Article Index

Names of the Book

JOB AND HIS FRIENDS- Vladimir Borovikovsky

English:  Job
Hebrew:  איוֹב
Transliterated:  Yov
Other names:  

 

whoWho

Wrote the book:  unknown, possibly Job, Moses, or Solomon.
Are the key people:  Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu the Buzite
Is it written to:  The people of Israel

 

whatWhat

Job tested (Job 1:1-2:13)
Job's three friends answer him (Job 3:1-31:40)
A young man answers Job (Job 32;1-37:24)
G-d answers Job (Job 38:1-41:34)
Job is restored (Job 42:1-17)

 

whenWhen

Was it written:  unknown < 200 BCE
Did the events occur:  c 2000-1800 BCE
Was it canonized: c 499-100 BCE
(see the Timeline of the Tanakh)

 

whereWhere

Was it written:  unknown
Did the events occur:  The land of Uz

 

whyWhy

Job was written to inform us that: 
G-d allows suffering.
Satan must obtain permission to harm anyone.
G-d is good.
Pride blinds us to our errors.
G-d desires for us to trust Him.

 

whyIntroduction

The book of Job is a historical narrative that describes the events that unfolded when G-d allowed a good man (Job) to suffer. Job's test of faith, permitted by G-d in response to a challenge from Satan, reveals G-d's loving sovereignty and the supremacy of His divine wisdom over human wisdom (which is personified by Job's friends). Job believes that G-d is good in spite the apparent evidence to the contrary and, by faith, he trusts in G-d. Even in the midst of great emotional and physical agony Job proclaims, "I know that my Redeemer lives". The book concludes with G-d silencing all discussion and argument with the truth that He alone is wise. At the same time, G-d vindicates Job's faith in Him, proving that genuine faith cannot be destroyed.

 

 

Torah Portion

unknown

 

 

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Today is

Yom Sh'lishi, 9 Adar II, 5784

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

 

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