The Author and Date of The Book of Job

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Disclaimer:
I agree with Barry up to the date of the birth of Abraham. This date is nailed down to just about perfection.
Before then, I would be SUMMING the total years of the patriarchs.
*****WITH EXCEPTIONS***** which brings you back to more or less 10,000 BC. And IMO there are probably gaps in the genealogies.

BTW....the date of the Exodus is 1603 BC give or take a few years +/-. Much earlier than most Bible commentators say.
And the crossing occurred at the GULF OF AQABA. No doubt about it.

 

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More info here.....

https://christianchat.com/threads/how-old-is-our-creation-really.194803/post-4609724

 

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And here.....

https://christianchat.com/threads/c...flood-not-being-universal.180838/post-3781666

 

[cv5]

Disclaimer:
I agree with Barry up to the date of the birth of Abraham. This date is nailed down to just about perfection.
Before then, I would be SUMMING the total years of the patriarchs.
*****WITH EXCEPTIONS***** which brings you back to more or less 10,000 BC. And IMO there are probably gaps in the genealogies.

BTW....the date of the Exodus is 1603 BC give or take a few years +/-. Much earlier than most Bible commentators say.
And the crossing occurred at the GULF OF AQABA. No doubt about it.

Ladies and gentlemen.....summing the patriarchs. Absolutely Biblical. This is the genealogy of Moses.
Just as near east biblical kings and their reginal years were used in creating a "calendar" (which is EVERYWERE in Scripture BTW), so it was with our Bible Patriarchs, who were God's elect representatives on the earth.

Levi 77 years in Egypt

Kohath 133 years in Egypt

Amram 137 years in Egypt

Aaron 83 years in Egypt

430 years total time

1Ch 6:1
The sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
1Ch 6:2
And the sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.
1Ch 6:3
And the children of Amram; Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam. The sons also of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

There are MANY MANY OTHER intervening members of this genealogy. But only the FOUR PATRIARCHES are noted.

 

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And the children of Amram; Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam. The sons also of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

There are MANY MANY OTHER intervening members of this genealogy. But only the FOUR PATRIARCHES are noted.

Proof to be found right here.....430 years of families should equal a very large number, and it does.

Num 26:57
And these are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites: of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites: of Merari, the family of the Merarites.
Num 26:58
These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korathites. And Kohath begat Amram.
Num 26:59
And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
Num 26:60
And unto Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Num 26:61
And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the LORD.
Num 26:62
And those that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, all males from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
Num 26:63
These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
Num 26:64
But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
Num 26:65
For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

 

[SilverFox7]

The colleges I've been blessed to attend have had a broad range of faculty from a multitude of prestigious institutions--great to excellent teachers overall, and some of them are still my friends today (some 30 years later...).

One of my mentors convinced me to pursue a broad-based liberal arts education. So thankful I followed his advice.

I have had a rich experience diving deeply into the scriptures, and God has blessed me with more opportunities than I can pursue in this life.

The Book of Job is one of those rich blessings, and I really appreciate all the great postings within this thread that will keep me busy for quite some time!

There is no pressure at all. I love having in-depth conversations concerning our graceful calling to share the good news with as many people as possible!

 

[SilverFox7]

Job, son of Joktan (brother or Peleg), was contemporary with a son Peleg named Reu.

Gen 11:18
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
Gen 11:19
Gen 11:20
And Reu lived 132 years, and begat Serug:
And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
Gen 11:21
And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

This lifespan of Reu accords well with that of Job (Job lived 248 years).
Reu was born around 2893 BC and died 2554 BC.

We can safely assume that Job wrote his memoirs before he died.
It is inconceivable that anyone else could have penned a Spirit breathed book like Job's is.
Therefore Job was written perhaps 2600 BC give or take. Sometime in the latter years of Job's lifetime.

The timeline is intriguing, and there is no doubt the Book of Job is a literary gift from God. Job himself may have written the original memoirs, and many folktales and legends concerning important people like him got passed down through oral stories/tradition back in ancient times (writing was a very difficult and time-consuming process back then).

The theory that the text we have in our Bibles today was written/revised around 500 B.C. is largely based on the literary structures used throughout the piece (I'm not an expert in this area, but it makes sense based on what I do know about classical literature). It is like a literary sandwich--the beginning and end of Job are prose with the middle filled with incredible poetry. Some scholars believe the ancient character and story about Job was developed into an allegory related to the Babylonian exile of Judah and was composed (revised is probably more accurate) after the Jewish people returned back to their homeland.

However and whenever this book came into fruition, I am very grateful that it was included in the Biblical canon. God gives us glimpses into His realm (e.g. Satan coming before His throne seeking permission to bring suffering on Job and his family), helps us understand the purpose of suffering (doesn't always happen because we have done something wrong), and we are left with the power and glory of our great Creator who blesses us in more ways than I know I can comprehend.

 

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Some scholars believe the ancient character and story about Job was developed into an allegory related to the Babylonian exile of Judah

The liberal critics are a one-hit-wonder.

Because this is the excuse they re-use for all of their folly and fantasies. My former pastor (amillennialist I found out.....bye bye!) conjured up this ridiculous claim time and time again. But he never told his lowly flock. No.....I ingratiated myself to him and found out what he REALLY thought. And he was an unbelieving liberal nutter who literally had no idea (no idea!) of what the Bible is saying, nor the truth of it. He butchered prophecy with abandon and vigor. Totally clueless. Replacement theologian too from what I could tell.

Never.....ever lend credence to some dork who says some book of the bible was conjured up out of thin air by a bunch of rabbi's during the Babylonian captivity when it obviously could not have.

BTW....you tell me if there is the slightest hint of a late date of writing for Job. There is ZERO evidence for that.

 

[SilverFox7]

Barry Setterfield is a superb scholar of all things Biblical and ancient. You would do well to hear what he says.

Job's world (barrysetterfield.org)

Thank you for sharing this video--The Book of Job as an "Ice-age" book is quite fascinating and certainly puts a new twist on contemporary natural history theories.

 

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Thank you for sharing this video--The Book of Job as an "Ice-age" book is quite fascinating and certainly puts a new twist on contemporary natural history theories.

Totally agree buddy. Much of what Barry proposes is spot on and extremely useful to the body of Christ!

I don't agree with everything he has to say.....but thats OK. I know Barry personally (a little bit lol) and he is the real deal.

Research all of his webpages and you will be impressed by The sheer competence of his work.

 

[SilverFox7]

The liberal critics are a one-hit-wonder.

Because this is the excuse they re-use for all of their folly and fantasies. My former pastor (amillennialist I found out.....bye bye!) conjured up this ridiculous claim time and time again. But he never told his lowly flock. No.....I ingratiated myself to him and found out what he REALLY thought. And he was an unbelieving liberal nutter who literally had no idea (no idea!) of what the Bible is saying, nor the truth of it. He butchered prophecy with abandon and vigor. Totally clueless. Replacement theologian too from what I could tell.

Never.....ever lend credence to some dork who says some book of the bible was conjured up out of thin air by a bunch of rabbi's during the Babylonian captivity when it obviously could not have.

BTW....you tell me if there is the slightest hint of a late date of writing for Job. There is ZERO evidence for that.

Even the "experts" can't pin down a date for this book. The Oxford Companion to the Bible states,

"The composition of the Book of Job can be dated to some point between the seventh and second centuries BCE, but hardly more precisely than that."

To suggest that the original composition may have actually been ~2000 years earlier is something that secular scholars could never swallow because they don't recognize the role of divine intervention and inspiration.

 

[SilverFox7]

Totally agree buddy. Much of what Barry proposes is spot on and extremely useful to the body of Christ!

I don't agree with everything he has to say.....but thats OK. I know Barry personally (a little bit lol) and he is the real deal.

Research all of his webpages and you will be impressed by The sheer competence of his work.

I really enjoyed his presentation, and he is an excellent speaker. It sure is fun playing with ideas related to pre-flood history because the documentation is so limited. What will scientists think if the billions of years of earth history are actually only a few thousand years based on God's creation of this beautiful planet. That will take some conversion!

 

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Even the "experts" can't pin down a date for this book. The Oxford Companion to the Bible states,

"The composition of the Book of Job can be dated to some point between the seventh and second centuries BCE, but hardly more precisely than that."

To suggest that the original composition may have actually been ~2000 years earlier is something that secular scholars could never swallow because they don't recognize the role of divine intervention and inspiration.

Of course I am not saying that it wasn't recopied during that time period. It had to have been. But to assume that scribes were going full rogue and hacking the text pieces as they were copying it is absurd, let alone some conspiracy to create a brand-new book and stuff it in the Bible.

 

[Nehemiah6]

To suggest that the original composition may have actually been ~2000 years earlier is something that secular scholars could never swallow because they don't recognize the role of divine intervention and inspiration.

That's right. The "Higher" and "Lower" critics were in fact secular and skeptical and rejected the doctrines of the divine inspiration and preservation of the written Word of God. So they all made up their own "hypotheses", and distorted the way the Bible was written, and the times the various books were written.

As a matter of fact this was an ATTACK on the Word of God. And the liberal mainline denominations swallowed this nonsense hook-line-and sinker because the so-called "scholars" had ruled that the Bible was just another book.

But the book of Job tells us that between 2500 and 2000 B.C. there were people on earth that had great spiritual insights, and that in the eyes of God Job was an outstanding righteous man. Who told Job that he would see Christ face-to-face? Only God could have revealed this to him.

 

[SilverFox7]

That's right. The "Higher" and "Lower" critics were in fact secular and skeptical and rejected the doctrines of the divine inspiration and preservation of the written Word of God. So they all made up their own "hypotheses", and distorted the way the Bible was written, and the times the various books were written.

As a matter of fact this was an ATTACK on the Word of God. And the liberal mainline denominations swallowed this nonsense hook-line-and sinker because the so-called "scholars" had ruled that the Bible was just another book.

But the book of Job tells us that between 2500 and 2000 B.C. there were people on earth that had great spiritual insights, and that in the eyes of God Job was an outstanding righteous man. Who told Job that he would see Christ face-to-face? Only God could have revealed this to him.

I have had exposure to some of these type of "scholars", and their inspiration doesn't come from God. Satan uses these type of people to seed deception and initiate an all out "attack" as you noted on the Word of God.

Some look at the people of early history as simple and perhaps even ignorant. Yet, as you so nicely express, God had a special relationship with His people back then as He does today, and Job certainly illustrates a remarkable spiritual depth that I continue to glean new inspiration from some 35 years after my first introduction to this wonderful book.

 

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I have had exposure to some of these type of "scholars", and their inspiration doesn't come from God. Satan uses these type of people to seed deception and initiate an all out "attack" as you noted on the Word of God.

Some look at the people of early history as simple and perhaps even ignorant. Yet, as you so nicely express, God had a special relationship with His people back then as He does today, and Job certainly illustrates a remarkable spiritual depth that I continue to glean new inspiration from some 35 years after my first introduction to this wonderful book.

Amen. And Barry in exquisite form sheds greater light on this book, much of the which most Christians do not know nor understand.

As for me I truly feel blessed to know these things......

 

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Some look at the people of early history as simple and perhaps even ignorant.

I think that's a ridiculous premise.
There is no reason to think that people thousands of years ago had no capacity for sophisticated thought and deep philosophy.

 

[SilverFox7]

I think that's a ridiculous premise.
There is no reason to think that people thousands of years ago had no capacity for sophisticated thought and deep philosophy.

Victorian literature from Christian authors actually floats out the premise that evolution impacts humans on every level--physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Therefore, people of ancient history are viewed as inferior at all levels to current humans.

A dangerous premise that I would never support unless there was iron clad evidence. I don't see the Bible supporting this theory.

 

[posthuman]

Victorian literature from Christian authors actually floats out the premise that evolution impacts humans on every level--physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Therefore, people of ancient history are viewed as inferior at all levels to current humans.

A dangerous premise that I would never support unless there was iron clad evidence. I don't see the Bible supporting this theory.

i'd say sin impacts humans on every level -- physical, mental, emotional and spiritual

so i would expect the men and women of long ago to be physically superior, mentally superior, emotionally superior and spiritually superior to the average human today, owing to their being much less farther removed from the time when sin was not in the world.

in my view, which i think is also the scriptural view, humankind becomes more and more degraded with the passage of time.
having fancier machines and more access to knowledge certainly does not make us wiser. if anything it may bring about exactly the opposite.

 

[cv5]

Victorian literature from Christian authors actually floats out the premise that evolution impacts humans on every level--physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

As if they would/could/should actually know something as abstruse and nebulous as that to begin with, let alone its abhorrent unbiblical sentiment.