Commentary on Job 1-21

999 Pages·2013·25.744 MB·English

by  C.L. Seow

Illuminations
C. L. Seow, General Editor
Scott C. Jones, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Judith H. Newman, Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha
Loren Stuckenbruck, New Testament

Job 1-21
Interpretation and Commentary
C. L. Seow
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Grand Rapids, Michigan I Cambridge, U.K.
© 2013 C. L. Seow
All rights reserved
Published 2013 by
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 495051
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.
Printed in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 765432
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Seow, C. L. (Choon Leong)
Job 1-21 : Interpretation and commentary I C. L. Seow.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8028-4895-6 (doth: alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. Job — Commentaries. 2. Bible. O.T. Job — Criticism, Textual.
3. Bible. O.T. Job — Versions. I. Title.
BS1415.53.S46 2013
223'.1O77 — dc23
2012034037
www.eerdmans.com
Dedicated to my family
Lai-King and Hui-Ling

Contents
To the Reader xii
Acknowledgements xiv
Abbreviations and Sigla xvi
Illustrations xxvii
INTRODUCTION 1
i.o Texts and Versions 2
1.1 Hebrew 3
1.1.1 Masoretic Text 3
1.1.2 Qumran Hebrew Texts 5
1.2 Greek 6
1.2.1 OG and the Asterisked Materials 6
1.2.2 New Greek Translations 10
1.3 Vulgate 12
1.4 Aramaic 13
1.4.1 Qumran Aramaic Texts 13
1.4.2 Rabbinic Targum 14
1.5 Syriac 16
2.0 Language 17
2.1 Orthography 17
2.2 Vocabulary and Forms 20
2.3 Late Biblical Hebrew 25
3.0 Integrity 26
3.1 Prose Framework, Poetic Middle 27
3.2 The Third Cycle and Chapter 28 29
3.3 The Elihu Speeches 31
vii
Contents
3.4 YHWH s Response 38
4.0 Provenance 39
5.0 Setting 46
6.0 Genre(s) 47
6.1 Drama 48
6.2 Epic 48
6.3 Didactic Narrative 49
6.4 Exemplary-Sufferer Texts 51
6.5 Dialogue 56
6.6 Lament 56
6.7 Lawsuit 59
6.8 Broader Categories 61
7.0 Structure 65
7.1 Prologue (1:1-2:13) 65
7.2 Dialogue (3:1-31:40) 66
7.3 Mediated Revelation (32:1-37:24) 69
7.4 Unmediated Revelation (38:1-42:6) 70
7.5 Epilogue (42:7-17) 72
8.0 Artistry 74
8.1 Prosody 75
8.2 Closures 77
8.3 Parallelism 78
8.4 Wordplays 80
8.5 Alliteration 81
8.6 Irony 82
8.7 Parody 83
8.8 Imagery 84
8.9 Personification 86
9.0 Theology 87
9.1 Job 87
9.2 The Friends 92
9.3 Elihu 97
9.4 YHWH 101
9.5 The Narrator 104
10.0 History of Consequences 110
10.1 Jewish Consequences 111
10.1.1 Second Temple Period 111
viii
Contents
A. Old Greek (OG) ni
B. Aristeas the Historian 114
C. Tobit 115
D. Ben Sira 116
E. Qumran 116
F. Testament of Job 118
10.1.2 Early Rabbinic Period 121
A. Tannaim and Amoraim 121
B. Targum 123
C. Art and Liturgy 125
10.1.3 Medieval Period 126
A. The Islamic East 127
B. Northern Africa and Southern Europe 131
C. Northern Europe 137
D. Literature 141
E. Visual Arts 144
F. Music 145
10.1.4 Modern Period 148
A. From Spinoza to the Haékalah 148
B. From the Haékalah to the Holocaust 149
C. Post-Holocaust Interpretation 153
D. Literature 161
E. Visual Arts 162
F. Music 163
10.2 Christian Consequences 167
10.2.1 Early Period 167
A. NT 167
B. Greek Interpreters 167
C. Syriac Interpreters 179
D. Latin Interpreters 180
E. Liturgy 196
F. Visual Arts 196
G. Literature 198
10.2.2 Medieval Period 201
A. Dominance of Gregory s Moralia 201
B. Dominican and Franciscan Exegetes 207
C. Liturgy 210
D. Visual Arts 210
E. Music 213
F. Literature 213
10.2.3 Reformation and the Rise of Biblical Criticism 216
ix
Contents
A. Exegesis 217
B. Biblical Criticism 219
C. Translations and Paraphrases 219
D. Literature 220
E. Visual Arts 220
F. Music 222
10.2.4 The Enlightenment and Romanticism 223
A. Biblical Criticism 223
B. Philosophers 225
C. Literature 226
D. Visual Arts 226
E. Music 227
10.2.5 The Twentieth Century and the Present 228
A. Biblical Criticism and Beyond 228
B. Literature 232
C. Visual Arts 237
D. Music 238
10.3 Muslim Consequences 242
10.3.1 Qur’an 242
10.3.2 Stories of the Prophets 243
10.3.3 Ibnal-CArabi 247
10.3.4 Modern Islam 247
COMMENTARY
Prologue: The First Test (1:1-22) 249
Prologue: The Second Test (2:1-13) 290
Job: "Perish the Day!” (3:1-26) 312
Eliphaz: All Humans Fall Short (4:1-21) 380
Eliphaz: Proper Response to Suffering (5:1-27) 412
Job: Unpalatable Stuff (6:1-30) 451
Job: The Human Condition (7:1-21) 488
Bildad: A Parable of Two Plants (8:1 -22) 514
Job: An Impossible Scenario (9:1-35) 539
Job: Complaining with Abandon (10:1-22) 575
x