existence, on the contrary, (independently of its being the uniform belief of the Jewish and Christian church,) has been maintained with equal ability by Leusden, Calmet, Heidegger, Carpzov, Van Til, Spanheim, Moldenhawer, Schultens, Ilgen, Archbishop Magee, Bishops Patrick, Sherlock, Lowth, and Tomline, Drs. Kennicott, Hales, and Gray, Messieurs Peters and Good, Drs. Taylor and Priestley, and, in short, by almost every other modern commentator and critic. The principal arguments commonly urged against the reality of Job's existence are derived from the nature of the exordium in which Satan appears as the accuser of Job; from the temptations and sufferings permitted by the Almighty Governor of the world to befal an upright character; from the artificial regularity of the numbers by which the patriarch's possessions are described, as seven thousand, three thousand, one thousand, five hundred, &c. With regard to the first argument, the incredibility of the conversation which is related to have taken place between the Almighty and Satan, "who is supposed to return with news from the terrestrial regions," an able commentator has remarked, why should such a conversation be supposed incredible? The attempt at wit, in the word news, is somewhat out of place; for the interrogation of the Almighty, "Hast thou fixed thy view upon my servant Job, a perfect and upright MAN ?" instead of aiming at the acquisition of news, is intended as a severe and most appropriate sarcasm upon the fallen spirit. "Hast THOU—who, with superior faculties and a more comprehensive knowledge of my will, hast not continued perfect and upright, fixed thy view upon a subordinate being, far weaker and less informed than thyself, who has continued so?" "The attendance of the apostate at the tribunal of the Almighty is plainly designed to show us that good and evil angels are equally amenable to him, and equally subject to his authority; a doctrine common to every part of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and, except in the mythology of the Parsees, recognised by perhaps every antient system of religion whatever. The part assigned to Satan in the present work is that expressly assigned to him in the case of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, and of our Saviour in the wilderness and which is assigned to him generally, in regard to mankind at large, by all the evangelists and apostles whose writings have reached us, both in their strictest historical narratives, and closest argumentative inductions. And hence the argument which should induce us to regard the present passage as fabulous, should induce us to regard all the rest in the same light which are imbued with the same doctrine: a view of the subject which would sweep into nothingness a much larger portion of the Bible than we are confident M. Michaelis would choose to part with. The other arguments are comparatively of small moment. We want not fable to tell us that good and upright men may occasionally become the victims of accumulated calamities; for it is a living fact, which, in the mystery of Providence, is perpetually occurring in every country while as to the roundness of the numbers by which the patriarch's possessions are described, nothing could have been more ungraceful or superfluous than for the poet to have descended to units, had even the literal numeration demanded it. And, although he is stated to have lived a hundred and forty years after his restoration to prosperity, and in an æra in which the duration of man did not perhaps much exceed that of the present day, it should be recollected, that in his person as well as in his property he was specially gifted by the Almighty: that, from various passages, he seems to have been younger than all the interlocutors, except Elihu, and much younger than one or two of them: that his longevity is particularly remarked, as though of more than usual extent: and that, even in the present age of the world, we have well authenticated instances of persons having lived, in different parts of the globe, to the age of a hundred and fifty, a hundred and sixty, and even a hundred and seventy years. It is not necessary for the historical truth of the book of Job, that its language should be a direct transcript of that actually employed by the different characters introduced into it; for in such case we should scarcely have a single book of real history in the world. The Iliad, the Shah Nameh, and the Lusiad, must at once drop all pretensions to such a description; and even the pages of Sallust and Cæsar, of Rollin and Hume, must stand upon very questionable authority. It is enough that the real sentiment be given, and the general style copied and this, in truth, is all that is aimed at, not only in our best reports of parliamentary speeches, but in many instances (which is indeed much more to the purpose), by the writers of the New Testament, in their quotations from the Old."2 Independently of these considerations, which we think sufficiently refute the objections adduced against the reality of Job's existence, we may observe, that there is every possible evidence that the book, which bears his name, contains a literal history of the temptations and sufferings of a real character. In the first place, that Job was a real, and not a fictitious character, may be inferred from the manner in which he is mentioned in the Scriptures. Thus, the prophet Ezekiel speaks of him :Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. (Ezek. xiv. 14.) In this passage the prophet ranks Noah, Daniel, and Job together, as powerful intercessors with God; the first for his family; the second for the wise men of Babylon; and the third for his friends: now, since Noah and Daniel were unquestionably real characters, we must conclude the same of Job. Behold, says the apostle James, we count them happy which endure: 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. (James v. 11.) It is 1 See Pantologia, art. Life; and Encyclopædia Britannica, art. Longevity. 2 Dr. Good's Introductory Dissertation to his Version of Job, pp. xv.-xvii. See also Archbishop Magee's Discourses and Dissertations on the Atonement, vol. ii. pp. 49-53. Dr. Gregory's Translation of Bishop Lowth's Lectures, vol. ii. pp. 358-370. in notes. VOL. IV. 9 scarcely to be believed that a divinely inspired apostle would refer to an imaginary character as an example of patience, or in proof of the mercy of God. But, besides the authority of the inspired writers, we have the strongest internal evidence, from the book itself, that Job was a real person for it expressly specifies the names of persons, places, facts, and other circumstances usually related`in true histories. Thus we have the name, country, piety, wealth, &c. of Job described (ch. i.); the names, number, and acts of his children are mentioned; the conduct of his wife is recorded as a fact (ii.); his friends, their names, countries, and discourses with him in his afflictions, are minutely delineated. (ii. 11., &c.) And can we rationally imagine that these were not realities? Further, no reasonable doubt can be entertained respecting the real existence of Job, when we consider that it is proved by the concurrent testimony of all eastern tradition: he is mentioned by the author of the book of Tobit, who lived during the Assyrian captivity; he is also repeatedly mentioned by Mohammed as a real character. The whole of his history, with many fabulous additions, was known among the Syrians and Chaldeans; many of the noblest families among the Arabians are distinguished by his name, and boast of being descended from him. So late even as the end of the fourth century, we are told, that there were many persons who went into Arabia to see Job's dunghill, which, in the nature of things, could not have subsisted through so many ages but the fact of superstitious persons making pilgrimages to it sufficiently attests the reality of his existence, as also do the traditionary accounts concerning the place of Job's abode. III. Since, then, the book of Job contains the history of a real character, the next point to be considered is the age in which he lived, a question concerning which there is as great a diversity of opinion, as upon any other subject connected with this venerable monument of sacred antiquity. Thus, some think that he lived in the days of Moses, from a supposed resemblance between the style of Moses and that of Job; others, in the time of the Judges, from an expression in Job xxvii. 12. because at that time all was vanity, and every man did that which was good in his own eyes. Others, again, refer him to the time of Ahasuerus or Artaxerxes Longimanus, on account of the search then made for beautiful women, from whom the monarch might select a consort (Esth. ii. 2. &c.), and because Job's daughters are mentioned (Job xlii. 15.) as being the fairest in the whole land. Some make him to have been contemporary with 1 Elements of Christian Theology, vol. i. p. 94. 2 Tobit ii. 12 in the Vulgate version, which is supposed to have been executed from a more extended history of Tobit than the original of the Greek version. 3 Sale's Koran, pp. 271. 375. 4to edit. See also D'Herbelot's Bibliothèque Orientale, voce Aiúb, tom. i. p. 145, 4to edit. 4 As the father of the celebrated Sultan Saladin (Elmacin, Hist. Saracen, p. 3.); and also Saladin himself, whose dynasty is known in the East by the name of Aiubiah or Jobites. D'Herbelot, tom. i. pp. 146, 147. 5 Chrysostom. ad pop. Antioch. Hom. 5. Op. tom. ii. p. 59 A. Thavenot's Voyage, p. 447. La Roque, Voyages en Syrie, tom. i. p. 239. Solomon and the queen of Sheba, if not Solomon himself,1 because the Sabeans are noticed in Job i. 15., &c.; and others, with Nebuchadnezzar, because the Chaldeans are introduced in Job i. 17. Lastly, some state him to have lived in the time of Jacob, whose daughter Dinah they suppose him to have married and this conjecture they ground upon the resemblance between the expression in Job ii. 10. (thou speakest like a foolish woman), and that in Gen. xxxiv. 7. ( hath wrought folly in (more correctly against) Israel.) The puerility of these conjectures sufficiently indicates their weakness: one thing, however, is generally admitted with respect to the age of the book of Job, viz. its remote antiquity. Even those who contend for the late production of the book of Job, are compelled to acquiesce in this particular. Grotius thinks the events of the history are such as cannot be placed later than the sojourning of the Israelites in the Wilderness. Bishop Warburton, in like manner, admits them to bear the marks of high antiquity; and Michaelis confesses the manners to be perfectly Abrahamic, that is, such as were common to all the seed of Abraham, Israelites, Ishmaelites, and Idumæans.3 The following are the principal circumstances from which the age of Job may be collected and ascertained.4 1. The Usserian, or Bible chronology, dates the trial of Job about the year 1520 before the Christian æra, twenty-nine years before the departure of the Israelites from Egypt; and that the book was composed before that event, is evident from its total silence respecting the miracles which accompanied the exode: such as the passage of the Red Sea, the destruction of the Egyptians, the manna in the desert, &c.; all of which happened in the vicinity of Job's country, and were so apposite in the debate concerning the ways of Providence, that some notice could not but have been taken of them, if they had been coeval with the poem of Job. 1 Staeudlin (a modern German critic, who plainly disbelieves any inspiration of the Old Testament) takes a middle course. Conceiving that he has discovered in the book of Job phrases, sentiments, and pictures of manners which belong to a later date, and that its composition is more elaborate and exquisite than that of the generality of the other Hebrew books, he does not ascribe to it such a remote antiquity as many scholars of the present day suppose: but since it exhibits other indubitable marks of a venerable antiquity, he is led to suppose that it was composed by some Hebrew author of a lower age, perhaps by Solomon himself, out of certain very antient remains of poetry, history, and philosophy, to which that author added some things of his own, and had thrown the whole into its present practical form and arrangement. -Staeudlin's Theol. Moralis Hebræorum ante Christum Hist. (Gotting. 1794) cited in Dr. Smith's Scripture Testimony of the Messiah, vol. i. p. 210. 2 Mercerus, Præf. ad Job. The Bishop of Killala (Dr. Stock), after Bishop Warburton, refers the time of Job to that of Ezra, whom he supposes to be its author. (Preface to his Translation of Job, pp. v. vi.) His arguments are very largely examined and refuted by Archbp. Magee, Discourses, vol. ii. pp. 87-154. See also British Critic, vol. xxix. O. S. pp. 369-372. 3 Grotius, Præf. ad Job. Warburton's Divine Legation, book vi. sect. 2. Michaelis, Note et Epimetra in Lowthii Prælectiones, p. 181. Magee, vol. ii. p. 57 4 These observations are digested from the united remarks of Dr. Hales, in his Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. book i. pp. 55-59. and of Archbp. Magee, in his Discourses, vol. ii. pp. 58-63. 2. That it was composed before Abraham's migration to Canaan may also be inferred, from its silence respecting the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain, which were still nearer to Idumæa, where the scene is laid. 3. The length of Job's life places him in the patriarchal times. He survived his trial one hundred and forty years (xlii. 16.), and was probably not less at that time: for we read that his seven sons were all grown up, and had been settled in their own houses for a considerable time. (i. 4, 5.) He speaks of the "sins of his youth" (xiii. 26.), and of the prosperity of "his youth;" and yet Eliphaz addresses him as a novice: With us are both the very aged, much elder than thy father." (xv. 10.) 4. That he did not live at an earlier period may be collected from an incidental observation of Bildad, who refers Job to their forefathers for instruction in wisdom: Inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: Assigning as a reason the comparative shortness of life, and consequent ignorance of the present generations : (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing; viii. 8, 9. But the "fathers of the former age," or grandfathers of the present, were the contemporaries of Peleg and Joktan, in the fifth generation after the deluge: and they might easily have learned wisdom from the fountain head by conversing with Shem, or perhaps with Noah himself; whereas, in the seventh generation, the standard of human life was reduced to about two hundred years, which was a shadow compared with the longevity of Noah and his sons. 5. The general air of antiquity which pervades the manners recorded in the poem, is a further evidence of its remote date. The manners and customs, indeed, critically correspond with that early period. Thus, Job speaks of the most antient kind of writing, by sculpture (xix. 24.): his riches also are reckoned by his cattle. (xlii. 12.) Further, Job acted as high priest in his family, according to the patriarchal usage (Gen. viii. 20.): for the institution of an established priesthood does not appear to have taken place any where until the time of Abraham. Melchizedec king of Salem was a priest of the primitive order (Gen. xiv. 18.): such also was Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, in the vicinity of Idumea. (Exod. xviii. 12.) The first regular priesthood was probably instituted in Egypt, where Joseph was married to the daughter of the priest of On. (Gen. xli. 45.) 6. The slavish homage of prostration to princes and great men, which prevailed in Egypt, Persia, and the East in general, and which still subsists there, was unknown in Arabia at that time. Though Job was one of the " greatest men of all the East," we do 1 The word keschitah, which is translated a piece of money (xlii. 11.) there is good reason to understand as signifying a lamb. See Archbp. Magee's critical note, Discourses, vol. ii. pp. 59–61. |