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The Writings
Of the more ‘poetic’ and fictional works listed as ‘Writings’ (see pp. 11–14), those from Esther to The Song of Songs constitute a distinct group. The Pentateuch was justified by attribution to Moses, and the Prophets were divinely inspired. Acceptance into the religious canon was less easily achieved for the Writings than for the Pentateuch and the later histories. Attribution to David, as with the Psalms, or Solomon (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song) helped; the rest were anonymous, and so less surely. Incidentally, in the fictions Ruth and Esther, women succeed in advancing their people against the odds, one in romance, one in politics, both by their virtue. All the Writings were compiled late, not finally finding their place in the Hebrew canon, after long dispute, religious and political, until the late first century AD.
Job and the ‘Wisdom’ writings are more Hebraic than Hellenic, but a certain Hellenic influence may perhaps be detected in Job and the writings extolling ‘Wisdom’ (e.g. pp. 292, 324), an important element in later Hebrew religious writing.1 By contrast, Psalms and Proverbs contain some very ancient material; Amos, the earliest of the prophets, leans heavily on traditional proverbs, while some of the Psalms may go back as far as the age of the legendary poet-king David, to whom many are attributed. What is noticeable among these writings is the sense that, in different ways, they arise from a more settled, and more humane, society than do the narrative works, in which the barbarity of war is everyday material, whoever commits it.
To describe this group as miscellaneous is true, but hardly does justice to some fine works. Job is the finest complete work of literature in the Bible; Esther is an excellent tale; The Song of Songs is both brilliant and beautiful. Even the pessimistic Ecclesiastes contains passages of great beauty; and everyone knows at least one Psalm.
1 See Colllins (1998) for a useful angle on the subject.
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Job
The date of Job is unusually uncertain, even for the Old Testament. Scholars have argued for dates before, after and during the exile. It may originate in a pre-exilic story, developed fully during or after the Exile, by one or more authors – as happened with the Homeric epics.
Whatever its development, Job remains coherent and well-shaped. As it now stands, it consists of a narrative Prologue and Epilogue, relating the beginning and end of Job’s misfortunes at the hands of an Olympian deity (or, more precisely, of his servant Satan), which frame a cyclic sequence of poetic dialogue. Job’s first lament (Job Chapter 3) is followed by three rounds of debate (Job Chapters 4–31). In each round, his friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar reprove him in turn, and he replies to each one. The third cycle is incomplete; Zophar does not speak, while Job Chapter 28 is an interpolation in praise of Wisdom. Perhaps the poet paused before entering the next phase.
At Chapter 32 a new figure, Elihu, more impetuous than the rest, intervenes. He speaks four times (Chapters 32, 34, 35, 36), but Job does not answer him. Then at Job 38 God himself interposes with two speeches (Chapters 38–9; 40:6–41:34). His first speech is the climax of the whole work; God demands to know by what right Job protests, and Job makes his submission (40:3–5). God’s second speech (probably another interpolation) is little more than a description of Leviathan and Behemoth. After its sudden end, Job makes his final submission (42:1–6), admitting at last the impossibility of understanding God’s mind or intentions. This leads...
