Job
The suffering of a righteous man: God’s chosen one passes through tribulation to restoration.
Job was “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil,” the greatest of all the men of the east (1:1–3). The book lifts the curtain on a scene in heaven that Job never saw. Satan charges that Job serves God only because God has hedged him about with blessing. God permits Satan to test him, and in a single day Job loses his wealth and his ten children; then his body is covered with boils.
Three friends come to comfort him and end by accusing him. Eliphaz argues from experience, Bildad from tradition, and Zophar from dogmatic assumption: suffering must be the result of secret sin. Job maintains his integrity but, in his anguish, begins to justify himself rather than God. A younger man, Elihu, rebukes both sides and points toward God’s purpose in affliction.
Finally the LORD answers out of the whirlwind—not with an explanation of Job’s suffering but with a revelation of Himself. Job repents in dust and ashes, prays for his friends, and the LORD turns his captivity and gives him twice as much as he had before. James draws the lesson: “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (5:11).
Writer: Not named; possibly Job or Elihu
Written: The patriarchal age, probably between 2000 and 1500 BC; the book was known before the Law.
Name: A name associated with affliction; its derivation is not certain
Title and authorship
The book is named for its central character. The meaning of Job (Iyyov) is uncertain; suggestions include “object of enmity,” “persecuted one,” and “where is the father?” The Jews treated it as a personal book, not read publicly in the synagogue calendar.
The author is not named. Elihu speaks in the first person (32:15–17), and some ascribe the book to him; others to Job himself or to Moses, who lived in Midian near Job’s homeland. Whoever held the pen, the Holy Ghost is its Author.
Historical background
The land of Uz, south and east of the Dead Sea on the borders of Edom (Lamentations 4:21), in the patriarchal age, probably between 2000 and 1500 BC. The long life span, the family priesthood of Job, and the absence of any reference to the Law or Israel’s history all point to that period.
Israel and all readers who suffer, taught to trust God’s wisdom when His ways are hidden.
The land of Uz
Uz lay in the region of Edom and northern Arabia. Job’s friends came from nearby: Eliphaz from Teman in Edom, famous for wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7), Bildad the Shuhite from a people descended from Abraham and Keturah, and Zophar the Naamathite. Elihu was a Buzite, a relative of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
Patriarchal age
Job lived 140 years after his trial (42:16), consistent with the life spans of the patriarchs. His wealth was counted in flocks and servants, and he offered burnt offerings as priest of his family (1:5). Some identify him with Jobab, king of Edom (Genesis 36:33), though the traditional chronology does not easily allow it.
Hebrew wisdom poetry
Apart from the prose prologue and epilogue, Job is written in elevated Hebrew poetry with a rich vocabulary, many words appearing nowhere else in the Old Testament. Its dialogues follow three cycles of speeches, with Job answering each friend.
Key passages
Job 1:21
“The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Job 19:25–26
“I know that my redeemer liveth... yet in my flesh shall I see God”—faith in a living Redeemer and a bodily resurrection.
Job 23:8–10
Job cannot find God, yet trusts that “he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Job 23:8–12
Job cannot trace God’s immediate work but holds to his way and treasures his words.
Job 42:5–6
Encounter with God brings humility and repentance rather than self-vindication.
Outline
1–3 · The attack and the grief
Job loses possessions, children, and health; his lament exposes the depth of suffering.
4–37 · The argument about suffering
Friends accuse, Job answers, and Elihu speaks; human explanations repeatedly exceed human knowledge.
38–42 · The Lord answers
God displays his rule over creation; Job is humbled, the friends are corrected, and restoration comes.
Original language
שָׂטָן (ha-satan, H7854) — “Satan”
“The adversary,” with the article in Job 1–2. He appears among the sons of God, accuses Job, and acts only by God’s permission. Revelation 12:10 calls him “the accuser of our brethren.”
גֹּאֵל (go’el, H1350) — “redeemer”
The kinsman-redeemer and avenger. From the ash heap Job confesses a living Go’el who will stand at the latter day upon the earth. Christ is that Redeemer.
תָּם (tam, H8535) — “perfect”
Complete, sound, having integrity—not sinless. Job was “perfect” in the sense of being wholehearted and upright, and he held fast his integrity (tummah, 2:3, 9).
לִוְיָתָן (livyathan, H3882) — “leviathan”
A mighty sea creature described in chapter 41 as “king over all the children of pride.” Isaiah 27:1 calls leviathan “that crooked serpent,” linking the creature with Satan himself.
Doctrinal study
Satan’s access and limits
Job reveals that Satan has access to God’s presence as an accuser, that he can bring calamity through nature, war, and disease, and that he can do nothing beyond God’s permission. Christ’s words to Peter echo the scene: “Satan hath desired to have you... But I have prayed for thee” (Luke 22:31–32).
The resurrection hope
Job asked, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (14:14) and answered with faith: “in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself” (19:26–27). This is one of the earliest and clearest statements of bodily resurrection in Scripture.
Suffering not always punishment
The friends’ theology was simple: God prospers the righteous and punishes the wicked in this life, so Job must be a hidden sinner. God said they had not spoken of Him “the thing that is right” (42:7). Some believers suffer for no fault of their own, and God owes no explanation.
Commentary notes
Science in Job
Job speaks of the earth hanging upon nothing (26:7), the north stretched over the empty place, the water cycle and weight of the winds (26:8; 28:25), the springs of the sea (38:16), the way where light dwells (38:19), and the bands of Orion and the sweet influences of Pleiades (38:31). The Creator’s questions humble every generation’s learning.
Four counselors
Eliphaz, the insightful man, reasons from his own experience and a mysterious vision. Bildad, the scholarly man, appeals to tradition. Zophar, the dogmatic fundamentalist, assumes the worst. Elihu, young and zealous, comes closest to the truth but with self-conceit. Each is a warning to those who would counsel the suffering.
Repentance, not explanation
Job’s restoration came when he saw God: “now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself” (42:5–6). The key to restoration is to be horrified not at one’s trials but at one’s own heart. Genuine repentance is sorrow not only for what we have done but for what we are.
Christ in the book
- Job’s Redeemer who lives and will stand upon the earth (19:25)
- The daysman or mediator Job longed for, who could lay his hand upon both God and man (9:33; 1 Timothy 2:5)
- Job the sufferer, rejected by friends and interceding for them (42:10)
Applications
Historical
- The true story of Job, the greatest of all the men of the east, his tribulation, and his restoration (Ezekiel 14:14, 20; James 5:11).
- Job is presented as a real sufferer; Ezekiel and James later refer to him as a person whose righteousness and endurance matter.
- The opening scenes prevent the reader from assuming that every affliction can be explained by a specific wrongdoing in the sufferer’s life.
Doctrinal
- Job pictures the Jew during the Tribulation—persecuted by the devil, located in the region of Edom where the remnant will be hidden (Revelation 12:6, 14), and restored at the end with double. He also pictures Christ, suffering and separated from God as our substitute, and the lost man whose troubles drive him to the ash heap until he repents.
- The book discloses spiritual conflict beyond ordinary sight and insists that Satan’s activity remains subject to God’s permission.
- Job’s affliction and later restoration supply a typological picture of Israel’s tribulation and restoration; his intercession and suffering also invite comparison with Christ.
Devotional
- Endless practical lessons in dealing with trials biblically; the principles of true and false counseling; and the reality of unseen spiritual warfare that affects life in the physical world.
- Job’s counselors demonstrate the harm caused by applying general truths about God without knowledge of the particular reasons for another person’s suffering.
- Bitterness is answered through humility and prayer, including prayer for those who have injured or misjudged us.
Answering the critics
Critical scholars say Job’s language is too advanced for the patriarchal age and that its supposed awareness of the Mosaic Law requires a much later date; many regard it as a Hebrew morality play rather than history.
Men of the early ages were not less intelligent than modern scholars; they lacked our distractions, not our capacity. Job never mentions the written Law; his sacrifices follow the pattern that goes back to Abel. Scripture treats Job as a real man alongside Noah and Daniel (Ezekiel 14:14) and cites his patience as fact (James 5:11).