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Book 18 of 39 · Wisdom & Poetry

Job

The Complete Story29:22

Overview

Job is the first of the Old Testament's poetic and wisdom books. It tells of a righteous man from the land of Uz, east of Israel, who loses everything and then argues with his friends, and finally with God, about why. The setting feels patriarchal: Job is wealthy in flocks and herds, offers sacrifices himself, and there is no mention of Israel's law, temple or kings. The author and date are unknown; suggestions range from the age of Solomon to the exile, and the book is widely admired as one of the masterpieces of world literature.

The book has a prose frame around a long poetic centre. It falls into five parts: the prologue in heaven and on earth (chapters 1–2); Job's lament and the three cycles of debate with his friends (3–27); a poem on wisdom and Job's final defence (28–31); the speeches of Elihu (32–37); and the LORD's speeches from the whirlwind, Job's response and the epilogue (38–42).

Part 1 — The Testing of Job (chapters 1–2)

Job's piety (1). Job is "perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil". He has seven sons, three daughters, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys — "the greatest of all the men of the east". After his children's feasts he offers burnt offerings in case they have sinned. The first test (1). The heavenly beings present themselves before the LORD, and "the satan" (the Accuser) comes among them. The LORD points to Job; the Accuser asks, "Doth Job fear God for nought?" He is permitted to touch Job's possessions. In one day Sabeans, fire from heaven and Chaldeans destroy Job's herds and servants, and a great wind collapses the house on his children. Job tears his robe and worships: "the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (1:21). The second test (2). The Accuser says, "Skin for skin", and is allowed to strike Job's body but spare his life. Job is covered in sores and sits in ashes, scraping himself with a potsherd. His wife says, "Curse God, and die." Job replies, "shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (2:10). The friends arrive (2). Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite come to comfort him. They weep, throw dust on their heads and sit with him in silence seven days and nights.

Part 2 — The Great Debate (chapters 3–27)

Job's lament (3). Job breaks the silence by cursing the day of his birth and longing for the rest of the grave: "Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery?" First cycle (4–14). Eliphaz, gently at first, appeals to experience and a night vision: the innocent do not perish, and "happy is the man whom God correcteth" (5:17). Job replies that his friends are like seasonal streams that fail the thirsty (6), and asks God, "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?" (7:17). Bildad appeals to tradition: God does not pervert justice; Job's children must have sinned (8). Job agrees God is just but asks how anyone can win a case against him, wishing for an "umpire" or "daysman" between them (9:33). Zophar insists God has punished Job less than he deserves (11). Job answers with sarcasm and defiance — "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (13:15) — and wonders whether a man, unlike a felled tree, can live again (14). Second cycle (15–21). The friends harden, describing the dreadful fate of the wicked. Job calls them "miserable comforters" (16:2) yet declares that his "witness is in heaven". At his lowest point, deserted by kin and servants, he cries, "I know that my redeemer liveth... yet in my flesh shall I see God" (19:25–26). In chapter 21 he challenges their whole theory: the wicked often live long, prosper and die in peace. Third cycle (22–27). Eliphaz now accuses Job of specific sins against the poor (22). Job cannot find God anywhere, yet says, "when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (23:10). Bildad's last speech is only six verses (25), and Zophar does not speak again. Job maintains his integrity (27).

Part 3 — Wisdom and Job's Defence (chapters 28–31)

The hymn to wisdom (28). Miners dig deep for silver, gold and sapphires, but wisdom cannot be dug up or bought. Only God knows its place: "the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding" (28:28). Job's final speeches (29–31). Job recalls his former honour at the city gate, when he was "eyes to the blind, and feet... to the lame" (29). He laments his present humiliation, mocked by the young (30). In chapter 31 he swears an oath of innocence, covering lust, dishonesty, neglect of the poor, idolatry and hatred, and ends by signing his case: "my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me". "The words of Job are ended."

Part 4 — The Speeches of Elihu (chapters 32–37)

A young voice (32–37). Elihu son of Barachel, who has waited out of respect for his elders, is angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God, and with the friends for failing to answer. He argues that God speaks through dreams and through suffering to turn people from pride (33), that God cannot act wickedly (34), and that suffering can teach (36). His final speech describes a gathering storm and God's majesty in thunder, snow and rain (37), preparing for what follows. Neither God nor the narrator responds to Elihu directly.

Part 5 — The LORD Speaks (chapters 38–42)

The first speech (38–39). "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind." God does not explain the heavenly test. Instead he questions Job: "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth... when the morning stars sang together?" (38:4–7). He speaks of the sea's boundaries, the dawn, the storehouses of snow and hail, the constellations — "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?" — and then of wild creatures: lioness, raven, mountain goat, wild donkey, wild ox, ostrich, war-horse, hawk and eagle. Job's first reply (40). "Behold, I am vile... I will lay mine hand upon my mouth" (40:4). The second speech (40–41). God asks, "Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?" and describes Behemoth, the mightiest of land beasts, and Leviathan, the untameable sea-monster whose breath kindles coals. Job's repentance (42). Job confesses that he spoke of "things too wonderful for me", and says: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (42:5–6). Epilogue (42). The LORD tells Eliphaz that he and his two friends have "not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath". They offer seven bulls and seven rams, and Job prays for them. The LORD restores Job's fortunes twofold: 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 donkeys. He has seven more sons and three daughters — Jemimah, Keziah and Keren-happuch, the fairest in the land, who receive an inheritance with their brothers. Job lives 140 years and dies "old and full of days".

Key themes, and the bridge to Psalms

  • Disinterested faith. The Accuser's question — does Job fear God "for nothing"? — drives the book. Job's faith survives the loss of every reward.
  • Suffering and justice. The friends hold a neat theory that suffering always means sin. The book rejects it: God says Job, not the friends, spoke rightly.
  • Honest protest. Job's laments, complaints and demands are part of faith, not its opposite. He speaks to God, not only about him.
  • God's freedom and wisdom. God answers not with an explanation but with himself, revealing a creation far larger and wilder than human understanding.
  • Hope beyond the present. Job's longing for an umpire, a heavenly witness and a living Redeemer reaches beyond his own lifetime.

Job ends with restoration, yet the reason for his suffering is never told to him, and the reader is left to live with the mystery. Its mix of lament, questioning and praise leads naturally into the Psalms, Israel's songbook, where the same honesty before God is turned into prayer and song.