Job
INTRODUCTION
Set in the second millennium B.C., when wealth was measured in cattle and the patriarch served as family priest, the epic of Job explores the relationship between human suffering and divine justice. Job, a righteous man, was crushed by sudden disasters. His three friends argued that God was punishing him for some hidden sin. Job resisted, but could find no alternate explanation for what had happened to him. In a lengthy poetic dialogue marked by the most difficult Hebrew in the Old Testament, Job and his friends struggled to understand the ways of God and the meaning of human suffering. Though there are many examples of similar literature in the ancient East, Job is set off from them by its vision of God and its in-depth exploration of the issue of suffering. It is impossible to establish a date for the writing of this epic or to know its author.
OUTLINE OF CONTENTS
| I. | Disasters Strike Righteous Job | Job 1–3 |
| II. | Job Dialogues with Three Friends | Job 4–31 |
| A. Did God cause Job’s suffering? | Job 4–14 | |
| B. Do the wicked really suffer? | Job 15–21 | |
| C. Had Job committed hidden sins? | Job 22–31 | |
| III. | Elihu Breaks the Impasse | Job 32–37 |
| IV. | God Speaks Out | Job 38–42 |
Milo 