Who wrote the book of Job? Who was the author of Job?

Who wrote the book of Job cannot be determined. Some think it was Job himself to whom God by His Spirit dictated the book after he had passed through the suffering. Some suggest Elihu as the chosen instrument to preserve this experience of Job. Not a few believe that Moses wrote the book. It matters but little who the penman was; we know that behind that pen stood the Spirit of God, who after all is the real author of this and every other Bible book.

The critics have made havoc with the probable date when the book was written. We quote again Dr. Peake, who in discussing the date of Job weaves in a piece of pernicious Bible exegesis which strikes deeper than a late date for Job. "The problem (of the date when Job was written) is no longer in its elementary stage. It has been long pondered and discussed, and this agrees best with a date considerably later than that of Jeremiah. Several scholars have placed it towards the close of the Exile, contemporary with Isa. 40-55. A comparison of the two writers discloses correspondence which cannot be accidental. There are especially close points of contact between the figure of Job and that of the suffering servant of Jehovah. The servant is to be identified with the historical Israel, which had died in the Exile and was to be restored to life by a return from captivity and

In this book Israel is not mentioned, so that it seems Job lived previous to the time of Israel's history, perhaps about the time of Abraham. This book is poetic and magnificently beautiful in its language. Alfred Lord Tennyson, a renowned poet, called it "the greatest poem whether of ancient or modem literature." The writer is unknown, but it is plainly dictated by God, who knew perfectly all the circumstances, the exact words that Satan spoke as well as the Lord in the first and second chapters, the exact words of Job and of his three friends and of Elihu, then the words God Himself spoke from chapter 38 to 42:6. Considering all that took place, it could be only God who is the Author.

Next, who is the author of the book? GOD. Some have ascribed it to Moses, or possibly some earlier writer, and undoubtedly the general tone of the book suits the patriarchal age. Moses, who wrote Psalm 90, certainly had sufficient knowledge and versatility to be the human instrument, and during his stay in the land of Midian may have found this book or gathered its materials. Others have associated the book with the writers of Solomon's time, and it cannot be denied that there is much in its pages that reminds us of Solomon in the Proverbs. In general theme it may be associated with that time when the experiences of God's people were being gathered by inspired men. The knowledge of Jehovah, and of sacrifice, shows that its author must have been in the light of revelation. — could not have been a heathen in the ordinary sense of the word. For how feeble for instance are the thoughts of Homer when compared with what we find here. We rest therefore in the all-sufficient fact that it is a most important portion of that Word given by inspiration of God and "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." It need hardly be added that inspiration does not give infallibility to the various statements of Job and his friends, but insures the accuracy of the record of those statements — a vast difference, which annihilation and other systems failing to see, would claim divine sanction for human error.

How very remarkable it is that a book which records God's dealings with a Gentile should have a place in the Hebrew canon of Scripture; but this the more attests its authenticity as divinely inspired, for Jewish prejudice would assuredly have excluded it had there been the slightest ground for so doing. It is not of Abraham or of any of his ancestors or descendants that the words are written, "That man was perfect and upright," and of whom Jehovah says to Satan, "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?"

Nothing in the book indicates who the writer was, but the reference to Elihu, "the son of Barachel the Buzite," might place the date about the time of Moses, for Buz was the son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham. There is indeed the probability that Moses was the writer. Moses could well have written Genesis and Job during his forty years in Arabia. He was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," which was doubtless used of God in preparing His servant for his future service. Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus were written afterwards, to record the history of Israel, and God's relations with His people, from Egypt to the precincts of the land of Canaan.

The authenticity of Job is not only safeguarded by its place in the Hebrew canon, but is confirmed by Ezekiel's reference to the patriarch, when he links him with Noah and Daniel, men who were renowned in Israel, as approved of God, for their righteousness. The prophet might have chosen Abraham, Moses and some other notable in Israel's history, but God inspired him to write of Noah, the link between the post and antediluvian periods, Job, of whose righteousness God had specially spoken, and Daniel, who was contemporary with Ezekiel. Further confirmation of the Book of Job is found in the New Testament, where James, writing to the twelve tribes, says, "Ye have heard of the patience of Job." It was well-known to the Hebrews.

The first thing which it is well to bear in mind is that the book was written in the earliest days of revelation. It would be hazardous to say that any book of Scripture preceded it. That the writer of the book of Job (writer I say advisedly; for God of course is the real author of all Scripture), that the one used to give us the book was a contemporary of Moses, if not Moses himself, would seem to be not far from the mark. Of course one can only give a conjecture on such a point. Scripture has not defined the author; and, in my opinion, it would not become any man to do more than express a judgment as far as the Lord gives him a moral estimate of its character, without now discussing certain other marks of a more external kind. But it is very plain that, whether Moses was the writer or a contemporary of the writer, the groundwork of the book lies in a day previous to Moses. Nor should we doubt that it is the authentic account of all, a real history of Job and his friends, which is presented in the book. We see from the book itself, for instance, that the age of Job was extended after his trial, and he was by no means a young man when the trial came; so that, unless there were some singular exception in his age of which Scripture never speaks, Job himself must have been previous to the days of Moses. Now Moses was an exception, and Scripture itself speaks of Moses living so long in his day as a remarkable feature; and indeed it follows from his own words, from his own prayer, in Psalm 90, that the age of man, as a general rule at that time, had been reduced practically to very much what it is at the present. Moses was one that stood out from his fellows in more ways than one, even of an outward nature, not to speak now of his faith; for it is plain that both he and his brother were remarkable exceptions. Job, however, must have lived somewhat before them from the way the facts are stated.

There is another thing still more important to consider before we enter into the book: Job lived outside the chosen people. Surely this is a surprising fact in the midst of a revelation which, as a whole, has its root in Israel. The Old Testament, for that very reason, is called the law. Not merely the Pentateuch, or the Psalms, or the Prophets but the whole book, as we know, is comprehensively and repeatedly called "the law." The reason is, because what was said afterwards to the people who had the law of God affirmed that character of revelation. Every part of the Old Testament derived its name from the central characteristic fact of the law that was given by Moses; and yet there, in the midst of it, from its earliest days, stands one book at least, where the person who most of all is brought before us is the object of the deepest concern to God, drawing out such terms as God never applied even to the fathers.

The longevity of Job and the priestly action as head of the family (his historic reality being attested by Ezekiel in the Old Testament and by James in the New) point to patriarchal times: after Abraham and before the Exodus would seem the limits, if indeed Moses himself did not write the book. At any rate Dr. S. Lee has given a copious list of striking coincidences with the Pentateuch. The reader will notice how "the Almighty" (the revelation of God to the fathers) appears familiarly in the speeches of Job and his friends, as well as "God" as such. Jehovah is regularly used only when the writer describes or introduces Himself as speaking. The exception is in Job 12:9, Job 28:28 being Adonai and not Jehovah, Genesis proves however that the name of Jehovah was not a secret before God gave it by Moses as a name of relation to Israel. The idolatry alluded to in Job 31 is the earliest that came in by Satan's craft, and therefore suits well the patriarchal age; but it does prove that the book must have been written after the flood, for we hear of no idolatry before it. The mention of angels as the "sons of God" tallies with the Mosaic phrase in Genesis 6, and Satan's character with the serpent of Genesis 3.

During the course of time the following authors have been supposed: Job himself, Moses, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Baruch. But all these suppositions are uncertain. The oldest supposition dates the book as far back as the time of Moses or even before Moses. In any case the events occurring in the book would indicate a very early time of origin. The following facts mainly suggest so:

The patriarchal character of Job is every way evident; the history which introduces and closes it speaks of Jehovah. It is an account given by another, very likely Moses, including Job's expression of submission. But in the dialogue which is the didactic part of the Book, including Elihu, all is God and the Almighty. It is its character I speak of here, for his age and the character of the idolatry confirm it.

The scenes of this book belong in point of antiquity to the patriarchal age this we gather from the following considerations: — Job must have been nigh a century old, if not more, when the Lord opened the controversy with Satan respecting His servant. The patriarch then had seven grown-up sons, for they had houses of their own, and three daughters, while after his trial he lived a hundred and forty years (chaps. 1, 42). Does not this long age conclusively point to a time, certainly not later, if not earlier than, the days of Abram? This is further confirmed by a reference to the earliest form of idolatry, that of the heavenly bodies (Job 31:26-27), the only kind mentioned in the book, and further by the frequency of the patriarchal title "the Almighty" occurring oftener than in any other book of Scripture. Job, too, like his contemporaries prior to the days of Moses, is seen in household priestly action (Job 1:5). According to many — Jews and Christians — Moses was the writer of the book; if so, it was probably written forty years at least before the Pentateuch, the former in the land of Midian (Ex. 1), and the latter subsequently on the plains of Moab (Deut. 31:22, 26).

Chap. 1:1-12. Now I have only read the introduction, and indeed but a part of the introduction, because the first two chapters comprise the introduction. And then follows the impassioned and vehement opening speech of the patriarch Job. It is clear that here we have got a Book of patriarchal time. All the circumstances point to that time and no other; and further, it is as well to state even now before we go on, that the Book appears to have been written in the time of Moses, and probably by Moses. But some people are a little perplexed by the fact that it comes after the Book of Esther in the Bible. That has nothing whatever to do with the date of it. The Historical Books are given from Genesis to Esther — that is the end; then we begin the Poetic Books — Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Therefore it is that we necessarily go back here; because poetry was written certainly not after history, but concurrently with it; and we can easily understand that the Book of Job carries us back to the very same time that the first Book of the history goes back to. Everything concurs to show that.