within the next century, for the time to antagonize such a work would be soon after its appearance, when the impact of its thought was fresh, and before a considerable degree of antiquity had rendered it sacred. THE AUTHOR The author of Job counted Job among the children of the East (1:3). The author himself, then, lived in western Palestine. If he wrote after the Exile, his home was somewhere in Judah. He was a man of wide experience of life and of keen observation. His sympathy with hired servants who work in the fields under a scorching sun (7:1, 2) makes it probable that he had known at some time such toil from experience. His familiarity with the ways of trade (17: 3) suggests that he had been at one time engaged in it, and his vivid realization of the vicissitudes of caravan life makes it probable that he had engaged in caravan trading. On his journeys he had seen the wady-streams turbid with snow and ice (6: 16), and at other times had suffered from the intolerable thirst which at the end of a long hot day afflicts those who find the stream dry by which they had planned to encamp (see Barton, Wandering in Bible Lands, pp. 215 ff.). He had travelled as far as the sea, and its restless and powerful waves had impressed him as the embodiment of pride (38:8, 11). He had in his trading travelled to Egypt, had been enough impressed by the papyrus and reed grass that he saw there to borrow an Egyptian proverb about them (8:11). The papyrus boats on the Nile had also attracted him (9:26) and he had borrowed an Egyptian word for "girdle" (12:21). Wherever he had travelled he had been keenly alive to nature. The beauties of dawn, the splendor of the thunder-storm, the ways of animals and men in the desert places of the earth (39: 5-30; 24: 5-8) had impressed him and called forth his sympathy. More important than the events of his outward life is the fact that he had pondered deeply the problem of the moral and religious order of the world. Unable to be satisfied with the ready-made and easy solutions of his time, he mercilessly exposed them in his poem, suggesting, as we have seen, in a most artistic way a religious instead of an intellectual solution of them. In poetic power and moral insight this man, who must to us remain nameless, takes his position beside the greatest of our kind. DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE ARGUMENT I. The Prologue; chs. 1, 2. (1) The station, character, and family of Job; I: 1-5. (2) The first heavenly conference at which Job's (3) The first series of disasters; 1:13-19. I: 20-22. (5) The second heavenly conference; 2: 1-6. (6) The second test and its outcome; 2:7-10. (7) The coming of Job's three friends; 2: 11-13. II. Job's wail of despair; ch. 3. (1) Would God I had never been born; 3: 1-10. III. The great debate on suffering; chs. 4-31. 1. The first speech of Eliphaz; chs. 4, 5. (1) The surprise of Eliphaz at Job's despair; 4: I-II. (2) The holiness of God and his creatures con- (3) Eliphaz applies the principle to Job; 5: 1-7. 2. Job's first reply to Eliphaz; chs. 6, 7. (1) Job justifies the violence of his complaint; 6:1-13. (2) Expresses disappointment at the attitude of his friends; 6: 14-30. (3) Renews his outburst, complaining that, in addition to the hardships suffered by all men, God is cruelly tormenting him; 7: I-21. 3. Bildad's first speech; ch. 8. (1) The discriminating fairness of God; 8: 1-7. (2) The moral wisdom of the ancients; 8:8-19. (3) Bildad's summary of the case; 8: 20-22. 4. Job's first reply to Bildad; chs. 9, 10. (1) The greatness and terribleness of God prevent a man from establishing his innocence; ch. 9. (2) Job appeals to God to know how his sufferings are consistent with the divine nature; ch. 10. 5. Zophar's first speech; ch. II. (1) Would that God would really answer Job; II: 2-6. (2) Zophar praises God's wisdom; 11: 7-12. 6. Job's first reply to Zophar; chs. 12-14. (1) Job's irony as to the wisdom of his friends; 12:1-6. (2) All creation testifies to God's almighty rule; (3) No one can resist God's might; 12:13-25. (6) Job would know with what sins God charges (7) The brevity of man's days; 14: 1-6. (10) This longing is hopeless; 14: 18-22. 7. The second speech of Eliphaz; ch. 15. (1) Eliphaz reproves and convicts Job; 15: 1-16. (2) He quotes the wise as to the condition of the wicked; 15: 17-35. 8. Job's second reply to Eliphaz; chs. 16, 17. (1) Job is weary of vain talk; 16: 1-5. (2) He asserts his belief that God is permanently hostile to him; 16:6-17. (3) Faith in God and the validity of righteousness struggles through his storm of feeling; 16: 18-17:9. (4) Nevertheless he expects Sheol only; 17: 10-16. 9. Bildad's second speech; ch. 18. (1) Why does Job treat his friends with such contempt? 18: 1-4. (2) The terrible fate of the wicked; 18: 5-21. 10. Job's second reply to Bildad; ch. 19. (1) Job remonstrates against the continuance of unkind criticism; 19: 1-6. (2) He vainly cries for help; 19:7-12. (3) Declares he is forsaken by all; 19:13-19. (4) He appeals to his friends for pity; 19: 20-22. (5) Faith is born out of despair; 19:23-29. II. Zophar's second speech; ch. 20. (1) Does not Job know how brief all the joy of the wicked is? 20: 1-29. 12. Job's second reply to Zophar; ch. 21. (1) Job challenges the attention of his friends; 21:1-6. (2) He declares that the wicked are not overtaken by calamity, but live and prosper; 21:7-34. 13. The third speech of Eliphaz; ch. 22. (1) Job's punishment proves him a sinner; 22: I-5. (2) He charges Job with certain specific sins; 22:6-II. (3) He warns Job by the fate of the wicked not to think that God cannot see; 22: 12-20. (4) He instructs Job how to regain health and prosperity; 22: 21-30. 14. Job's third reply to Eliphaz; ch. 23 and 24: I-4, 9-16, 23, 24. (1) Job again expresses his vain longing to come face to face with God; 23: 1-9. (2) God terrifies Job, though innocent, until Job is afraid; 23: 10-17. (3) Job charges God with encouraging the wicked by deferring judgment upon them; 24: 1-4, 9-16, 23, 24. 15. Bildad's third speech; 25: 1-6, 24: 17, 18, 5–8; 30:3-8, 24: 19–22, 24. (1) God's holiness and man's impurity contrasted; 25: 1-6; 24: 17, 18. (2) The fate of ignoble sinners; 24:5-8; 30: 3-8. (3) The fate of powerful sinners; 24: 21, 22, 19, 20, 24. 16. Job's third reply to Bildad; ch. 26. (1) Bildad has never helped the men whom he decries to be better; 26: 1-5. (2) God sees everything, but is himself inscrutable; 26:6-14. 17. Zophar's third speech; 27:7-11, 13-23. (1) The hopelessness of the godless; 27: 7-11, 13-23. 18. Job's third reply to Zophar and his appeal to God; 27: 1-6, 12; 29: 1-25; 30: 1, 2, 9-31; 31: 1-40. |