Bookstore glossary library links news publications timeline virtual israel experience. 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. Kushners insights gleaned from many jewish as well as christian sources are insightful and inviting. The book of job a widely misunderstood book jeffrey.
Last chapter of the greek version of the book of job. Youll get this book and many others when you join bible gateway plus. Several scholars have turned to an earlier chapter of the book for the key to the divine speeches chap. 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 original book. Job 18 bildad then bildad the shuhite bible gateway. The story of job opens with a scene in heaven where the devil comes to accuse job before god. The book of job begins with a prologue job 12, which describes a wager between satan and god, in which satan the adversary bets god that job a particularly pious manwill abandon his piety and curse god if all his wealth and wellbeing are taken away. See chaim milikowsky, seder olam, critical edition, vol. Maimonides, spinoza and the book of job 1 i invite you to reflect with me on the meaning of the book of job and of maimonides comments on it in the guide of the perplexed. Victor hugo the greatest poem, whether of ancient or modern literature. Jewish tradition attributes the book to moses, and other authors have been suggested job, elihu, solomon, isaiah, hezekiah, and baruch, jeremiahs scribe. The characters in the book of job consist of job, his wife, his three friends bildad, eliphaz, and zophar, a man named elihu, god, and angels one of whom is named satan. Where did the biblical story of creation come from.
The book of job, while well known as a book in the bible, is not at all an easy book to unravel, and rabbi kushner gives us an excellent reading of the book, which untangles a great many difficulties, making it both understandable and relevant. While the main character is obviously iyov, it is not at all clear who this person was. Job s life span was similar to that of the patriarchs prior to abrahams era job 42. A major difficulty in understanding the meaning of the book is, what insight leads job to submit so humbly to god at the end. This exercise in interpretation offers the pleasures inherent in any attempt to decipher a difficult text, a pleasure doubled here by the fact that we have two difficult texts. The ot daily bible study series, job looks at personal learning and the theology of late old testament judaism. May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, a boy is conceived. One of the amoraim expressed his opinion in the presence of samuel b. Spinoza returns to the book of job briefly in chapter iii of the ttp, in connection with the claim that the jews are gods chosen people.
Chapter one describes a wager god made with the adversary, known in hebrew as satan, a spiritual being who is given the divinelyassigned task of trying. Like anything in life, the reward for success reflects the amount of effort put. A dramatic poem in fortytwo chapters, the characters in which are job, his wife mentioned only once, ii. Here he uses the example of job to argue that far from favoring the jews, god is equally welldisposed to all nations.
Its incredibly complex and obscure hebrew allowing for multiple translations and meanings. The book of job is the first document in history to take seriously the question of why really bad things happen to really good people. Bnei mitzvoth are called to the bimah to read from the torah, the haftorah and give a speechdiscussion of the weekly torah portion. The hebrew book of job is part of ketuvim writings of the jewish bible.
The book of job is one of the most problematic portions of the bible and has called forth a variety of interpretations. The book of job is considered being part of the poetic books job, psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, and song of songs in todays bible editions. The book of job the holy bible complete chapters 1 42. The prose narratives date to before the 6th century bce, and the poetry has been dated between the 6th and the 4th century bce. It includes important additions from the ramban nachmanides and the biur hagra commentary of the vilna gaon. The tone of the work abruptly changes, however, in chapter 3, as job begins his poetic speeches by cursing the day on which he was born. Each chapter of the book deals with either one of the themes of the book of job or one of the characters, however minor, introduced in job. Every day half of the sea is in light and half is in darkness. For example, it is rare to find a chapter devoted solely to job s wife, a character who has all of 6 words devoted to her in the entire book.
Job speaks after this, job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. The only time the whole sea has been dark at the same time is in genesis, chapter 1. The author of the book of job incorporated the folk book into his work in a manner still showing traces of the component parts. Although the opinion that the book of job is a metaphor is rejected by the talmud, the talmud struggles to relate job to an actual person and period of time.
All that can be said with certainty is that the author was a loyal hebrew who was not strictly bound by the popular creed that assumed suffering was always the direct result of sin. There are no references to jewish forefathers like abraham. A person feels as if something came upon him, and as if he had received a new power that encourages him to speak. It goes like a play and deals with an old question puzzling everyone, the problem of human suffering. Lessons offered here are intended for anyone who wants to get seriously involved in the study of the tanach. Moshe eisemann observed, god wanted the story presented with as little backdrop as possible. Judaism and other religions have developed the story of job. The book of job has long been praised as a masterpiece of literature. Rambam writes in moreh nevuchim guide to the perplexed, 2. Job s final speech in his own defense is probably where the book originally ended. Job is the central figure of the book of job in the bible. The use of this preexisting material very cleverly placed the problem outside of palestine, thereby excluding the possible objection of orthodox theology that such a casea perfectly righteous man persecuted by yhwh could not occur in israel.
Not much is known about job based on the masoretic text of the jewish bible. It should be kept in mind that job is not the author. Job, possibly the strangest book in the bible, is based on legends going back thousands of years, and is written in a very unusual form of. By rabbi yitzchak schwartz this class offers an explanation of major themes within the book of job based mainly on the writings of the malbim rabbi meir leibush malbim. However, the book of job is also called the most theological book of the entire old testament theology study and commentary on the existence and attributes of a god.
Rabbi breitowitz responds to these fundamental issues based on the book of job. The book of job is a book in the ketuvim writings section of the hebrew bible tanakh, and. Some bible scholars debate whether he was an actual person or legend, but job is mentioned as a historical figure by the prophet ezekial ezekial 14. Book of job is first of the poetic books of the old testament. Encyclopedia of jewish and israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from antisemitism to zionism. The 12th century jewish scholar ibn ezra concluded that the book must have been written in some other. The book of job, on the face of it, represents an internal criticism within the hebrew bible itself of biblical theology according to which god is conceived not only as the creator of the. Iyov job chapter 1 tanakh online torah bible chabad.
In fact the talmud bava bathra page 14b contains a long dispute if. A poem to wisdom chapter 28, previously read as part of the speech of job, now regarded by most scholars as a. Job pronounced jobe, was a rich farmer living in the land of uz, somewhere northeast of palestine. Owing to the importance of the book of job, the talmudists occupied themselves frequently with its chief character. The use of this preexisting material very cleverly placed the problem outside of palestine, thereby excluding the possible objection of orthodox theology that such a casea perfectly righteous man persecuted by yhwh. Job with book summary versebyverse bible commentary. Iyov is one of the writings ketuvim of the hebrew bible, and the first poetical book in the christian old testament. The book of job may be divided into two sections of prose narrative, consisting of a prologue chapters 12 and an epilogue chapter 42.
The book of job in hebrew iyov is the story of an exceedingly righteous man who is afflicted with horrific suffering for no apparent reason. God talking to satan in the book of job,how did they know. Tomorrow, if all literature was to be destroyed and it was left to me to retain one work only, i should save job. Enrich your faith and grow in spiritual maturity with the incredible bible study and devotional books listed below. The final 38 out of 40 chapters of the book detail jobs response to what has happened, his conversations with his friends. Job is a book that ranks as one of the most difficult books in thetanach bible, for two reasons. In the book of job, chapter 38, verse 8 and 9 gd made a very interesting comment.