Notes on the Book of Job
I take a lot of notes that get scattered about in notebooks and on loose paper. I wanted to preserve and organize them here, so they aren't lost. This is my outline of the entire book of Job along with notes and comments. It is a work in progress that I will add to and edit from time to time.
Creating and outline for the Book of Job is a little difficult because the book is so compact. You could look at one sentence and from it unfolds all kinds of interesting meanings and relationships to other parts of the book. So, when outlined, all of the richness and connectedness is absent, but there are some interesting structural patterns that can be recognized. Some sections are easier to outline than others. For example, the prologue and epilogue have a very clear structure which is a lovely thing to see. On the other hand, chapter 41, God's speech about Leviathan, flows and moves in a way that is not easily summarized, which I must believe was the authors intent. Beautifully poetic, but not easily outlined.
Creating and outline for the Book of Job is a little difficult because the book is so compact. You could look at one sentence and from it unfolds all kinds of interesting meanings and relationships to other parts of the book. So, when outlined, all of the richness and connectedness is absent, but there are some interesting structural patterns that can be recognized. Some sections are easier to outline than others. For example, the prologue and epilogue have a very clear structure which is a lovely thing to see. On the other hand, chapter 41, God's speech about Leviathan, flows and moves in a way that is not easily summarized, which I must believe was the authors intent. Beautifully poetic, but not easily outlined.
In 2022 when I recorded the Book of Job podcast, I made a short, animated video about the main structure of the book of Job.
Structure of the Book of Job
PROLOGUE
Chapters 1-2
THE SPEECHES
Chapters 3-41
The 3 Cycles
2-27
1st Cycle
3-11
2nd Cycle
12-20
3rd Cycle
21-27
The Wisdom Poem
28
The 3 Speeches
29-41
Job
29-31
Elihu
32-37
God
38-41
EPILOGUE
Chapter 42
Prologue | Job 1-2
The prologue is a narration. It introduces Job and the circumstances of his suffering. We are meant to regard him as perfect and complete. It doesn't mean he is without sin at all, but he has turned away from sin and lived a blameless and righteous life. His family and material wealth are God's blessing on him and an outward sign of his righteousness.
It has a historical style. The writing in the Prologue is similar to the way Abraham, Issac, and Jacob are talked about in Genesis. It emphasizes the herds of animals, his children, and the ritual feasts and consecration ceremonies. The interactions between The Satan and God are presented as a hierarchical exchange within a royal court. This is in sharp contrast to the style and subject of the upcoming speeches, which shifts into the poetic.
It has a historical style. The writing in the Prologue is similar to the way Abraham, Issac, and Jacob are talked about in Genesis. It emphasizes the herds of animals, his children, and the ritual feasts and consecration ceremonies. The interactions between The Satan and God are presented as a hierarchical exchange within a royal court. This is in sharp contrast to the style and subject of the upcoming speeches, which shifts into the poetic.
- Job's introduction | 1:1-5
- Job, in the land of Uz
- Children
- Wealth
- Feasts [Inclusion of the daughters]
- Prayer and Sacrifice
(this pattern will be echoed in the Epilogue)
- God and The Satan - First Encounter | 1:6-12
- "Have you considered my servant Job?" - God
- "Does Job fear God for no reason?" - Satan
- Job's family and wealth destroyed | 1:13-22
- "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away" -Job
- Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong
- God and The Satan - Second Encounter | 2:1-6
- "Have you considered my servant Job?" - God
- "you incited me against him to destroy him for no reason." - God
- "Skin for skin!" - Satan
- Job afflicted with sickness | 2:7-10
- Job's Wife
- "Integrity
- Curse God
- Death
- "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" - Job
- Job did not sin with his lips
- Job's Wife
- Job's friends arrive | 2:11-13
- Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar
- The do not recognize him, they weep, and sit with him in silence for seven days.
The Speeches | Job 3-41
The poetic speeches make up most of the book. Spoken by Job, his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, followed by the young man Elihu and concludes with a speech by God.
The 3 Cycles | 3-27
As mentioned earlier, the speeches shift from the historical and hierarchical Prologue, into the poetry of the speeches. The rightly ordered world has been upended. What follows is a sort of descent into the underworld. Unlike underworld myths with monsters, ghosts, and magic, Job's descent is quite realistic. Job encounters hopelessness, confusion, and despair. Many who have suffered tragedy not only relate Job's words but find that Job is able to give words to their suffering in ways that had been left unspoken.
Job's friends struggle too. They first seek to comfort Job but then they are compelled to set the world upright again, relying on wisdom, tradition, and experience. They quickly conclude that Job needs to repent of whatever he did. This becomes the crux of the matter between Job and his friends. This should be familiar for anyone who has tried to help someone who believes they have been delt an unfair hand. Any good friend will consider possible mistakes the sufferer made. In Job's case, he did nothing wrong, and his current condition gives the friends reason to doubt his claim of innocence.
This conflict moves in a series of three cycles. They go around and around, over the same ground again and again, but there is a progression as they circle about. Job takes some of the friend's advice, but not in the way they intend. For example, Eliphaz tells Job to "seek God" (5:8) and accept God's correction, but Job instead seeks God in order to make his complaint. The friends will often say things that are ironically true, meant one way yet true in another, like when Bildad says in chapter 8, "Job, if you are righteous, then your days ahead will be very great!" (8:6-7) Job sometimes speaks in the negative, saying "there is no arbiter between God and I"(9:33) when first expressing his desire for a mediator, like a hungry child says, "there is nothing to eat!"
As we move through the cycles, Job gains strength and his friends weaken, although they bluster and condemn him. The "final blow," so to speak is delt by Job in chapter 27 with his fiery speech on the fate of the wicked. His friends are left speechless. If they found the words, they realize that nothing they could say would convince Job. In a burst of righteous anger, Job wishes the wicked to be punished by suffering his fate. This powerful paradox of a speech ends the cycles, but we are teetering on the edge, where we are rescued by the Wisdom Poem in chapter 28.
Job's friends struggle too. They first seek to comfort Job but then they are compelled to set the world upright again, relying on wisdom, tradition, and experience. They quickly conclude that Job needs to repent of whatever he did. This becomes the crux of the matter between Job and his friends. This should be familiar for anyone who has tried to help someone who believes they have been delt an unfair hand. Any good friend will consider possible mistakes the sufferer made. In Job's case, he did nothing wrong, and his current condition gives the friends reason to doubt his claim of innocence.
This conflict moves in a series of three cycles. They go around and around, over the same ground again and again, but there is a progression as they circle about. Job takes some of the friend's advice, but not in the way they intend. For example, Eliphaz tells Job to "seek God" (5:8) and accept God's correction, but Job instead seeks God in order to make his complaint. The friends will often say things that are ironically true, meant one way yet true in another, like when Bildad says in chapter 8, "Job, if you are righteous, then your days ahead will be very great!" (8:6-7) Job sometimes speaks in the negative, saying "there is no arbiter between God and I"(9:33) when first expressing his desire for a mediator, like a hungry child says, "there is nothing to eat!"
As we move through the cycles, Job gains strength and his friends weaken, although they bluster and condemn him. The "final blow," so to speak is delt by Job in chapter 27 with his fiery speech on the fate of the wicked. His friends are left speechless. If they found the words, they realize that nothing they could say would convince Job. In a burst of righteous anger, Job wishes the wicked to be punished by suffering his fate. This powerful paradox of a speech ends the cycles, but we are teetering on the edge, where we are rescued by the Wisdom Poem in chapter 28.
First Cycle | 3-11
- Job's Lament | 3
- Curses his birth
- Death as rest
- Why give life to the suffering?
"Uncreation" theme
- Eliphaz | 4-5
- Gentle correction
- Dream of fear
- None are innocent
- Seek God
- Job | 6-7
- Lament
- My friends provide nothing
- Bildad | 8
- Rebuke
- Defense of tradition and doctrine of retribution
- Job | 9-10
- God is powerful and arbitrary
- "There is no arbiter between us" - Job | 9:33
- Plea for God to relent
- Zophar | 11
- Harsh rebuke
- Call to repent
Second Cycle | 12-20
- Job | 12-14
- Insults friends
- Chaos and God
- Formal complaint against God
- Man's hope
- Eliphaz | 15
- Job has turned to Evil
- None are innocent
- The wicked will suffer
- Job | 16-17
- Complaint against friends
- Prayer and Complaint to God
- Lament
- Witness [Advocate] in Heaven | 16:19
- Lament
- Lament
- Prayer and complaint to God
- Prayer and Complaint to God
- Complaint against friends
- Complaint against friends
- Bildad | 18
- Insults
- Destruction of the wicked (Job)
- Job | 19
- Plea
- Lamenting the loss of justice and community
- Plea
- Heavenly Redeemer | 19:25
- Zophar | 20
- Angry Outrage
- Wrath of God
Third Cycle | 21-27
- Job | 21
- Calmly presents argument
- Why do the wicked prosper?
- Death is the equalizer
- Eliphaz | 22
- God's indifference to righteousness
- Job's sins
- God's justice
- Call to repent
- Job | 23-24
- Desires to bring his case to God
- I shall be like gold, pure
- No justice for the poor
- God aids the wicked
- Yet all are equal in death
- All are brought low and gathered
- Desires to bring his case to God
- Bildad | 25
- Dominion and fear are with God!
- How can man be in the right?
- Job | 26-27
- God's power and hiddenness
- Job's integrity
- Wrath upon the wicked
- Job wishes his own fate upon the wicked
Zophar doesn't respond. The cycle is broken.
Wisdom Poem | 28
The wisdom chapter stands out from the rest of the book. Most noticeably is the jarring shift in tone from the previous chapter. From the wrath of Job's anger to the contemplation of wisdom. The subject matter is a meta-reflection on the search for wisdom, which invites us to consider the book from this perspective. It also sits precisely in the center of the book structurally, which points to its importance. The structure looks like this:
Prologue
3 Cycles
Wisdom
Poem
Poem
3 Speeches
Epilogue
The 3 Speeches | Job 29-41
Job's Final Speech | Job 29-31
Job recalibrates. He recovers from his fiery speech in 27, reminded of wisdom in chapter 28. In this last, and longest speech, Job summarizes his life, his suffering, and his argument. In his "negative confession" in chapter 31, Job confesses sins he did not commit, showing how he avoided evil and implying the good he did. This "negative confession" mirrors God's speech where God will ask questions that showcase his creative work in the cosmos and implying the good he did.
- Former Days | 29
- God was with me
- The gate of the city
- Eyes to the blind, feet for the lame
- I sat as chief
- Present Shame | 30
- The outcasts
- The mocking song of the nameless
- My affliction
- My cry for help
- Appeal | 31
- "Negative" confession
- Demand for indictment
"The words of Job are complete"
Elihu's Speech | Job 32-37
Even though Job's words are complete, God doesn't speak right away. The young man Elihu acts as a forerunner for God. Elihu's speech, the longest of the book, creates a felt sense of anticipation for God's answer. Elihu brings together many of the ideas brought forward by Job and his friends in an attempt to provide a summarized and authoritative conclusion.
- Introduction | 32-33:7
- Elihu burns with anger
- Elihu prepares for his speech (building anticipation)
- Chapter 33:8-33
- Accusation using Job's words
- God "speaks" in two ways
- In dreams
- Through pain
- Mediator and redeemer
- God does this to bring a man back from the pit
- Chapter 34
- Accusation using Job's words
- Doctrine of retribution
- No partiality to the rich or poor
- God sees all
- Doctrine of retribution
- Doctrine of retribution
- Calls Job to repent of wickedness
- Accusation using Job's words
- Chapter 35
- Accusation using Job's words
- God's immutability
- God does not hear the cry of evil men
- Chapter 36:1-23
- Doctrine of Retribution
- "God delivers the afflicted by their affliction"
- Listen to God's "instruction" (pain)
- The Crescendo | 36:24-37:24
- God's work is great
- God's thunderous voice in the storm
- "Job, consider the works of God"
- Fear and awe seize Elihu
God's Speech | 38-41
God answers Job from the whirlwind. This is the moment we have been anticipating since the beginning. This is the longest speech from God in the whole Bible, which is significant. (Although not as long as Elihu's. lol)
Notice where God's speech is within the structure of the book. God's speech is the third speech in the second half of the book, following the three cycles of speeches in the first half. These two sections of three create a symmetry that is nice to see. (see the video above) God's speech also mirrors the two encounters God has with The Satan in the Prologue. God speaks twice with The Satan, now God speaks twice with Job. God speech is within the poetic part of the book. Compared to God's interactions with The Satan in the Prologue, which is a very hierarchal exchange between a superior and an obstinate subject, God's interaction with Job is not only beautifully poetic, but also wildly expansive and lacks all of the formalities of the royal court in the Prologue. "Gird up your loins" are fighting words. It brings to mind Jacob wrestling with God, only this time, it's God who wants to wrestle Job.
The experience of God's voice and his power is overwhelming both for Job and many readers. It is God after all. The terror and largeness are part of the effect. But is His speech meant only to subdue and terrify? There are clues that God has other intentions. Here are a few of the more subtle aspects of Gods speech.
- God listens. Much of what God says concerns the metaphors used by Job and his friends, which means he had been listening in the entire time. In most cases, God doesn't mention these in order to refute them or synthesize them, like Elihu does, but to radically shift the perspective. He explicitly re-frames the very metaphors Job and his friends relied on, which implies an unspoken point-of-view, which is God's own. While directly inaccessible, God invites Job to empathetically take on God's perspective.
- God speaks. Job doubted whether God would hear his cry and if he heard whether or not he would answer. God displays a sort of brash humility, speaking to Job eye to eye, as if he were an equal. This is both terrifying and an honor.
- God plays along. God indicates, by his appearance and his speech, that he agrees to the terms of the legal case Job has proposed and has come to participate in the proceedings. Job concluded his words demanding an indictment and expected God to play the role of accuser. God comes in, not to accuse, but to engage in exploration and discovery through a revealing line of questioning, meant to communicate more about Himself than reveal anything about Job. Without an accusation, Job is vindicated and eventually commended.
- God mirrors Job. Who does God sound like? God's defense of himself and his work (the cosmos) is meant to remind us of Job's self-defense. God mirrors Job, which is both a kind of rebuttal and a validation of Job's course of action in the book.
- God cares. One of the clear themes throughout God's speech is his role as creator and sustainer of all things. From the foundations of the earth to the sea-monster Leviathan. God's speech is full of references to father, mother, and midwife, of birth, nurturing, and transformation. God marvels at his creatures, even the Ostrich which lack wisdom. This is in contrast to the way in which Job and his friends speak throughout the book.
Job was sure that God had crushed him, but he was horrified at the thought that God was absent-minded, or neurotic, obsessively preoccupied with his imperfections, or, worse yet, God was sadistic, taking pleasure in his suffering. When Job sees God, he doesn't see a God of wrath, he sees an over-exuberant God. God has so much enthusiasm for creation that it is dangerous. There is no measure to his joy.
- First Encounter | 38-39
- Opening Challenge | 38:1-3
- "Who is this that darkens council?"
- "Dress for action like a man"
- Lord of Creation | 38:3-38
- The foundations
- God as builder
- Shouts of joy In response to 9:6, 15:7
- The sea
- God as midwife
- Womb In response to 3:10
- Setting boundaries
- The morning
- Domestic labor
- Signet ring
- The wicked scattered
- The gates
- Of the deep
- Of death
- The territories
- Home of light
- Place of darkness
- The storehouses
- Snow and hail
- Preparations for war
- The wasteland
- Rain falling, grass growing
- Away from man
- Becomes the home for the wild donkey
- The poor see 24:5, 30:3, 39:6
- Father of rain
- Begetting the dew
- Frost from the womb
- Constellations
- Zodiac
- Time and the ages See 9:9
- Clouds (Milky Way?)
- Floods and Lightning
- The mind
- The foundations
- Lord of the Animals | 38:39-39:30
- The Lion and the Raven
- God’s provision
- Parent toward children
- Associated with the wicked see 4:10 Also see 10:16
- The Mountain Goat
- Birth
- Precarious Rocky Craigs
- Wild Donkey
- Set free from the city
- Home in the wasteland
- Every green thing, meager portions
- Associated with the orphan 24:3, the oppressed 24:4-5, the contemptable outsiders 30:1-8
- Wild Ox
- Will he work for you?
- Plowing to threshing.
- Associated with the widow, 24:3
- The Ostrich
- Careless mother
- Eggs left to be warmed by the earth
- Lacks wisdom
- Look at her run
- War Horse
- Excitement for war
- Fearless
- The Hawk and Eagle
- Migration
- Nest on high see 28:7
- The Lion and the Raven
- Opening Challenge | 38:1-3
- Job's First Response | 40:1-5
- "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?" - God
- "Behold, I am of small account... I am swift/fleeting." - Job
- "I place my hand on my mouth." - Job see 29:9
- Second Encounter | 40:6-41:34
- Opening challenge | 40:6-9
- "Dress for action like a man"
- "Will you put me in the wrong?"
- The fate of the wicked | 40:10-14
- Treading them down, hide them forever?
- Like Moses burying the taskmaster A response to Job’s fiery judgement, see 27:1-23 also see 31:33
- Behemoth | 40:15-24
- Peaceful strength
- Power in his loins
- Covered, surrounded see 28:8
- Leviathan | 41
- Can you draw out Leviathan?
- The hope of a man is false "Who then is he who can stand before me?"
- Outer garment, shielded
- Fire and smoke, eyes, nose and mouth
- Weapons are stubble
- Threshing sledge
- Behind him he leaves a shining wake
- King over all the sons of pride
- Opening challenge | 40:6-9
- Job's Second Response | 42:1-6
- Job stutters.
- Job answered "I know you can do all things"
- "I had heard of you,... now I see you"
- "I despise myself and am comforted in dust and ashes"
Epilogue | Job 42:7-17
The Epilogue marks a return to the historical and the hierarchical. The world is re-established, but it is not the same world as before. Job saw God (in the poetic), but his friends hear God's sovereign, hierarchical rebuke and now Job has become the Mediator between them and God. Before, there was an Accuser in heaven, now there is a Mediator on earth, a fulfillment of Job's own visions. (see 9:33, 16:19 and 19:25)
- God rebukes Job's friends
- Job's spoke rightly
- "My servant Job"
- Job's restoration
- Sacrifice and Prayer
- Feast in the house of Job
- Wealth, doubled
- Children
- Job's daughters [Inclusion of the daughters in the inheritance]
- Job, full of days
(this pattern is the reverse of the Prologue)