Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Job
Patriarchal era, c. 2000 BC
- Section
- Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
- Events span
- Patriarchal era, c. 2000 BC
- Written
- c. 15th century BC or earlier critical view: c. 6th–4th century BC
- Author
- Unknown (traditionally Moses or Job) critical view: An anonymous poet, c. 6th–4th century BC
Job, a blameless and wealthy man, loses everything in a heavenly test of his faith. Through long cycles of debate with friends who insist his suffering must be punishment, he wrestles with why the righteous suffer — until God answers not with reasons but with himself.
Chronological placement: Set in the patriarchal era (c. 2000 BC) — Job's wealth in livestock, long life, and the absence of any mention of Israel or the law place him around the time of the patriarchs.
Key themes
- Undeserved suffering
- Faith under trial
- God's sovereignty and wisdom
- The limits of human understanding
- Redemption and restoration
Structure & key moments
- In heaven God permits Satan to test Job by taking his wealth and children; Job still worships
- Satan afflicts Job with painful sores; his wife says "curse God and die," but Job holds fast
- Three friends — Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar — come to comfort him and sit silent for seven days
- Job breaks the silence, cursing the day of his birth and longing for death
- Three cycles of debate: the friends insist Job's suffering must be punishment for sin
- Job maintains his innocence and pleads for a hearing with God, trusting that his redeemer lives
- The young man Elihu rebukes both Job and his friends
- God answers Job out of the whirlwind, questioning him about the wonders of creation
- Job repents in dust and ashes; God rebukes the friends and restores Job's fortunes twofold
“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:”