Week 2

We are now beginning Week #2. I've been hearing great reports from people regarding their reading. Keep up the good work!


Topic of Interest:

* We were introduced to Job by way of being a man from the land of Uz. It was common in early civilization for peoples, regions, and cities to be named after the founder or conquerer. Noah was the father of Shem [from which derives the word Semite]. Shem was the father of Aram [the land of Syria/Mesopotamia was known as Aram]. Aram was the father of Uz. While it can't be definitively proven, it is an interesting proposal that Job may have been a descendent of Shem, from whom the Israelites descended [see Gen 11 - lineage from Noah to Abraham].


Point to consider:

While the book of Job is placed in the Poetry & Writings division of the bible due to it's impressive poetic style, it is placed early in this chronological reading due to many internal evidences of the text. Among the evidence, Job's position as patriarch, acting as priest, and offering burnt sacrifices for his family (Job 1:5) places him socially within the Patriarch Era. Abraham also lived within this period around 2100 BC. While we don't know Job's age when he suffered his losses, we are told that afterwards he lived an additional 140 years (Job 42:16). This would make Job's lifespan equivalent to the generations just prior to Abraham who lived a sum of 175 years. At the very least, Job was contemporary with Abraham.

A few things to note about the text are although Job acknowledges Adam and the Great Flood, there is an absence of Jewish references like the Exodus or references to the Law despite all of the arguments of sin and "right and wrong". Abraham was the first Jew (2100 BC), and the Law wasn't given until the time of Moses (1440 BC). Further, there is nothing to demand Job be Jewish. God has had followers all through time prior to the Jewish nation. A few examples are that Enoch walked with God until God took him, that Noah was found righteous, Abraham was found righteous, and Abraham encountered Melchizedek who was both king of Salem and "priest of the Most High God".

Authorship of the book is unknown. While Job himself is a contender for authorship, there are several theories that include Moses to a more liberal theory of an unknown Jew who lived several centuries BC. Regardless of the identity of the author, it is widely accepted to be one of the oldest books of the bible if not the oldest. This brings us to the point to consider.

Job 19:25-27 - For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

It is evident that the concepts of God as Redeemer (Luke 1:68), God physically coming at the end of the earth (Rev 20:4), and a bodily resurrection of the righteous (1 Corinthians, 15:52, Rev 20:6) were not unknown to man even in these early millenia, long before the prophets were sent by God to Israel. Neither is it a concept new with the Christian age.

If Job is indeed the oldest book of the bible, it predates the recording of the redemption prophecy of Genesis 3 that we looked at last week. If it isn't, it still shows the consistency of the message of the bible.

"After my skin is destroyed...in my flesh I shall see God."