Again he give credit to the spirit of god as the author of his words. The book of job is a book in the ketuvim writings section of the hebrew bible tanakh, and. Not only do they incur the indignation of job and his other friend elihu, but god himself rebukes them, saying to eliphaz, i am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant job has. If we look at the context it appears that elihu is alluding to nebuchadnezzars dream to show to job. The third and best understanding of elihu s role in the book of job is that he helps to prepare job for gods appearance in the whirlwind. Job explores the difficult question of gods relationship to. Job, possibly the strangest book in the bible, is based on legends going back thousands of years, and is written in a very unusual form of. Ancient jewish tradition credits the authorship of the book of job in the hebrew bible to moses. Elihu is identified only as the son of barakel the buzite, of the family of ram job 32. He is said to have descended from buz who may be from the line of abraham genesis 22. The book of job is the first document in history to take seriously the question of why really bad things happen to really good people.
The role and character of elihu in the book of job the. Elihu was one of job s friendsnot one of the three who had come to comfort job at the beginning of the book, but one who arrives later and offers the last and longest single speech to job. The date of the book leans toward a patriarchal age. Unfortunately, two erroneous interpretations of job s theses are by far the most popular. Few bible characters cause such divided interpretation as jobs friend elihu. Kingston tong, graduated from seminary, preaching and teaching the bible. Addressing the problem of theodicy the vindication of the justice of god in the light of humanitys suffering it is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. The book of job is quite possibly the strangest book in the hebrew bible, and is notoriously difficult to date. This name might have been derived from the hebrew word for persecution, thus meaning persecuted. Job himself, who could have best recalled his own words. Job is wrong to accuse god of injustice, as god is greater than human beings, and nor are the. Title as with other books of the bible, job bears the name of the narratives primary character. Elihu, the fourth friend who spoke toward the end of the story.
Neil simon wrote gods favorite which is a modern retelling of the book of job. Watch our overview video on the book of job, which breaks down the literary design of the book and its flow of thought. Several suggestions have been put forth as plausible authors. He is said to have descended from buz who may be from the line of abraham. Elihu, the forgotten prophet of job the book of job is one of the most important of the entire bible, and is a prerequisite to all discussions of christian theology, particularly theodicy. In essence, job is an essay on the problem of evil. First, the name elihu is a variant spelling of the name elijah, and elihu s actions in the book of job suggest a strong connection to the great prophet. But today i was reading in chapter 12 and elihu actually speaks in first person like a narrator in verses 16, 17. Elihu, in the hebrew bible, a comforter of job, the biblical prototype of undeserved. Why is he such a confusing figure, and what should we learn from. The babylonian talmud claims, moses wrote his own book, and the passages about balaam and job baba bathra, 14b, 15a. Was satan described as the son of god in the book of job in the bible.
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