Job

[ChevyRodeo]

When was job alive. quick internet research tells me between 1500 - 500 BC not very enlightening. I think Mosses wrote the book, so it was some time after Mosses was born, so when was Mosses alive? I always thought of Job being around before Abraham and his story being of the VERY ancient and basic world.


Is the story of a man working for 7 years to get married a SUB story of Job? or is that someone else

 

[inhopeofglory]

Is the story of a man working for 7 years to get married a SUB story of Job? or is that someone else

That's Jacob. See Genesis 29.

 

[stovebolts]

Hi Chevy,

Here's an interesting article you may want to read. Here's a short snipit. Please feel free to read the rest of the article.

http://bible.org/page.php?page_id=903

III. DATE:

A. Date of the Events: Probably pre-Mosaic, even patriarchal from the second Millennium B.C.

1. Job is lacking references to historical events and reflects a non-Hebraic cultural background which little is known about

2. Location:

a. Uz was located in northern Arabia3

b. Job’s friend, Eliphaz, came from Teman, a city in Edom

c. Elihu came from the Buzites who lived next to the Chaldeans in northeast Arabia4

3. Support for a pre-Mosaic date:

a. The patriarchal family-clan organization reflects the time of Abraham rather than after the Exodus

b. The offering of sacrifice by the head of the family rather than a priest reflects a time before the Exodus

c. The mention of a qesitah as a type of money (Job 42:11) suggests a date which is at least during the time of Joshua (cf. Jos. 24:32), if not during the patriarchal period (cf. Gen 33:19)5

4. Support for an early second millennium date of Job as a contemporary with the patriarchs:

a. The reference in Ezekiel 14:14 to Job and Daniel may be a reference to the ancient Canaanite hero Dan’el who was a prominent figure in the Ugaritic epics rather than to the contemporary prophet, Daniel6

b. Other names in Job are authentic for the second millennium B.C.:

1) Bildad was short for Yabil Dadum, a name found in cuneiform sources of the second millennium B.C.

2) Job is found in the “Babylonian Jobâ€Â, a cuneiform composition7

B. Date of Composition: Possibly during the time of the Patriarchs (Second Millennium B.C.)

1. The Patriarchal Age:

a. This was the view of the Talmud

b. This helps support the accuracy of the conversations between Job and his friends; but this is not necessary since portions of Genesis were accurately transmitted by mouth until Moses wrote them down

c. The addition of 42:16-17 could have been added shortly after Job’s death

d. The lifestyle and longevity of Job are similar to that of the patriarchs found in Genesis

e. The moving bands of Sabaeans and Chaldeans (Job 1:15, 17) matches the early second millennium B.C.

f. The literary genre of Job (below) matches that of the patriarchal era

g. The name of Job is found in the Amarna letters (c. 1350 B.C.) and the Egyptian Execration texts (c. 2000 B.C.)8

h. Although the evidence does not demand a second millennium B.C. date, it certainly allows for it.