Did Job believe in an afterlife where wrongs could be righted?

Question

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 he held an early belief in resurrection as expressed in Job 19:23-27 (NJPS):

O that my words were written down;
Would they were inscribed in a record,

Incised on a rock forever
With iron stylus and lead!

But I know that my Vindicator lives;
In the end He will testify on earth—

This, after my skin will have been peeled off.
But I would behold God while still in my flesh,

I myself, not another, would behold Him;
Would see with my own eyes:
My heart pines within me.

Given the number of places Job appears to deny the idea of life after death (Job 7:7-10, Job 14:1-15, Job 16:22, etc.), can we really read this passage as a reversal of his position? If not, why does Job make these seemingly conflicting statements?

Answer 1

Background

Job is generally thought to be among the most ancient of the surviving Hebrew texts, if not the oldest.¹ Exactly when the account was penned is not known, but the best guess as to the time period portrayed is around the time of Abraham or later. Therefore it's entirely possible that the author knew the sources of the Gilgamesh epic. One of the central ideas of that work and of the Sumerian culture it springs from is:

The life that thou seekest, thou wilt not find.
When the gods created mankind,
Death they imposed on mankind;
Life they kept in their power.²

The climactic finale to Job (chapters 40, 41, and 42), have God respond to Job as He might have responded to His Sumerian accusers. Job 40:1-2, 7-9 (NJPS) for instance:

The Lord said in reply to Job.

Shall one who should be disciplined complain against Shaddai?
He who arraigns God must respond.

...

Gird your loins like a man;
I will ask, and you will inform Me.

Would you impugn My justice?
Would you condemn Me that you may be right?

Have you an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like His?

Job has no answer. Shaddai is God and Job is not.

Argument

N. T. Wright suggests in The Resurrection of the Son of God (p. 96-98 in the 2003 edition I have at hand) that this passage has numerous translation problems. (The ESV, for instance, notes that verse 26 could read, "yet in my flesh I shall see God" or "without my flesh I shall see God." The first affirms and the second denies a bodily resurrection.) Older English translations (we're looking at you KJV) tend to highlight post-Easter renderings, while more recent translations tend to be equivocal about the exact meaning of the passage. (I picked, what I hope to be a neutral translation in the New Jewish Publishing Society Tanakh when I asked the question.)

Wright further points out that, in light of the many passages in which Job denies an afterlife, most scholar do not hold this passage as a sudden reversal.³ Indeed, reading in a hope in life after death would blunt the impact of the main argument of the text—we don't know how God intends to make things right and so we must trust Him and not accuse Him of evil.

Now the desire to interpret this (and other passages like it) as statements of resurrection does seem to be very strong in Second Temple period. Both the LXX and Targum translations put this passage in the best light for seeing in it a bodily resurrection (Wright 2003, 199). Both also attempt to soften the stark language of Job 14:14 (NJPS):

If a man dies, can he live again?
All the time of my service I wait
Until my replacement comes.

The Septuagint flat out alters verse 14 to say, "If a man dies, he shall live," and adds a postscript to Job that reads, "It is written of him that he will rise again with those whom the Lord will raise." (Wright 2003, 148) But these changes indicate that the doctrine of what happens after someone dies has been changed in Hebrew culture and that something had to be done to make Job fit. Therefore, chapter 19 was not seen as doing enough to proclaim a resurrection of the righteous and reading it that way now is anachronistic.

Summary

Job presents as very dark picture of life after death and chapter 19 doesn't offer as much hope as many believe.

Footnotes:

1. An objective measure of the age of a text is the number of translation difficulties it presents. Any modern translation will reveal that Job is rife with translation problems.

2. This quote taken from Morris Jastrow Jr.'s introduction to the Babylonian fragments of tablets that contain stories that would later be compiled into the Assyrian epic. It's a fascenating topic, but entirely tangential to the question at hand.

3. He cites Martin-Achard, R. 1960, From Death to Life: A Study of the Development of the Doctrine of the Resurrection in the Old Testament, 166-75; Johnston, P. S. 2002, Shades of Sheol: Death and the Afterlife in the Old Testament, 209-14 among many others.

Answer 2

Jesus denied life after death, too.

Haha. No, I am not attempting to come up with the latest version of "what Jesus really taught." Jesus does not deny the idea of the bodily resurrection; he clearly teaches it, and in the utter uniqueness of his person, practices what he preaches.

In the Western world we tend toward bare materialistic view of life and death which clash with the Scriptural version of those concepts. One result is serious misunderstandings of the veiled, more limited expressions of the doctrines of life and death in the Old Testament. So, before answering the question at hand directly, I must consider an essential background question—

Is Job's View of Death Incompatible with a Belief in the Resurrection?

Many Christians understand Job (and the Psalms) to speak of death in a much different way than Jesus did. Big if that is true, what did Jesus mean when he said, "He who believes in me will never die"?

It's one of those verses that is often quoted, best less often grappled with. Either we must be willing to admit a different sense of death hear than the one we commonly use, or we must admit that Jesus lied.

So when I say, "Jesus denied life after death," it's not that he denied the life, but that he denied the death. That's what eternal life is about in his teaching as well. Eternal life is not something that begins in the future, but now.

But if Jesus uses this sense of death, why must we insist that the Old Testament writers used a more materialistic sense of death? If this were merely in Job, it would not be a problem, because we can disagree with Job without denying inspiration. But the Psalms speak of death in much the same way. "How can I praise you from the grave?" etc. The answer is, you can't—but that is because death is defined as separation from God. To know God is to live. That isn't fancy words and ancient ideas and poetry. That's reality.

How clearly did the psalmist himself perceive that? I do not know. The degree to which the Old Testament prophets understood what they said is somewhat mysterious. But one thing I can say for sure: before we start to deprecate the way that the Psalmist or Job speaks of death, remember that Christ spoke of life in a way that coalesced with that the way they spoke of death.

So is Job's view of death incompatible with a resurrection? Absolutely not. The dark expressions about death in Job and in the Psalms are a call for and perfectly illustrate the need for resurrection, but do not contradict it. Whether they include is less certain; they certainly do not preclude it.

Interpreting Jesus through our own cultural lens, we often have a rather dull view of eternal life as life that simply does not end. In the context of such dour statements about Sheol, eternal life means a lot more. It means not only perpetual existence, but residence in the sanctuary.

I started by saying Jesus denied life after death, too. Now, having explained myself, I'd like to reverse the terminology, and say that neither Christ nor Job denies an afterlife!

But is Job 19:23-27 an Early Statement of Belief in the Resurrection?

Quite honestly (this is an abrupt ending, but) I do not know. I hope to do more research and work on this answer further (it needs specific references to verse numbers, etc., but I need to not stay up any later tonight). I would like to look into the issue more closely.

But the conclusion of the previous section is very important in forming an opinion on this. Essentially, at this point the translation issue it not whether Job contradicted himself; that is taken out of the equation. It is possible that there is a tension of mood.

Until further notice, then, my thesis is: It is conceivable that this is a statement of faith standing out amid his grimmer speeches. Forgive the half-baked answer; I see even the possibility as being significant enough to be worth arguing for.

Answer 3

What is the importance of the theme of life after death in the Book of Job? Actually, it is VERY important but the recognition of this question & the response in the Book are barely on the periphery of our understanding when one is focused on the popular Central Question of the Book, i.e. the meaning of suffering & evil (i.e. theodicy.) Expand that focus to see the TRUE Central Question of the Book, i.e. "What is man," & everything changes. Life after death can be imagined as a huge planet that orbits the True Central Question. When the question of suffering & evil is seen as the center of the Book then this central question all but completely blocks the view of the 'planet-of-life-after-death.' But when suffering & evil is recognized as a huge red-hot planet that orbits the True Central Question, along with others, it no longer blocks our view & the 'planet-of-life-after-death' comes into full view.

The OP question in the Title, i.e. does Job believe.., is only a PART of the larger a question that is - what does the Book of Job say about life after death? This is the more important question in which to frame the more specific answer about Job's beliefs.

To begin, in the light of the True Central Question, the importance of [hasatan's] accusation against all men is highlighted. "All that a man (any, every, & all men) has he will give for his life.. touch his bone & flesh & he will curse (God) to (His) Face." (See my answer to the Question "What did Satan mean, when he replied to God, "Skin for Skin"?"”) [hasatan] is willing to contradict the LORD's judgement of Job because [he] has been all over the world & seen what man was. (See my Answer to the Question, "Was Satan joking with God in Job 1: 6-7?")

[hasatan's] position was Job was no better than any man who would curse God to His Face under adversity.

Next, in the light of the True Central Question the words of the [spirit] that comes to Eliphaz is chapter 4 are highlighted. 4:17-21 (KJV) states:

"Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than His Maker? Behold, He put no trust in His servants; And His angels He charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening: They perish forever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? They die, even without wisdom."

In these words the assertion can be clearly recognized that man's death is final, man does not deserve life after death.

Next, in the light of Central Question, the poisonous vitriol in the [spirit's] statement about man can be recognized as permeating the discourses of the 3 friends (as discussed in my answer to the Question "What is Eliphaz explaining in Job 4:12-21?") This table highlights this poison.

Man is corrupt & abominable, a maggot & a worm. There is no hope for man, death will & should be his end forever.

Next, in the light of the True Central Question, Eliphaz's accusation against Job, Chap 22, "Is not THY (Job's) wickedness great.." & Bildad's accusation against 'wicked men' (Chap 18) & Zophar's accusation against 'wicked men' (Chap 20) can be recognized for what they really are, accusations against all men. Zophar's statement (20:7) is an abt summary of the 3 friends accusation against man "(man) will perish forever like his own dung." It is also an apt projection of [hasatan's] contradiction of the LORD before the heavenly assembly & the [spirit of contradiction’s] vitriol against man spoken to Eliphaz. (NOTE: it is not possible to fully support these & following statements in this limited space here. It would make the answer way too long. For proofs supporting these statements see my videos & my analysis posted on the web mentioned in my Profile.)

Standing opposed to these projections that man will die forever is Elihu. We see a response to this death sentence when Elihu begins telling Job that God (36:16) "has allured you out of distress into a broad place where there is no cramping & what was set on your table was rich food." Part of the rich food set before Job was that God "does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, but with kings upon the throne He sets them FOREVER, & they are exalted." (36:7)

Certainly Elihu's response defends man & stands in opposition against Zophar statement that man "will perish forever like his own dung." We hear his hope for man in v. 33:23-30 when Elihu speaks of the "light of life" for man. Elihu's uplifting words about man stand opposed to the poisonous vitriol that can be recognized in the words of [hasatan], the [spirit of contradiction] & (unwittingly) in the words of the 3 friends.

Life after death is very important in the Book of Job. It is part of the response to the Central Question, 'What is man,' supporting that man can be blameless & upright, fearing God & avoiding evil, whom God can & will justly seat with kings on their thrones forever.

Within this understanding & framework concerning life after death in the Book of Job, the contradictions that the OP points to in Job's responses concerning life after death can be set within a proper framework & understanding. This understanding may be expressed using an analogy. A human author may have a character present contradictory opinions regarding an important & perplexing question in a Book. The point is to examine the different perspectives in an attempt to prepare for the revelation of the resolution to the question.

God has blessed us in the words of Job, as Job presents the implications of his excruciating sufferings & how his lack of understanding as to the reasons for this suffering can lead to loss of all hope. For many, these doubts & thoughts of Job resonate with our own feelings in the face of excruciating suffering. It can be comforting to hear the resonance of our own thoughts & concerns in Scripture. Yet the clear message of the Book stands high above the turmoil & the anguish, that God is so great that we should never call Him to court to justify Himself. After all, Who is like God?!

As part of an aside concerning this issue, 2 things should be noted.

1st - for Catholics (& Orthodox) the affirmation of life after death has already been clearly stated in the Book of Job. The official translation of the Catholic Church, the Latin Vulgate, contains specific statements regarding life after death that are not part of the Masoretic text. (These statements are already described in the other Answers to this post.) These statements together with clear statements of life after death in the Wisdom of Solomon & the Book of Maccabees (both part of the Catholic canon) (& elsewhere) makes it very clear to Catholics that the Book of Job is written with a context confirming life after death.

2nd it should be noted that there is a connection between the discussion of life after death & the existence of angels. Saint Paul noted that the Sadducees did not believe in the Resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit (Acts 23:8.) Angels are spirits & the implication of the existence of spiritual beings means that man's spirit may continue after his bodily death. The existence of angels is not positive proof that there is life after death but it certainly part of the supporting evidence used to support faith in life after death. Angels (sons of God) are mentioned many times in the Book of Job & are supporting evidence that the Book of Job, as clearly stated in the Greek LXX Septuagint, is framed within a faith in the existence of life after death.