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Study Section 2: The Book of Job

2.1 Connect

When we begin reading the book of Job, we notice immediately the quality of the life
of this ancient man. He is “blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil”
(1:1). Apparently, he had been greatly blessed by God for he had ten children and
thousands of animals. “He was the greatest man among all the people of the East
(1:3).” The initial picture of Job’s life includes a warm family circle. Sons and daughters
gathered regularly for family celebrations. Job did not take all this for granted. After such parties he
made sacrifices to God just in case they had “sinned and cursed God in their hearts” (1:5). The setting is
remarkable. The man is remarkable.

If we pause for a moment and think about the setting, we note the absence of any reference to the law
given through Moses or to the promise given to Abraham. Job’s speculation about the possibility of his
children’s sin has no connections to any of the Ten Commandments. The sacrifice is a burnt offering, a
type of offering sacrificed by Noah after the flood (Gen. 8:20) and practiced in other ancient cultures.
None of the directives on sacrifice given in Leviticus are present. We suspect Job to be living during the
time of Abraham or before. “Job must have been composed outside of Israelite circles altogether, and …
it must have been written before there ever was any such theocracy as the commonwealth of Israel
established in the land of Canaan…. The period of the Egyptian sojourn (1876-1445 B.C.) is the most
likely period for the origin of Job.”
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Not unlike Melchizedek (Genesis 14) or perhaps even Abimelek (Genesis 20), Job has some
understanding of God and of right and wrong. Yet his understanding is indistinct. Some of his thinking
may be a cultural memory passed down through his ancestors to him. Some may be his own reflections
based on his observations of nature, his own conscience, and how the world works. The personal name
for God, Yahweh, is seldom used in the book. The author identifies Yahweh in conversation with Satan
(1:6, 7, 8, 9, 12; 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7). The author uses God’s name in direct discussion with Job from the
whirlwind (38:1; 40:1, 3, 6; 42:1, 7, 9, 10, 11). The only other uses come from the mouth of Job in 1:21
and 12:9 where he refers to the sovereignty of God.

In contrast the title Shaddai, the Almighty, occurs no less than thirty-one times in Job as against its
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sixteen occurrences in the rest of the OT. We might think of Job a living
shortly after Abram to whom El Shaddai – ydv God revealed himself as Almighty God, El
Shaddai, in Genesis 17:1. Yahweh was the Almighty who could give

the ninety-nine year old Abraham a child (a seed), making him the father of many nations, a land, and a

covenant forever. Perhaps we have in Job the experience of a man who knew God at the beginning as

16 Gleason L. Archer, Jr., The Book of Job. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1982), 16.
17 Gleason L. Archer, Jr. A Survey. 456-457.
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