JOB
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JOB
wounds by the most substantial considerations. Nor is it in accordance with the book itself, which nowhere impugns or mitigates the extent of Job's calamities, but, from the high vantage ground of the prologue and ejii- logue, impresses us with a more solemn insight into their signiticance than even Job was enabled to take, and throughout the discussion (both on the part of the three friends — whose argument is based upon their tangibil- ity as evidence of the divine displeasure, and especially in the key furnished by Elihu — which exalts them to the most interesting degree of importance in the moral discipline of the people of God), athnits and therefore seeks to justify their piuigency. Their design is as far from stoicism as from insensibility. Viewed in the light of the foregoing piu-jjose, this book becomes one of the most precious legacies to the Church — to which tribula- tion in this world has been left as a heritage ; and a subhme exposition of some of the most interesting prob- lems of religious experience in its most highly developed phase.
III. Historical Gharacier of the Work.— On this sub- ject there are three opinions. (1.) Some contend that the book contains an entirely true historj'. (2.) Others assert that it contains a narrative entirely imaginary, and constructed by the author to teach a great moral truth. (.3.) The third opinion is that the book is found- ed on a true history, which has been recast, modified, and enlarged by the author,
1. The first view, taken by numerous ancient inter- preters, is now abandoned by nearly all expositors. Until a comparatively late time, the general opinion was not only that the persons and events which it describes are real, but that the very words of the speakers were actually recorded. It was supposed either that Job himself employed the latter years of his life in writing it (A. Schultens), or that at a very early age some in- spired Hebrew coUected the facts and sayings, faithfully preserved by oral tradition, and presented them to his countrymen in their own tongue. Some such view seems to have been adopted by Josephus, for he places Job in the list of the historical books , and it was prev- alent with all the fathers of the Church. In its sup- port several reasons are adduced, of which only the first and second have any real force; and even these are out- weighed by other considerations, which render it impos- sible to consider the book of Job as an entirely true his- tory, but which may be used in defence of the third view alluded to. It is said. (1.) That Job is (Ezek. xiv, 14:-20) mentioned as a public character, together with Noah and Daniel, and represented as an example of pi- ety. (2.) In the Epistle of James (v, 11), patience in sufferings is recommended by a reference to Job. (3.) In the Greek translation of the Sept. a notice is append- ed to the book of Job, evidently referring to Gen. xxxvi, 33, and stating that Job was the king Jobab of Edom. It is as follows: "And it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord will raise up. This is translated out of a Syrian book. He dwelt indeed in the land of Ausitis, on the confines of Idumwa and Ara- bia. His first name was Jobab ; and having married an Arabian woman, he had by her a son whose name was Ennon. He was himself a son of Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and his mother's name was Bosorra; so that he was the fifth in descent from Abraham. And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, over which country he also bore rule. The first was Balak, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba. And after Balak, Jobab, who is called Job ; and after him Asom, who was governor from the region of Thaiman- itis ; and after him Adad, son of Barad, who smote Ma- dian in the jilain of Jloab , and the name of his city was Gethaim. And the friends who came to him were Eli- phaz of the sons of Esau, the king of the Thaimamtes ; Baldad, the sovereign of the Saucha?ans ; and Sophar, the king of the Minaians." An account is given at the close of the Arabic version so similar that the one has every appearance of having been copied from the other,
or of their having had a common origin. Aristasu?, Philo, and Polyhistor acknowledged the account to be true, as did the Greek and Latin fathers. It is not un- likely that the tradition is derived from the Jews. Tliis statement is too late to be reUed on, and originates in an etymological combination [see Jobab] ; and that it must be erroneous is to a certain extent evident from the contents of the book, in which Job is not represent- ed as a king. (1.) In the East numerous traditions (see D'Herbelot, s. v. Ayoub) about the patriarch and his family show the deep impression made by his character and calamities : these traditions may jiossibly have been derived from the book itself, but it is at least equally probable that they had an indejiendent origin. Indeed, Job's tomb continues to be shown to Oriental tourists. Now the fact of a Job havmg lived somewhere would not of itself prove that the hero of our narrative was that person, and that this book contained a purely his- torical account. Moreover, liis tomb is shown not in one place, but in six, and, along with it, the dunghill on which Job is reported to have sat! (See Carpzov, Inirocl. ii, 33 ; Jahn, Einleit. I, i, 761 ; Michaelis, EinUit. i, 1 ; Bertholdt, v, 2040). (5.) Dr. Hales and others have even gone so far as to fix his exact year, by a calcula- tion of the constellation alluded to in ix, 9 ; xxxviii, 31 ; but the uncertainty of such a process is too evident to need consideration, as the very names of the planets al- luded to are doubtful.