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    God's Perfect Man: Job's Story
    God's Perfect Man: Job's Story
    God's Perfect Man: Job's Story
    Ebook110 pages1 hour

    God's Perfect Man: Job's Story

    By Xlibris US

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    Book of Job as it appears in the Hebrew and Christian bibles, is the canonically authorized text; appearing originally in Hebrew, followed by Greek, Aramaic, Coptic and English versions. There has never been widespread agreement as to what is the message of the Book of Job, nor even agreement as to what is the central question of the book.. Subsequent emendations and redactions have resulted in a puzzlement of interpretations. It is agreed by many reviewers that these alterations did not come from the hand of the original author, and that he had a different intent and conclusion than that imposed by the canonical text.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris US
    Release dateJan 22, 2013
    ISBN9781479774616
    God's Perfect Man: Job's Story

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      Book preview

      God's Perfect Man - Xlibris US

      Copyright © 2013 by Norman MacRitchie.

      Copyedited by Mark Nell Mendoza

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      Xlibris Corporation

      1-888-795-4274

      www.Xlibris.com

      126832

      CONTENTS

      Preface

      GOD’S PERFECT MAN

      THE FIRST CYCLE OF SPEECHES

      THE SECOND CYCLE OF SPEECHES

      THE THIRD CYCLE OF SPEECHES

      Reference Bibliography

      Appendix

      Preface

      The Book of Job is twenty-five hundred years old or older. It has been read by millions—written and commented about by surely as many. From the earliest times to the present, scholars, philosophers, theologians, exegetists, philologists, and others have been studying the book—dissecting it, digesting it, divining its meanings. The rabbi Robert Gordis has cautioned, or perhaps admonished, that He who would add to the vast library of interpretation and analysis to which the Book of Job has been subjected must therefore be prepared to justify his action¹. With perhaps presumptuous audacity, I have attempted to do so.

      The text of the Book of Job as it appears in the Hebrew and Christian bibles is the canonically accepted text authorized by the respective church authorities. The Book of Job appeared originally in Hebrew followed by Greek, Aramaic, Coptic, and English versions. Differences in language structure and various dialects within the languages presented many interpretive difficulties: textual, linguistic, and theological. However, there has never been (and there is not today) widespread agreement as to what is the message of the Book of Job. There is not even agreement as to what is the central question of the book. Subsequent emendations and redactions have resulted in a puzzlement of interpretations. It is well agreed that these did not come from the hand of the original author. A number of critics and scholars convincingly hold that the original author had a different intent and conclusion than that imposed by the canonical text. From my own studies and with knowledge gained from other commentators, I have attempted to convey what appears to me, as it has to others, to have been the author’s extent and intent of the Book of Job.

      Surprising differences exist among scholars, reviewers, and commentators regarding Job’s problem and, in particular, the character of Job himself. Based upon the books and commentaries that I have studied over the past sixty-five years, I have found myself at considerable odds with a number of eminent critics and reviewers of various disciplines and the conclusions they draw about Job’s probity and motivation. In spite of the high praise bestowed on Job in the first chapter, God’s perfect man has been characterized as considerably less than perfect. Some find him to be rebellious, angry, blasphemous, resentful, exploding with anger, bitter, and defiant and in conflict with God—to cite some of the views expressed by a number of commentators. I hope to convince the reader of a different view and to redeem Job, the faithful upright man, from unfair and unwarranted characterizations.

      The Book of Job in the King James Version is one of the great masterpieces of English literature. Published in 1611, it is based upon Hebrew and Greek texts and earlier English translations from those texts. It has the stately oratory eloquence and emotion-stirring English of Shakespeare’s time and is highly praised. Equally high praise has been bestowed upon the original Hebrew version of the Book of Job. Of the Hebrew text, it has been said that the unknown author possessed a highly advanced, unsurpassed command of the Hebrew language and its poetry. It is further said that the Hebrew version of Job includes more unique and varied words than any other book in the Old Testament.²

      The chapter portions and verses I have included are from the King James Version. I have presented them with some minor liberties for reading ease and, hopefully, without diminishing the poignant beauty of the poetry of the Book of Job. I have used a format framing the verses with commentary, personal understandings, social, historical, theological lore—hopefully thereby to provide a context for understanding not always readily discernible from the text. I write for the common reader with the hope I have done so without offense to the scholar.

      Norman MacRitchie

      November 2012

      GOD’S PERFECT MAN

      Nobody is perfect. We have all said at it at one time or another, usually after admitting to some fault or indiscretion. The Book of Job tells us that "There was a man in the Land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect³ . . ." (Job 1:1). We learn that Job was a man of great strength of character, of compassion, a man who loved truth, whose integrity would not be compromised. Subjected to a series of devastating catastrophes in the midst of painful physical suffering and agonizing turmoil of the mind, he struggles with the uncertainty arising in his thoughts concerning the beliefs that heretofore had guided his life—according to which this should not be happening to him. Certain of his own rectitude, he longs for an accounting of his troubles. Now in despair and without hope, he bewails the day in which he was born and sorely longs for death to bring him peace. The Book of Job follows Job’s tribulation and mental turmoil, during which his faith and strength of character eventually prevail, and he emerges from depths of suffering and sorrow with deliverance from despair and renewed hope and inspiration.

      Although not formally designated as such, the Book of Job is generally thought to consist of three sections as follows:

      A prologue (chapters 1 and 2) in which, during a perhaps routine meeting of the heavenly bureaucracy, a

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