JOB. -
I. THE AUTHOR
A rich and wise man, a perfect worshipper of the true God, a type of the suffering just man, and the protagonist of the book that bears his name.The name appears in the letters of el-Amarna: A-ia-ab; the Hebrew 'Ijibbh could mean "persecuted," if derived from a Hebrew root. His country is 'Üş, a region between Edom and northern Arabia, as can be deduced from Jer. 25:20-24; Lam. 4:21, and is explicitly stated in the addition of the Greek version, Job 42:17; the indications regarding Job's friends (Job 2:11) agree with this: Eliphaz (q.v.) of Teman, certainly an Edomite region (Gen. 36:11-15; Jer. 49:7), and Bildad of Shuah in northern Arabia (Gen. 25:2). But traditions vary; Gen. 10:23, which names 'Üş among the sons of Aram, leads one to seek him in Syria and especially in Hauran.
Ezek. 14 recalls Job for his justice (v. 20; cf. Job 12:4; Gen. 6:9 regarding Noah), along with Noah and Daniel (cf. Ecclus. 49:9); James 5:11 recalls him rather for his patience: cf. Tob. 2:12-15 (only in the Vulgate). These references do not resolve the question of whether Job is a real or fictitious person. Nothing prevents one from proposing as a model (Ezekiel, James) a purely literary character, just as Jesus does when he recommends to his interlocutor to imitate the good Samaritan (q.V. JONAH). Did the author draw inspiration from some real episode or traditional figure? Catholic exegetes are inclined to admit a historical basis for the great poem. This is plausible.
The book consists of three parts: introduction and prologue (chs. 1-2); the poem proper (chs. 3-41); the epilogue (42). The central part is in exquisitely crafted verse; the other two, very brief, are in prose.
Part 1 (1-2): Job, of irreproachable conduct, enjoys great prosperity; he has a large family, flocks and lands, and a multitude of servants. God allows him to be struck by misfortune: he loses his possessions, his children; and, worn out by a loathsome disease, he is cast out of his house and endures the contempt and mockery of people and even his wife... Amid his deep sorrow, Job resigns himself to the divine will. Three of his friends come to console him, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and with them begins the dialogue that will be concluded by God's intervention.
Part 2: there are three disputes with Job, beginning with his outburst lamenting his sufferings (3). The friends always speak in the following order: Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Job replies to each in turn. The thesis maintained by the three is the traditional conception: every suffering implies a fault, as every favor a good deed; God is not served or offended gratuitously. Therefore, Job, instead of lamenting and boasting of his innocence, should acknowledge his guilt and do penance so as to obtain mercy.
In the first dispute (4-14), Eliphaz (q.v.) expounds this thesis abstractly, so as to avoid an explicit condemnation of Job, and bases it on a supernatural revelation to make it more palatable (4-5). Job, while accepting his sufferings, cannot doubt his innocence; and when his gaze turns to the Lord, it remains bewildered, not understanding the reason for his condition (6-7). Bildad intervenes, with the authority of tradition, applying the same thesis more directly to Job. The sufferer who displays his own innocence offends divine Providence as if it were unjust (8). Job sees even more clearly the opposition between the theory and the indisputable fact of his innocence, as well as the mystery of God's ways (9-10). These words scandalize the young Zophar, who supports the same theory with the dictates of reason and experience (11-12, 6). But, Job replies, experience demonstrates the other disconcerting fact of the prosperity of the wicked. His faith in God's sovereign justice is unshaken and profound; the mystery therefore remains all the more vivid (12:7-14:21).
In the second dispute (15-21), the three friends openly accuse Job of impiety, so that he has merited such evils. It is impossible that he suffers as an innocent man. Eliphaz sees in Job's protests only pride; he adduces his own experience and the doctrine of the wise (15:1-18). The other two add nothing new, except for the violent tone and acrimony of their replies (chs. 18-20). Job, realizing that these speeches bring nothing new (15:17-35), no longer hopes for understanding and comfort from men (16:1-5), places his hope solely in God, invoking His just judgment before descending to the underworld (16:6-17:16), and expresses his deep disgust for such a doctrine, contrary to the data of experience (21); God will be his vindicator, and not even the proximity of death can render this hope doubtful (19).
In the third dispute (22-28), the friends show their impotent irritation by heaping abuse on Job, to whom
they also attribute the gravest sins. The doxologies do not compensate for the poverty of their arguments (22-25). Job replies with irony; the happiness of the wicked is evident, and insults are not reasons. It is true that God delays in doing him justice, but he does not cease to invoke God's supreme judgment (27:1-6). The speech of Zophar is missing in the present text; and expressions are attributed to Job that one would rather expect on the lips of his adversaries. The following arrangement has therefore been proposed, supposing a pagination error (Dhorme): 24:18-25; 25:2-26; 4:26, 5-14; 26:4-12; 27:2-12; 27:13-23. Job's reply to Eliphaz would end at 24:17. Then Bildad would speak (16:5-14 + 25:2-6), with Job's reply (26:2-4 + 27:2-12). Finally, Zophar (27:13-23 + 24:18-25), or better still, Job himself, without giving his adversaries time to speak, would formulate the thought of Zophar already expressed in 20:29 (= 27:13); and before describing splendidly the divine power in the hymn to wisdom (28), he develops, not without irony, the false thesis of his adversaries. The hymn, already foreshadowed in 27:11, closes the bitter discussion of the three friends, who have become fierce accusers.
At this point Job skillfully sets forth his defense (29-31). He highlights the justice and prosperity of his past (29), which therefore does not deserve the ignominy with which they wish to cover him, nor his present sufferings (30); finally, he reaffirms his innocence and invokes God's judgment. In this judgment, Job intends to confront God, whom he believes to be angry with him, and to refute his accusers (13:18; 31:35-37). He therefore desires an arbiter, an advocate to take up his defense (9:33; 31:35a). This arbiter is Elijah (q.v.), who intervenes (32-37): Job should not say that God persecutes him; God sends evils not only to punish, but also to preserve and purify. Thus he prepares the way for God's intervention (38-41). God appears in a cloud that veils His majesty and expounds His omnipotence and wisdom in the creation and governance of the universe. What can Job say about these wonders of physical order? And how, therefore, can he claim to judge God's work in the moral world? Job prostrates himself in the dust and professes his ignorance.
Part 3: in the epilogue (42) God pronounces (42:42) the sentence; Job has humbled himself; the three wise men are condemned, and to Job, declared innocent, are restored goods even greater than those he had before.
This is a didactic poem; among other things, the scene of the angels with Satan (imitated by Goethe at the beginning of Faust) is entirely symbolic. The author, a learned and versatile Jew, treats the most human and most debated of problems: the origin and teleology of suffering. He demonstrates the fallacy of the then-common theory that only those who have sinned suffer, with two easy experiential facts: the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the just. The problem is not fully resolved, but the essential points of the full solution preached by Christianity are set forth: a) suffering tests the just for the honor of God (cf. prologue); b) it preserves them from pride, sin, and purifies them (speech of Eliphaz); c) man must submit to divine Wisdom, to its inscrutable designs, without daring to question them, humbly submitting to His providence (words of God).
From this, the admirable unity of the beautiful composition becomes apparent. Some denied the author the prologue and epilogue because of their prosaic form; others denied the theophany (38-42). But the prologue is required as the foundation, and the epilogue as the complement of the entire poem; there are identities of concepts and expressions; cf. the angels = sons of God (1:6; 2:1 and 38:7). Thus, the intervention of God is closely connected with the invocation of Job (31:35-37), with that of Eliphaz himself (5:8), and with the announcement of Elihu (37:14-24). Indeed, it is the culminating point prepared and awaited throughout the poem. The prologue itself demands II.
Above all, critics (including Dhorme) do not consider Elihu’s speeches original. Objection: a) Elihu is not named either in the prologue or in the epilogue (but if Elihu is Job’s advocate and well preludes the sentence of God, he should not have entered into it; his intervention is prepared by Job’s double invocation); b) Elihu says nothing that the friends have not said or that God will not say (but his speeches were meant precisely to examine what had been said so far and to prepare for the divine sentence [37:14-24]); c) diversity of style and vocabulary (but a careful examination ultimately establishes that Elihu’s vocabulary is generally that of the other speakers [Szczygiel, Peters, Dennefeld]; nor can an artist be condemned for not varying according to the nature and task of the character, or for not always being highly lyrical, without pauses or tonal shifts).
The author of the book is an unknown Jew of Palestine, a perfect connoisseur of the Law (Job 24:2-11; Ex. 22:21; etc.), of sacred literature, of Jewish social conditions, of the sciences, and also of the customs and literatures of foreign countries.
Prefer and Dhorme consider him an Edomite sage, others (Jastrow) an imitator of the Babylonian poem of the “suffering just one,” others an imitator of Egyptian literature (cf. Job 31 and the Egyptian negative confessions). It is out of place to speak of imitation: no proof can be adduced, as the sublime poetry of Job confirms, beyond the content. The common background of forms and motifs in the sapiential literature of the East suffices to explain the analogies.
It is undeniable, however, that Job shows affinity and dependence on the sacred books, particularly on Jeremiah (cf. Jer. 12:1-4 with Job’s argument; Jer. 20:14-19 with Job 3:3-12; Jer. 9:3 with Job 7:15; etc.). The region of ‘Uz is mentioned only in Job 1:1; Jer. 25:20; Lam. 4:21. The author therefore wrote after Jeremiah, probably toward the end of the kingdom of Judah; the vigor of style and the elegance of the language make the hypothesis that the book was written after the exile unlikely (Vaccari, Szczygiel, Dennefeld, Gunkel, König, etc.). However, Bigot, Driver-Gray, Buhl, Dhorme are for after the exile: Job 12:13-15; 37:7-12 clearly alludes to the exile; and it seems to depend still on the second part of Isaiah, on Zechariah, and perhaps on Malachi (Dhorme). But the preceding deportations and sieges of the Israelites of the north (2 Kings 15:29; 17:6) suffice to explain Job’s reference.
Peters places its composition even in the 4th century because of a supposed influence of Greek culture on Job. Among the ancients, some placed it in the time of Moses (the description of the prologue presents Job as a patriarch), others attributed it to Solomon.
The Hebrew text, contrary to the prejudices of Merx, Torczyner, and Ball, is better preserved than that of other books (e.g., Jeremiah), as Budde, Dhorme, Peters, and Vaccari demonstrate. The Greek version is rather free, to be used with caution; sometimes it strays too far from the sense of the text; it has some additions (e.g., the historical appendix at the end); but generally it tends to abbreviate, and it lacks about a sixth of the Hebrew text, supplied by the version of Theodotion. The Syriac is faithful, useful for criticism, less for exegesis. More useful Targum (v.). Among all, the version of St. Jerome (Vulgate) excels for understanding of the text, clarity, and elegance (Vaccari).
With the exception of Theodore of Mopsuestia, no one ever doubted the divine authority of the book of Job, cited as Holy Scripture in 1 Cor. 3:19; Jas. 5:11; cf. Rom. 11:35.
From it, a complete theology of the Old Testament can be drawn. The entire book is dominated by the thought of the one God (5:9; 9:10; 37:5), variously named as in Genesis. Job sings His glory, in the style of the Prophets and Psalms (9:6=Is. 13:13; 9:8=Am. 4:13...), in creation (9:4-13) and in the upheavals He works in society (12:13-25; cf. Ps. 106 [107]:40). Creator and sovereign of all things (28:24-27; 38:4-7; cf. Prov. 8:22-31), God preserves and governs them (12:13; cf. 4; 31:2). Inaccessible to our gaze (23:8 sqq.), it is impossible to know His nature (11:8 sqq.). He is surrounded by angels (1:6; 37:7), His servants (5:1; 33:23 sqq.), in whom His purity finds stains (4:18). The adversary is not a lost being like our Satan, but one of His ministers (Job 1:2), like “the spirit of falsehood” seen by Micah (1 Kings 22:19-23; cf. L. Desnoyers, Histoire du peuple hébreu, I, Paris 1922, p. 161 n.; II, 1930, p. 72 sqq.). Before God stand the wretched and fleeting existences of man, who, even if just, is impure before Him (9:28-31; 25:4-6). His duties have as their foundation “the fear of God” (28:28; 1:1-8; 2:3), which includes piety and the practice of religious (4:6; 15:4) and moral duties (23:11 sqq.; 21:7 sqq.; 29:14; especially 31:13. 16-21. 29-32). Alongside the just live the sinners, who are wicked (8:20) and foolish (5:2 sqq.). The principal attribute of God in relation to man is justice.
The entire Old Testament sees the rigorous connection between human acts and their reward or punishment, realized here below in a pragmatic manner: sin and punishment—repentance and liberation (cf. Job 4:7 sqq.; 5:6). In Job, this pragmatism is surpassed, even if a solution to replace it is lacking. In reality, the concept of the afterlife in Job remains the traditional one of Sheol, a dark abode (17:13-16) in opposition to that of the living (14:21; 21:21), from which no one returns (7:10; 10:21; 14). In Job, death is no longer considered a sign of divine judgment (16; 19; 21), and Job desires it as the beginning of his vindication (5:17 sqq.); but he places no hope in the beyond (17:13-16). He hopes that God will intervene before he dies; he is certain that he will see Him with his own eyes, such is his faith in divine justice (16:18-20; 19:25 sqq.). Thus in chapter 16, even as he stands with one foot in the grave (17:11-16), Job is sure that God will intervene before the earth covers his blood.
Thus in 19:25–27 G. would have a written record of his case inscribed in indelible writing (v. 23 sg) because he is certain that God Himself will rise up against his accusers there upon the dung-heap (v. 25); and with his pinked skin and eyes reddened by weeping he will witness his justification and the confusion of his friends (26 sg.). “Ah, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and at last He will stand upon the earth; and after my skin this hath been destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God…” (25 sg.): the more probable rendering of the Hebrew text, partly confirmed by the Syriac and Theodotion. It is always the same hope that the Lord will intervene before he dies. The Greek version, omitting wə’ăḥăr (v. 26) and placing jāqûm (v. 25) first, inserts the notion of the resurrection of the body: “I know that my Redeemer is eternal, He will rise again upon the earth my skin…” A notion which some Greek Fathers perceived, denied by St John Chrysostom (PG 53, 565; 57, 396) and, with the support of the Vulgate, diffused by St Augustine in the Latin Church (e.g., PL 41, 793).
III. Archaeology
The example of the prophet J., resigned in the sufferings of poverty, is already pointed out to the faithful by Pope Clement towards the close of the 1st century (1 Cor 26, 3). He was depicted in funerary frescoes towards the end of the 3rd century (Wilpert, Pitture, 351 ff.); three further examples must be added from the Cemetery ad duas lauros—after their publication, the most expressive being that edited by Kirsch (Un gruppo di cripte dipinte inedite del cimitero dei SS. Pietro e Marcellino, in Riv. di arch. crist., 7 [1930], p. 225, fig. 13). In the paintings the prophet is always alone. A group of sarcophagi—five Roman, one from Brescia and three from Gaul, all of the 4th century—depict the prophet while his wife visits him (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, pls. 14, 2; 159, 2; 187, 6); in some cases she offers him a cake, as in a sarcophagus from Arles, or she covers her nostrils, as in the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (F. Gerke, Der Sarkophag des Iunius Bassus, Berlin 1936, fig. 10). On occasion the friends appear as well.In ancient orations of the ordo commendationis animae the prayer is addressed to the Lord—sicut liberasti Iob de passionibus suis. The famous verse—scio quod Redemptor meus vivit—(Job 19, 25) from J. himself was taken up into funeral liturgies and repeated even in Christian sepulchral inscriptions, such as that of Bishop Flavian of Vercelli and others from Naples, Rimini and Comacchio.
J. is a symbol of the resurrection according to St Jerome (Contra Johannem Hierosolymitanum, 30); St Ambrose presents him as one who patiently overcame all injuries and adversities of life, looking forward to a recompense in the future resurrection. Thus he almost comes to symbolize the soul of the deceased delivered by God from eternal pains. The tribulations of J. were also depicted in the 5th century in the basilica of St Felix at Nola (St Paulinus of Nola, Carm., 28, 25; PL 61, 663).
The prophet J. is also represented in gold-glass, for example in that found at Neuss near Cologne; in manuscripts, such as the Syriac Codex 341 in the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris, of the 7th or 8th century.
IV. Iconography
In a symbolism of the suffering Christ, J. appears seated on a heap of dung in the south portal of Amiens cathedral and in the north portal of Chartres cathedral. The cycle of the events of J.’s life also appears in fragments of a Book of J. in the Biblioteca di Napoli, finds rich illustration in the Catalan Bibles of Santa Maria de Ripoll and of Saint-Père-de-Roda, in the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris, as well as in another Bible of the Salzburg school. J. in his misery is depicted as usual in attitudes that attest his sufferings, while before and after his misfortune he seems to wear regal dignity and majesty.Fresco painting also contributes to the iconography of J.: Bartolo di Fredi, in 1356, painted Stories of J. in the collegiate church of San Gimignano, and a few years later, in 1371, Francesco di Volterra repeated the cycle in lost frescoes in the Camposanto of Pisa, with the episodes of the Feast, the Colloquy of God with Satan, the Destruction of J.’s House, his misfortune and his restoration to prosperity.
V. Testament of J
Apocryphal, proscribed in the Pseudo-Gelasian Decree. It is a midhrāš on the Book of J. In part it rests on the amplifications of the Greek version of J. (after 2:9 and 42:17).Thus J. is identified with Jobab (a confusion arising from Gen 36:33 ff.); he has a brother Nahor, to whom the Testament is attributed; the wife of J. is called Sitis and is given a long discourse. More restrained is the legend concerning the sons and daughters of J., who gather around their dying father. J. recounts how he suffered so much at the hands of Satan for having destroyed an idolatrous temple; but the Lord has restored everything to him. Before the daughters who sing celestial hymns the angels come to take the soul of J., who is said to have lived 255 years.
It was probably written in the 2nd century A.D. by a judge; Tertullian (De patientia, 13: PL 1, 1270 ff.) alludes to the Testament of J., 20.