Pesharim

Note: It occurred to me that an exegesis of a Bible book, written as I was planning to do, chapter by chapter, was perhaps not the best way to go about understanding a passage of the Bible. It had also occurred to me that given enough time I would end up with two or three complete exegesis of the book, as new points and facts come to light…. Anyways, I’ve realized that a blog is not the proper place for such an exposition, nor does it elicit the type of of discussion or interest a more suitable form could perhaps achieve. So what had been meant to be a continuing topic, The Exegesis of the Book of Job, has now become a dead topic. What was already written, seen below, will be kept for future reference.

In this exegesis of the Book of Job (איוב) we will be looking at various aspects of the book, its characters, history, theological themes and principles, and other elements locative, interpretive, and the like. Following posts will discuss similar elements of the book by smaller sections, chapter and verse. Note that this is not a generalization of the book, but quite the opposite. This is to become a discussion and exposition of the aforemention. And with that stated, let us proceed into an exegesis of the Biblical Book of Job.

The author of the book, or conversely authors, (as will be discussed later) remain unknown. Some have speculated that Moses wrote the book, considering the date and location of the story, which may have been near to the land of Midian, the very place where Moses was raised. But little has come of such speculation, as the author left no verifiable testament to his identity. Others have suggested to similar effect, Solomon, Elihu, Isaiah, or even Job himself but all of these to no conclusion as yet. In point of fact however, Job can hardly considered a candidate, because the books very message rested on his ignorance of the divine matters concerning his situation.

On the same note, The specific style of the central portion of the book is that of a didactic poem. However, at the antipodal ends of the book a section of prose occurs. This fact, that Job begins and ends in prose, has led some critical scholars to the opinion that the book has been edited by a third party, through which was added the introduction and conclusion of the book. While such is possible, and there may be no way to officially dispute that, I think it is indeed acceptable in theory, that the story of Job could have descended as a legend to the writer, the third party, who then penned the book in divine inspiration. Similarly, no more specific locative information is given in the book than that of a few hazy landmarks. One such reference is to the Land of Uz, mentioned only in the first verse, as the place where Job lives. While this land may have been named after Uz, the son of Aram, and son of Shem, the son of Noah (Genesis 10:21-23) it has also been suggested the the word Uz may have simply been an etymological relative to the word “oz” meaning east. What we can assume about this land, however, is that it was necessary fertile (given that Job had raised many thousands of cattle on it) had at least one large city (since Job sat among the elders at the city gate Job 29:7-8 ) and was subject from attacks by both the Sabeans and Cladeans (Job 1:15 and 1:17), the two of which will be discussed in detail as they appear in the text.

The date of the book is perhaps a little more conclusive, as before or contemporaneous with Abraham and the patriarchs. One may reach this conclusion by considering Job’s longevity of nearly 200 years, the fact of Job’s wealth being measured in livestock and cattle, his priestly function within his family, and an assumed silence on the law and covenants of God .Again, these elements of the story will be considered more heavily in later posts.

The Book of Job, as it were, is a compilation of the speeches of six central characters, Job, God, his three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamthite, and finally Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family or Ram. Appearing first in chapter 4, Job’s first accuser, Eliphaz the Temanite (אֱלִיפַז / אֱלִיפָז “My God is strength”, standard Hebrew, Elifaz) is likely a descendant of Eliphaz the son of Esau through the lineage of Teman (hence, a Temanite). Zophar, or Tzófar, (צוֹפַר “Chirping; rising early”, standard Hebrew Ẓófar) is said to be a descendent of Naamah, which, as it were, seems to have been far to common of a name for us today be able to place definitively. Bildad was likely descended from Shuah (hence a Shuhite), the son of Abraham and Keturah, whose family lived in the deserts of Arabia. Lastly, the ancestry of Elihu can be traced to the Arabian tribe of Buz (as metioned in Jeremiah 25:23). Any more than that, his father, and the “Family or Ram” remain unknown.

In the greater portion of the book, the progression of speeches by Job and his three friends between chapters 3 and 31 is nearly in a circular cycle, with each character speaking in sequence for a full three cycles. Their debates finally climax in an impasse following Job’s lengthy defense in chapters 26 -31, whereafter they “ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.” The pattern is then further interrupted by the advent of Elihu, who speaks from chapters 32 through 37, until the Lord answers Job in chapter 38 and following.