• Proverbs ' or the comparatively brief I^Tics of the Psalms.
But the poetical character of Job does not depend upon the balance of syllables or the answering beat of lines and clauses. The constructive imagination of the writer is conspicuous throughout. It reveals itself as remarkably in the bold con- ceptions, the free, Ho^ving outlines of the whole poem, as in the wealth, variety, and finish of its detailed imagcr>'. The architect of a cathedral shows his skill alike in the detailed work- manship of bosses and flnials and in his conception of a majestic whole. It is hardly within the compass of this article to dwell upon the poetical grandeur of Job viewed as a literary com- position. The sublimity and siraphcity of its leading concep- tions, the pictures of the august scene in the council-chamber of heaven, and of the sudden desolation and overwhelming sorrow in the earthly household, of Job l^ing in physical anguish and mental bewilderment upon the ituzbeU or ash-mound out- side his house, and the deep s>'mpathetic silence of his friends broken at last by the heartrending wail of the sufferer's despair, — all indicate the hand of a poet at the outset, and prepare the way for the unfolding of the tragedy that follows. Only a close study of the book can give an idea of the richness and multi- plicity of its metaphors, the concentrated vigour of its phrase- ology, its depth of human feeling, its portraiture of patriarchal life, and the impressiveness of the descriptions of external nature, which fonn throughout a majestic background to the moving picture of human pain and sorrow,
SomeUmes the figurative language is closely condensed —
' Wilt thou harass a driven leaf. And chase the withered stubble?' (13®),
Sometimes the metaphor is elaborated with startling vigour and emphasis, as in tlie description of the Divine Being as a giant antagonist wrestling with the puny human frame, or making a target of the miserable man who can offer do resist- ance—
' I was at ease, but he shattered me ; He seized me by the throat and shook me ; He set me up as his mark. His arrows beset me. He cleaveth my side, and doth not spare ; He sheddfth my gall upon the ground ; He brcaketh me with breach upon breach. He rusheth upon me like a giant ' (161^^-*X The description of the lion in 4iO-ii, of the eagle in ch. 89,
* where the slain are, there is she,' the comparison of deceitful friends to the brook drying up in summer and the mirage of the desert in ei^'-'"^, the brief but graphic succession of figures to describe the rapid flight of years —
' My daj-s are swifter than a runner ; They flit away, they see no good ; They shoot by like skifTs of reed. Like an eagle that swoopeth upon its prey ! ' (9*- SS) —
are only examples taken at random of a poetic vitality in the writer which seems inexhaustible. The sketches of the wild beast in the desert ore as faithful in detail as the limning ot the glories ot the constellations in the nightl.v sky is impressive ; but in each case the work is done b,v a few .strokes of a master- hand. One passage only may be transcnbfd as an example of several of the features which have been thus summarily and inadequately sketched, and it will, at the same time, illustrate the arrangeinent ot the poem in strophes —
' The Shades tremble Deep below the waters and their inhabitants. Tlie Unseen World is naked before liini, The Abyss of Iiestruction hath no ooverinif. He stretclieth out the North over the void. And haiigi-th the earth u|>on nothing . . . The pillars of heaven tremble. And are amazed at his rebuke . . . Ix>. these are but the outskirts of bis wa>'9 ; And how small a whisper hath licen heard of him But the thunder ot his power, who can understand T '
(2G^ a IL 14)
iv. Text.— The Massoretic text of the OT, as ii
now generally recognized, stands in some places in
great neetlof"^critical emendation, but the materiah
extant for the purpose are very scAnty. The oldest
' MS of Job is separated in date from its composi-
664
JOB, BOOK OF
JOB, BOOK OF
tion bv moie than twelve hundred j'ears, and few critical helps from without are forthconiinj; to aid in the examination and, if need be, the reconstruc- tion of the text. Under these circumstances, textual criticism virtually resolves itself into a comparison of the Ileb. with the chief ancient versions, and an examination of internal evidence and inherent probabilities of corruption. Such a process naturally leads to widely dillering results, varying accordmj^ to the preconceptions and methods of individual critics. In modem times jlerx led the way in his Dus Gedirht vun iliub (1871), advocating; a reconstruction of the text, based partlj' upon the ancient versions and partly' upon a metrical arrangement of his own. G. Bate- son Wright in 18S3 carried the work some steps further. Bickell in his Carmina V.T. (1SS2) and in a series of papers in the Vienna Zei/sch. f. K. d. il/or(/«n/anrf«( 1891-94) has propounded anelaborate and revolutionary theory for ascertaining what he considers to be the primitive text of Job. He depends partly upon tiie LXX, but partly also on certain metrical theories, of which more will be said shortly. This work of Bickell has been popularized in English by Dillon in his Sceptics of the Old Testament (1895). Finally, Siegfried has published a polychromatic ed. of the text of Job (in Haupt's Sacred Books of OT), in which a thoroughgoing recension is advocated, based mainly upon internal evidence such as satisfies the critic.