Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/258

* JOASH. 232 JOB. liis victory over Amaziah was followed by his breaking down of the wall of .Jerusalem (ib. xiv. 914). JOB (Heb. lyyob). The hero of the Book of Job, which stand.s third in the third division of the Old Testiiment, kno^^■n as hclhuhim or Hufiio- tjrapUa — according to the Jewish C'ancin. The Book of Job ill its present form bclong.s to that division of ancient Hebrew literature which is comniouly designated Wisdom Literature, and which, including such books as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, is didactic in purpose and concerned with discussions or considerations of the prob- lems of life. In the Book of Job the i^roblem is the cause of suffering. As a setting for the phil- osophical discussions on this problem, the fol- lowing situation is assumed. A pious man by the name of .lol). whose home is in the land of Uz and who is blessed with wealth and children, is put to a severe test by God at the instance of Satan, who raises the suspicion that .Job's piety is connected with his i)rosperity. Job is deprived of his possessions and of his children, but re- mains pious and God-fearing. Satan, not yet satisfied, proposes as a severer test striking Job with a painful and loathsome disease. Job en- dures in silence and rosimiation, resisting the temptation suggested by his wife to 'curse God' and make an end of his sufferings. Three friends come to visit liim. i'^lijilmz the Tcmanite. Bildad the Shuhite, and Zopliar the Xaamathite (chap- ters i.-ii., containing the prologue, told merely to put the situation before the reader). There now begins a series of discourses (chapters iii.-xxxi.) between Job and his three friends. Job bewailing his sufferings and declaring that he does not merit the punishment heaped upon him. his friends answering in turn and tiying to prove, each in his way. that suffering is due to giiilt. There are three cycles of s]>eeches and replies, though the last cycle is not as complete as the other two. Chapters xxxii.-xxx-ii. introduce a fourth personage, Elihu. who endeavors to con- vince .Job of his error in questioning the justice of divine government (chapters xxxviii.-xlii. (!). Yahweli Himself is brought in as the speaker, rebuking Job for his presumption in attempting to fathom the secj'ets of God, and demonstrating the limitations of human power. Job in reply confesses his ignorance and his error in giving utterance to vords without insight. The book closes (chapter xlii. 7-17) with an epilogue in which the three friends are rebuked by Yahweh ; they are ordered to bring an offering of seven bullocks and seven rams in the presence of .Job. who is to intercede with Yahweh on their behalf. As for .Job, his property is restored to him and increased twofold, and seven sons and three daughters are born to him: he dies happy and full of years. There are two features of the book that strike one at the first glance: (1) Tliat the story of ■lob has nothing to do with the religious pioblem that forms the kernel of the book; (2) that the close of the story, in which .Job is justified and rewarded, hardiv accords with the light in which he appears in the course of the discussion of the problem. It appears that the author of the book has used a popular story of a pious man who pndured severe tests and was finally re- warded for his steadfastness and imswerving piety as a medium for a thorough and philo- sophical consideration of the questions whether the suffering that man endures is in all cases due to his own guilt, or, in other words, whether God, the author of everj'thing, acts according to recognizx>d standards of justice. That He docs is the ordinary and conventional view of reli- gious 4)eople represented by the three friends, .lob, acknowledged to be a good and piovis man, seems to prove the contrary; and the arguments against the conventional views come, tlicrefore, with great force from his mouth. Incidentally, a second question is raised and by implication answered. Is the popular story correct in as- suming that a pious man will endure suffering that he considers vmjust in silence and resigna- tion? The discourse of .lob in which he curses the day of his birth (chapter iii.) declares that his sufferings are out of all proportion to any possible wrongs that he may have conmiitted (chapter vi.), takes a most gloomy view of hu- man life (chapter vii.), bitterly accuses God of not acting fairly, of not permitting one to plead his case (chapter ix.). boldly declaring himself to be in the right, and that no one can answer the arguments he presents (chapter xiii.), im- plying that God persecutes him (xiii. 20-22; xvi. ; xix. 22), declaring that the wicked flourish in this world (chapter xxi.) — such utterances prove that the good man of the story-books has no real existence. There can indeed he but little doubt that the original character of the Book of .Job was skep- tical, precisely as the Book of Ecclesiastes (q.v.). We may suppose that the book consisted of two parts: (a) the popular story used as a kind of text, and (b) the discussions between .Job and his friends furnishing the illustration how the real Job would cimduct himself under the cir- cumstances, and in the course of the argument justifying the attitude of .Job which implies that suffering docs not come from guilt, that the inno- cent often are punished, and that divine govern- ment is not based on justice. The Book of Job in this form, it may well be supposed, would have bc-en offensive to religious circles. This ajipears indeed to have been the case: and. as a conse- quence, .a number of interpolations were made in the speeches of Job. calculated to remove their sting, jiist as in the Book of Kcclcsjastes words and phrases are adde<l here and there which give a different turn to the thought. That the entire book was not rejected was due to the weight attached to the speeches of the three friends. Here were three men noted for their wisdom — friends, moreover, of ,Tob — who all agreed that God Avas just and that .Job was wrong in ques- tioning the divine justice. Three against one represents a powerful majority. Moreover, their arguments seemed forcible. Kliphaz is certainly right in declaring (chapter v.) that no mortal is righteous before God ; nor can any one gainsay Ilildad when he declares (chapter viii.) that we are not wiser in penetrating the divine will thari fur ancestors were; and .Job himself declares his acquiescence in Zophar's jianegyric on divine wisdom (chapter xi.). which is so far superior to human knowledge .and power. It might easily seem, therefore, despite the cruel charges brought by the friends against .Job that he must have committed some awful crime, that .Job's charges against God were not justified, and merited the rebuke they received at the hands of his friends. All, therefore, that is needed to make the Book of Job acceptable and teach just the contrary lesson