The Book of Job, A Brief Guide to Studying the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament

Book of Job read

The Book of Job consists of 42 chapters:

Character of the Book of Job

The reality of the events described in the book causes a lot of controversy. According to some, this is a pious fiction, others see the book as a mixture of real and fictional events, and others consider the book of Job to be a real story.

Question of authorship

The authorship of the book is usually attributed to either Job, Solomon, or an unknown person who lived during the Babylonian captivity. The authorship of Moses is attributed to ancient Jewish traditions. According to them, Moses learned the story of Job from his descendants in the Midian desert.

Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom considered King Solomon to be the author, arguing that this was the time of the true flowering of Jewish poetry, of which the book of Job is a wonderful example.

Some researchers believe that the book of Job was written during the time of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, arguing for the similarity of some passages in the book of Job and the books of these prophets.

Bishop Filaret believed that the book of Job is the most recent canonical book of the Old Testament.

When the book of Job was written

The writing of the story of Job by most biblical scholars dates back to the time before the distribution of the Pentateuch of Moses. This is evidenced by the lack of mention in the text of the laws of Moses and the description of archaic patriarchal traits and morals. Some researchers believe that Job lived during the time the Jews were in Egypt, this is evidenced by descriptions of forms of legal proceedings, interest in astronomical phenomena, as well as constant mention of political coups.

Some researchers argue that the book of Job was created after the Babylonian captivity. They support their point of view with the following facts:

the language of the book of Job is replete with Aramaic words,
the author’s religious ideas are close to the views of the post-captivity period,
mention of angels and Satan, who were not in the Pentateuch of Moses.

Summary of the Book of Job

Chapter 1 God praises Job for his obedience. Satan decides to tempt Job in order to test the truth of his devotion in trouble. God agrees. Satan sends troubles to Job's house: the Chaldeans steal Job's cattle, Job's sons and daughters die when the house collapses.

Chapter 2. Satan continues to send misfortunes to Job. Job gets leprosy. Three friends come to console Job and they sit in silence for seven days and seven nights.

Chapter 3. Job gives a speech in which he curses the moment of his birth.

Then 3 cycles of speeches by Joph and his friends - Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar begin:

The first cycle of speeches - chapters 4 - 14 (Eliphaz's speech -> Job's answer -> Bildad's speech -> Job's answer -> Zophar's speech -> Job's answer).

Eliphaz convinces Job to humble himself and says that every righteous person will receive his reward. Epiphases talks about his dream, in which Someone told Epiphases that a person can never be completely confident in his own righteousness, and therefore cannot question the justice of God’s actions towards him.

In response to the speech of Epiphases, Job says that he did not sin and asks to point out his sins, if any.

Bildad answers Job that there is no point in questioning divine justice and that Job must continue to trust in his God.

Job, in response to Bildad’s speech, no longer insists on his absolute innocence. He admits that people do not always understand the criteria of God’s truth. Job turns to God asking him to explain his sins.

Zophar assumes that Job has old forgotten sins and asks Job to repent.

In response to Zophar, Job acknowledges the great wisdom of God, but says that he does not understand how to comprehend this wisdom. Job again turns to God asking for an explanation for the cruelty towards him. Job does not doubt the justice of God, but wants to understand why he brought suffering upon him.

Second cycle of speeches - chapters 15 - 21 (Eliphaz's speech -> Job's answer -> Bildad's speech -> Job's answer -> Zophar's speech -> Job's answer)

The second cycle of speeches begins with the speech of Eliphaz, who advises Job to think about the fate of the wicked.

In response, Job calls his friends “pathetic comforters” and reproaches them for cruelty. Job realizes that only God can know that he has not sinned. He also understands that his friends do not believe in his innocence and cannot believe that suffering befell an innocent person.

Bildad in his speech again asserts that God punishes only the guilty and reproaches Job for unrighteous anger and for trying to misinterpret his troubles.

In response, Job paints a picture of his inhuman suffering. He expresses his grievance and asks his friends to understand him and believe in his innocence. Then Job turns to God again and his words are full of faith. Job believes that the day will come when God will judge and acquit him.

In response, Zophar says that God's judgment has already occurred, and that Job has suffered punishment for his sins.

Job does not agree with this opinion; he says that people do not always manage to understand the Lord’s plan.

Third cycle of speeches - chapters 22 - 26 . (Eliphaz's speech -> Job's answer -> Bildad's speech -> Job's answer)

The third cycle of speeches, according to tradition, opens with the speech of Elizar. He claims that God rewards the righteous and punishes sinners - there is no third option, and since troubles were sent down on Job, it means he deserved them. Troubles are proof of sinfulness. Eliphaz once again calls Job to repentance.

Job no longer seeks support from his friends; he now trusts only in his God. Job says that sinners often escape punishment for their misdeeds.

Chapters 27–31 contain selected speeches of Job. Particularly notable is chapter 28, which is often called the “Poem of Wisdom.” The chapter says that wisdom is man's greatest wealth.

In subsequent chapters, Job remembers the past, the lost happiness. Job reflects on his situation and finds no explanation for it. Job cries out to God for justice. He lists possible sins and swears that he has never committed them.

Chapters 32-37 . Elihu's wrath.

In chapter 32, a new hero of the story appears - Elihu. Most likely, the chapters involving Elihu were a later insertion into the text of the book of Job. The sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance of a character leads us to a similar conclusion. The style of these chapters also differs from the rest of the book.

Elihu begins his speech by justifying his long silence due to his young years, saying that he was timid to enter into the conversation of his elders. But now he is ready to present his own view of the situation. Elihu first turns to Job and says that Job cannot understand God's true purpose. God admonishes Job through suffering.

Elihu then reproaches Job's three friends for failing to defend God against accusations of injustice.

Chapters 38-41 . The Lord's answer to Job. After Elihu's speeches, God spoke to Job out of the storm. With his speeches, he made it clear that he infinitely surpasses human understanding, and that man is not able to give any rational explanation for the actions and decisions of God.

The Lord tells Job that he does not have the ability and right to judge the justice of God. The Lord then turned to Job's friends in anger and reproached them for trying to impose his explanation of the Lord's will and for making baseless accusations against Job.

Chapter 42 . In the final chapter, God restored all of Job's losses, including returning him to seven sons and three daughters. Job lived another 140 years.

Book of Job interpretation

The Book of Job has had numerous interpreters; the most famous are the interpretations of the Book of Job by the following authors:

Ephraim the Syrian,
Gregory the Great,
Augustine the Blessed,
Maimonides, etc.

The fate of Job is a prototype of the fate of all humanity. The ancient Jewish people were close to the belief that virtue should always be followed by a reward, and that if a person was suddenly overtaken by trouble, it was because of sins. Such a worldview promised benefits or punishments in earthly life.

This approach did not allow us to understand the possibility of suffering of the innocent. In the understanding of the common people, innocent suffering became proof that there was no providence of God, and, consequently, God himself was false.

The book of Job was intended to explain to the people the mystery of the ways of the Lord.

Chapter 1

1–5. Job's piety and complete prosperity are his reward. 6–12. The causes of Job's suffering. 13–19. The disasters that befell the righteous. 20–22. The patience of a sufferer.

Job 1:1. There was a man in the land of Uz, his name was Job; and this man was blameless, just and God-fearing and shunned evil.

Revealed in the first five verses with the help of a specific example - the life of Job, the general idea about the correspondence of piety to earthly well-being begins with a description of the religious and moral life of the main person of the book. “Immaculate,” that is, devoted with all his heart to God and goodness (Job 2.3; cf. Job 1.21; Job 23.11–12; Job 31.1), Job was impeccable in this regard, which is confirmed by his “justice” and “truth” ( slav.), – the correspondence of thoughts to deeds. More specifically, at the heart of Job’s religiosity - his attitude towards God - lay “fear” - a reverent idea of God, excited by the consciousness of His greatness and perfections (Job 15.4; Job 37.23-24), and turning into awe when the thought of God as a righteous Judge and Rewarder who does not tolerate evil (Gen. 3:10, 18:15; Ps. 64.9). Job’s morality was determined by the idea of a God who does not tolerate evil: it boiled down, like that of all Old Testament people, to avoiding evil (Ps 33:15, 36:27; Proverbs 14.16). For Job's place of residence, see the Introduction.

Job 1:2. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

Job 1:3. He had property: seven thousand small cattle, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen and five hundred donkeys and a lot of servants; and this man was more famous than all the sons of the East.

For piety, according to the teaching of the Old Testament, a person was rewarded with temporary, earthly blessings (Deut. 28.1–13). This point of view is fully shared by the author of our book. Putting the words into Satan’s mouth: “Is Job fearing God for nothing? Didn’t you fence him around, ...bless the work of his hands?” (Job.1:9–10), he makes it clear that the large number of children of Job he notes, the abundance of livestock that provided food and clothing (sheep), which served to carry heavy loads and cultivate the fields (camels, oxen and donkeys (Job.1:15) ; cf. Gen. 42.26; 1 Samuel 25.18), as well as the multitude of servants inevitable in this case (Hebrew “ebuddha”, “δουλεία” of Aquila, LXX at the same time acquire a double meaning for this word: “ὑπηρεσία πολλὴ σφόδρα”, - "there are many servants Zelo”, and “ἔργο μεγάλα ῆω αυτῶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς”, - “he ordered works to be done on the land”, meaning, it seems, farming by works, since the Hebrew “ebuddha” in Gen. 26.14 they convey the term “γεωρ γία") is the reward for piety. According to Deut. 28.13, the same reward for righteousness can be considered the glory of Job among “all the sons of the East” - the descendants of Abraham from the concubines he sent to the East (Gen. 25.6) and who inhabited Arabia, as well as the population of Mesopotamia, since it is called the “eastern country” (Gen. 29.1; Num. 23.7).

Job 1:4. His sons came together, each making feasts in his own house on his own day, and they sent and invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Job 1:5. When the circle of feast days was completed, Job sent for them

and he sanctified them and, rising early in the morning, offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all [and one bull for the sin of their souls].
For Job said: Perhaps my sons have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts. This is what Job did on all such
days.

The characteristic of Job's piety is complemented by a new feature. He cares not only about personal morality, but also the morality of his children, expressing this in the offering of a burnt offering (the comment of the synodal text about the sin offering is borrowed from the LXX translation; the Hebrew text mentions only the burnt offering) for possible sins on their part during the days of feasts . The latter were settled by his sons, “every one in his own house, on his own day” (v. 4), i.e., or on his birthdays, as some believe, citing Job 3.1 in support of this view: “he cursed his day” and Gen. 40.20 (the custom of celebrating birthdays), or daily, as others think. The latter understanding seems more likely. Seven feast days, falling, in accordance with birthdays, at different times of the year, and therefore separated from each other by certain intervals, can hardly be called a “circle” (v. 5). The second view does not necessarily require the assumption of the incredible idea that Job’s children spent all their time, all year round, in feasts. After the seven-day feast there could be a break.

Job 1:6. And there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord; Satan also came among them.

Given Job's piety, the cause of the disasters that befell him was not in him; it lay outside of him - in the slander of the evil spirit (vv. 9-11), which gave Divine Justice a reason to prove, using the example of Job, the triumph of truth and good over evil. In the poetic language of the author of the book, this thought is expressed figuratively: he painted a heavenly picture of the appearance before the face of God of the “sons of God,” i.e. angels (Ps 28:1, 89:7; Dan 3.92), so named because of their God-created and godlike nature, and with them Satan (cf. 1 Kings 22.19-22). The last name, expressing the idea of an evil, insidious creature, in the common sense generally denotes an enemy, a slanderer (Numbers 22.22; 1 Kings 29.4; 1 Kings 5:18, 11:14, 23, 25; Ps 108.6), and in the proper sense - an evil spirit ( 1 Chronicles 21.1; Zechariah 3.1). “Gassatan” (with a defined member) is an enemy in the absolute sense, an enemy of God, divine plans and creations - people, their salvation.

Job 1:7. And the Lord said to Satan: Where did you come from? And Satan answered the Lord and said: I walked on the earth and walked around it.

In response to the Lord’s question addressed to Satan: “Where have you come from?”, a question testifying not to God’s lack of omniscience, but to the complete moral opposition between Him and the evil spirit, reaching, as it were, the Lord’s ignorance of Satan’s affairs (cf. Job 21.14), the latter responds with a general phrase: “walked the earth” (Hebrew “jester” means a quick walk from one end of the area to the other - 2 Kings 24.2, 8; Am 8.12; Zech 4.10) “and walked around it” - for the purpose of observation (1 Pet 5.8) .

Job 1:8. And the Lord said to Satan: Have you paid attention to my servant Job? for there is no one like him on earth: a blameless, just, fearing God and shunning evil.

Job 1:9. And Satan answered the Lord and said: Does Job fear God for nothing?

Job 1:10. Haven't you surrounded him and his house and all that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his flocks are spread over the earth;

Job 1:11. But stretch out Your hand and touch everything that he has, will he bless You?

The evil spirit who walked the earth to observe is now asked a natural question: did he pay attention to Job’s exceptional piety (v. 8 cf. Gen. 6.9; Gen. 7.1), and Satan’s immediate response reveals his complete opposite to the Lord. According to Satan, there is nothing outstanding in Job's piety that deserves praise, as God does - it is selfish. Job honors the Lord only because it is beneficial for him: as a reward for his piety, he is delivered by God from all disasters (“protected all around,” cf. Isaiah 5.5) and enjoys success in all his affairs. The true, that is, selfish, character of Job’s piety will be reflected if the Lord “stretches out his hand against him” (v. 11) - he will strike him with disasters (Ex 3:20, 9:15; Ps 31:4, 37 :3). Under such circumstances there will be no incentive to piety. It will disappear, moreover, it will be replaced by a curse “in person,” that is, a bold, shameless curse (Isa. 65.3). Synodal reading: “Will he bless you?” conveys from a whole Hebrew phrase: “im-lo al-paneika yebarekka”

just the last word.
“Yebarekeka”
is a verbal form from
“barak”,
meaning both “to bless” and “curse”, “to blaspheme” (Job 1:5, 2:9; 1 Kings 21.10, 13), and the latter meaning is adopted by everyone to this verb and in in the present case. Closer to the original is the Slavic reading: “if not in your face he will bless you.”

Job 1:12. And the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he has is in your hand; just don’t stretch out your hand on him. And Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

Satan's answer, representing slander against Job, at the same time cast a shadow on Divine Justice: the Lord rewards a knowingly insincere person. For the purpose of the triumph of truth, all the property of the righteous is now given into the hands of the evil spirit. He is left to test Job's piety in the way he himself indicated (v. 11).

Job 1:13. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their firstborn brother.

Job 1:14. And so,

a messenger comes to Job and says:

Job 1:15. the oxen were yelling, and the donkeys were grazing near them, when the Sabeans attacked and took them, and struck the youths with the edge of the sword; and I alone was saved to tell you.

Job 1:16. While he was still speaking, another came and said: the fire of God fell from heaven and scorched the sheep and the youths and devoured them; and I alone was saved to tell you.

Job 1:17. While he was still speaking, another came and said: The Chaldeans settled down in three detachments and rushed at the camels and took them, and struck the youths with the edge of the sword; and I alone was saved to tell you.

Job 1:18. While this one was speaking, another comes and says: Your sons and your daughters ate and drank wine in the house of their firstborn brother;

Job 1:19. and behold, a great wind came from the desert and swept through the four corners of the house, and the house fell on the youths, and they died; and I alone was saved to tell you.

According to Satan’s oath (v. 11), Job, struck by misfortune, will blaspheme God. The disasters listed in these verses are aimed at achieving this goal. As such, they present certain features calculated to bring about a curse on Job's part. First, the disaster falls on the day of the banquet meeting of Job's children in the house of his eldest son (v. 13). On a day of joy and fun, as the present day was, any grief is felt, according to the law of contrast, much more strongly than in ordinary times. Under the influence of strong grief, dissatisfaction is more likely to arise. Secondly, disasters follow one after another with extraordinary speed: before Job has time to come to his senses from the news of one misfortune, he is informed of another (“even as he, the messenger, spoke, another comes,” vv. 16, 17) . The speed of the disaster must have had an overwhelming effect on Job, and indeed, in the expression of the sufferer, it “shook him” (Job 16.12). Depression of spirit and the inseparable confusion in thoughts provide the most convenient soil for grumbling. And thirdly, God himself is the author of disasters; Job’s great cattle are consumed by “the fire of God” (v. 16, see below). This detail could constitute the strongest test for the faith of the righteous. Is it worth it to be pious and devoted to the Lord, since He himself punishes His faithful servant?

Job 1:15. the oxen were yelling, and the donkeys were grazing near them, when the Sabeans attacked and took them, and struck the youths with the edge of the sword; and I alone was saved to tell you.

Under the name Saveyan in the book. Genesis and Chronicles two nations are known: one descended from the son of Ham Cush (Gen. 10.7; 1 Chron. 1.9), the other from the descendant of Shem Joktan (Gen. 10.28; 1 Chron. 1.22). But if the first lived in Africa (Explanatory Bible, 1 vol., pp. 71–72), then in the present case, of course, obviously, the second settled in northern Arabia from the Persian Gulf to Idumea.

Job 1:16. While he was still speaking, another came and said: the fire of God fell from heaven and scorched the sheep and the youths and devoured them; and I alone was saved to tell you.

The expression “fire of God” resembles identical expressions: “fire from the Lord” (Gen. 19.24), “fire of the Lord” (Numbers 11.1; 1 Kings 18.38), “fire of God” (2 Kings 1.12), and therefore should be understood in the literal sense. Others, citing 18–19 Art. , see in this expression an indication either of the lightning that accompanies a storm, or of the samum wind that kills people and animals.

The name of the Chaldeans (ancient Babylonian “Kashdu”, later “Kardu” and “Kaldu”, from where the Greek “Χαλδαιοι”) is adopted by the people who inhabited the area between the Euphrates and the Arabian desert, from Borzippa in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south, as well as the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates . It is preserved in three ancient biblical expressions: Ur of the Chaldees, (Ur Kashdim), Arpakeshad (Arpakeshad) and Kesed (Gen. 22.22). The authenticity of the legend about the predatory raids of the Chaldeans on the East Trans-Jordanian side is confirmed by the evidence of the so-called Tell Amarna inscriptions about the existence of active relations between Mesopotamia and all of Palestine during the patriarchal period.

Job 1:20. Then Job stood up and tore his outer garment, shaved his head and fell to the ground and bowed down.

Job 1:21. and he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return.” The Lord gave, the Lord also took away; [as the Lord pleased, so it was done;] blessed be the name of the Lord!

Job 1:22. In all this, Job did not sin and did not say anything unreasonable about God.

Having patiently endured the destruction of his property, Job could not resist expressing deep emotion (“got up,” cf. Jonah 3:6) and sadness (“torn his clothes,” cf. 2 Samuel 1:11, 3:31; “shaved his head ", cf. Is 15.2–3) upon the news of the death of children. But it not only does not turn into despair and murmuring, but is combined with deep submission to the will of God, expressed both in action (“bowed down”) and in the words: “naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I will return” there (shamma) . Having nothing, Job is ready to return “there,” that is, in the context, “into his mother’s womb,” not the mother in the literal sense (Jon. 3.4), but into the bowels of mother earth. She is called “mother” (Sir 40.1), as the beginning, all-producing, giving birth, even to man in view of his creation from the earth. In accordance with this, the Hebrew word “erez” (land) is feminine, and certain countries, lands, bear feminine names: Palestine is the name of the “Virgin of Israel” (Amos 5.2), Phenicia is “the maidens, the daughters of Sidon” (Isa. 23.12) , Idumea “daughter of Edom” (Lamentations 4.21), Chaldea – “maidens, daughters of Babylon” (Is 47.1, 5), etc. The source of Job’s obedience and patience is the consciousness that He who gave him all the blessings is free to take them away (v. 21).