JOB 
To JOB'j v. a. To ftrike fuddenly with a (harp inftru- 
*nent.—As an afs with a galled back was feeding in a 
meadow, a raven pitched upon him, and fat jobbing of the 
fore. L'EJlrange .—To drive -in a (harp inftrument.—The 
work would, where a fmall irregularity of Huff Ihould 
happen, draw or job theedge into the Huff. Moxon. 
To JOB', v. n. To play the ftockjobber ; to buy and 
fell as a broker: 
The judge (hall job, the bilhop bite the town, 
And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown. Pope. 
JO'B, [Heb. one that weeps.] A man’s name. 
JOT, the principal character in one of the canonical 
books of the Old Teftament, who is held out to us as an 
illnltrious example of patience and refignation under the 
fevereit afflictions, is fpoken of as an inhabitant of the 
land of Uz, by which is generally underftood that part of 
Arabia Petrtea called Idumsea. The particulars relating 
to him form part of a noble and beautiful poern, concern¬ 
ing which very different opinions have been entertained 
by learned men. Some have maintained, that it is a Am¬ 
ple narrative of matters of fad, juft as they happened ; 
others, while they contend that the foundation of the ftory 
belongs to true hiftofy, allow that all the dialogue, and 
molt likely fome other parts of it, have partaken largely 
of the embellilhments of poetry ; and by a third clafs of 
critics it is confidered to be, like fome of our Saviour’s 
parables, a fabulous narration, defigned to convey im¬ 
portant and ufeful fentiments refpeCting the government 
and providence of God, in a more pleating, forcible, and 
imprefflve, manner, than in the form of abltraCt rules and 
precepts. The learned are alfo much divided in their 
fentiments concerning the perlon by whom, and the time 
when, the book of Job was written. Schultens afcribes 
the poetical or dialogue part of it, the ftyle of which, he 
fays, has all the marks of the molt venerable and remote 
antiquity, to Job himfelf; the reft he fuppofes to be the 
work of fome Hebrew collector. Bilhop Lowth, after in¬ 
filling on the futility of the hypothefis which attributes it 
to Mofes, (lince it is impofiibie to trace throughout tlve 
whole book the flighted: allulion to the manners, cuftoms, 
ceremonies, or hiitory, of the Ifraelites, and the ftyle is 
materially different from the poetical ftyle of Mofes,) de¬ 
clares himfelf, on the whole, inclined to favour the opi¬ 
nion ef thole who fuppofe Job himfelf, or fome contem- 
poraiy, to be the author of this poem. That it is the 
molt ancient of all the facred books, is, he thinks, mani- 
feft from the fubjeft, the language, the general character, 
and even from the obfcurity, of the work. Concerning 
the time all’o in which Job lived, although not directly 
fpecilied, he fees no room for doubt; for the length of 
his life evinces that he was before Mofes, and probably 
contemporary with the patriarchs. Bilhop Warburton, in 
the fecond volume of his Divine Legation of Mofes, is of 
opinion that it was written by Ezra, fome time between 
the return of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon, and 
their thorough fettlement in their own country ; and 
adapted to the circumftances of thofe times by being made 
allegorical as well as dramatic. Le Clerc alfo fuppofes, 
that the book of Job was written after the Jews were car¬ 
ried into Babylon, and urges, in fupport of this, the fre¬ 
quent Chaldaifms which occur in it. Grotius apprehends, 
that the events recorded in it happened in Arabia, while 
the Hebrews wandered in the defert; that the writer, who 
was a Hebrew, lived before the time of Ezekiel, but after 
David and Solomon ; and that it was written for the life 
of the Edomites, tranfported to Babylon, to confirm them 
in the worlhip of the true God, and to teach them pa¬ 
tience in adverfity. Molt of the Jewifli doCtors, and many 
Chriftian critics, among whom are the learned Huet and 
profelfor Michaelis, are inclined to attribute it to Mofes; 
fome fuppofing that it was written during his exile in the 
land of Midian, or tranflated by him into Hebrew from 
the original Syriac or Arabic, and defigned to confole the 
Ifraelites under the oppreflion of their Egyptian bondage, 
yoL. XI. No. 746. 
JOB sat 
as well as to prepare them for fubmitti-ng to the harafflips 
of their future peregrination in the wildernefs. 
Thus the bypothefes on the fubjeCts of the author and 
date of the book of Job are fulficiently various and con¬ 
tradictory. But, though we cannot arrive at any certainty 
with refpect to the author of this book, or the time where 
it was written, we may affirm that the hiftory which it 
contains, whether true or parabolical, and the dialogues 
attributed to the characters introduced into it, are re¬ 
plete with the nobleft fentiments and molt ufeful in (trac¬ 
tions. “ The principal objeCt held forth to our contem¬ 
plation in this production,” fays Dr. Lowth, “ is the ex¬ 
ample of a good man, eminent for his piety, and of ap¬ 
proved integrity, fuddenly precipitated from the very 
fummit of profperity into the lowelt depths of mifery and 
ruin : who, having been firft bereaved of his wealth, his 
poffeflions, and his children, is afterwards afflicted with 
the molt excruciating anguilh of a loathlome difeafe. He 
fultains all, however, with the mildeft fubmiflion, and the 
moft complete refignation to the will of Providence.. In 
all this, lays the hiltorian, Job finned, not, nor charged God 
foolijhly. And, after the fecond trial, In all this did not Job 
fin with, his lips. The author of the hiftory remarks upon 
this circumltance a fecond time, in order to excite the 
obfervation of the reader, and to render him more atten¬ 
tive to what follows, which properly conftitutes the true 
fubject of the poem : namely, the conduft of Job with 
refpeCt to his reverence for the Almighty, and the changes 
which accumulating mifery might produce in his temper 
and behaviour. Accordingly, we find that another ltill 
more exquifite trial of his patience yet awaits him, and 
which indeed, as the writer feems to intimate, he fcarcely 
appears to have fultained with equal firmnefs, namely, the 
unjuft fufpicions, the bitter reproaches, and the violent 
altercations, of his friends, who had vilited him on the 
pretence of affording conlolation. Here commences the 
plot or aClion of the poem ; for, when after a long filence 
of all parties, the grief of Job breaks forth into paffionate 
exclamations, and a vehement execration on the day of 
his birth; the minds of his friends are fuddenly exafpe- 
rated, their intentions are changed, and their confolation, 
if indeed they originally intended any, is converted into 
contumely and reproaches.” In the dialogues which fol¬ 
low, we are prelented with the criminations of Job by his 
friends, and his afleverations of his own innocence. The 
former are intermingled with many juft obfervations on 
the divine government, and on the certain deftruCtion of 
hypocritical pretenders to virtue and religion ; but their 
deductions from them, as applicable to the cafe of Job, 
are cruel and indefenfible, and particularly their leading 
notion, that from the degree of affliction which any per- 
fon fuffered might be concluded the degree of his wicked- 
nefs. Job vindicates himfelf in an animated and confident 
Itrain 5 afferts his integrity as difplayed in all the duties 
of life, and in the fight of God and man, and appeals to 
the juftice and omnifcience of God in atteftation of his 
veracity. But in repelling the charges preferred againll 
him, andaflerting his innocence, he fometimes gives way 
to unbecoming (allies of paflion, and fometimes, in the 
complaints which he utters, infinuates rafti and ill-founded 
fufpicions with refpeCt to the reCtitude of the Divine 
proceedings. Being reduced, however, to a more jult 
fenfe of his duty, he humbles himfelf in the fight of God, 
with the molt unfeigned penitence acknowledges his folly 
and prefumption, and refumes his acquiefcence in the 
will of God, determined to indulge no more any irreve¬ 
rent diftruftof the divine proceedings. When his afflic¬ 
tions have produced this defirable effect upon him, the 
poet, by his relloration to his former profperity, even with 
increafe, intends to intimate, that conltant piety is always 
approved, fupported, and rewarded, by the Almighty, 
The defign of the poem, therefore, is to teach men, that, 
having a due relpeCl to the infirmity and ignorance of 
human nature, as well as to the infinite wifdom and rr.a- 
jeltyof God, they are to reject all vain confidence in their 
3 F own 
