Old Testament

Job

Job is the story of a blameless man who loses his wealth, his children and his health, and of the long argument that follows with three friends who insist he must have sinned. Job protests his innocence and demands a hearing with God, and God finally answers out of the whirlwind, not with an explanation but with a vision of His wisdom and rule over all creation. It belongs in the Bible because it refuses easy answers to innocent suffering, shows that the righteous may suffer without cause, and teaches that God can be trusted when His reasons are hidden.

Author: The author is unknown, and the book never names one. Jewish tradition suggested Moses, among others; most readers today simply admit we do not know.
Audience: Israel's faithful, and especially those tempted to think that suffering always proves guilt. Job himself is not presented as an Israelite, which gives the book a wide human reach.
When: The story has the feel of the patriarchal age: wealth counted in herds, Job offering sacrifice as head of his family, and a lifespan of well over a century (42:16). When the book was written is uncertain, with proposals ranging from Solomon's time to after the exile.
Where: The land of Uz, east of Israel and perhaps linked with Edom (Lamentations 4:21). The prologue also opens a scene in the heavenly court.
Genre: Job is wisdom literature framed by a prose story (chapters 1–2 and 42:7–17) around long poetic speeches. Most of the book is debate in poetry: Job and his friends speak in rounds, then Elihu, then God. Because the narrator tells readers at the start that Job is innocent, the speeches are meant to be weighed, not simply believed; the friends say many true things that God finally says were not right about Him (42:7). Read the poetry slowly, follow the argument, and keep the prologue and the verdict of 42:7 in view.

Shape of the book

Prologue in Heaven and on Earth · ch 1–2God points to His blameless servant, the accuser claims Job's faith is bought, Job loses everything and is struck with sores, yet does not curse God; three friends come and sit in silence.
Job's Lament and the First Round · ch 3–14Job curses the day of his birth; Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar each argue that God punishes the wicked, and Job answers that he is innocent and longs for an arbiter between himself and God.
The Second Round · ch 15–21The friends paint the fate of the wicked more sharply, while Job, mocked and isolated, hopes for a witness in heaven and declares that his Redeemer lives, then denies that the wicked always fall.
The Third Round, the Wisdom Poem and Job's Oath · ch 22–31Eliphaz accuses Job of great sins, Bildad's speech shrinks to six verses and Zophar falls silent, a poem asks where wisdom can be found, and Job recalls his former life and swears his innocence.
Elihu Speaks · ch 32–37A younger man, angry with Job and the friends alike, argues that God speaks through suffering to warn and restore, and closes with a storm that prepares for God's appearing.
The LORD Answers From the Whirlwind · ch 38–41God questions Job about creation, weather and wild animals, then about Behemoth and Leviathan, showing a wisdom and rule far beyond Job's grasp; Job puts his hand over his mouth.
Job's Reply and the Epilogue · ch 42Job confesses he spoke of things too wonderful for him; God rebukes the friends for not speaking rightly about Him, Job prays for them, and his fortunes are restored double.

Themes

Does Job Fear God for Nothing?. The accuser's question () sets the test: is faith in God real when blessing is removed, or is it a deal? Job's refusal to curse God (; ), even while he protests bitterly, answers it. Faith that holds on to God when nothing is gained shows that God is worth trusting for His own sake.
Suffering Is Not Always Punishment. The friends reason from suffering back to sin: if Job is in pain, he must be guilty (; ; ). The prologue has already shown that this is false in Job's case, and God's verdict in confirms it. The book does not deny that sin brings judgment; it denies that every sorrow is a sentence.
Honest Lament Within Faith. Job curses his birthday, accuses God of treating him as an enemy, and demands a hearing (; ; ). Yet he keeps speaking to God rather than about Him, and God says Job spoke rightly, unlike the friends (). Lament is not the opposite of faith.
A Mediator, a Witness, a Redeemer. Job longs for someone to stand between God and man (), hopes for a witness in heaven (), and declares that his Redeemer lives and will stand on the earth (). These cries rise from his sense that he needs someone to plead his case with God.
Wisdom Belongs to God. says humans can mine gold from deep in the earth but cannot dig out wisdom; only God knows its place, and for humans the fear of the Lord is wisdom (). God's speeches show the same truth on a vast scale: He rules a world much larger than human understanding, including its wild and fearsome parts.

Where Christ is

Job is not a prophecy of Christ, but the New Testament answers the longings Job voices. He asks for a mediator, a witness, a guarantor and a living Redeemer, and the gospel names Jesus as the one mediator between God and men. Job is also an innocent sufferer whom God calls 'My servant,' an echo of the one truly sinless Servant who suffered without cause and was vindicated.

The Mediator Job Longed For. Fulfillment of a longing. Job cries that there is no arbiter to lay a hand on both God and man (), and hopes for an advocate in heaven (). Paul names one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, and John calls Him our advocate with the Father. (; ; ; ; )
I Know That My Redeemer Lives. Echo with a long Christian reading. The go'el was the kinsman who defended or rescued a family member, and in context Job most likely means God Himself as his vindicator (). Christians have long heard here a hope fulfilled in Christ, the living Redeemer who rose and will appear again. (; ; ; )
The Innocent Servant Who Suffers Without Cause. Echo. God says Job was ruined 'without cause' (), and Job is struck, mocked and spat upon (; ). Jesus applied to Himself the psalm about being hated without cause, and He suffered as the sinless one, though unlike Job He suffered for others. (; ; ; ; )
If a Man Dies, Will He Live Again?. Fulfillment. Job asks whether the dead will live again () and wishes for a hope like a cut tree that sprouts again (). The resurrection of Jesus answers him: Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (; ; )
Endurance and the Lord's Purpose. New Testament reading. James points to Job's endurance and to the outcome the Lord brought about, showing that He is full of compassion and mercy. Job praying for the friends who wronged him () also echoes Christ, who prayed for those who crucified Him and lives to intercede. (; ; ; )

Voices

Gregory the Great. His long Moralia on Job reads the book on several levels, the literal story, the allegory of Christ and the church, and moral teaching for the Christian life, and it shaped Western reading of Job for centuries. More from Gregory the Great at CCEL ↗
John Calvin. In his sermons on Job he observes that Job had a good cause but argued it badly, while the friends argued a bad cause with fine-sounding words, so readers must judge each speech by the truth rather than by its eloquence.

Reading well, key terms and common misreadings

Read it well

Keep the prologue in mind at every turn. You know what Job and the friends do not: his suffering is not punishment.
Read 42:7 before judging any speech. The friends say many true things about God, and Paul even quotes Eliphaz (1 Corinthians 3:19, from Job 5:13), but God says their application to Job was not right.
Follow the shape of the dialogue. The rounds break down in the third cycle, with Bildad's six-verse speech and no third speech from Zophar, as if the friends have run out of answers.
Expect long poetry with hard Hebrew. Translations differ in places such as 19:25–27 and 42:6, so comparing versions can help.
Notice what God does not say in chapters 38–41. He never explains the heavenly scene, never accuses Job of the friends' charges, and never calls him wicked; He changes Job's view of the world and of himself.

Key terms

Blameless תָּם (tam) — Whole, sound, of undivided integrity, not sinless. The narrator (1:1) and God (1:8; 2:3) use it of Job, so the book's verdict on his character is given before the argument begins.
The accuser, Satan הַשָּׂטָן (hassatan) — With the article, 'the adversary' or 'the accuser.' He must present himself before the LORD and can act only within the limits God sets (1:12; 2:6).
For nothing, without cause חִנָּם (chinnam) — The accuser asks whether Job fears God 'for nothing' (1:9), and God says Job was ruined 'without cause' (2:3). The same word frames the test: faith without payment, suffering without guilt.
Redeemer גֹּאֵל (go'el) — The near kinsman who buys back, defends or avenges a family member (Leviticus 25:25; Ruth 4:4–6). Job uses it of the one who will vindicate him (19:25).
Wisdom חָכְמָה (chokmah) — Skill in living rightly in God's world, and the deep order behind creation. Chapter 28 says it is hidden from humans and known by God alone.
The Almighty שַׁדַּי (Shaddai) — An ancient name for God used about thirty times in Job's speeches. The covenant name, the LORD, is used in the prose frame and returns when God speaks (38:1), but is almost absent from the dialogues.

Easy to misread

Treating the friends' speeches as straightforward teaching. They speak a theology of strict reward and punishment that God rejects as applied to Job (42:7). Their words must be weighed against the whole book.
Concluding that all suffering is punishment for personal sin. Job's story contradicts it, and so does Jesus when His disciples ask who sinned that a man was born blind (John 9:2–3).
Reading the restored fortunes as a promise of prosperity to the faithful. The restoration is God's free gift after Job meets Him and prays for his friends; it is not a payment that proves the friends right, and it does not undo the loss of his first children.
Thinking Job's 'patience' means calm acceptance. Job protests loudly. James praises his endurance (James 5:11): he held on to God through anger and grief and did not let go.

Further reading: David Guzik, Enduring Word · Matthew Henry on CCEL · BibleProject overview video

Job