Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is suddenly beset with horrendous disasters that take away all he holds dear—a scenario intended to test Job's faith inGod. Struggling mightily to understand this situation, Job reflects on hisdespair but consistently remains devout.
The language of the Book of Job, combining post-BabylonianHebrew andAramaic influences, indicates it was composed during thePersian period (540–330 BCE), with the poet usingHebrew in a learned, literary manner.[3]
It begins with an introduction to Job's character—he is described as a blessed man who lives righteously in theLand of Uz. The Lord's praise of Job prompts an angel with the title of "satan" ("Adversary") to suggest that Job served God simply because God protected him. God removes Job's protection and gives permission to the angel to take his wealth, his children, and his physical health (but not his life). Despite his difficult circumstances, he does not curse God, but rather curses the day of his birth. And although he anguishes over his plight, he stops short of accusing God of injustice. Job's miserable earthly condition is simply God's will.
In the following, Job debates with three friends concerning his condition. They argue whether it was justified, and they debate solutions to his problems. Job ultimately condemns all their counsel, beliefs, and critiques of him as false. God then appears to Job and his friends out of a whirlwind. God rebukes the three friends and gives them instruction for the remission of sin, followed by Job being restored to an even better condition than his former wealthy state (Job 42:10–17). Job is blessed to have seven sons, and three daughters namedJemimah (which means "dove"),Keziah ("cinnamon"), andKeren-happuch ("horn of eye-makeup"). His daughters were said to be the most beautiful women in the land.[4]
TheSeptuagint, an ancient Greektranslation of the Hebrew Old Testament, has a revised and updated final verse that claims Job's genealogy, asserting him to be a grandson ofEsau and a ruler ofEdom.
This man is described by the Syriac book as dwelling in the land of Uz, on the borders of Edom and Arabia. And his name before was Jobab. And having taken an Arabian wife, he fathered a son, whose name was Enan. And he himself had as father Zareh, from the sons of Esau. And his mother was Bosorra, so that it made him the fifth from Abraham. And these were the kings who were ruling in Edom, which territory also he himself ruled over: first, Bela, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. And after Bela, Jobab, who was called Job. And after this, Husham, who was serving as leader from the territories of Thaiman. And after this. Hadad, son of Bered, who destroyed Midian in the field of Moab, and the name of his city was Avith. And his friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the sons of Esau, king of theTemanites; Bildad, the tyrant of theShuhites; and Zophar, the king of theNaamathites.[5]
He is discussed as a prophet in theQuran by the name ofAyūb.
The Quran describes Job as a righteous servant of Allah, who was afflicted by suffering for a lengthy period of time. However, it clearly states that Job never lost faith in God and forever called to God in prayer, asking Him to remove his affliction:
And [mention] Job, when he called to his Lord, "Indeed, adversity has touched me, and you are the Most Merciful of the merciful."
In the writings of theBaháʼí Faith: A lengthy tablet was written byBahá'u'lláh, the first part of which is focused on Job. The Tablet is often referred to as the Tablet of Patience or the Tablet of Job.[10]
A clear majority ofrabbis saw Job as having in fact existed as a historically factual figure.
According to a minority view, Job never existed.[11] In this view, Job was a literary creation by aprophet who used this form of writing to convey a divine message. On the other hand, the Talmud (in Tractate Baba Batra 15a–16b) goes to great lengths trying to ascertain when Job actually lived, citing many opinions and interpretations by the leading sages.
Job is further mentioned in the Talmud as follows:[12]
David, Job andEzekiel described the Torah's length without putting a number to it.[16]
Job was in fact one of three advisors thatPharaoh consulted, prior to taking action against the increasingly multiplyingIsraelites in theBook of Exodus. As described in theTalmud:[17]Balaam urged Pharaoh to kill the Hebrew new-born boys;Jethro opposed this decree; and Job, though personally opposed to the decree, kept silent and did not protest it. It is for Job's silence that God subsequently punishes him with his bitter afflictions.[18] However, the Book of Job itself contains no indication of this, and to the prophetEzekiel,Yahweh refers to Job as a righteous man of the same calibre asNoah andDaniel.[19]
Job and his daughters inMS I B 18 (Coptic, 5th century AD). Unusually, Job is depicted as a royal figure, wearing a crown and short tunic. His daughters wear tunics with jewels anddiadems.
Christianity accepts the Book of Job as canon in itsOld Testament. In addition, Job is mentioned in theNew Testament of the Christian Bible: theEpistle of James (James 5:11) paraphrases Job as an example of patience in suffering.
Job's declaration, "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth." (Job 19:25, Heb.ואני ידעתי גאלי חי ואחרון על עפר יקוםwa’ănî yāḏa‘tîgō’ălî ḥāy; wə-’aḥărōn, ‘al-‘āp̄ār yāqūm),[20] is considered by someChristians to be a proto-Christian reference toChrist as the Redeemer, and is the basis of several Christianhymns, as well as the opening scene ofPart III of Handel'sMessiah. Jewish biblical commentators and scholars contest this by stating that Job "insists on a divine hearing in his lifetime" (cf. Job 16:19–22).[21]
Islamicminiature of Ayub speaking with the angel Jibril, set to lift his afflictions.
In theQur'an, Job (Arabic:أيّوب,romanized: Ayyūb) is considered aprophet inIslam.[23] The narrative frame of Job's story in Islam is similar to theHebrew Bible story but, in Islam, the emphasis is paid to Job remaining steadfast to God and there is no record of his despair, or mention of discussions with friends.[citation needed] SomeMuslimcommentators also spoke of Job as being the ancestor of theRomans.[24] Muslimliterature also comments on Job's time and place of prophecy, saying that he came afterJoseph in the prophetic series and that he preached to his own people rather than being sent to a specified community. Tradition further recounts that Job will be the leader of the group of "those who patiently endured" inHeaven.
To the northwest of the depopulated Palestinian village ofDayr Ayyub is an area which, according to the village belief, contained the tomb of the prophet Ayyub, the biblical Job.[25]
In the area ofTabgha (Greek: Heptapegon), on the shore of theSea of Galilee, a few sites are associated by local tradition with the life of Ayyub. A small grotto near the base of what is known to Christians as theMount of Beatitudes, or Mount Eremos, is known as Mghraret Ayub ("Job's Cave").[citation needed] Two of the towers built in the Byzantine period to collect the water of the Heptapegon springs are named in Arabic Tannur Ayub ("Job's Kiln") and Hammam Ayyub ("Job's Bath").[26][27] Hammam Ayyub was initially called "the Leper's Bath", but the leper was later identified with Job; the nearby spring, now a waterfall, is known as Ain Ayub, "Job's Spring".[28][29]
The town ofal-Shaykh Saad in theHauran region inSyria has been associated with Job since at least the 4th-century AD. Karnein was mentioned in Eusebius'Onomasticon as a town of Bashan that was said to be the location of the house of Job.Egeria the pilgrim relates that a church was built over the place in March or February 384 AD, and that the place was known as the "town of Job", or "civitas Job". According to Egeria's account the body of Job was laid in a stone coffin below the altar.[30] According to tradition,Hammam Ayyub is a fountain in the town where Job washed himself when he was sick, and is reputed to have healing powers.[31] Another holy artifact in the town is the "Rock of Job", known in local folklore as the place where he sat when he was afflicted with the disease.[32]
The city ofUrfa (ancient Adma', laterEdessa) in theŞanlıurfa Province, orHarran region of southeasternTurkey, also claims to be the location at which Job underwent his ordeal in a cave. The venue boasts anOttoman-style mosque and madrasa that runs as shops today. A well exists within the complex, said to be the one formed when he struck the ground with his foot as described in the Quran. The water is considered to be miraculously curing. The whole complex underwent recent restoration.[33] The actual tomb of Job is located outside the city of Urfa.[34]
Additionally, theDruze community also maintains a shrine for the Prophet Job inNiha village in theChouf mountains ofLebanon.[36][37] This shrine is said to be the place where Job was healed from his ailments after his wife carried his frail body up the steep mountain in a basket so he dies up there. Instead, he was healed and given an even larger wealth.
In a 16th-centuryMughal document,Ain-i-Akbari, there is mention of a tomb, inAyodhya, commonly believed to be the resting place of the Prophet Job.[38][39] The tomb of the Prophet Job in Ayodhya is also mentioned in the workIndia of Aurangzeb ofJadunath Sarkar.[39]
^S. Swayd, Samy (2009).The A to Z of the Druzes. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 109.ISBN9780810868366.They also cover the lives and teachings of some biblical personages, such as Job, Jethro, Jesus, John, Luke, and others
^Edward L. Greenstein (2019).Job: A New Translation. Yale University Press. p. xxvii.ISBN9780300163766.Determining the time and place of the book's composition is bound up with the nature of the book's language. The Hebrew prose of the frame tale, notwithstanding many classic features, shows that it was composed in the post-Babylonian era (after 540 BCE). The poetic core of the book is written in a highly literate and literary Hebrew, the eccentricities and occasional clumsiness of which suggest that Hebrew was a learned and not native language of the poet. The numerous words and grammatical shadings ofAramaic spread throughout the mainly Hebrew text of Job make a setting in the Persian era (approximately 540–330) fairly certain, for it was only in that period that Aramaic became a major language throughout the Levant. The poet depends on an audience that will pick up on subtle signs of Aramaic.
^Coogan, Michael B. (2009).Job's Wife and Daughters. Oxford University Press. p. 388.
^Penner, Ken M. (general editor) (2019).The Lexham English Septuagint. Lexham Press. p. 844.
^Cf. "But I know that myVindicator lives; In the end He will testify on earth – this, after my skin will have been peeled off." (Job, 19:25Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (2014).The Jewish Study Bible. [S.l.]: Oxford University Press. p. 1523.ISBN978-0-19-997846-5. Retrieved2 January 2017. –Vindicator, Hebrew "go'el", a person, usually a relative, who stood up for his kinsman's rights; also used of God in his relationship with Israel.
^Abdullah Yusuf Ali,The Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary, note 2739: "Job (Ayub) was a prosperous man, with faith in Allah, living somewhere in the north-east corner of Arabia. He suffers from a number of calamities: his cattle are destroyed, his servants slain by the sword, and his family crushed under his roof. But he holds fast to his faith in Allah. As a further calamity he is covered with loathsome sores from head to foot. He loses his peace of mind, and he curses the day he was born. His false friends come and attribute his afflictions to sin. These "Job's comforters" are no comforters at all, and he further loses his balance of mind, but Allah recalls to him all His mercies, and he resumes his humility and gives up self-justification. He is restored to prosperity, with twice as much as he had before; his brethren and friends come back to him; he had a new family of seven sons and three fair daughters. He lived to a good old age, and saw four generations of descendants. All this is recorded in the Book of Job in the Christian Jewish Old Testament. Of all the Hebrew writings, the Hebrew of this Book comes nearest to Arabic."
^Brannon M. Wheeler,Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism,Job, p. 171
^[Stefano De Luca,Capernaum, paragraph on Tabgha, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Archaeology, vol. 1, p. 179, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2013]
^Panagakos, Anastasia (2015).Religious Diversity Today: Experiencing Religion in the Contemporary World [3 volumes]: Experiencing Religion in the Contemporary World. ABC-CLIO. p. 99.ISBN9781440833328.
^Russell, Gerard (2015).Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East. Hachette UK.ISBN9780465097692.The "tomb" of the Prophet Job, in Lebanon's Shouf Mountains, is a holy site for the country's 250,000 Druze. Since they believe in reincarnation, however, they consider it a cenotaph.
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