Video Transcript: Introduction to Job

By having taken a look at the variety of techniques of Hebrew poetry and some of the outlines of the  books in the wisdom literature, let's get more specifically into the book of Job itself. The Book of Job  has a very specific context, the historical setting, which helps us understand what the story is all about.  The location is somewhere in the land of Mesopotamia, which is the land of it's called the Land of Uz  or the people of the East. What does that mean? Mesopotamia, is a term that signifies the land between  the waters, I don't know if you've ever thought about what the term hippopotamus means. But hippo is  the Greek word for horse. And potamoi is the Greek word for river. So hippopotamus is essentially a  river horse. And when we read Mesopotamia, when we use that term, we're talking about potamoi,  which is waters, and meso it which means between so the land between the waters, the land between  the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, what would be today, the northern part of Iraq, you can see it on a map, you can see that this is part of the, what we call the ancient Fertile Crescent, which extends in a big arc  through most of what's today Iraq and Syria. And then down the coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward  Egypt. This was the largest grain producing area in the ancient world, the place where many of the  ancient civilizations got their start or their self understanding. And somehow the references in the book  of Job are to something that takes place in the Fertile Crescent, in Mesopotamia, in the land between  the rivers, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There are some who suspect that it could be  references to what we now call Yemen, or the Sinai Peninsula, further south. But those are all  speculation. Most think that it happens somewhere in what we would say is the central or northern part  of Iraq today, in the same area from which Abraham emerged roughly about the same time. The setting  is similar to that of Abraham, probably during the patriarchal period of Genesis, the time of Abraham,  Isaac and Jacob, roughly 2000 BC, it assumes an agrarian patriarchal society, that simply means that  people are generally sustaining themselves by way of agriculture, that sometimes they're traveling but  in this case, they're probably more settled, and that males tend to give leadership to the community. So  Job is seen to be the dominant male in his community. His life is primarily shaped by the agrarian  society, he's got herds, he's got vineyards, he's got produce coming in, and his wealth is derived from  those things. The events of the first couple of chapters show Job in that land, the land of Uz and then  describe his character. We're told several things about Job. We're told, for instance, that he's blameless.  In other words, he feared God and shunned evil is the translation in my Bible. He responded to the  Creator, knowing that there were other powers around or other perspectives or other value systems, he  feared God and he chose not to respond to those powers or expressions of values and worship that took  on other connotations. He was rich. This is one of the things we most often think about when we think  about Job. He had many children, and he had a lot of possessions. He had herds, he had servants, he  had buildings, he had cattle, he had vineyards, he was acknowledged as one of the most wealthy  persons in the entire neighborhood. And what's interesting, were not only told that he was blameless,  and that he was rich, but that he was proactive about his relationship with God. In verses four and five  of chapter one, we're told that he initiated sacrifices, even when there was no specific evidence of  wrongdoing. When his children, for instance, had times that they got together and had parties. He  would offer sacrifices of atonement for them. After the fact, on the chance that they might have said  something or done something that was inappropriate. And that becomes the claim to spiritual fame for  Job. He's not only one who responds to God, or responds to evil by pushing it away. But he proactively  tries to live his life in a manner in which evil is reduced in its power and its significance. And God is  magnified in worship and understanding of control. And that leads to the very situation that we find. So typical when we think about Job. Job is tormented. After a discussion takes place in heaven, about Job,  everything is taken away from him except his life, and his wife. In the first round of things, taking  things away, all of his goods and his children are destroyed in a single day. And then the scene switches back to heaven. And there's this ongoing conversation that we'll talk about next time between God and  Satan. God continues to affirm Job's righteousness. Job's, blamelessness, Job's true spirit and heart. And Satan continues to suggest that these things are not essential to Job's character, but they're only layers  that are added, in order to sort of twist the mind of God and get him to give presents to Job. We'll look 

at that next time. In round two, after this dialogue happens, Satan is given further permission to attack  Job's own health, his health is sapped and he sits in the ash heap. He's pained with sores all over his  body. And then another interlude happens, where Job remains stoic and godly. But his wife gets  annoying and his friends get pastoral. Job's wife says to him, Curse God and die. One option when  these things of ill will happen to individuals, whoever you served, whatever your life was about, it isn't  any good anymore. So you might as well do something else. Certainly the God you were worshiping  isn't worth worshiping. Curse him get on with life or get out of life. And his friends for seven days, sit  around and don't say a thing. They become very pastoral. But that all changes and that becomes the  bulk of the book of Job. The conditions in which this all happens, give rise to connections with other  parts of the Bible. Paul quotes Job in I Corinthians 3 verse 19. And again in Romans 11, verse 35.  Ezekiel and James both refer to Job highlighting him as a great example of righteousness and of  patience. And the book of Job has no parallels in any other culture of the ancient Near East. And this is  kind of surprising, because this we're going to find in Proverbs, there are Proverbs, in our book of  Proverbs, The Bible's Book of Proverbs that are very similar to Proverbs in other societies, particularly  one in a collection found in Egypt. But the setting and story and outcome of the book of Job are unique  to the Bible, the book was written in Hebrew, it's found only in the Hebrew Bible, there are other  parallel ideas that sometimes people point to in other civilizations, but none are even close. There are  similar ideas of people who lose things and, and through circumstances find them again, but nothing  quite like the book of Job. In other words, this is truly, truly a biblical literature, a literature arising  from God's relationship with God's people in the particular frame framework of Israel's existence. This  book was written first in Hebrew, it's translated to other languages, it is not coming from other cultures  or civilizations. It is a biblical worldview. We leave Job in his misery. We'll talk more next time about  what it means for the circumstances to surround him. But the idea of Job's misery causes us to ask  questions just as Job asked, Who brings suffering and misery into our lives? Who's in charge if anyone  is who sets the moral standards for human life? What response or responses can be made to the  struggles that we face? These are all part of the great drama of the book of Job and things will probe  along the way again if you'd like to probe this more fully take a look at my book Covenant Documents: Reading the Bible Again For the First Time.