Against this view it must be remarked generally, that the whole work is arranged on a well-considered plan, proving the author's power of independent invention ; that the speeches are, in their general structure and in their details, so elaborate that they could not have been brought out in the ordinary course of a conversation or disputation ; that it would be unnatural to suppose Job in his distressed state to have delivered such speeches, finished with the utmost care ; and that they exhibit uniformity in their design, fulness, propriety, and color- ing, though the author, with considerable skill, repre- sents each speaker whom he introduces arguing accord- ing to his character. Moreover, in the prologue and epilogue, as well as in the arrangement of the speeches, the figures 3 and 7 constantly occur, with the decimal number formed by their addition. The transactions be- tween God and Satan in the prologue absolute^ require that we should distinguish between the subject-matter forming the foundation of the work and its enlargement, which can be only done when a poetical principle is ac- knowledged in its composition. God's speaking out of the clouds would be a miracle, without an object corre- sponding to its magnitude, and having a merely per- sonal reference, while all the other miracles of the Old Testament are in connection with the theocratical gov- ernment, and occur in the midst and for the benefit of the people of God.
2. Impelled by the force of these arguments, many critics have adopted the opinion eitlier that the whole work is a moral or religious apologue, or that, upon a substratum of a few ruaimental facts preserved by tra- dition, the genius of an original thinker has raised this, the most remarkable monument of the Shemitic mind. The first indications of tliis opinion are found in the Talmud {Bala Bath ra, x v, 1 ) . In a discussion upon the age of this book, while the Rabbins in general maintain its historical character, Samuel Bar-Nachman declares his conviction "Job did not exist, and was not a created man, but the work is a parable." Hai (iaon (Ewald and Duke's Beitrarje, iii, 165), A.D. 1000, who is followed by Jarchi, altered this passage to "Job existed, and was created to become a parable." They had evidently no critical ground for the change, but bore witness to' the prevalent tradition of the Hebrews. Maimonides (J/o- rehN€bochim,\\\,22), with bis characteristic freedom of mind, considers it an open question of little or no mo- ment to the real value of the inspired book. Ealbag, i. e. E. Levi Ben-Gershom, treats it as a philosophic work. A late Hebrew commentator, Simcha Arieh (Schlott-
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mann, p. 4), denies the historical truth of the narrative <.n the firound that it is iiuTcdiblc that the imtriarchs of the chosen race should l)c surpassed in goodness by a child of Edom. This is worth noting in corroboration of the argument that such a fact was not likely to have l>een inrented by an Israelite of any age.
In oppositioii to this view, the following arguments may be adduced : (1.) It has always seemed to pious TN-ri'tiTs incompatible witli any idea of inspiration to as- sume tliat a narrative, certainly not allegorical, should be a mere fiction, and irreverent to su]ipose that the Al- mighty would be introduced as a speaker in an imagin- ary collo(iuy.
"(2.) We are led to the same conclusion by the sound- est princii)les of criticism. Ewald says (£inl. p. 15) most truly, " The invention of a history without foundation ill facts — the creation of a person, represented as having a real historical existence, out of the mere head of the poet — is a notion so entirely alien to the spirit of aU an- tiquity, that it only began to develop itself gradually in the latest epoch of the literature of any ancient peo- ple, and in its complete form belongs only to the most modern times." In the canonical books there is not a trace of any such invention. Of all people, the Hebrews were the least likely to mingle the mere creations of imagination with the sacred records reverenced as the peculiar glory of their race.
It is true that the arguments advanced by Ewald to show the historical character of the chief features of the book are not entirely conclusive, especially the literature of the name Job, which may have reference to the char- acter he sustains in the narrative (from !i;;'X, to hate, q. d. " the assailed," i. e. tempted ; see Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 81) ; still they must be allowed to have some weight, and, taken in connection with the general usage of Scrip- ture in its poetical and rhetorical amplifications, and es- jiccially with the considerations presently to be adduced in relation to the author of this book, justify the pre- sumption of a historical fovuidation, not only for the facts and personages represented in the book, but also, to a certain extent, for the speeches.
(.S.) To this it must be added that there is a singular air of reality in the whole narrative, such as must either jiroceed naturally from a faithful adherence to objective truth, or be tlie result of the most consummate art. The effect is produced partly by the thorough consist- ency of all the characters, especially that of Job, not merely as drawn in broad, strong outlines, but as devel- oped un<ler a variety of most trying circumstances; jiartly aLso by the minute and accurate account of inci- dents ivliicli in a fiction would probably have been noted by an ancient writer in a vague and general manner. Thus we remark the mode in which the supernatural | trial Is carried into execution by natural agencies— by | Chalda-an and Sabican robbers— l>y whirlwinds common in and jicculiar to the desert— by lire— and, lastly, by the | elephantiasis (see .Schlottmann, p. 1.0; Ewald, ;. c. ,• and i llengstcnberg), the most fonnidablc disease known in the Va\>.{. The disease was indeed one which the In- ! dians and most Orientals tiien ])robably believed to be peculiarly indicative of divine wrath, and would therefore be naturally .selected by the writer (see the analysis above). l?ut the symptoms are described so faithfully as to leave no doul)t that the writer must cither have introduced them with a view to giving an air of truth- fulness to Ids work, or have reconled what he himself witnessed or received from an exact tradition. The former supposition is confute.l by the fact that the pe- , ciUiar symi)tonis are not described in any one single I pa.'-sagc so as to attract the reader's attention, but are made out by a critical and scientific examination of words oeeurring here and there at intervals in the com- plaints of the sufferer. The most refined art fails in pr..<lueiug such a result; it is rarely attempted in the ni.)st artilicial ages, was never dreamed of by ancient Avriters. and must here be regarded as a strong instance of the undesigned coincidences which the soundest crit-