Job (biblical figure)
Job is the central figure of the Book of Job in the Bible. In rabbinical literature, Job is called one of the prophets of the Gentiles. In Islam, Job is also considered a prophet.
Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is beset by Satan with God's permission with horrendous disasters that take away all that he holds dear, including his offspring, his health, and his property. He struggles to understand his situation and begins a search for the answers to his difficulties.
In the Hebrew Book of Job
The Hebrew Book of Job is part of Ketuvim of the Jewish Bible. Not much is known about Job based on the Masoretic text of the Jewish Bible.The characters in the Book of Job consist of Job, his wife, his three friends, a man named Elihu, God, and angels.
It begins with an introduction to Job's character—he is described as a blessed man who lives righteously in the Land of Uz. The Lord's praise of Job prompts an angel with the title of "satan" to suggest that Job served God simply because God protected him. God removes Job's protection, and gives permission to the angel to take his wealth, his children, and his physical health. Despite his difficult circumstances, he does not curse God, but rather curses the day of his birth. And although he anguishes over his plight, he stops short of accusing God of injustice. Job's miserable earthly condition is simply God's will.
In the following, Job debates three friends concerning his condition. They argue whether it was justified, and they debate solutions to his problems. Job ultimately condemns all their counsel, beliefs, and critiques of him as false. God then appears to Job and his friends out of a whirlwind, not answering Job's central questions. Job, by staying silent before God, stresses the point that he understands that his affliction is God's will even though he despairs at not knowing why. Job appears faithful without direct knowledge of God and without demands for special attention from God, even for a cause that all others would declare to be just. And the text gives an allusion to : "And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding".
God rebukes the three friends and gives them instruction for remission of sin, followed by Job being restored to an even better condition than his former wealthy state. Job is blessed to have seven sons, and three daughters named Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch. His daughters were said to be the most beautiful women in the land.
In the Greek Old Testament Book of Job
The Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, has a revised and updated final verse that claims Job's genealogy, asserting him to be a grandson of Esau and a ruler of Edom.In other religious texts
In addition to the Book of Job, Job is mentioned in several religious texts:;Judaism:
- He is mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel.
- He is cited as someone "who held fast to all the ways of justice" in the deuterocanonical Sirach.
- He is praised for his perseverance in the Christian Epistle of James.
- He is the protagonist of a pseudepigraphal book called the Testament of Job.
- He is also mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants, one of the four sacred texts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- He is discussed as a prophet in the Quran.
- In the Bahá'í writings: A lengthy tablet was written by Bahá'u'lláh, the first part of which is focused on Job. The Tablet is often referred to as the Tablet of Patience or the Tablet of Job.
Job in Judaism
According to a minority view, Job never existed. In this view, Job was a literary creation by a prophet who used this form of writing to convey a divine message. On the other hand, the Talmud goes to great lengths trying to ascertain when Job actually lived, citing many opinions and interpretations by the leading sages.
Job is further mentioned in the Talmud as follows:
- Job's resignation to his fate.
- When Job was prosperous, anyone who associated with him even to buy from him or sell to him, was blessed.
- Job's reward for being generous
- David, Job and Ezekiel described the Torah's length without putting a number to it.
- Job was in fact one of three advisors that Pharaoh consulted, prior to taking action against the increasingly multiplying Israelites in the Book of Exodus. As described in the Talmud: Balaam urged Pharaoh to kill the Hebrew new-born boys; Jethro opposed this decree; and Job, though personally opposed to the decree, kept silent and did not protest it. It is for Job's silence that God subsequently punishes him with his bitter afflictions. However, the Book of Job itself contains no indication of this, and to the prophet Ezekiel, Yahweh refers to Job as a righteous man of the same calibre as Noah and Daniel.
Christian views
Job's declaration, "I know that my redeemer liveth", is considered by some Christians to be a proto-Christian reference to Christ as the Redeemer, and is the basis of several Christian hymns, as well as the opening scene of Part III of Handel's Messiah. However, Jewish bible commentators and scholars point out that Job "insists on a divine hearing in his lifetime".
He is commemorated by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in their Calendar of Saints on May 9, by the Roman Catholic Church on May 10, and by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches on May 6.
He is also commemorated by the Armenian Apostolic Church on May 6 and December 26, and by the Coptic Orthodox Church on April 27 and August 29.
Islamic views and Quranic account
In the Qur'an, Job is considered a prophet in Islam. The narrative frame of Job's story in Islam is similar to the Hebrew Bible story but, in Islam, the emphasis is paid to Job remaining steadfast to God and there is no record of his bitterness or defiance, or mention of lengthy discussions with friends. Some Muslim commentators also spoke of Job as being the ancestor of the Romans.Muslim literature also comments on Job's time and place of prophecy, saying that he came after Joseph in the prophetic series and that he preached to his own people rather than being sent to a specified community. Tradition further recounts that Job will be the leader of the group of "those who patiently endured" in Heaven. Philip K. Hitti asserted that the subject was an Arab and the setting was Northern Arabia.
The Qur'an mentions Job's narrative in a concise manner. Similar to the Hebrew Bible narrative, Islamic tradition mentions that Satan heard the angels of God speak of Job as being the most faithful man of his generation. Job, being a chosen prophet of God, would remain committed in daily prayer and would frequently call to God, thanking God for blessing him with abundant wealth and a large family. But Satan planned to turn the God-fearing Job away from God and wanted Job to fall into disbelief and corruption. Therefore, God allowed Satan to afflict Job with distress and intense illness and suffering, as God knew that Job would never turn away from his Lord.
The Qur'an describes Job as a righteous servant of Allah, who was afflicted by suffering for a lengthy period of time. However, it clearly states that Job never lost faith in God and forever called to God in prayer, asking him to remove his affliction:
The narrative goes on to state that after many years of suffering, God ordered Job to "Strike with thy foot!". At once, Job struck the ground with his foot and God caused a cool spring of water to gush forth from the Earth, from which Job could replenish himself. The Qur'an says that it was then that God removed his pain and suffering and He returned Job's family to him, blessed him with many generations of descendants and granted him great wealth. In addition to the brief descriptions of Job's narrative, the Qur'an further mentions Job twice in the lists of those whom God had given special guidance, wisdom and inspiration and as one of the men who received authority, the Book and the gift of prophethood.
Local traditions regarding Job
There are at least two locations that claim to be the place of Job's ordeal, and at least three that claim to have his tomb.The Eyüp Sultan Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, holds the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, a companion of Muhammad, not the Biblical/Qur'anic Job, though some locals tend to conflate the two.
Israel and Palestine
In Palestinian folk tradition, Job's place of trial is Al-Jura, or Al-Joura, a village outside the town of Al-Majdal. It was there God rewarded him with a fountain of youth that removed whatever illnesses he had, and gave him back his youth.To the northwest of the depopulated Palestinian village of Dayr Ayyub is an area which, according to the village belief, contained the tomb of the prophet Ayyub, the Biblical Job.
In the area of Tabgha, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, a few sites are associated by local tradition with the life of Ayyub. A small grotto near the base of what is known to Christians as the Mount of Beatitudes, or Mount Eremos, is known as Mghraret Ayub. Two of the towers built in the Byzantine period to collect the water of the Heptapegon springs are named in Arabic Tannur Ayub and Hammam Ayyub. Hammam Ayyub was initially called "the Leper's Bath", but the leper was later identified with Job; the nearby spring, now a waterfall, is known as Ain Ayub, "Job's Spring".