The structure and message of the book of job

J ust about everyone has heard of the suffering of job in the old testament. In the meaning of the book of job and other biblical studies. As the lament, the language of suffering, encompasses three dimensions of human existancebeing a self, being together with others, and being before godso the author of the book of job pictures jobs. The goal is to demonstrate how tthe author of job utilized certain key themes in developing the purpose and.

The goal is to demonstrate how tthe author of job utilized certain key themes in developing the purpose and message of the book. The structure and purpose of the book of job 149 dogmatically about verse 25. Problems in viewing the books as a treatise on the problem of suffering perhaps we need to reexamine the structure of the book of job. If the inline pdf is not rendering correctly, you can download the pdf file here. Key personalities of this book include job, eliphaz the temanite, bildad the shuhite, zophar the naamathite, and elihu the buzite. Work to state the point of the sermon in a clear, active, present tense sentence. Problems in viewing the books as a treatise on the problem of suffering perhaps we need to reexamine the structure of the book of j o b. It is a dramatic poem and is probably the oldest book of the bible, and was certainly written before the giving of the law.

Because this series is short, id like to encourage you to supplement the weekly sermons by reading the entire book of job over the next few weeks. In fact, god designed this book as a pattern to aid us for the testing and strengthening of our faith. The books theme is the eternal problem of unmerited suffering, and it is named after its central. The skeptical character of the symposium, with its challenge to timehonored views, most likely would have kept the book of job out of the canon of old testament writings had some additions not been made to. The book of job, i submit, has a highly unified and tightly integrated structure, which. The setting for this narrative is in patriarchal times. The structure and message of the book of job in vetus testamentum. Like the traditional view of the books message, there is a fairly standard view of the books structure, along the following lines. The structure of the book of job, and why it matters. Hopefully, however, you will gain a helpful overview of the book and will better understand its story, purpose, and message when were done. The name job is the english translation of the hebrew name iyov which means persecuted, hated on the surface job is a long, boring, somewhat confusing book and one might question how it ever came to be grouped with the wisdom books as it is hard to ascertain any wisdom in this tale of woe. Job and his friends, as stated in the beginning of this study, were not inspired by the spirit of god in the things that they said. Job introduction commentary commentary critical and. The most likely candidates are job, elihu, moses and solomon.

He has a large family, many flocks of animals, many servants, a large home, perhaps an estate. This article will seek to delineate the literary structure of the book of job in order to determine the major purpose of the book. Where did the biblical story of creation come from. A great diversity of opinion exists as to the authorship of the book of job book. His righteousness is carefully designed to protect his family.

Consequently it can be concluded that the book of job is a mixed genre in which its author expertly blended a variety of literary types in. The book of job is quite possibly the strangest book in the hebrew bible, and is notoriously difficult to date. The book of job teaches the same lesson that god tests his people that they may learn to rely upon him, and him alone for all things. Tomorrow, if all literature was to be destroyed and it was left to me to retain one work only, i should save job. The structure and purpose of the book of job semantic. And in the first chapter of the book of job we saw that job could fairly well understand gods ways. The wisdom that is found in the book of job is not communicated in the form of proverb. In any case, at the heart of the message of the book of job is the wisdom with respect to answering the question as to how god is involved in the problem of human suffering. This is due to the fact that while the book itself is an inspired message, the philosophical conclusions of the four men involved with job are not inspired andor revealed conclusions. The book of job, book of hebrew scripture that is often counted among the masterpieces of world literature. He calls the chapters of the book sermon transcripts. Lets open our bibles to the third chapter of the book of job.

It is an unusual book and most difficult, to say the least. The date of the authorship of the book of job would be determined by the author of the book of job. Although most of the book consists of the words of job and his friends, job himself was not the author. A structure that points to the central themea struggle to maintain integrity and faith clearly, then, the only parts of the book which escape unscathed from the hypercritical eyes of those who see its message revolving around the problem of suffering are jobs first complaint iii 126. Literary features of the book of job 215 his polyphonic workwisdom types, a genre from psalms, and a genre from the legal sphere. Like some other ancient compositions, the book of job has a sandwich literary structure. Faq top literary structure of the bible book of job 1 literary structure chiasmus, chiasm of book of job chiasmus and concentric structure of whole text. Jobs final speech in his own defense is probably where the book originally ended.

In my first reflection here, i have attempted only to breakdown the book in order to better understand its structure and message. Watch our overview video on the book of job, which breaks down the literary design of the book and its flow of thought. Hartley identifies six themes that are part of the message of job pp. In job, this prologue serves as a literary device to give the reader a perspective that the characters in the story lack. Taken from nelsons new illustrated bibkle dictionary. In every generation protests arise saying that if god is good, then there should be no pain, no suffering or death in this world. The book takes its name from the main character in the poem, the patriarch job. Rlst 145 lecture 20 responses to suffering and evil. There has been little agreement with regard to the purpose and message of the book. Derek thomas this twelvemessage series, the book of. In the present note, i discuss the relationship between jobs structure and message. Part of the greatness of the book of job is its ability to raise several questions about life and relationship with god at the same time. This study is based on the simple insight that in the bible suffering has a language all of its own and that one must understand the languageof lament if one is to understand the book of job. What is the message of the book of job from the bible.

Rather, the book of job deals with questions of wisdom in the context of a narrative dealing with jobs profound anguish and excruciating pain. In the present note, i discuss the relationship between job s structure and message. There is a dramatic arc in the story as the arguing and insults from the friends intensify against jobs. Despite its focus on challenges and sufferings, the book of job speaks a message of great hope to the world. Addressing the problem of theodicy the vindication of the justice of god in the light of humanitys suffering it is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. It is possible that job is the oldest of any book of the bible written approximately 21001800 b. Some believe the book of job gives a resounding yes. However, because of the widespread usage of the legal metaphor in job, it seems likely that job spoke metaphorical of the lxego as one who was helper in a lawsuit to see that justice was done to his protege73 cf. From internal evidence, such as the similarity of sentiment and language to those in the psalms and proverbs see psalm 88 and 89, the prevalence of the idea of wisdom, and the style and character of the composition, it is supposed by some to have been written. The book of job does not specifically name its author. It has been supposed by some that the book of job is an allegory, not a real narrative, on account of the artificial character of many of its statements. What is the final message of the book of job about. The book of job is written in the form of a dramatic poem, that deals with several age old questions, among them the question of why the righteous suffer. So the last thing is, therefore, i despise myself, and.

I must trust, fall down and trust a sovereign god with my life. Literary features of the book of job gordon college. When god shook job, the sediment colored the water, and you find job saying some terrible things about god in this book. Visit the web site to browse or download additional material for church or personal use. Job explores the difficult question of gods relationship to.

Literary structure the unity of the book of job will be assumed in the analysis of its literary structure. I have a book of sermons the author claims is not a book of sermons. So the book of job still has an attraction for the makers of traditions. You might have heard someone say, they have the patience of job. Thus the sacred numbers, three and seven, often occur. It is found in the third section of the biblical canon known as the ketuvim writings. For this job 3 summary lets start by reminding ourselves of the message of the book of job. According to biblical scholars, the book of job is the oldest book in the bible. This lecture begins with the book of lamentations, a short book of dirges that laments the destruction of jerusalem and moves on to introduce the third and final section of the hebrew bible the ketuvim, or writings. We live in a world longing for comfort and hope, and such hope is found in the sovereign god who sees, who is good, and who is faithful. The book of job 3 the book of job introduction to the book the book of job has long been praised as a masterpiece of literature. When we cant understand gods ways, we must trust his wisdom.

Intro to job biblica the international bible society. The structure of the book of job chapters 1 and 2 constitute the prologue and give us the stage setting in order that we might understand the unfolding drama which follows. The book of job is essentially a long dialogue between job, four people who come to sit with him, and god. The message jobs friends were trying to portray was that job what literary styles were used in the b the narrative chapters at the beginning and end of the book pr. We may be sure that the author was an israelite, since he not job or his friends frequently uses the israelite covenant name for god yahweh. The structure of the book of job, and why it matters nov 30 by stephen cook i used to wonder why almost all commentaries on biblical books began with an analysis of the structure of the book, and not finding this particularly interesting i would immediately skip to the next chapter. Its author is unknown yet it is possible that job himself wrote it. Or perhaps this is an at least partially an afterward because i write this after i have completed half of the melding together of roger hahns online crivoice bible study and the excerpts from john c. God knew that it was there, and he knew that in shaking this godly, blameless man there would arise some imperfection into his life, and that it would need to be purged.