The Man Called Job: Hero or Heretic

The Book of Job

W.M. Seckinger

• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781638142836
• eBook ISBN: 9781638142843

The Man Called Job: Hero or Heretic: The Book of Job questions suffering and the enduring of pain. It questions God's sovereignty and how man is to respond to the work of an almighty hand. Yet it is not an account of gloom and doom. It presents a forward look to the time of Christ and all that would be accomplished in him in his time on earth.

To see this, however, we must determine if Job was right in what he said or if his friends were right in what they said, and we must determine if he was right in questioning God and His justice or if he was wrong in doing so. We must also determine if he was right or wrong to complain about his suffering and if he was innocent or if there was some sin behind his afflicted state.

To make judgments of this kind, we must look into the following:

• Hebrew poetry and its standing in the Bible

• The various wisdom components of "wisdom poetry"

• Job's account and how it aligns with other poetic texts

• How the work presents its story in collective thought

• Old Testament views in light of New Testament doctrine

• The belief of ancient man about God and His workings

• How a "literal wording" compares to a "literal sense"

These acumens work together to unveil Job's spiritual significance.

Job’s Content

Job’s Content
Outline of the Book of Job
	Prologue	the problem	1:1–2:13
		introduction by Job	3:1–26
First sequence of speeches
	Eliphaz	confrontation of Eliphaz	4:1–5:27
		Job’s reply	6:1–7:21
	Bildad	first speech by Bildad	8:1–22
		Job’s reply	9:1–10:22
	Zophar	first speech by Zophar	11:1–20
		Job’s reply	12:1–14:22
Second sequence of speeches
	Eliphaz	second speech by Eliphaz	15:1–35
		Job’s reply	16:1–17:16
	Bildad	second speech by Bildad	18:1–21
		Job’s reply	19:1–29
	Zophar	second speech by Zophar	20:1–29
		Job’s reply	21:1–34
Third sequence of speeches
	Eliphaz	third speech by Eliphaz	22:1–30
		Job’s reply	23:1–24:25
	Bildad	third speech by Bildad	25:1–6
		Job’s reply	26:1–31:40
	Elihu	The interrupting long speech	32:1–37:24
	God?	A push on sovereignty	38:1–41:34
		Job’s response	42:1–6
	Epilogue	The conclusion of it all	42:7–17

Introduction

The book of Job is the story of a man who experienced great tragedy. But the biblical text is not the only source to speak of a man by this name. Secular accounts also speak of a prince or chief living around the time of Abraham or slightly later (per Unger and Wycliffe1). And if this is the same Job, his time would have been between 2000 and 1600 BC. The biblical account is taken to have been written sometime between 1000 and 700 BC. The style matches the wisdom literature penned in this time. Israel’s King Solomon, known for his wisdom, contributed many writings in this period. This was when the Queen of Sheba came to him from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear his insights on wisdom (1 Kings 10:1–9; 2 Chron. 9:1–8; Matt. 12:42). It is likely therefore that Job lived between 1850 and 1650 BC, and his story was recorded several hundred years later, sometime between 1000 and 700 BC.

While the biblical account of Job’s life differs from the secular, exaggeration was common in wisdom literature. It established a basis of thought and brought out the “wisdom” content. It also generated debate. In this sense, Job’s experience may have differed somewhat from what is given. The Wycliffe Commentary states: “Certainly Job was a historical person, and his actual experience was substantially as recorded. Nevertheless, the magnificent poetry of the several discourses assent to the conclusion that the treatment of the account here is not literal but free…(which) suggests the possibility of a free, figurative treatment of some details.” Job’s story, written as poetry in the wisdom age, has its own idiosyncrasies.

When the Hebrew text was translated into Greek, between 300 and 200 BC, the book of Job experienced considerable trimming. Only four-fifths of it remained afterward. One-fifth of its content, considered problematic by the translators, was removed. This included:

• Chapters 1 and 2 (the prologue and the story’s introduction)
• Chapter 28 (Job’s discourse on mining)
• Most of chapters 32–37 (Elihu’s speech)
• Some of chapters 38–41 (behemoth and leviathan in God’s speech)
• Chapter 42:7–17 (the epilogue and Job’s restoration)

It was questioned in chapters 1 and 2 how Satan could be pictured with the ruler of the universe and how he, the prince of the world’s evils and the enemy of all that was good, and the one who had been cast out of heaven for seeking the worship that belonged to God alone (Isa. 14:12–17; Ezek. 28:12–14) could be pictured in his pride and rebellion with the hosts of heaven, conversing with God and gaining permission from Him to carry out his wicked program on earth.

When Jesus hung on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” (Matt. 27:46). This expressed the anguish he was experiencing as the Father turned away. God the Father was too pure and too holy to behold the evil being judged in that place (Hab. 1:13). Yet in Job’s account, Satan, the source of all the world’s evil, is pictured conversing with God with no confrontation of any kind.

In the Old Testament period, man didn’t have access to God. He couldn’t stand in God’s presence. This awaited the time of the cross and the shed blood of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Yet in chapter 1, Satan is pictured in God’s presence with no covering of Christ’s blood and no indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He is pictured simply on his own. As God’s rival and adversary, he is pictured among the heavenly hosts, those who praise God day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty” (Rev. 4:8), and the translators saw this as sacrilege.

Today, these chapters are in the account, and as given, it has come to be accepted that Satan regularly converses with God in this fashion. Jesus’s temptation has been said to affirm it. As the Son of God, he came face-to-face with Satan and conversed with him for a time (Matt. 4; Mark 1; Luke 4). But this comparison holds no weight. Jesus was on earth. He was in a lower state. He was wrapped in human flesh. He was suffering hunger in a wilderness location. And in that instance, Satan was trying to get him to act from himself. He was trying to get him to move from the spiritual path he was to follow. But in Job’s account, the picture is of Almighty God, the supreme sovereign of the universe, in heaven on His throne, amiably inviting Satan into His presence for an unassuming question and answer session.

On earth, Jesus was subject to the earth’s limitations. He was in a restricted state. Yet even in this circumstance, he still opposed Satan and pushed back against his every approach. He responded each time with Scripture. He made no deals and carried out no negotiations. And unable to make any inroads or achieve any of his goals, Satan had to flee his presence of deit...

Table of contents

• Hebrew Wisdom Poetry
• Old Testament Perspectives in New Testament Light
• The Literal Sense of Things
• Job’s Content