Book of Job

The Book of Job (איוב) is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. The name Job or Yob ("Yobe") means Hostility in Hebrew. Job is a didactic poem set in a prose framing device.

According to the Testament of Job, another name for Job is Jobab. The Septuagint identifies Job as Jobab, a descendent of Esau, a king of Edom mentioned in Genesis 36:33.

The Book of Job has been called the most difficult book of the Bible. The numerous exegeses of the Book of Job are classic attempts to reconcile the co-existence of evil and God (for which Leibniz coined the term theodicy). Job appears ambiguously as an invocation to righteousness, as a cynical outlook on the idea of righteousness, and as a response to the problem of evil. Scholars are divided as to what the original intent of the poem was, and a few even suggest it was meant as a satire against more puritanical upholding of religion.

File:Job-Blake.jpg

One of William Blake's illustrations of the Book of Job: Satan afflicts Job with boils.

Structure

The subject is the trial of Job, its occasion, nature, endurance, and issue. It consists of

1. An historical introduction in prose (ch. 1,2).
2. The controversy and its solution, in poetry (ch. 3-42:6). Job's desponding lamentation (ch. 3) is the occasion of the controversy which is carried on in three courses of dialogues between Job and his three friends. The first course gives the commencement of the controversy (ch. 4-14); the second the growth of the controversy (15-21); and the third the height of the controversy (22-27). Job puts God on trial through an "Oath of Innocence" (Job 27-31). This is followed by a resolution of the controversy in the refreshingly original concepts incorporated in the speeches of Elihu preparing the way for the address of Jehovah, followed by Job's humble confession (42:1-6) of his own fault and folly. Job's repentance is pivotal to the story as being the ultimate purpose for the entire ordeal, with restoration by Jehovah's great mercy and compassion being the crowning climax.
3. The third division is the historical conclusion, in prose (42:7-15).

It is possible that the introductory and concluding sections of the book were composed by a different author than the body of the book, perhaps by Elihu himself in prophetic role.

The words of Elihu are integral to the account, since his discourses are preparatory for the Lord appearing out of the storm. No one responds to him, almost as if what he says is prophetic, inspired and sent by Jehovah Himself in human form.

Narrative

Job, living in the land of "Uz", was a man of great probity, virtue, and piety. He possessed much riches in cattle and slaves, which at that time constituted the principal wealth even of princes in Arabia and Edom. He had seven sons and three daughters and was in great repute among all people, on both sides of the Euphrates.

His sons made entertainments for each other; and when they had gone through the circle of their days of feasting, Job sent to them, purified them, and offered burnt-offerings for each one in order that God might pardon any faults unintentionally committed against him during such festivities. He was wholly averse from injustice, idolatry, fraud, and adultery. He avoided evil thoughts, and dangerous looks, was compassionate to the poor, a father to the orphan, a protector to the widow, a guide to the blind, and a supporter to the lame.

God permitted Satan to put the virtue of Job to the test, at first by giving him power over his property, but forbidding him to touch his person. Satan began by taking away his oxen: a company of Sabeans slew his husbandmen and drove off all the beasts; one servant only escaping to bring the news. While he was reporting this misfortune, a second came, and informed Job that fire from heaven had consumed his sheep, and those who kept them; and that he alone had escaped. A third messenger arrived, who said "The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!"

He had scarcely concluded, when another came, and said, "While your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking in their eldest brother's house, an impetuous wind suddenly overthrew it, and they were all crushed to death under the ruins; I alone am escaped to bring you this news."

Job rent his clothes and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground saying, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord."

As Job endured these calamities without reproaching Divine Providence, Satan solicited permission to afflict his person as well, and the Lord said, "Behold he is in your hand, but don’t touch his life." Satan, therefore, smote him with a dreadful disease, probably leprosy, and Job, seated in ashes, scraped off the corruption with a potsherd. His wife incited him to "curse God, and die" but Job answered "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

In meantime, only three of his friends, having been informed of his misfortunes, came to visit him - Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. A fourth was Elihu the Buzite, who from chapter 32 bears a distinguished part in the dialogue.

They continued seven days sitting on the ground by him, without speaking, but at last Job broke silence, and complained of his misery. From the fact that no one spoke to him, a Jewish halakha may be derived. When one goes to visit someone in mourning, they should not speak to the person in mourning, until they are spoken to.

Speeches of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar

Job's three friends do not waver from their belief that God is right, and that anyone who has such poor fortune as Job is necessarily being punished for disobeying God's law. As the poem progresses Job's friends increasingly berate him for refusing to confess his sins, although they themselves are at a loss as to what sort of sins he has committed. The three friends continue to assume that Job was a sinner and therefore deserving of all punishments. They also assume in their simplistic theology that God as a matter of course is a rewarder of good and punisher of evil, with no apparent exceptions allowed. There seems to be no room in their understanding of God for divine discretion and mystery in allowing and arranging suffering for purposes other than retribution. God is angry at them for not speaking of Him what is right "as my servant Job has finally done." By the conclusion, they confess their sin to God and offer atoning sacrifices which God mercifully accepts on behalf of Job's prayers for their forgiveness - just as his regular custom was with his 10 children who "may have cursed God in their hearts". At the end, God is justified, Job vindicated with deepened faith and trust being restored, there is reconciliation between Job and his wife, Job and his friends and Job and his God.

Speeches of Job

Job, convinced of his own innocence, maintains that his suffering cannot be accounted for by his few sins, and that there is no reason for God to be punishing him thus. However, he refuses to curse God's name.

Speech of Elihu

Elihu, whose name means 'My God is He', takes a mediator's path, maintaining the sovereignty and righteousness and gracious mercy of God. Elihu strongly condemns the approach taken by the three friends, and argues that Job is misrepresenting and God's righteousness and being prideful. Elihu says he spoke last because he is much younger than the other three friends, but says that age makes no difference when it comes to insights and wisdom. In his speech, Elihu lyrically describes God's power, and argues that God is mighty, yet just, and quick to warn and to forgive. At the end of the narrative, God rebukes Job's three friends but does not rebuke Elihu. Job never replies to Elihu.

God's Response

After several rounds of debate between Job and his friends, a divine voice, parenthetically described as coming from a "cloud" or "whirlwind", G-d describes, in evocative and lyrical language, what the experience of being responsble for the world is like, and asks if Job has ever had the experiences that G-d has had.

G-d's answer underscores that Job shares the world with numerous powerful and remarkable creatures, creatures with lives and needs of their own, whom God must provide for, and the young of some hunger in a way that can only be satisfied by taking the lives of others. Does Job even have any experience of the world he lives in? Does he understand what it means to be responsible for such a world? Job admits that he does not, and asks God for forgiveness.

In the epilogue, God condemns Job's friends for their insistence on the wrong answer, and commands them to make extensive animal sacrifices at Job's house. God restores Job to health, gives him double the riches he before possessed, blesses him with a beautiful and numerous family. His daughters were the most beautiful in the land, and were given inheritance while they were still alive. Job is crowned with a holy life and with a happy death.

Satan in the book of Job

The name Satan appears in the prose prologue of Job, with his usual connotation of "the adversary," as a distinct being. He is shown as one of the celestial beings or "sons of God" before the Deity, replying to the inquiry of God as to whence he had come, with the words: "from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:7). Both the question and the answer, as well as the dialogue that ensues, characterize Satan as that member of the divine council who watches over human activity, but with the evil purpose of searching out men's sins and appearing as their accuser. He is, therefore, the celestial prosecutor, who sees only iniquity; for he persists in his evil opinion of Job even after the man of Uz has passed successfully through his first trial by surrendering to the will of God, whereupon Satan demands another test through physical suffering (Job 2:3-5). Satan challenges God by saying that Job's belief is only built upon what material goods he is given, and that his faith will disappear as soon as they are taken from him. And God accepts the challenge.

The introduction of "the adversary" occurs in the (very short) framing story alone: he is never alluded to in the (very long) central poem at all.

Job's wife

Job's wife is mentioned only once in the book of Job in Chapter 2. The extra-Biblical Testament of Job adds legendary details about her being named Sitis, who, the legend goes, sold her hair to Satan in exchange for food and money. In the end, she cursed God and died.

Of course, in the actual Biblical historical account, Job could not have had 10 more children after being restored from his ordeal without his wife.

Setting

The Book of Job takes place in the land of Uz. There is no agreement on where this location is.

Themes

When bad things happen

An important theme in the book is that God's, and the world's unknowability. When bad things happen, it is impossible to set an explanation for them. Job's three friends had assumed that if Job was getting punished, that meant that he was guilty of wrong-doing. They assumed this, because they have been taught that all people who get punished are guilty of certain sins. However, God acknowledges that Job did not sin and still suffered. It is impossible to understand why bad things happen, and it is wrong when people make believe that they know why certain bad things happen.

Authorship

A great diversity of opinion exists as to the authorship of this book. From internal evidence, such as the similarity of sentiment and language to those in the Psalms and Proverbs (see Psalms 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 in the time of King David and King Solomon. Some, however place it in around the time of the Babylonian exile. Talmudic tradition treats the story of Job as a parable, while Biblical literalists maintain that it is a historic account.

In contrast, secular examinations of the text more generally conclude that, though archaic features such as the "council in heaven" survive, and though the story of Job was familiar to Ezekiel (Chapter 20 verse 14), the present form of Job was fixed in the 4th century BC. Ezekiel places Job in comparison with other righteous figures such as Noah and "Dan-el". The story of Job apparently originated in the land of Edom, which has been retained as the background. Fragments of Job are found among the Dead Sea scrolls, and Job remains prominent in haggadic legends. The later Greek Testament of Job figures among the apocrypha. Secular scholars agree that the introductory and concluding sections of the book, the framing devices, were composed to set the central poem into a prose "folk-book," as the compilers of the Jewish Encyclopedia expressed it. In the prologue and epilogue, the name of God is Yahweh, a name that even the Edomites use. Secular scholars agree that the central poem is from another source.

Later interpolations and additions

In the edited form of Job that we have, various interpolations have been claimed to have been made in the text of the central poem. The clearest of these are of two kinds: the "parallel texts", which are parallel developments of the corresponding passages in the base text, and the speeches of Elihu (Chapters 32-37), which consist of a polemic against the ideas expressed elsewhere in the poem, and so appear to be interpretive interpolations. The speeches of Elihu (who, along with the 3 friends, is not mentioned in the prologue) contradict the fundamental opinions expressed by the 'friendly accusers' in the central body of the poem, according to which it is impossible that the righteous should suffer, all pain being a punishment for some sin. Elihu, however, reveals that suffering may be decreed for the righteous as a protection against greater sin, for moral betterment and as C.S.Lewis said in Problem of Pain: suffering is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. It also points to the Messianic suffering of Jesus of Nazareth the Righteous One who endured the greatest injustice of all at the hands of those he was born to save.

Subjects of more contention among scholars are the identity of corrections and revisions of Job's speeches, which have been made for the purpose of harmonizing them with the orthodox doctrine of retribution. A prime example of this is the translation of the last line Job speaks (42:6), which is extremely problematic in the Hebrew. Traditional translations have him say, "Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." This accords best with the internal context of the poem and the end result of a sinner confronting a holy God with all due humility and conviction of unworthiness, similar to Isaiah 6, and every Old Testament encounter mortals have with Jehovah. Any other response would preclude the restoration recorded in Chapter 42 and James' comment in the New Testament,"You have heard of Job's perseverence and the end result the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." (Jas.5:11)

Exegesis of the Book of Job

Exegesis largely concerns the question, "Is misfortune always a divine punishment for something?" Job's three friends argued in the affirmative, stating that Job's misfortunes were proof that he had committed some sins for which he was being punished. His friends also advanced the converse position that good fortune is always a divine reward, and that if Job would renounce his supposed sins, he would immediately experience the return of good fortune.

In response, Job asserted that he was a righteous man, and that his misfortune was therefore not a punishment for anything. This raised the possibility that God acts in capricious ways, and Job's wife urged him to curse God, and die. Instead, Job responded with equanimity: "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord." The climax of the book occurs when God responds to Job, not with an explanation for Job's suffering but rather with a question: Where was Job when God created the world?

God's response itself may be read in a variety of ways. Some see it as an attempt to humble Job. Yet Job is comforted by God's appearance, and the fact that he 'saw God and lived', suggesting that the author of the book was more concerned with whether or not God is present in people's lives, than with the question of whether or not God is just. Job chapter 28 rejects these efforts to fathom divine wisdom.

The framing story complicates the book further: in the introductory section God, during a conversation with Satan, allows Satan to inflict misery on Job and his family. The appended conclusion has God restoring Job to wealth, granting him new children, and possibly restoring his health, although this is not implied or explicitly stated. This may suggest that the faith of the perfect believer is rewarded. However, God speaks directly to this question, condemns Job's friends, and says that Job is the only man who has faithfully represented the true nature of God - that all his friends were wrong to say that faith and righteousness are rewarded. Only after Job's friends make a sacrifice to God in front of afflicted Job - as God's appointed priest - does God restore all Job's good fortune.

The Testament of Job

The Testament of Job, a book found in the Pseudepigrapha, have a parallel account to the narrative to the book of Job. There are more details such as the fate of Job's wife, the inheritance of Job's daughters, and the ancestry of Job.

In folktale manner in the style of Jewish haggada [1], it elaborates upon the Book of Job making Job a king in Egypt. Like many other Testament of ... works in the Old Testament apocrypha, it gives the narrative a framing-tale of Job's last illness, in which he calls together his sons and daughters to give them his final instructions and exhortations. The Testament of Job contains all the characters familiar in the Book of Job, with a more prominent role for Job's wife, given the name Sitidos, and many parallels to Christian beliefs that Christian readers find, such as intercession with God and forgiveness.

Unlike the Biblical Book of Job, Satan's vindictiveness towards Job is described in the Testament as being due to Job destroying a non-Jewish temple, indeed Satan is described in a far more villainous light, than simply being a prosecuting counsel. Job is equally portrayed differently; Satan is shown to directly attack Job, but fail each time due to Job's willingness to be patient, unlike the Biblical narrative where Job falls victim but retains faith.

The latter section of the work, dedicated like the Biblical text to Job's comforters, deviates even further from the Biblical narrative. Rather than complaining or challenging God, Job consistently asserts his faith despite the laments of his comforters. While one of the comforters gives up, and the others try to get him medical treatment, Job insists his faith is true, and eventually the voice of God tells the comforters to stop their behaviour. When most of the comforters choose to listen to God's voice, they decide to taunt the one remaining individual who still laments Job's fate.

Medieval Views of Job

Throughout the Middle Ages, Job was portrayed as someone who was a patron of music. There is a 15th century painting (Brussels, Belgium) where Job handed out gold coins to musicians in order for them to play music. According to a legend, Job took off the boils from his body, and as soon as it left his hands, it turned into gold coins, which he handed to musicians.

In Judaism

The Talmud occasionally discusses Job. Classical Torah scholarship has not doubted Job's existence. He was seen as a real and powerful figure. Some scholars of Orthodox Judaism maintain that Job was in fact one of three advisors that Pharaoh consulted, prior to taking action against the increasingly multiplying "Children of Israel" mentioned in the Book of Exodus during the time of Moses' birth. The episode is mentioned in the Talmud (Tractate Sotah): Balaam gives evil advice urging Pharaoh to kill the Hebrew male new-born babies; Jethro opposes Pharaoh and tells him not to harm the Hebrews at all, and Job keeps silent and does not reveal his mind even though he was personally opposed to Pharaoh's destructive plans. It is for his silence that God subsequently punishes him with his bitter afflictions. [2].

There is a minority view among Rabbinical scholars, for instance that of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish, that says Job never existed (Midrash Genesis Rabbah LXVII). In this view, Job was a literary creation by a prophet 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 [3]:

• Job's resignation to his fate (in Tractate Pesachim 2b)
• When Job was prosperous, anyone who associated with him even to buy from him or sell to him, was blessed (in Tractate Pesachim 112a)
• Job's reward for being generous (in Tractate Megillah 28a)
• King David, Job and Ezekiel described the Torah's length without putting a number to it (in Tractate Eruvin 21a)

Two Talmudic traditions hold that Job either lived in the time of Abraham or of Jacob. Levi ben Laḥma held that Job lived in the time of Moses, by whom the Book of Job was written. Others argue that it was written by Job himself (see Job 19:23-24: Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!), or by Elihu, or Isaiah.

One midrashic view is that Job was the Pharaoh of Egypt during the time of Moses. Therefore there would be a justification for why Job was punished. Since he allowed the Israelite people to suffer and enslaved them, therefore he deserved everything that happened to him. From this, we learn a lesson. If someone has the ability to prevent suffering, they should.

According to the Talmud, Moses is the author of the book of Job.

According to one opinion of the Talmud, Job is a parable and never actually existed.(Midrash Genesis Rabbah LXVII, Talmud Bavli, Bava Batra 15a.)

According to the Talmud, Job was seventy years old when the book started.

Liturgical Use

The Book of Job is rarely used in Jewish liturgy. However, there are some Jews who read the book of Job on the Ninth of Av fast; a day of mourning over the destruction of the Jewish Temples and other tragedies.

The cantillations for the book of Job, according to the Sephardic traditions, differs from the rest of the books in the Bible. A sample of how the cantillations are chanted is found below.

Many quotes from the book of Job are used throughout Jewish liturgy, esspecially at funerals and times of mourning.

Philosophical Approach to Job

Maimonides, in his work "Guide to Perplexed" discusses Job. According to the Guide of the Perplexed, Chapter 22 and 23, each friend of Job represents famous distinct schools of thought concerning God and divine providence.

The view of Aristotle is reflected in Chapter 9 when Job states that God destroys both the innocent and the wicked together. If he held this point of view, this means that he did not believe in Divine Providence, even though he did believe in the existence of a God.

The standard Jewish view, as well as the Mutazilates view, of a righteous man being rewarded is portrayed by the words of Bildad in Chapter 8 verses 6-8. Job says that he's righteous and that eventually he will have to be rewarded. According to Bildad, you have to be patient and the reward will undoubtedly will come later on.

According to Maimonides, the correct view of providence lies with Elihu. He agrees with the notion that "the only worthy religion in the world is an examined religion". A habit religion, such as that originally practiced by Job, is never enough. One has to look deep into the meaning of religion in order to full appreciate it and make it part of life. Elihu believed in the concepts of divine providence, rewards to individuals, as well as punishments. He believed, according to Maimonides that you have to practice religion in a rational way. The more you investigate religion, the more you will be rewarded or find it rewarding. In the beginning, Job was an unexamined pious man, not a philosopher, and he didn't have providence. He was unwise, and was simply grateful for what he had. In Chapter 33, Elihu teaches Job that you have to examine your religion. God, according to Elihu, did not single out Job for punishment, rather abandoned him and let him be dealt with by natural unfriendly forces.

Conversely, in more recent times, the Jewish Philosopher, Lev Shestov, viewed Job as the embodiment of the battle between reason, which offers general and seemingly comforting explanations for complex events; and faith, in the personal god, and one mans desperate cry for him. In fact, Shestov used the story of Job as a central signifier for his core philosophy; the vast critique of the history of Western philosophy which he saw broadly as a monumental battle between Reason and Faith, Athens and Jerusalem, secular and religious outlook:

"The whole book is one uninterrupted contest between the "cries" of the much-afflicted Job and the "reflections" of his rational friends. The friends, as true thinkers, look not at Job but at the "general." Job, however, does not wish to hear about the "general"; he knows that the general is deaf and dumb - and that it is impossible to speak with it. "But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God" (13:3). The friends are horrified at Job's words: they are convinced that it is not possible to speak with God and that the Almighty is concerned about the firmness of His power and the unchangeability of His laws but not about the fate of the people created by Him. Perhaps they are convinced that in general God does not know any concerns but that He only rules. That is why they answer, "You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you or the rock be removed from its place?" (18:4). And, indeed, shall rocks really be removed from their place for the sake of Job? And shall necessity renounce its sacred rights? This would truly be the summit of human audacity, this would truly be a "mutiny," a "revolt" of the single human personality against the eternal laws of the all-unity of being! (LEV SHESTOV, Speculation and Apocalypse)

Mystical Approach to Job

Nachmanides offers a mystical commentary on the book of Job. According to the mystical approach to the book of Job, Job is being punished because he is a heretic. One reason why he can be seen as a heretic is because in Chapter 3, he automatically assumed and was convinced that he did not sin and God therefore has no right to punish him. Another reason why he can be viewed as a heretic is because he did not believe in reincarnation. He believes that once a person dies, it is all over for them, without any mention of an afterlife.

According to Job, who reflected the views of Aristotle, God gave the world over to astrology. This can be seen in Chapter 3 verse 2, when he said "Curse the day I was born on". He cursed his birthday because he believed that his birthday was bad luck, in the astrological sense.

According to Nachmanides, Job's children did not die in the beginning of the story, but rather were taken captive and then return from captivity by the end of the story.

In Christianity

There are several references to the Book of Job throughout the New Testament, especially the Epistles. Specifically:

Jas. 5:11 cites Job the man as a shining example of patience in suffering. Rev. 9:6 alludes to Job 3:21; compare 2 Thes. 2:8 to Job 4:9; 1 Cor. 3:19 quotes Job 5:13; Heb. 12:5, Jas. 1:12, and Rev. 3:19 all parallel Job 5:17 and Job 23:10; compare Jas. 4:14 to Job 7:6; compare Heb. 2:6 with Job 7:17; compare Heb. 12:26 with Job 9:6; Rom. 9:20 alludes to Job 9:32; Rom. 11:33 parallels Job 10:7; compare Acts 17:28 with Job 12:10; compare 1 Cor. 4:5 with Job 12:22; compare 1 Pet. 1:24 with Job 14:2; compare Lk. 19:22 with Job 15:6; Rom. 1:9 parallels Job 16:19; compare 1 John 3:2 with Job 19:26; Rev. 14:10, 19:15 parallel Job 21:20; both Rom. 11:34 and 1 Cor. 2:16 quote Isa. 40:13, which parallels Job 21:22; Mt. 25:42 alludes to Job 22:7; Jas. 4:6 and 1 Pet. 5:5 both quote Prov. 3:34, which parallels Job 22:29; compare Acts 1:7 with Job 24:1; Heb. 4:13 parallels Job 26:6; Mt. 16:26 alludes to Job 27:8; compare Jas. 1:5 with Job 32:8; 1 Jo. 1:9 alludes to Job 33:27-28; Jas. 5:4 alludes to Job 34:28; Rev. 16:21 alludes to Job 38:22-23; Mt. 6:26 alludes to Job 38:41; and finally, Rom. 11:35 quotes Job 41:11.

The book of Job narrates the tragedy of the loss of his children, wealth, and physical soundness. The book begins with an introduction to Job's character, stating that he was a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil, and gives an overview of his riches. It chronicles a dialogue between Satan and God; Satan challenges Job's integrity, ending in God giving Job into Satan's hand. The main portion of the text consists of the discourse of Job and his three friends, ending in God answering Job. Themes of the book include mercy (God not treating sinners as they truly deserve), grace (God treating unworthy sinners as they do not deserve), compassion (God puts up with lots of discrediting, inappropriate mortal speculation impugning the Divine character and allegations of unrighteous/unfair dealings with men), restoration (where sin abounds, free generosity superabounds) and the omnipotence, omnisapience, omnipresence, omniliberty, aseity, infinite love and supreme majesty of God.

Job's declaration "I know that my Redeemer lives" (Job 19:25) is considered by Christians to be a proto-Christian statement of belief, and is the basis of several Christian hymns.

Many hold that Job is a historical prototype of Jesus Christ the Man of Sorrows who suffered the most unjustly of all under the providence and watchful will of God

In Islam

In the Qur'an he is known as Ayyūb (Arabic: أيوب ) and is considered a prophet in Islam. Job is mentioned in the Koran.

In Palestinian folk tradition Ayyub's place of trial is Al-Joura, a village outside the town of Al Majdal (now Ashkelon). It was there God rewarded him with a fountain of youth that removed whatever illnesses he had, and gave him back his youth. The town of Al-Joura was a place of annual festivities (4 days in all) when people of many faiths gathered and bathed in a natural spring.

In the Arabic language the name Ayyūb is symbolic of the virtue of patience, though it does not mean patience in itself.

In Turkey, Job is known as Eyyup. It is believed that Job and Elias were buried at Eyyup Nebi, near Viranşehir.

There is also a tomb of Job outside the city of Salalah in Oman.

References to Ayyub (Job) in the Qur'an

• Job's prophecy: 4:163, 6:84
• Trial and patience: 21:83, 21:84, 38:41

Modern Approaches to Job

• Harold_Kushner, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People".
• Elie Wiesel, "Night"
• James Morrow, "Blameless in Abaddon"
• C.S.Lewis, The Problem of Pain

External links

• Jewish translations:
  • Iyov - Job (Judaica Press) translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org
• Christian translations:
  • Job at The Great Books (New Revised Standard Version)
  • Job at Wikisource (Authorised King James Version)
• Other translations:
  • The Trial of Job (translation as drama with hyperlinked notes)
  • The Book Of Job The Musical (translation as musical)
• Jewish Cantillations
  • Sephardic Cantillations for the Book of Job by David Betesh and the Sephardic Pizmonim Project

Related articles:

• Carl Jung's Answer to Job Essay: Carl Jung's Answer to Job Essay
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Job; Book of Job
• Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897: Job; Book of Job
• "Short Articles on the Book of Job": Bill Long
• "Putting God on Trial- The Biblical Book of Job" by Robert Sutherland A complete online commentary.
• Job at the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Biblical Job: A Vision of God