Read Job 41 and 42 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions for each man’s speech are like the divisions in the Psalms that we studied in 2014. There is an understood {s} division at the end of each numbered line, with an {n} marking where a new line begins within a numbered line.
Job 41:1-33 {s} Division at the end of each numbered line;
Job 41:34 {p} He beholds every high thing; he is king over all the children of pride;
Job 42:1-5 {s} Division at the end of each numbered line, with these {n} divisions within lines:
Job 42:3a, You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ {n}
Job 42:6 {p} Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes;
Job 42:7 {s} The Lord’s wrath kindled against the three friends for not speaking right of Him as Job has;
Job 42:8-17 {p} Job prays for his friends to be accepted, all his losses restored.
The Lord Himself vindicates Job, and says that he has spoken right of Him. He rebukes the three friends for not speaking right of Him. The argument of the three friends throughout the book didn’t waver: that Job had sinned and therefore his suffering was deserved. While suffering is sometimes deserved and a result of consequences of sin, it isn’t in every case. That is the wisdom to take away from Job, since humans tend to be quick to condemn what they have no knowledge of. The mysterious Elihu is not rebuked, no, not commented on at all.
The book of Job forms a single reverse parallelism:
1a) Job 1:1-5 {p} Job, the greatest man of the East/ his former prosperity;
1b) Job 1:6-2:10 {p+p} Satan accuses Job and destroys his prosperity + health;
1c) Job 2:11-3:1 {p} The coming of Job’s three friends;
1d) Job 3:2-26, Job’s lament;
(Job 3:8, May those curse it who curse the day, those who are ready to arouse Leviathan;)
1e) Job 4:1-5:27 Eliphaz’s first speech: God is justified/ Job being chastened/ his suffering is deserved;
(Job 4:2, But who can withhold himself from speaking?)
1f) Job 6:1-7:21, Job replies to Eliphaz: Show me my error – you cannot, because there is none;
1g) Job 8:1-26:14, The three friends take up Eliphaz’s premise/ Job maintains his innocence;
1h) Job 27:1-23, Job continues his discourse;
1i) Job 28:1-11 {p} Man has found gold and precious stones;
2i) Job 28:12-28, Where can wisdom be found? With God – He has revealed it;
2h) Job 29:1-31:40 {p} Job continues his discourse;
2g) Job 32:1a, So these three men ceased answering Job; {n}
2f) Job 32:1b {p} Because he was righteous in his own eyes;
2e) Job 32:2-37:24 {p+p} The wrath of Elihu kindled {p}/ vindicates God;
(Job 32:18 For I am full of words; The spirit within me compels me;)
2d) Job 38:1-42:6 {px5} The Lord’s response: the glory of God revealed in His creation/ Leviathan;
2c) Job 42:7 {s} The Lord’s wrath kindled against the three friends for not speaking right of Him as Job has;
2b) Job 42:8-11, The Lord vindicates Job and restores his prosperity + health;
2a) Job 42:12-17 {p} Job’s latter prosperity greater than his former prosperity.
Nearly all of the elements form their own structures as well, and some of them we have uncovered. The rest will wait for our next visit to Job; tomorrow we return to Genesis (february 2015 bible reading schedule).
For further reading:
Dragon Legends – Truths behind the Tales – Answers in Genesis
Leviathan found? – Answers in Genesis
Sea monsters – more than a legend? – Answers in Genesis
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