The book of Job tells about a man attacked by Satan to show that the man would curse God if his blessings were taken.
12
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4answers
2k views
Interpretations of Elihu in Job
In the book of Job, it becomes clear that the first three of Job's friends - Eliphaz, Blidad, and Zophar - speak wrongly. Not only do they incur the indignation of Job and his other friend Elihu, but ...
9
votes
4answers
269 views
What is the relationship between the “Adversary” in Job and the serpent in Genesis?
An individual named the Adversary appears in Job 1:6-12 (NJPS):
One day the divine beings presented themselves before the Lord, and the Adversary came along with them. The Lord said to the ...
9
votes
3answers
697 views
Who are the morning stars in Job 38:7?
In Job 38:7 (ESV), Jehovah claims that the cornerstone of the earth was laid
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy
implying that the morning stars were ...
9
votes
2answers
196 views
Did Job believe in an afterlife where wrongs could be righted?
At the end of his life, Job seems to have been content with his lot despite his time of suffering recorded in the rest of the book. Some have suggested that the reason he had for contentment is that ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
Are Job's friends the voice of the Accuser?
I have often struggled with the book of Job, wondering what rubric should guide my interpretation as I read through the speeches of Job's "friends". They say so much that is "true" (so much that ...
6
votes
1answer
419 views
Who or what is Rahab in Job?
The most famous Rahab in the Bible is the prostitute of Jericho who hid the two Hebrew spies in Joshua 2. But there seems to be a different Rahab introduced in Job:
“God will not turn back his ...
6
votes
1answer
68 views
Does Job's “covenant with [his] eyes” refer to marriage?
Job's final appeal to God includes this assertion of innocence:
I have covenanted with my eyes
Not to gaze on a maiden.—Job 31:1 (NJPS)
The ESV reads this as a rhetorical question:
I ...
6
votes
2answers
173 views
Did God create the constellations?
A little late on this challenge, but here goes:
In Job 38:31-32, the LORD questions Job, "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations ...
6
votes
1answer
34 views
Which literary genre of Job has the longer historical pedigree?
There are two primary schools of thought in regards to the genre of Job.
One the one hand, some call it an historical artifact, given no overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
On the other, its ...
5
votes
3answers
157 views
Why is “rega`” translated “peace” in Job 21:13?
Job 21:7-13 (ESV)
Why do the wicked live,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Their offspring are established in their presence,
and their descendants before their eyes.
Their houses ...
5
votes
2answers
126 views
Is Satan one of the “sons of God”?
In the framing story of Job, we read about הַשָּׂטָן (ha-Satan) and בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים (ben 'elohiym) appearing before God:
Now it fell upon a day, that the sons of God came to present themselves ...
5
votes
1answer
55 views
Is Job 28 a part of Job's speech?
I noticed that in the 2011 NIV, Job 28 is marked off as an interlude as does not appear in quotation marks; whereas in the 1984 NIV, the text appears in quotation marks and is considered a part of ...
4
votes
2answers
127 views
What belief does Job refer to in Job 19:25?
Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at ...
4
votes
0answers
46 views
Meaning of N .. N+1 pattern in Amos, Proverbs, Job and Psalms [duplicate]
In the first couple of chapters of Amos, we see a number of proclamations from God that all begin with (all ESV)
"For three transgressions of [region/group], and for four, I will not revoke the ...
3
votes
2answers
76 views
God's speech in Job 38-42
For me the Book of Job is one of the most contraversial books in the Bible yet. In chapters 38-41 we see the Lord's unnecessary boasting in front of his slave. Job 41:5 is an example of a cynism:
...
3
votes
0answers
65 views
What did Job believe?
Job 9:2 says:
In truth I know that this is so; But how can a man be in the right before God?
Is this a rhetorical question, or he is sincerely wondering how to be justified before God? Depending ...
2
votes
1answer
90 views
Does “foundations of the earth” in Job 38:4 refer to just the earth, or is it a metaphor for more?
While asking this question on music at Christianity Stack Exchange, I had simply assumed that Job 38 described music as more primordial than matter, but then I realized I wasn't sure whether the ...
