AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JOB (Part I)

This is another book named after its key character (the man Job). The book starts off as a story; “there was a man who’s in the Land of Uz whose name was Job”. In the Hebrew, the name is pronounced as ‘Yovu/iyyov’. The story of Job is the oldest tradition story in the history of the Jews and has been developed over time. If we are to appreciate the book of Job, which of the three does the book fall under? Is the book of Job a:

• Fact: A real historical event or an experience in the life of an individual known as Job?
• Fiction: An imaginary scenario dramatized and recorded in the canon to communicate particular lessons?
• Mythology: a folklore narrative genre consisting of collections of myths belonging to a particular religion and cultural traditions (in this respect; to that of the Jews)?

When you read the 42 chapters of the book of Job, you are likely to conclude that the book is a record (with specific reservations) of a real-life event that happened. There was a man by the names of Job that went through all that. The story of Job is not exclusive to the Jews but most ancient near east cultures share this story with its variations of course.

The literary form of the book can be categorized into two: It is a Prose and a Poetry piece of work. Chapters 1&2 then 38 to 42 are in prose form, while chapters 3 to 37 are Poetry. For those of you who are not conversant with literature technicalities; what is meant here is that the language in prose is straightforward while the language in poetry is geared to expressing something special in an artistic way (rhyming and so forth).

The discourse between Job and his four friends is poetic but the discourse between God and Satan, then God and Job are in Prose form. This matters for purposes of interpretation and understanding the message of the book.

The book of Job is a composition by the Masoretic scribes (Jewish scholars whose historical writings gave birth to what we know as the Old Testament today) and its time is during the exile and the post-exilic period. However, its content (story of the man Job) is older than all other experiences of the Jewish recorded history including that of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis.

It is this traditional story about Job that sparked-off the investigation of the History of life (its Origin, its Problem, and its Destiny) by the Jews throughout the 39 books in the Old Testament. The questions addressed and answers given in the book of Job are at the core of every question and answer supplied in the whole library of the Bible, as we will see. The book is one of the three wisdom literature books of the Bible and the other two are; Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

There are four characters in the book of Job:

• God
• Satan
• Job
• Four Friends

There is a weird relationship between God and Satan and that relationship is founded on Job. Job is the meeting point of both God and Satan. In other words, God has no business whatsoever with Satan without Job. Again, what brings Job and his four friends together is the state of Job (Pain and suffering) in the context of Job’s relationship with the God they all (Job and his friends) worship and believe.

OUTLINE

The book can be outlined as follows:

• Chapters 1-2: It all begun in Heaven and with God’s appraisal of his man Job. God and Satan disagree on Job’s motive behind his behaviour so they agree to prove what that motive is.
• Chapters 3-31: We have Job’s complaint (3:1-26), and his discourses with his elderly friends (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar), who, generally speaking, accuse their friend Job of having done something wrong to deserve the pain he is in. They insist that he might have done something he actually might even not have noticed. Job stands his ground and defends his innocence throughout his responses to each of the speeches from each of the three friends. The debate in those chapters has three rounds: round 1. Verses 3-14, round 2. Verses 15-21 and round 3, verses 22-31.
• Chapters 32-37: We have a discourse between Job and his youngest friend of the four by the names Elihu. Elihu approaches the issue from a different angle and instead of accusing Job of any sin, he accuses him of self-righteousness. Elihu insists that the pain of Job will not stop until he (Job) stops this righteousness than thou attitude.
• Chapters 38-42: Finally, the silent God speaks out on the matter and involves himself in a dialogue with Job. God asks a series of revelatory rhetorical questions to Job. There are two rounds in this discourse between Job and God. Round 1, chapters 38-39 where Job says something and round 2, chapters 40-42 where Job is silent and has absolutely nothing to say.

RUDIMENTARY LESSONS

• There are people in this world that God brags about, am not one of them; are you?
• Some kind of suffering and loss is just an exam to pass or fail; the choice is ours.
• Be a friend who attends to your friends in the time of their struggles. However, it matters the kind of comfort you give as a friend.
• Always remember that in this world, bad things happen to good people, therefore it might not always be your fault.
• The silence and inactiveness of God to us, while we are in pain, is not his absence but in fact, that is when he is actually very busy with us.
• Suffering is the best time for each of us to reflect on matters of importance.
• We must always remember that our help and solutions are not in supplying answers as they are in the quantity and quality of questions we ask.
• Finally, as long as it is on Earth, good or bad it will END

Next, I will address the Theological Bites of the Book.

God bless you I invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH (2Tim 2:7) 

Pr. I. T WHITE

The Gospel Hawker

iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)