On the form of the Book of Job

Abstract

"The Book of Job is noted for its formidable critical problems over and above the basic question of its date and provenance. It is safe to say that none of these has been yet answered in a perfectly satisfactory way. Let us take four or five examples of problems which have always been obvious to any critical observer. What is the relationship between the apparently simple story of the Prologue and Epilogue, on the one hand, and the highly formal and stylised material in the remainder of the book, so different in manner and even in vocabulary, as is exemplified supremely ID their use of the names of God? What has happened to the third cycle of speeches in chs. 22-31? Why, in what sense, and with what qualifications or condition was Job vindicated; in other words, what are we to make of the apparent implausibility of God's final judgment in view of what had been said before? Again-which may be regarded as another aspect of the previous point, or which. may raise other issues-is the Job who figures as one of the thre righteous men in Ezekiel 14: 14 the same as the Job in the book of that name? Finally, who is Elihu and what is the function of his speeches?"