Part 1: Sources and Background

Before turning to the discussion of the Book of Job {hereafter: “Job”; the hero’s name is spelt as “Job” [in Roman letters]}it is important to refer to the extant texts available to us. The one usually cited is the Masoretic Text (“MT”) version.

Scholars believe that it was composed during the 5th or early 4th century BCE, that is, before the Hashmonean period. The book is unlikely to have been composed earlier than that. It is true that the issue discussed in it – that is, the theodicy issue – was raised by Jeremiah [Jer. 12:1-3]. However, the 6th century – covering this prophet’s long ministry – witnessed the struggle of Judah with Babylon and the final destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar followed by the exile.

During the next century Nehemiah was active in Jerusalem, which was – at that time – a small and under-populated town.¹ It is unlikely that Job was written there during that century BCE. At the same time, philological evidence indicates that the book was written before Greek became the lingua franca of the Levant or, in other words, before the advent of Alexander the Great and the struggle of his successors. Further, Job is renowned for words unique to it. Many of these Hapax Legomena [“Hapxes” for short] are derived from Aramaic or other Semitic languages but not borrowed from Greek.² This circumstantial evidence suggests that the MT version was composed when Aramaic was the principal language of the Orient but prior to the advent of Greek. In turn, this supports the view that Job was composed either late in the 5th century or early in the 4th BCE.

It is questionable whether the MT version is the very first text of Job.³ It is feasible that a previous version was circulated to a limited group. To date, though, no such earlier version has materialised. Further, scraps of the MT’s Hebrew version were discovered amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran.⁴

There are also ancient translations of Job into Aramaic and into Greek. The earliest is a translation into Aramaic discovered amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls.⁵ As this settlement in Qumran was destroyed in 70 CE, the “Qumran Scroll” predates the later Aramaic translation, colloquially referred to as Onkelos.⁶ Scholars have concluded that the Qumran Scroll’s script is of the Herodian period.⁷ Regrettably, the Qumran Scroll comprises only about 15 per cent of the book. The later translation into Aramaic, sometimes printed in current Hebrew bibles, was promulgated after the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome (the “late Targum”).⁸ It is possible that some other translations were composed but were suppressed by Rabban Gamliel.⁹ Presumably, all these translations were made so as to make Job available to Judean and Diaspora Jews, who were not conversant in Hebrew.¹⁰ The same can be said about the Septuagint (“LXX”), that is, the translation of the Old Testament into Greek, which had by then become the lingua franca throughout the Levant. The date of the compilation of the LXX is outside the scope of this investigation. However, the scholarly consensus¹¹ is that it was completed by the end of the first century CE. This is later than the presumed date of the MT version of Job.

In the MT, Job is included in the last part, known as the Scriptures – the Ketuvim [כתובים]. In some canons¹² Job is treated as a Prophet or as a Historical Book. In the LXX, Job appears after the narrative parts but prior to the prophets.

As Job deals with a specific question, viz., divine justice (the “theodicy issue”), rather than with adherence to faith (which is dealt with by the prophets), the MT’s classification is the soundest one. Further, the Scriptures encompass books promulgated later than those of the first two parts of the MT: the Pentateuch and the Prophets. In this way, the MT gives us an indication about a work’s age.

Job is a difficult book to read.¹³ Writing in the 12th century,¹⁴ Ibn Ezra suggested that Job might have been composed in some other Semitic language and that the MT version was, itself, a translation. Notably, a separate text, entitled The Testament of Job, is included in the Apocrypha,¹⁵ which means that, in all probability, it was written well after the compilation of the MT. The Testament manifests a belief in the immortality of the soul and reward in the afterlife.¹⁶

Many books and papers have been written¹⁷ with the object of coming to grips with Job’s meaning. The views of Greenstein are of particular guidance. This paper is written because a new overview and ideas based on it are timely.

As already noted the MT version is the only complete Hebrew text that has come down to us. Some variations appear in the LXX and in the late Targum.¹⁸ The extant manuscripts used for the rendering of the MT date to the 10th century CE and are known, respectively, as the Codex Vaticanus, the Codex Aleppo and the Codex Leningradus.¹⁹ Obviously, they are late and, of course, may contain technical copying errors.

Before turning to Job’s structure it is important to consider whether or not it constitutes a historical record. The point is controversial. Some sages concluded that the book was an allegory.²⁰ This view appears realistic and finds support in the writing of Maimonides.²¹ Job’s residence, in the country of Uz [Utz], is thus not to be taken more literally than the reference to Utopia by Thomas More. Still, the reference to Uz shows that the writer thought to place the tome in the Middle East [Kedemקדם ]. This may also explain his attempt to use archaic phrases.

Notably, this very setting supports the view that Job is a late book. When Jeremiah refers (in the 6th century BCE) to the Babylonian threat, he describes it as emanating from the North, that is, the route showing Mesopotamian armies as traveling along the Euphrates and, accordingly, attacking southwards. The correct location of Mesopotamia (in the East) is not mentioned by him.