were originally me.de, how they are ordered and me.intained, how the stars e.re kept in their courses, how the various phenomena of nature are pro- duced, how the animal creation is sustained and provided for. He ma,keH a. half-eubmiesion (eh. xl. 3-5); and then he is asked two further questions-Will he undertake the government of mankind for a space (eh. xl. 10-14)? Can he control and keep in order two out of God's many creatures-behemoth and leviathan-the hippopotamus and the crocodile (eh. xl. 15-24; xli. 1-34)? If not, on what grounds does he presume to question God's actual government of the world, which no one is entitled to question who is not competent to take the rule himself ? 7. Briefly, but unreservedly, in eh. xlii. 1-6 Job makes his final sub- m1ss1on. He has "spoken unadvisedly with his lips," he has "uttered that which he did not understand" (ver. 3). The knowledge which he had claimed to have is "too wonderful for him;" wherefore he "abhors himself, and repents in dust and ashes" (ver. 6). 8. The entire dialogue being thus ended, a short historical section follows (eh. xlii. 7-16), and terminates the book. God, we are told, having rebuked the arrogancy of Job's utterances, and reduced him to a state of absolute submission .and resignation, turned upon the "comforters," con- demning them as far more guilty than Joh, since they "had not spoken the thing that was right concerning him, as his servant Job had" (vers. 7, 8). The theory by which they had thought to maintain God's perfect justice was unsound, untrue. It was contradicted by the facts of human experience-to maintain it, despite this contradiction, was not to honour God, but to dishonour him. The three "comforters " were therefore required to offer for themselves, in the way of expiation, a burnt offering; and a promise was given them that, if Job would intercede on their behalf, they should be accepted (ver. 8). The sacrifice was offered, and, after Job's intercession had been made, Jehovah" turned his captivity," or, in other words, made restitution to him of all that he had lost, and more. He recovered his health. His wealth was restored to double its previous amount (ver. 12 compared with eh. i. 3); his friends and relatives flocked around him, and increased his store (ver. 11) ; he was once more blessed with children, and had the same number as before, viz. "seven sons and three daughters" (ver. 13); and his daughters were women of surpassing beauty (ver. 15). He himself lived, after his restoration, a hundred and forty yeara, and "saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations,' At last he passed from the earth, "being old and full of days" (ver. 17).
§ 2. INTEGRITY OF THE BOOJ[,
Four principal objections have been taken to the "integrity" of the Book of Job. It has been argued that the difference of style is so great between the two historical sections (eh. i., ii., and eh. xiii. 6-17) ano. the rest of the work as to render it impossible, or, at any rate, highly viii INTRODUCTION TO
improba.ble, tlrn.t they proceeded from the same author. Not only is there t,he radical. difference which. exists between Hebrew prose and Hebrew £Oeiri, -but the pr~;e -ot the historical seclion-s isoFtbepTainest~d ~;i orna.te ldnd, while the poetry of the body of the book is highly wrought, extremely ornate, and in places over-rhetorical. T.he histori_cal !~tions1 moreover, are-~it,t~n_in pure H ~ , while the body of the work he.a ma.ny forms a.nd expressions characteristic of the Chaldee. 1 Jehovah is the ordinary name of God in the historical sections, where 1t occurs twenty- six times; it is found but once in the rest of the treatise (eh. xii. 9).1 On the ot.her hand, Shaddai, "the .Almighty," which is used to designate God thirty times in the body of the work, does not occur at all in the opening and concluding sections. But, notwithstanding these diversities, it is the present opinion of the best critics, both English and continental, that there are no sufficient reasons for assigning the two portions of the work to different authors. The "prosaic words" of the opening and concluding section, says Ewald, " harmonize thoroughly with the old poem in subject- matter and thoughts, in colouring and in art, also in language, so far as prose can be like poetry." 8 "The Book of Job ie now considered," says Mr. Froude, ''to be, beyond all doubt, a genuine Hebrew original, completed by its wnter almost in the form in which it now remains to us. The questions on the authenticity of the prologue and epilogue, which were once thought important, have given way before a more sound conception of the drama.tic •u1n.ity of the entire poem."• "The best critics," observes Canon Cook, "now acknowledge that the style of the historical portions is quite as antique in its severe grandeur as that of the Pentateuch itself-to which it bears a striking resemblance-or as any other pa-rt of this book, while it is strikingly unlike the narrative style of all the later productions of the Hebrews . . . . .A.t present, indeed, it is generally acknowledged that the entire work would be unintelligible without these portions." 6 .A. portion of eh. xxvii., extending from ver.11 to the end, is regaroed by some as either a transfer to Job of what was originally a speech of Zophar's or else a.n absolute interpolation. The ground of this view ie the difficulty ea.used by the contra.at between the sentiments expressed in the passage and those to which Job has previously given utterance, especially in eh~ xriv. 2-24, joined with the fact that the omission of any speech from Zophar in the third colloquy destroys " the symmetry of the general form" of the dialogue. But ancient and modern ideas of symmetry are not altogethe:ri' alike; and the Hebrew writers generally are certainly not among those who. 1 For e. list of Che.Ide.isms, see Professor Lee's 'Book of Job,' Introduction, p. 50, note
2. He enumere.tes twenty-eight, and remarks that " me.ny of them occur several times," and the.t " me.ny more might be added." • I.£. in the dialogues, or dramatic portion of the work. In the historical framework wherein the die.Joguee are set it occurs e.lso in eh. :u:xviii. 1; xl. i. 8, 6; e.nd xiii 1. 1 Quoted by Canon Cook, in Smith's' Dictionary of the Bible,' voL i. p'. 1091,
• 'Short Studies on Great Subject.I!,' vol. i. p. 283. 1 • Dictionary of the Bible,' vol. i. pp. 1091, 1092. '£HE BOOK OF JOB. ix