JOB. 



l,-i(Tiop's pi-oof that the book of Job is no cider than the time 

 of Ezra, rells chiefly upon thcfe two points, vix. his notion 

 v( an equal providence under the Molaic difpeiifation, and 

 tliat of the book's being an allegorical dramatic poem. The 

 "former point, which he conceives to have been the grand 

 qucftion difciilTed in this book, could be no queiUon, in his 

 upiniun, any where out of the land of .ludea ; nor there 

 neither, in any period of the Jewiih nation, either before 

 or after that in which he places it. The qucllion he fuppofes 

 to be this, whether GoJ adminiilers his government over 

 men here with an equal providence, fo as that the good are 

 always profperous, and tlie bad unhappy ; or whether, on 

 the contrary, there be not fuch apparent inequalities, as that 

 profperity and adverfity iiiten happen indifferently to good 

 and bad. Job, fays our author, maintiiins the latter part of 

 the queftion, and his three friends the former. They argue 

 .thefe points through the whole difpute, and each pany firmly 

 adheres to his firit opinion. After giving fome account of 

 /he diftrefTed condition of tlie Jews upon their return from 

 the captivity, he thus proceeds : " Could any thing be con- 

 ceived more feafonable and necelFary at this time than fuch a 

 work as the book of Job ? In whi'cli, on a traditional ftory 

 of great fame and reputation all aver tlie Eall, a -good man 

 was reprefented as afflifted for the trial of his virtue, and re- 

 warded for his afflielions-; and in which their doubts about 

 God's providence were pioufly refolved into his almighty 

 power. jFor to quiet all their anxieties, and to comfort 

 them under their prefent diftreffes was, I fuppofe, thereafon 

 •of one of their prophets compofing the book of Job at this 

 x-ery period. But if fnch was the end of writing th.is poetic 

 ilory, we cannot but fuppofe every thing in it would be 

 littcd to the circiimilances of thofe'times. But this could 

 not be done without making the poem aUcgorkal as well as 

 dramatic ; that is, reprefenting the real perfons of that age 

 imder the perfons of the drama." That this poem is wholly 

 allegorical the bifhop argues from the -divers circumftances 

 that are added to each charatler, which can, by no means, 

 belong to the perfons reprefenting ; and therefore others were 

 meant under thole charafters, as the perfons reprefented. 

 This ftatement he endeavours to juftify and confirm by ex- 

 amining each charatler, in its reference to the perfon rcpre- 

 Jcntcd, beginning with Job, who reprefents the Jewifli 

 people ; and proceeding to fiiew how his wife pourtrayed the 

 jdolatrous wives of the Jews, and how his three friends re- 

 prefented the three capital enemies of the Jews, above-men- 

 lioiK-d. 



The next perfon in this allegorical drama is the devil him- 

 i'elf, or Satan, the author and contriver of aJl the mifdiief. 

 This alfault of Satan upon Job, fays the bilhop, was that 

 which, as the prophet Zachai-iah tells us, (chap. ii. ver. 13. 

 «jhap. iii. ver. j, &c.) he made, at this time, on the people ; 

 •• The only difference is, that, in the prophecy, Jolhua the 

 high prifelt Hands for the people, and in this poem. Job ; in 

 all the reft, the identity is fo flrongjy fupported, that this 

 Single circumltance is alone fufficieiit to confirm the truth of 

 x)ur whole reprefentation." — " The finding of Satan in the 

 fcene is a certain proof (fays our author) that the work 

 was compofed in the age we affign to it. This evil being 

 was little known to the people till about this time." The 

 lall perfon iu this allegorical drama is Elihu ; and Elihu, ac- 

 cording to the bifliop's ibatement, was Ezra, or the facred 

 writer himfeif Sucii are the general outlines of the learned 

 bidiop's hypothefis, in which, it muft be allowed, he has 

 manifelled a coniiderable degree of ingenuity, and, as we 

 conceive, no fmall difplay of fancy. This liypothefis has 

 been examined, and in our judgment, fatisfactorily refuted 

 ju Mr. Peters' "Critical Dili'erlation on tlie Bcok of 

 Jub." 



Le Clcrc fuppofes tliattTie Ijook of Job, which, in >,!* 

 opinion, was aliiftory treated in a poetical manner, or a hil 

 tory treated in the form of a parable, was written after tlir 

 Jews were carried into Babylon, and urges, in proof of thi , 

 the frequent chnldaifms that occur iufit. 



The learned Grotius Apprehends that this book contain! 

 a true hillory, treated in a poetical manner ; and he was pro- 

 bablyledto adopt this opinion from adverting to the fuper- 

 naturaland furprifing incidents that occur in it:; fnch as that 

 of the fons of God prefenting themfe]vL-s before Jehovah, 

 and the divine inteipcifition at the conchifion. But as he 

 fuppofed the book to be written at tlie dillance of about 

 a thoufand years from the date of the fubjcft of which 

 it treats, he could fcarcely imagine that there was much 

 oi true hiftory in it. Would not a confiderable difficulty 

 in fettlir.g the time, when this book was written, be ob- 

 viated, by fuppofing that the introduftory part in the two 

 firilx-hapters, in which ^ataii makes fo confpicuous a figure, 

 (and perhaps the conclufion,) were written aftei- the Baby- 

 loitiih captivity, by fome writer, Ezra or another perfon' j 

 for, as bilhop Warburton allows, Satan became more known 

 among the Jew's after their return from Babylon ? Grotius 

 farther iuppofcs, that the events reicorded in this poetical 

 hiftory happened in Arabia, whilft the Hebrews wandered 

 in the defert ; and tliat the writer, who was a Hebrew, 

 lived before the time of EzekieJ, as he infers from that 

 paffage in Ins prophecy, where .lob is mentioned ; but after 

 David and Solomon, from whofe writings, as he conceives, 

 fome fentences and forms of fpecch are transferred hither; 

 and that it w-as written for the ufe of the Edomites, tran- 

 fpor'ed to Babylon, to confirm them in the worfhip of the 

 true God, and to teach them patience in adverfity. 



The learned writer whofe fentiments we are now detailing, 

 acknowledges that there is no mention in this book of aiiy 

 law but fuch as was traditional ; nor of any point of hiftory, 

 befides thofe of the more ancient times, viz. before the 

 giving of the Mofaic law ; that the length of Job's life 

 w hich extended to , 200 years, agrees with thofe times ; 

 and that though the writer is unknown, it appears credi- 

 ble from a paffage in Ezekiel, that he lived before the 

 time of that prophet. David and Solomon might have bor- 

 rowed forms of fpeech from the book of Job ; which is no 

 lefs probable than the fuppolition of Grotius already men- 

 tioned ; and if the book was written before the time of Eze- 

 kiel, the author could not have borrowed from Daniel, Ezra, 

 and the Chaldee paraphrafts, as Grotius feeras to intimate. 



SchiUteiis afcribes the poetical, or dialogue part of this 

 book, the llyle of which, he fays, has all the marks of the 

 moft venerable and remote antiquity, to Job liimfclf ; the 

 reft he fuppofes to be the work of fome Hebrew colleftor. 

 As for Le Clerc's chaldaifms, fuch as the termination in for 

 im, in the plural, he fays they are true Hebrew and Arabic, 

 of the moll ancient ftamp. See alfo Grey's Job, p. 12. of 

 the preface. Moft of the Jewifti doftors believe that Mofes 

 was the writer of this book ; and M. Huet, with whom 

 profeffor MichaeHs concurs, fuppofes that it was written 

 by Mofes in his exile in the land of Midian ; where he re- 

 fided 40 years. Some have fuppofed that it was either 

 written by him, or tranflated by him fr.)m the original Sy. 

 riac, or Arabic, and that it was defigned to prepare the 

 liiaelites for their exodus from Egypt, and the hardfliips 

 of their future peregrination. Alt thofe learned men, who 

 fuppofe this book to have been written bv Mofes, or Elihu, 

 as Lightfoot imagines, or fome perfon near the time of Job, 

 mu(t ot courfe be perfuadcd that there is nothing in the 

 ftyle, which is not very confillent with this remote antiquity ; 

 and that the phrafes which others take for imitations of paf- 

 fages in the Pfalms or Prorerbs, Danisl or Esra, are rather 

 4 originalj 



