to the most modern times; " 1 thirdly, that had the work been a fiction of a late period (as supposed by the sceptical school) it could not possibly have presented so vivid, so true, and so harmonious a picture of the patriarchal times, no ancient writer having ever succeeded in reproducing the manners of a past age, or in avoiding allusion to those of hie own, antiquity not having, in M. Renan'e worde,11 "any idea of what wo call local colouring•." Farther, it is remarked that the book at once professes to be historical," and carries with it such internal evidence of truthfulness and reality as is entirely unmistakable. "Thie effect of reality," says Canon Cook,' "is produced by a. number of internal indications which can scarcely be accounted for eave by a faithful adherence to objective truth. In all the characters there is a thorough consistency ; each agent in the transaction has peculiarities of thought and feeling, which give him a distinct and vivid personality; this is more especially the case with Job himself, whose cha- racter is not merely drawn in broad outlines, but, like that of David and others, whose history is given with most detail in Scripture, is developed under a variety of most trying circumstances, presenting under each change new aspects, but ever retaining its peculiar and most living individuality. Even the language and illustrations of the several speakers have distinct characteristics. The incidents, moreover, which in a fiction would probably have been noted in a vague and general manner, are narrated with minute- ness and an accurate observance of local and temporary conditions. Thus we may remark the mode in which the supernatural visitation is carried into execution, by natural agencies and under circumstances peculiar to the district, at a season when the inroads of Chaldean and Sabean robbers were customary and peculiarly dreaded; by fire and whirlwinds such as occur at intervals in the desert; and lastly by elephantiasis, of which the symptoms are described so accurately as to leave no doubt that the writer must have recorded what he actually observed, unless indeed he inserted them with the special intention of giving an air of truthfulness to his composition. Were such a supposition in itself plausible, in this case it would be confuted by the fact that these symptoms are not described in any single passage, so as to attract the attention of the reader, but are made out by a critical and scientific examination of words occurring at distant intervals in the com- plaints of the suHerer. The most refined art conld scarcely produce this result; it is rarely attempted, still more rarely, if ever, attained in the most a.1·tificia.l ages; it was never dreamed of by ancient writers, and must be regarded in this case a.s a strong instance of the undesigned coincidences which sound criticism accepts as a sure attestation to the genuineness [authenticity P] of a work." If, however, on these grounds the general historical character of the Book 1 Ewald, ' Das Buoh Ijob,' Erioleitung, p 15. 2 • Le Livre de Job,' lotroduotioo, p. xvi. a Professor Stanley Lea.thes, in the Bishop of Glouce~ter's ' Old Testament Commentary for English Readers,' vol. iv. p. S. • • Speakt1r'11 Oommentary,' vol. Iv, p. 10, INTRODUGTION · TO
of Job be admitted, it still remains to be considered whether ·hntll.a.n ingenuity and ima.gina.tion has any part in it. Nothing we.s more common in a.ntiqnity than to take a set of historioa.l facts, and expand them int.o a poem, whereof the grea.ter portion was the creation of the bra.in and geniu of the author. In the poem of Pentaur, 1 ascribed t.o the fourteenth century B.c., 11 a set of incidents arc taken from the Hittite-Egyptian War, and so poeticized as to cover Ra.moses t.he Great with a manifestly ntirea.l halo of glory. The Homeric poems, and the entire series of works belonging to the epic cycle, proceed upon the same system-,-on a basis of fact is erected a. superstructure the larger portion of which is fiction. There is reason to believe the same of the Mrika-Bharata and Ramayana. of the Hindoos. Greek tragedy furnishes another instance. Looking to these precedents, to the general cast of the work, and to the difficulty of supposing. that a.; real historical report of Sllch long speeches as those of Job and his friends could have been made and handed down by,tradition even to .the earliest tiroe at which any one supposes that the Book of Job could· have been ,wi:"ittell, critics generally have come to the conclusion that, while.the·narrative•res~ on a solid snbstra.tnm of fact, in its form and general featur~s, in its reasoninge e.nd representations of cha.ra.cter, the book is e. work of creative genius. From this conclusion the present writer is not inclined to dissent, though he would incline to the views of those who regard the author of Job as largely guided by the traditions which he we.s able .to .colll':ct,·e.nc! the traditions themselves as to a large extent trustworthy.
§ 4. PROBAJILE DATE A.ND AUTHOR.
The indications of date derived from the matter of the book, from its tone, and from its general style, strongly favour the theory of its high antiquity. The language is archaic, more akin to the Arabic than that of any other portion of the Hebrew Scriptures, and full of Aramaisms which a.re not of the later type, bnt such e.s characterize the antique and 'highly poetic style, and occur in parts of the Penta.tench, in the Song of_ Deborah, and in the earliest Psalms. 9 The style has a." grand archaic character," which has been recognized by almost all critics. "Firm,· compact, sonoroue. as the ring of a pnre metal, severe and at times rugged, yet always dignified and majestic, the language belongs altogether to a period when thought was slow bnt profound and intensely concentrated, when the weighty and oracular sayings of the wise were wont to be engraved on rocks with a pen of iron, and in characters of molten lead. It is a traly lapidary style, such as was natural only in an age when writing, though known, "l'Vas rarely used, before language had acgnired clearness, fluency, and flexibility, but lost much of its freshness and native force."• •• 1 See• BeeordB of tho Past,' vol. ii. pp. 68-78. 'Ibid., p. 66. • So Ewald. ReDll.o, Sphlottma.nn, and Kosegarten. (See •Dictionary of the Bible: voL f. p. 1095.) • Ibid. ComplU'e • Spee.ker'e Commeutary,' vol. i. p, 12. THE BOOK OF JOB. n