Exam 2 Content Overview

Job

Blameless and upright man from Uz (1:1) who loses everything. Prose frame shows him patient; the poetry shows him protesting and demanding a hearing from God.

Eliphaz the Temanite

First and most senior friend (Job 4-5, 15, 22). Argues from experience and a night vision (4:12-16). Moves from gentle to accusing; names specific sins in Round Three.

Bildad the Shuhite

Friend who argues from tradition and earlier generations (Job 8, 18, 25). Asks "Does God pervert justice?" (8:3). Hints Job's children sinned (8:4).

Zophar the Naamathite

Bluntest friend (Job 11, 20). Says Job is getting less than he deserves (11:6). Has no speech in Round Three.

Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite

Younger speaker who interrupts in Job 32-37. Angry at Job and the friends (32:2-5). Not in the prologue or epilogue and never mentioned again.

The Satan (ha-satan, the accuser)

Member of the divine council in the prologue who challenges whether Job is pious for nothing (1:9). Appears only in Job 1-2; absent from the poetry and whirlwind speeches.

Job's wife

Tells Job to "curse God and die" (2:9). Mentioned again in 19:17.

Jemimah, Keziah, Keren-happuch

Job's three daughters in the epilogue (42:14), who receive an inheritance with their brothers (42:15).

Uz

Job's non-Israelite homeland (1:1). The friends are also not described as Israelites; Elihu is closer to Israel by lineage.

Go'el (redeemer)

Kinsman who buys back land or family members or avenges a relative (Leviticus 25). Job hopes for one in 19:25. Debate: is it God, and how can God be both adversary and vindicator?

Vindicator

Someone who clears a person's name. Job hopes for one in 16:19 and 19:25-27.

Umpire / arbiter

Neutral party to judge between Job and God (9:33). Job says there is none.

Theodicy

Attempt to explain how a good and powerful God allows suffering and evil. The central issue of Job.

Doctrine of retribution

View that the righteous prosper and the wicked suffer; mechanical "good deed = reward" system. The friends' default view.

Disinterested piety

Piety that does not depend on reward. The prologue's test: does Job fear God for nothing? (1:9). Associated with Ginsberg and Tsevat.

Wisdom literature

Books like Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes exploring how to live well and how the world works. Proverbs leans toward retribution; Job and Ecclesiastes critique it.

Qohelet

Speaker in Ecclesiastes. His skepticism (death comes to all alike) is echoed in Job 21:23-26.

Woman Wisdom

Wisdom personified as a woman in Proverbs 1-9, present with God from the beginning. Compare Job 28. Her counterpart is the Strange Woman.

Theophany

Appearance of God. The whirlwind speeches (38-41) are a theophany.

Whirlwind

Storm out of which God speaks to Job (38:1; 40:6). Contrast with the friends "speaking wind" and Elijah's quiet voice (1 Kings 19).

Legal / lawsuit language

Legal metaphor throughout the dialogue: Job wants to bring a case against God; 31:35-37 is his formal "signature." God's "gird up your loins" (38:3) summons Job to answer.

Behemoth

Huge land creature in God's second speech (40:15-24), commonly thought to be a hippopotamus. Made by God; Job cannot subdue it.

Leviathan

Sea monster symbolizing chaos (Job 3:8; 41; Psalm 74:14). God controls it like a pet; only God can.

Chaos monster

Mythic sea creature representing disorder. God's mastery of it shows control over forces Job cannot handle.

Monolatry

Worship of one God while allowing that other gods exist.

Monotheism

Belief that only one God exists. Exile-era Israel moved toward this, raising the problem of God's responsibility for evil.

Babylonian Exile

6th-century BCE deportation of Judeans; a likely background for the book's theological questions.

Prologue / epilogue (frame story)

Prose sections in Job 1-2 and 42:7-17, often thought to come from an older folktale.

Folktale (in Job)

Traditional story underlying the prose frame, with a patient, proverbial Job.

Historical-critical approach

Reads the text by reconstructing layers, authorship, and sources. Sees Job 28, Elihu, and the accuser scenes as possible later additions.

Literary-critical approach

Reads the text as a unified work and asks about its structure, voices, and effect.

Rhetorical question

Question asked for effect rather than information. God's questions in 38-41 are mostly this type; class asked whether they are answerable.

Parody

Imitation for critical effect. Job 7:17-18 parodies Psalm 8:4.

Escalation

Intensifying tone and accusation across the speeches; marks a real dialogue rather than a word salad.

Word salad vs. genuine dialogue

Class framing for whether the speeches truly respond to one another.

"Let that day be darkness" (3:4)

Job's curse on the day of his birth; begins the poetic dialogue.

"Why is light given to the miserable?" (3:20)

Job's question of why life is given to those in misery.

"Who that was innocent ever perished?" (4:7)

Eliphaz's retribution claim.

"Can mortals be righteous before God?" (4:17)

Eliphaz's claim that no human is pure.

"Happy is the one whom God reproves" (5:17)

Eliphaz's view of suffering as discipline.

"My companions are treacherous like a torrent bed" (6:15)

Job accuses his friends of being unreliable like a dry wadi.

"What are human beings that you make so much of them?" (7:17)

Job's reversal of Psalm 8.

"Does God pervert justice?" (8:3)

Bildad's rhetorical defense of God.

"There is no umpire between us" (9:33)

Job laments he has no one to arbitrate between him and God.

"I have understanding as well as you" (12:3)

Job rejects the friends' claim to superior wisdom.

"I would speak to the Almighty and argue my case with God" (13:3)

Job's wish for a hearing.

"Though he slay me" (13:15)

Debated verse: either "I will trust him" or "I have no hope."

Tree with hope (14:7-12)

A cut tree can sprout again, but humans do not rise.

"Are you the firstborn of the human race?" (15:7-8)

Eliphaz sarcastically questions Job's wisdom and asks if he listened in God's council.

"Miserable comforters" (16:2)

Job's description of the friends.

"My witness is in heaven" (16:19)

Job's hope for a heavenly advocate.

"I know that my redeemer lives" (19:25)

Job's hope in a go'el; debated meaning, possibly vindication or resurrection.

"Have pity on me" (19:21)

Job pleads with his friends while asserting innocence.

"Why do the wicked live on?" (21:7)

Job counters the retribution doctrine by pointing to the wicked who prosper.

"Fear of the Lord is wisdom" (28:28)

Conclusion of the wisdom poem; echoes Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10.

"Let me be weighed in a just balance" (31:6)

Job invites God to evaluate him.

"The words of Job are ended" (31:40)

End of Job's speeches; sets up Elihu and God.

"Who is this that darkens counsel?" (38:2)

God's opening challenge to Job.

"Gird up your loins like a man" (38:3)

God summons Job like a legal opponent.

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (38:4)

God's creation challenge; humans are not the center of creation.

"I am of small account; I lay my hand on my mouth" (40:4)

Job's first reply; he will say no more. Echoes 29:9.

"Will you condemn me that you may be justified?" (40:8)

God accuses Job of putting his own righteousness above God's.

"My eye sees you" (42:5)

Job says he has now seen God, not just heard of God.

"Dust and ashes" (42:6)

Job's final phrase; debated whether mourning, humility, or the human condition. Compare Genesis 18:27.

"You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has" (42:7)

God's verdict in the epilogue; puzzling given Job's harsh complaints.

"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away" (1:21)

Patient Job's response in the prologue.

"Does Job fear God for nothing?" (1:9)

The accuser's challenge that begins the test.

H.L. Ginsberg

Wrote "Job the Patient and Job the Impatient" (1967). Argues the prose frame and the poem present two different Jobs.

Job the Patient

Prose Job who accepts suffering; referenced in James 5:11.

Job the Impatient (the Protestor)

Poetic Job who questions God and demands answers.

Tsevat

Wrote "The Meaning of the Book of Job." Argues God is not bound by human justice; retributive justice does not describe God's governance.

Radical monotheism (Tsevat)

God is worshipped because God is God, not because God dispenses rewards. Fear of God means awe.

Psalm 8

Praise that God cares about humans; parodied in Job 7:17-18.

Psalm 74

God defeating Leviathan and the sea at creation; background for Job 3:8 and 41.

Psalms 9-10

The wicked prosper and the poor cry out; compare Job 21. 9:18: the needy will not be forgotten.

Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10

"Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"; echoed in Job 28:28.

Ecclesiastes

Skeptical wisdom; death comes to all; echoed in Job 21.

Deuteronomy 8:2-5 and Numbers 14:26-36

Suffering as discipline or correction (compare Job 5:17-18).

Deuteronomy 15:7-11, Psalm 70:5, Proverbs 19:1

The righteous poor remain righteous.

Genesis 15:13-16 and Exodus 2:23-25

Suffering without stated sin (Israelites in Egypt).

Leviticus 25

Kinsman redeemer; background for go'el.

Ezekiel 14:14, 20

Job named as a righteous figure beside Noah and Daniel.

James 5:11

Refers to Job's endurance (Job the Patient).

Genesis 18:27

Abraham: "I am but dust and ashes"; compare Job 42:6.

1 Kings 19

Elijah and the still small voice; contrast with the whirlwind.

First vs. second whirlwind speech

First (38:1-40:5): cosmic order, creation, wild animals, God controls chaos. Second (40:6-41:34): moral order, God's justice, Behemoth and Leviathan, challenge to Job's role.

Job's first vs. second reply

First (40:3-5): small account, hand on mouth, nothing more to say. Second (42:1-6): acknowledges God's power, admits speaking without understanding, "dust and ashes."

Round One vs. Two vs. Three

One (3-14): lament and first challenges. Two (15-21): hurt, anger, redeemer, wicked prosper. Three (22-31): explicit accusations, wisdom poem, final oath.

Friends vs. Elihu

Friends: retribution, tradition, experience. Elihu: suffering as warning and instruction; quotes Job directly; leads into the storm.

Prologue Job vs. poetic Job

Patient, accepts loss, versus impatient, complains and demands a trial.

Behemoth vs. Leviathan

Land creature versus sea monster; both show God's control of beings Job cannot manage.

Does God answer Job? (five views)

Puts Job in his place; redirects his perspective; shows sympathy by presence; is a non-answer; answer by presence (God is not bound by a human desert equation).