Job_1:6 - Job_2:10. SATAN''S ASSAULT. JOB STRIPPED OF ALL.
Job_2:11-13. THE THREE FRIENDS. THEIR ARRIVAL.
Job_3:1 - Job_31:40. JOB AND HIS FRIENDS.
Job_32:1 - Job_37:24. THE MINISTRY OF ELIHU:THE MEDIATOR*.
Job_38:1 - Job_42:6. JOB AND JEHOVAH.
Job_42:7-9. THE THREE FRIENDS. THEIR DEPARTURE.
Job_42:10-13. SATAN''S DEFEAT. JOB BLESSED WITH DOUBLE.
Job_42:14-17. CONCLUSION. HISTORICAL.
* Note that by this grand Introversion the ministry of Elihu, the Mediator, is placed in the middle, summing up the ministry of Job''s three friends, and introducing the ministry of Jehovah.
NOTE ON THE DATE AND AUTHORSHIP OF THE BOOK OF JOB.
A lengthened account of the discussion of these questions would he without profit. But, if JOB was the son of ISSACHAR (Gen_46:13), then we have a clue that may help us to a decision of both. It is better to keep within the Bible itself for the settlement of its problems; and to treat the whole Book as the context of all its parts.
There is no reason why JOB should not be the son of ISSACHAR, and no better evidence is forthcoming for a different view. The three friends of Job were descendants of ESAU; they would therefore be contemporaries.
ELIPHAZ. of TEMAN, in Idumea, was a son of ESAU, and had a son called TEMAN, from whom his country took its name (Gen_36:10, Gen_36:11). It was noted for its "wise men" (Jer_49:7); and is mentioned with EDOM (Amo_1:11-12). Compare Jer_25:23, where both are connected with Buz, the brother of Uz (Gen_22:21).
BILDAD the Shuhite. SHUAH was the sixth son of ABRAHAM by KETURAH (Gen_25:2); and is mentioned in connection with ESAU, EDOM, and TEMAN (Jer_49:8). ZOPHAR the Naamathite. NAAMAH (now Nd''aneh, six miles south of Lod, in the lowlands of Judah). If JOB was the son of ISSACHAR (Gen_46:13), he would have gone down to Egypt with his father.
ISSACHAR was forty at "the going down to Egypt". (See Appdx-50. III, p. 52.) If JOB was the third son (Gen_46:13), he would have been about twenty at that time (1706 B. c).
We are told that he lived 140 years after his "double" blessing (Job_42:10). If that "double" blessing included length of years, then his age would have been 70 + 140 = 210 (i.e. three seventies of years). His lifetime would be from 1726-1516 B. C.
According to this, he was born the year after JOSEPH was sold, and died 119 years after the death of JOSEPH (in 1635 B.C). When JOSEPH died, JOB was ninety-one. If his "double" blessing did include length of years, then his affliction took place twenty-one years previously, when he was seventy. His removal from EGYPT to Uz must therefore have taken place earlier still.
When JOB died (1516 B.C.)MOSES was fifty-five, and had been in MIDIAN fifteen years (twenty-five years before the Exodus). This would account for JOB being a worshipper of the God of ABRAHAM, and explains how Moses could have been the author of the book, and perhaps an eye-and ear-witness of the events it records in Midian. If so, the time has come (as Dr. Stier foretold and hoped 1) when this book would be regarded as "the Porch of the Sanctuary"; and when this "fundamental wisdom of original revelation will cease to be ascribed, as it now is by some of the best, to a later poet in Israel".
TITLE, The Book of Job has always formed an integral part of the Hebrew Canon; and some fifty-seven passages in it are quoted or referred to in the other books of the Bible. See Appdx-61. The object of the book is to show "the end of the LORD" (Jam_5:11):the end to which Job was brought in Job_40:4, Job_40:5; Job_42:5, Job_42:6; viz. the confession of human impotence in attaining righteousness, and thankfully casting himself on Divine omnipotence for salvation. All tends to this "end". The three friends show the impotence of human experience (Eliphaz), human tradition (Bildad), and human merit (Zophar). Elihu points to God as the giver of a Divine righteousness for helpless guilty sinners. See note on p. 666.
Job_1:1-5. THE INTRODUCTION. HISTORICAL.
Job_1:1. Job''s character.
Job_1:2. His sons and daughters. Their number.
Job_1:3 -. His possessions. Great.
- Job_1:3. His position. Great.
Job_1:4. His sons and daughters. Their unanimity.
Job_1:5. Job''s conduct.
Job_1:6 - Job_2:10. SATAN''S ASSAULT.
Job_1:6.. Presentation of the Adversary.
Job_1:7. Jehovah''s question.
Job_1:8. His approbation of Job.
Job_1:9-11. Calumniation of the Adversary.
Job_1:12 -. Limited permission given.
Job_1:12. Departure of the Adversary.
Job_1:13-19. Inflictions (Job''s possessions).
Job_1:20-21. Job''s patience.
Job_1:22. Job not sinning.
2:1. Presentation of the Adversary.
Job_2:1. Jehovah''s question.
Job_2:3. His approbation of Job.
Job_2:4-5. Calumniation of the Adversary.
Job_2:6. Limited permission given.
Job_2:7 -. Departure of the Adversary.
Job_2:8-10. Job''s patience.
Job_2:10. Job not sinning.
Job_2:11-13. THE THREE FRIENDS. THEIR ARRIVAL.
Job_2:11 -. Their visit. Hearing of Job''s calamities.
- Job_2:11. The reason.
Job_2:12 -. Their sorrow. (Real.)
- Job_2:12. Their sorrow. (Symbolical.)
Job_2:13 -. Their visit. Seeing Job''s calamities.