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Book of Job Bible Commentary

Job is powerful, artistic, and theologically significant. Luther said it is "magnificent and sublime as no other book of Scripture." Tennyson said it is "the greatest poem whether ancient or modern." Carlyle said, "There is nothing written in the Bible or out of it of equal merit." This book is really about the character of God. The discussion is addressed through the mysterious nexus of: 1. a good, all-powerful God, 2. the consequences of a fallen world (i.e., all people sin) and 3. the Mosaic performance-based covenant which is described as "the two ways" (i.e., Deut. 30:15,19; Psalm 1; Gal. 6:7) but the concept is also common in the Ancient Near East. The real issue is, "Can we trust YHWH in the midst of life's crooked path (human suffering)?" The three friends give the traditional answers; Job says they do not fit his case; Job 28 is the author's (a Judean sage) answer; Elihu gives an answer (Job 32-37); and God gives His answer (Job 38:1-42:6).

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