“It's interesting that the Lord puts Job in the list of "righteous" people with Daniel and Noah”
doesn't that point sort of seal the deal showing us he was a real live muchacho ?
“though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.”
Ezekiel 14:14 KJV
God is not commending a poem saying the poem could have delivered its own soul I’m convinced job was an actual amigo !!
of course then … “maybe Daniel is just a poem too and Noah Jesus maybe he’s just a creative writing ect ect there’s no end in the world to reasons why we shouldn’t believe the Bible to be true
From science to science fiction to logic and rational thought and evidence ect but blessed are they who hear and believe the gospel though they haven’t seen there’s proof but it’s not for the ones who choose the world it’s within the believer who hears and grabs hold of his word of promise and life given to all those in a sinking boat
I've always appreciated your down-to-earth postings, Pilgrim! This one put a smile on my face with your "muchacho" and "amigo" references. Job strikes me as a "simple man" like the two of us who are trying to muddle our way through this challenging life as best we can.
And, I think you're touching on an important point as we study God's Word, the Holy Bible: either we take God at His Word or we don't. That's one of the biggest problems I've seen with secular scholarship - they can't grasp the spiritual elements and draw upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and faith as we seek a deeper understanding of our relationship with God and His Word.
The evidence looks pretty convincing to me that Job lived around ~2500 B.C., which is before Abraham. I'm curious how Job's experiences were actually documented because writing was quite sparse to non-existent back then. A lot of these stories were passed down through oral tradition from generation-to-generation.
The idea of Moses actually compiling the original "documentation" for Job makes sense to me. I find it intriguing that Job doesn't appear in at least the original texts of the Old Testament until Ezekiel's time or shortly thereafter. I did a little reading about Ezekiel, and he was not only a prophet; he had a priestly background as well. I wonder if the original text for Job was in the library of texts that the priests were responsible for, and it didn't actually get published for a wider audience until the Babylonian exile/return to Palestine era for the Jews?
I suspect there was revision that took place to Job during that era where Persia and Greece were the powerhouses because that's when some of the great classical poetry, drama, and literature was produced. I haven't seen any convincing evidence to support this other than the fact that reading Job reminds me so much of reading the
Iliad and
Odyssey, for example.
The structure of a prologue and epilogue sandwiching in sophisticated drama, poetry, and prose was an art the Greeks in particular became masters at, and it has influenced our art and writing to the present day. I'm not saying this couldn't have been accomplished back in Job's day or even Moses' (with God all things are possible). But, I'm pretty certain that there was at least some level of revision inspired by the Holy Spirit back in that 300-600 B.C. to Job as we know it today.
The fact that it was canonized shows its authenticity in the Writings of the OT for sure! And, James gives Job credence and credibility in the NT as well. I absolutely love this book, one of my favorites in the Bible!