xxxiii, 16), and to 1H1bserve the formation in each individual of that charac- ter, temper, and frame of tnind which God desires to have formed in him.1 To regard Elihn as "proceeding evidently on the false hypothesis of the three friends," and as echoing their views, is to do him scant justice. He takes an independent line; he is far from regarding Job's 1m:fferings as the penalty of his sins, still farther from taxing him with the long catalogue of offences ascribed to him by the others (oh. xv.iii. 5-21; xx. 5-29; xxii. 5-17). He finds in him two faults only, and they are not faults in his earlier life, whereby he had provoked his visitations, but fa.a.Its in his existing temper, exhibited in his recent utterances-namely, undue self. confidence (eh. xxxii. 2; xxxiii. 9; xxxiv. 6), and presumption in judging God's wa,ys and charging him with injustice ( eh. xxxiv. 5-12; xxxv. 2, etc.).. It is reasonable to regard Elihn as having by his reasonings influenced the mind of Job, convinced him of having transgressed, a.nd dis- posed him for that humility which secures his final acceptance (eh. xl. 3-5, xlii. 2-6). Thus his interposition in the argument is far from being otiose, or sa.perflnous ; it is rea.lly a step in adva.nce of all that has gone before, and helps towards the final denouement.
§ 3. CHA.RACTEB..
It has been mu.eh debated whether the Book of Job is to be looked upon as an .historical composition, as a work of imagination, or as something between the two. The early Christian Fathers and the earlier Jewish rabbis treat it as. absolutely historical, and no whisper arises to the con- trary till several centuries after the Christian era. Then a certain Resh Lakish, in a dialogue with Samuel Bar-Nachman, preserved to us in the Talmud, suggests that" Job did not exist, and was not a created man, but is .a mere parable." 1 This opinion, however, did not for a long time take any firm hold, even of any Jewish school Maimonides, "the most cele- brated of the rabbis," treated it as an open qnestion,8 while Hai Gaon, Rashi, and others directly contradict Resh Lakish, and maintain the his- torical character of the narrative. Ben Gershom, on the other hand, and Spinoza agree with Resh Lakish, regarding the work as one of fiction, intended for moral and religions instruction. The same view is maintained, among Christian writers, by Spanheim, Ca.rpzov, Bouillier, Bernstein, J. D. Mich~elis, Hahn, Ewald, Schlottmann, and others. lhe arguments in favour of this view are,' first, that the work is not placed by the J ewe among their historical Scriptures, but in the Hagiographa, or writings intended for religions instruction, together with the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes. Secondly, that the narrative is incredible, the appearance of Sa.tan among the angels 1 Compare Butler's • Ano.logy,' pt. i. oh. v. 1 1 •Baba Bathra,' 15, a. 'More Nevoohim,' iii. 22. • Bee the summary in Rosenmliller'e • Prolegomena in Jobum,' pp. 5-8. INTRODUCTION 'l'O
of God, e.nd the fa.mili&r dialogues between the Almighty and the prince of darkness being pl&inly fictions, while the uttera.n.ce by Job of long dis• courses, adorned with every rbetorioa.l artifice, and strictly bound by the laws of metre, while he was suffering excruciating agonies from mental grief and sharp physical pains, is so unlikely that it may be pronounced morally impossible. The round numbers (eh. i. 2, 3; xlii. 12, 13), and the sa.cred cha.ra.cter of the numbers-three (eh. i. 2, 3, 17; ii. 11; xiii. 13), seven (eh. i. 2, 3; ii. 13; xlii. 8, 13), and ten (eh. i. 2; xiii. 18)-are also objected to; the exact doubling of Job's substance (oh. xiii. 10, 12) and exact restoration of the old number of his sons and daughters (eh. i. 2; xlii. 14) are thought most improbable; while an ezaot doubling of his former term of life is detected in eh. xlii. 16, and pronounced to be e.nothel'. indica.- tion of a fictitious, not a real, history. Hence the conclusion is dra.wn that the story of Job is "no single thing which happened once, but that it belongs to humanity itself, and is the drama of the trial of man, with Almighty God and the angels as spectators of it." 1 These arguments are met, first, by the remark that in the Hagiographa are contained some admittedly historioa.1 books, as Ezra., Nehemiah, and Chronicles; secondly, by the denial that there is anything incredible or unworthy of God in the scenes depicted in eh. i. 6-12; ii. 1- 7; thirdly, by the suggestion that Job probably ma.de his speeches in the intervals between his attacks of pain, and that rhythmic utterance is no unusual gift among the sages of Arabia ; 1 fourthly, by the observation that there ,is nothing t.o prevent round numbers or sacred numbers from being also historical f fifthly, by the remark that the Oriental writers, and indeed hi&torical writen, generally, are in the habit of using round numbers instead of exact ones, partly for brevity, partly to avoid the pretence of such an accuracy of know- ledge es is scarcely ever possessed by any historian; and sixthly, by the statement that we are not intended to understand an e:JJact doubling of all Job's possessions by what is said in eh. xlii. 10, 12. Further, it is noted that the (assumed) exact duplication of his age before his calamities by the years that he lived after them is & gratuitous supposition of the critics, since Job's age at the time when his misfortunes fell upon him is nowhere stated, and may have been anything between sixty and eighty, or indeed between sixty and a hundred. In favour of the historical character of the book, it is urged, first, that the real existence of Job as an historical personage is attested by Ezekiel (xiv. 14, 20), by St. Jamee (v. 11), and by Oriental tradition generally;• secondly, that " the invention of & story without foundation in facts, the creation of a person represented as having & real historical existence, is wholly a.lien to the spirit of antiquity, appearing only in the latest epoch of the literature of any ancient people, and belonging in its complete form 1 Froude, • Short Studies on Great Subjects,' vol. i. p. 297.
• Sohnltene, • Ooollnentarim in Jobwn,' iii. 1. p. 4S. 1 • Dictionary ot the Bible,' voL L p. 109i. THE BOOK OF JOB. :riil