "Curse the day I was born on" (3:2) Job cursed his birthday because he believed that his birthday was bad luck, in the astrological sense. Given the context of the passage, it is more likely that this phrase refers to Job wishing he'd never been born at all.

According to Nachmanides, Job's children did not die in the beginning of the story, but rather were taken captive and then return from captivity by the end of the story.

In Christianity

Christians accept the Book of Job as part of the Old Testament canon. The character of Job is also mentioned in the New Testament, as an example of perseverance in suffering (James 5:11).

There are several references to the Book of Job throughout the New Testament, especially the Epistles. Specifically:

Rev. 9:6 alludes to Job 3:21; compare 2 Thes. 2:8 to Job 4:9; 1 Cor. 3:19 quotes Job 5:13; Heb. 12:5, Jas. 1:12, and Rev. 3:19 all parallel Job 5:17 and Job 23:10; compare Jas. 4:14 to Job 7:6; compare Heb. 2:6 with Job 7:17; compare Heb. 12:26 with Job 9:6; Rom. 9:20 alludes to Job 9:32; Rom. 11:33 parallels Job 10:7; compare Acts 17:28 with Job 12:10; compare 1 Cor. 4:5 with Job 12:22; compare 1 Pet. 1:24 with Job 14:2; compare Lk. 19:22 with Job 15:6; Rom. 1:9 parallels Job 16:19; compare 1 John 3:2 with Job 19:26; Rev. 14:10, 19:15 parallel Job 21:20; both Rom. 11:34 and 1 Cor. 2:16 quote Isa. 40:13, which parallels Job 21:22; Mt. 25:42 alludes to Job 22:7; Jas. 4:6 and 1 Pet. 5:5 both quote Prov. 3:34, which parallels Job 22:29; compare Acts 1:7 with Job 24:1; Heb. 4:13 parallels Job 26:6; Mt. 16:26 alludes to Job 27:8; compare Jas. 1:5 with Job 32:8; 1 Jo. 1:9 alludes to Job 33:27-28; Jas. 5:4 alludes to Job 34:28; Rev. 16:21 alludes to Job 38:22-23; Mt. 6:26 alludes to Job 38:41; and finally, Rom. 11:35 quotes Job 41:11. {[fact}}

Christian themes include God's mercy (not treating sinners as they truly deserve), grace (treating unworthy sinners as they do not deserve), compassion (toleration of much discrediting, inappropriate mortal speculation impugning the divine character and allegations of unrighteous/unfair dealings with men), restoration (where sin abounds, generosity superabounds) omnipotence, omnisapience, omnipresence, omniliberty, aseity, infinite love, and supreme majesty. {[fact}}

Job's declaration, "I know that my Redeemer lives" (19:25), is considered a proto-Christian statement of belief, and is the basis of several Christian hymns.

Many Christians hold that Job is a historical prototype of Jesus: the Man of Sorrows who suffered the most of all, under the providence and watchful will of God.

Liturgical use

the Eastern Orthodox Church reads from Job during Holy Week.

“

Throughout the whole Lent the two books of the Old Testament read at Vespers were Genesis and Proverbs. With the beginning of the Holy Week they are replaced by Exodus and Job. Exodus is the story of Israel's liberation from Egyptian slavery, of their Passover. It prepares us for the understanding of Christ's exodus to His Father, of His fulfillment of the whole history of salvation. Job, the sufferer, is the Old Testament icon of Christ. This reading announces the great mystery of Christ's sufferings, obedience and sacrifice.

”

Alexander Schmemann, "A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week"

In Islam

In the Qur'an Job is known as Ayyūb (Arabic: أيوب ) and is considered a prophet in Islam. In the Arabic language the name Ayyūb is symbolic of the virtue of patience, though it does not mean patience in itself. He is mentioned in several passages in the Qur'an.

In Palestinian folk tradition Ayyub's place of trial is Al-Joura, a village outside the town of Al Majdal (now Ashkelon). It was there God rewarded him with a fountain of youth that removed whatever illnesses he had, and gave him back his youth. The town of Al-Joura was a place of annual festivities (4 days in all) when people of many faiths gathered and bathed in a natural spring.

In Turkey, Job is known as Eyüp. It is believed that Job and Elias were buried at Eyyup Nebi, near Viranşehir^{[citation needed]}.

There is also a tomb of Job outside the city of Salalah in Oman.

References to Ayyub (Job) in the Qur'an

• Job's prophecy: 4:163, 6:84
• Trial and patience: 21:83, 21:84, 38:41

Modern approaches to Job

• Carl Jung, "Answer to Job".
• Harold Kushner, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People"
• C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
• Henry M. Morris, "The Remarkable Record of Job"
• James Morrow, "Blameless in Abaddon"
• Neil Simon, God's Favorite
• Elie Wiesel, "Night"
• Archibald MacLeish, J.B.
• Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
• David Adams Richards, Mercy Among the Children

External links

• Jewish translations:
  • Iyov - Job (Judaica Press) translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org
• Christian translations:
  • Job at The Great Books (New Revised Standard Version)
  • Job at Wikisource (Authorised King James Version)
• Other translations:
  • The Trial of Job (translation as drama with hyperlinked notes)
  • The Book Of Job The Musical (translation as musical)
• Jewish Cantillations
  • Sephardic Cantillations for the Book of Job by David M. Betesh and the Sephardic Pizmonim Project

Related articles:

• Excerpts from "Answer to Job" by Carl Jung
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Job; Book of Job
• Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897: Job; Book of Job
• "Short Articles on the Book of Job": Bill Long
• "Putting God on Trial- The Biblical Book of Job" by Robert Sutherland A complete online commentary.
• Job at the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Biblical Job: A Vision of God
• Exegetical Paper on Job 19:23-27 by Rudolph E. Honsey
• A Proposed Connection between Job and Tobias, Tobit's son

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