The narrative of the Book of Job has a prologue that follows a formulaic aperture, (Longacre, 1983) that is also used in fairy tale stories: There was an X in (the land of X) whose name is X. This makes the language of the Book of Job so recognizable; the basic purpose of the prologue is to introduce the protagonist. Just like many narratives, one observes that the narrator stands outside the story and the reader is led to a prose frame with its fairy-tale-like narration which begins with a formulaic phrase which uses a verb in the past tense that is typical of a narrative discourse: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job (1:1). This formulaic phrase is followed by a description of Job’s family and possessions. This enables the descriptive paragraph to seep in through a narrative discourse.
4.1.1.1 Descriptive paragraph. This gives a mental image of something experienced. Apparently, the author aims to paint the states of affairs of the protagonist. The vivid descriptions provide the backgrounder that Job is an ideal patriarch, wealthy, influential and powerful, but pious: hewould rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings…Thus Job did regularly (1:5). The word images imply to the reader that this is not the typical fairy tale rags- to- riches story. These same descriptions make one infer the mood of the story. Mood is put forward by the tranquil and relaxed opening represented in the surface structure by adjectives that portray Job as a righteous and affluentperson, blessed with ten children, who rejoices with them in harmony and takes pleasure in the good things of life. The contented countenance is concluded with number adjectives: the information they give is how many of the noun: And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. // Also his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, ive hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys…(1:2-3); adverb modifer: and a very large household…; superlative adjective: …this man was the greatest of all the people…(1:3); and action words that denote harmonious relationship and fulfilling life (…his sons would go and feast in their houses…and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them, 1:4) and spiritual serenity (…Job would send and sanctify them…1:5).
4.1.1.2 Self Referential. The moment in time of the narrative is not fixed to any time indicator which might be used as a marker of a specific historical time. It does not say, for instance, that Job “lived during the reign of a certain king or in a certain era.” In its place, Now is used to give the description of the activities of the children (1:4) which creates an impression of a recent time; and So it was to sum up the regular routine of the members of the family (1:5), or to show the remoteness of the action described. Every time a new development is introduced, Now is employed (1:6, 1:11; 1:13, 2:11). Since it has no time indicator that marks it off from any period or age, it is self-referential. The storyteller makes the reader know all and be in attendance in each of the unfolding events as he opens the setting of the scene. To introduce the protagonist, the narrator names him right from the start: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job…(1:1); to bring in other characters, the adverbs are employed: Now his sons…., Now there was a day when the sons of God …before the Lord, and Satan also…(1:4, 6).
4.1.1.3 Shifting scenes. The narrator shifts scenes from heaven to earth and vice versa while disclosing the thoughts of the participants that advance the story. The disclosure begins with the descriptive account on earth: There was a man in the land of Uz… (1:1-5), then changes the scene to heaven: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them…(3:6-12), and again goes back to the world scene: Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house… (1:13- 22), and shifts to heaven again: Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also… (2:1-6), and lastly, goes back to earth again: …and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head… (2:7-10). This last shift to earth further brings in other characters: wife of Job and his three friends. Clearly, the kind of scene backgrounding the action is dictated by the nature of the participants; it is easy to determine if the scene is heaven because of the presence of God, Satan and sons of God. The earth scene is identified because of the presence of the mortal characters, Job and his family.
4.1.1.4 Repetition/Incremental repetition. It is employed to stress thoughts. Repeated are the words between God and Satan, Job and his men, set expressions, and outer peripheries of the dialogues. Repetition is saying the same words verbatim, while incremental repetition occurs when a line is repeated in a changed context or with slight changes in the repeated part or the same line is carried over to the next and something else is added. The words of God to Satan are examples of repetition: From where do you come? (1:7; 2:2), to this Satan replies From going to and from on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it (1:8; 2:2), and the outer periphery (non-dialogue material) employed by the narrator to introduce the dialogue part of the messenger to inform Job of the tragedy that befalls him: While he was still speaking another also came and said (1:16; 1:17; 1:18). Incremental repetition occurs in the dialogue of God in praise of Job; this is repeated, but something more is added in the second mention of it: Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? (1:8); this same words are repeated in 2:3, but more is added: Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause (2:3). Satan’s answers likewise give evidence to this surface feature: But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face! (1:11); this is repeated in 2:5, but more words are added: But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!The repeated words and the new information advance the story. This feature is supposed to retard the story but the coming of the tragedy in succession gives the feeling of urgency on the part of the reader. In immediate sequence, the storyteller intensifies the calamity by zeroing in on the terrible events in progression. The messenger says, the “…the Sabeans raided them and took them away-” (1:15), then another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants….” (1:16), then another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away…and killed the servants with the edge of the sword….” (1:17), and finally another also came and said, “…and suddenly a great wind came from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead” (1:19). Each report is ended with … and I alone have escaped to tell you! This last dialogue is also an instance of incremental repetition because there is new information attached to it everytime it is said (1:16; 1:17; 1:19).This technique or schematic usage basically presents a progressive escalation or extension of an initial statement and provides a full dramatic effect. A patterned array of narrative and conceptual elements, highlighted by linguistic repetitions, generate typical parallelism in phrase and idea. In the prologue, these parallelisms exhibit a progressive increase from verse to verse, producing an effect called incremental repetition.
4.1.1.5 Stereotyped epithets or set expressions are also repeated. These are blameless and upright (1:1, 8; 2:3), one who feared God and shunned evil (1:1, 8; 2:3), In all this, Job did not sin (1:22; 2:10), and My servant Job (1:8; 2:3; 42:7). This surface structure device conveys to the reader the character’s personality and may follow up what changes may take place in his personality as a result of the conflict.
4.1.1.6 Foreshadowing. The words blameless and upright appear to be the key words that foreshadow which theme is developed in the succeeding dialogue. Foreshadowing is hinting what is going to occur later in the story. The future events in a story, or possibly the result, are insinuated by the author before they happen (Literary devices,
4.1.1.7 Dialogue paragraph. Outer peripheries of dialogues said more than twice are The LORD said to Satan, Then Satan answered the LORD; While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said; and So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. The narration slows the tempo by setting the dialogues between God and Satan in shifting scenes (1:7-12; 14-19; 2: 2-6). Though the author employs dialogue to “retard” the activity, the way the tragic events is brought to Job by the announcement of the messenger is done hurriedly and in increasing magnitude stressing the report of the death of his children. The dialogue paragraph consists of outer periphery (non-dialogue material that introduces the dialogue, such as, “And the Lord said to Satan,” “Then the Lord said to Satan”) and inner periphery (dialogue material).
4.1.1.8 Paired verbs. These are evident in the aperture and exposition stage; each time, the verb appears in pair or more; for example: feared God, & turned away in 1:1; used to go & hold, would send & invite, to eat & drink in 1:4, would send & sanctify, would rise & offer, have sinned, & cursed in 1:5, put forth & and touch in 1:11, were eating & drinking in 1:13, fell, took them, & slew in 1:15, and raised their voices and wept; and they rent their robes and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward (2:12). The longest is (Job) arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped (1:20) which has four verbs in a row. These paired verbs indicate copious ideas or events that are important, yet if explicated in detail may create redundancy. This generates an effect of urgency to sustain dramatic interest. The reader’s interest that is already triggered is kept up by the vividness of the word images. In sum, with the aid of linguistic devices, the readers are helped to identify the Stage that gives information on the character, setting and the nature of conflict. Through descriptive paragraphs, the poet portrays the status of Job and the vivid portrayal of his person and the setting speaks of the virtuousness of the leading character and the blissful atmosphere of the story; the description reveals stereotyped epithets. These repeated epithets foreshadow what is to be read in the succeeding chapters. Aside from these set adjectives to describe Job’s goodness, paired verbs in every sentence are evident. Employing two action verbs indicates recounting of the story in a compact manner but loaded with meaningful actions or developments in the fewest words or sentences possible. With all the events that take place after the formulaic aperture, it is concluded that the story is self-referential because it does not have a definite time marker; to mark a scene in progression, the adverbs then and now; and adverb clauses are used. These adverbs give way to the shifting scenes that introduce the reader to other characters in the story and the conflict to be grappled with by the protagonist. The incremental repetitions reveal the communications that take place between God and Satan. In every encounter, they use the same words but something more is added to advance the story. This same technique is used by the author in the scene where the messengers came in succession to report to Job the tragedy that falls on his children, animals and properties. The patterned formations of components are highlighted by linguistic repetitions, and these result in parallelism in phrase and idea. These parallel similar structures exhibit a progressive development from verse to verse. Another surface feature that characterizes the narrative Stage is the dialogue paragraph. The characters do not have active roles because the dialogue materials are always introduced. The speaker of the dialogue material (inner periphery) is introduced which makes up the outer periphery. The introduction of the speaker of the dialogue, like The Lord said, before the actual speech is typical of narrative dialogues. For the speaker to assume an active role, the dialogues are expressed by the author without the corresponding outer peripheries (Longacre, p. 2). The technique of relating the tragedy in the life of Job in the prologue also foreshadows the central topic in the middle part. To establish coherence in the idea set in the aperture that he is blameless and upright, the author does not make him vacillate in his fate in God despite his afflictions. Faced with the terrible loss of his worldly belongings, his children, and finally his own health, Job refuses to curse the Lord. How long Job suffers is not clear for after the narration of Job’s rejection of his wife’s proposition that he curse God, the coming of the three friends to comfort him is related. What is given is there are seven days of silence and after that Job renders a poignant soliloquy cursing the day of his birth. At this point, the poetic dialogue begins.
The pre-peak is marked by time succession, back-reference, conjunctions, rhetorical trope and figures of words, shift to a more specific persons and juxtapostions of other genre types.
4.1.2.1 Time succession. Within the book which holds the verses, all clues of time are set in relation to the opening incidences and are only indicated by then, (4:1; 6:1; 8:1; 9:1, etc.) as each communicator replies to the circumstances and to the words articulated by the preceding speaker. For example, Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said and Then Job answered and said. Accordingly, this implies that the time frame of this story is somewhat short. After seven days of silence (2:13), it looks as if the whole poetic dialogues between Job, his friends, Elihu and God,occur within several hours. In other words, the book recounts a brief episode of Job’s affliction, lamentation, arguments with friends, seven days of total stillness, which match the customary length of silent bereavement for a death.
4.1.2.2 Back reference. This employs a word or a group of words or verses to refer to the preceding paragraph. The pre-peak zone is the longest part of the story; for the reader not to be misdirected, back–referencing device serves to retrieve from the memory what has been read earlier. The referring to the ideas or scenes introduced in the preceeding chapters help lock in what is learned, give evidence of the unity or oneness of the plot, and emphasize the meaning of the following topics:
4.1.2.2.1 On Job’s righteousness. Job’s being upright and blamesless is mentioned first in the Prologue: There was a man in the land of Uz…, and that man was blameless and upright. Aside from the fact that this pair of key words blameless and upright is repeated in the prologue through the words of God in 1:8 and in 2:3, this becomes the moot point of arguments among friends which is often referred to in numerous chapters. After Eliphaz’speech that implies that Jobis sinful, in Chapter 6:24-29 Job challenges his friends: “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; // Cause me to understand wherein I have erred….what doesyour arguing prove? Yes,…my righteousness still stands.” Job’s unflinching stand that he is righteous remains to be the central thesis of his speeches, like in the following verses: Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, // Nor will He uphold the evildoers (8:20); Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; // Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse (9:20); and, I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; // I despise my life (9:21). Because of the uncertain way in which God treats man, Job can not discern anymore that he is innocent, a pronouncement that is not consistent with his words in God will not cast away the blameless…(8:20); and…He destroys the blameless and the wicked (9:22). Here, Job accuses God of giving the same treatment to good and bad people. Job’s claim to righteousness is refuted by Elihu and the three friends; their replies to Job make possible the re-emergence of this theme: Bildad says: 8:6If you were pure and upright, // Surely now He would awake for you….”Zophar says:11:4-5 For you have said, // ‘My doctrine is pure, // And I am clean in your eyes.’// But oh, that God would speak, //And open His lips against you.” Eliphaz says: 22:3Is it pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? // Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?” Elihu says: 33:8-12Surely you have spoken…‘I am pure, without transgression…Yet the finds occasions against me….’ Look, in this you are not righteous….” 35:2-8“Do you think this is right...? ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?...If you are righteous,what do you give Him? ...Your wickedness affects a man such as you, // And your righteousness a son of man.” An instance of Job’s persistence that he is blameless is in this verse: 31:16-18:“If I have kept the poor from their desire,// Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail, // Or eaten my morsel by myself, // So that the fatherless could not eat of it. // (But from my youth I reared him as a father, // And from my mother's womb I guided the widow)….” Job declares his innocence in Job 31. All the accusations made in the previous speeches are all answered: Job 31: 16-18 may refer to the charge made by Eliphaz in 22:7-9, that Job is unresponsive to the starving people and unjust to the widows and the orphans; 31:19-20 refer to 22:6; 29:7. Job has not given to haughtiness as implied by Eliphaz in 22:23-25.Thoughts of blamelessness and righteousness recur because Job would not accept his friends’ accusation that he is a sinner. The Pre-peak zone revolves around the arguments and refutation as to whether Job is a sinner to have deserved his afflictions.
4.1.2.2.2 On Job’s affliction The actual tragedy is related in the prologue; 1:13-19 describes how Job loses his property and children: “…Sabeans raided them and took them away…. The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants…. The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away…. Your sons and daughters were eating…and suddenly a great wind came…and struck the four corners of the house…and they are dead….” And, in 2:1-10 that shows how Satan’s attacks Job’s health: “…struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head….” This calamity in Job’s life generates 35 chapters of arguments and refutations that comprise the inciting moments which prompt the coming of the climax which consists of God’s speech. This is especially referred to in chapters 3 and 6: For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me…. // I have no rest for trouble comes (3:25-26); For the arrows of the Almighty are within me… (6:4). The tragedy in the life of Job causes him to wish that he were dead, intones his complaint against God, and accuse Him as an oppressor.
4.1.2.2.3 On Job’s wish to die and of Sheol and its inhabitants Chapter 3:3, 11 tells bluntly his wish to die: “May the day perish on which I was born….” “Why did I not die at birth? ….” This yearning reappears in the following chapters 6, 7, and 14: That it would please God to crush me… (6:9), So that my soul chooses strangling // And death rather than my body (7:15), and “Oh that You would hide me in the grave,…” (14:13). In 14:13, Job has expressed his wish that he might be concealed in the place of the dead where will be later named in 26:6. Chapter 3:13-19 gives clue to the place Job would have gone if he had not been born: “…and there the weary are at rest. // There the prisoners rest together…. The small and great are there….” Job articulates his wish that after death, he might go to Sheol where it is quiet and restful. Yet, this is a futile hope because when man dies, he is not aware of anything. This place is named in 26:6: “Sheol is naked before Him, //And Destruction has no covering….” Chapter 3:8 mentions the inhabitants of the place where Job would stay if he were dead: “May those curse it who curse the day, // Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. The inhabitants of this place are also referred to in the following: Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, // That you set a guard over me? (7:12), “The dead tremble, // Those under the waters and those inhabiting them” (26:5).
4.1.2.2.4 On Job’s being a sinner and the punishment of the wicked Chapter 4:7 implies that Job was a sinner: “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? // Or where the upright ever cut off? This idea of Eliphaz that Job has sinned as a reason why he suffers is stressed in 22:5 “Is not your wickedness great, //And your iniquity without end?” This charge seem to be accepted by Job when he addresses God in 13: 26, For You write bitter things against me, // And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth, and 14:5, You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass. This means that man’s days are known to God and his limits are decreed; thus, he is bound to commit wrongdoings. This“wickedness” of Job is what Eliphaz is referring to in 22:6-11: You have taken pledges from your brother…, not given the wear water to drink….” Chapter 4:8-9 illustrates the punishment of the iniquitous: “Those who plow iniquity…, By the blast of God they perish….” This punishment of the wicked resurfaces several times in many chapters such as Chapters 5, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15,18, 20, 22, 27, and 36. Some examples of these are the following: 4:20-21…They die, even without wisdom, 5:3-5…His sons are far from safety…the hungry eat up his harvest…, 5:12-14 He frustrates the device of the crafty…, 8:12-18…The hope of the hypocrite shall perish….
4.1.2.2.5 On Job’s complaint The outline of Job’s complaint is in Chapter 6: 1-13: “Oh, that my grief were fully weighed…. // What strength do I have that I should hope...? This idea is back-referenced in the succeeding speeches of Job as in Chapter 7: “...I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…,” Chapter 9: “If I say, ‘I will forget my complain, // I will put off my sad face and wear a smile…,” and Chapter 10: “….I will give free course to my complaint.” The complaint involves the protest on why the evildoers prosper: Chapter 21: “Why do the wicked live and become old, // Yes, become mighty in power...?” and, why he is in misery while he does not offend God: 7:20: “….What have I done to you…? Why then you do not pardon my transgression...? This tone of complaint is felt in several chapters which is said differently, as in 9:18: “He will not allow me to catch my breath, // But fills me with bitterness;” 10:18: “Why then you have brought me out of the womb…? ; 30:20: “I cry out to You, but You do not answer me….” Job makes his request clear everytime he complains of his misery.
4.1.2.2.6 On Job’s request After outlining his complaint, Job makes his request clear in 6:8-9: “Oh, that I might have my request, // That God would grant me the thing that I long for! //…. That he would loose His hand and cut me off!” Another request is stated in 9:32-35: “… And that we should go to court together….” This is referred to again in 13:3: “… But I would speak to the Almighty, // And I desire to reason with God,” in 23:3-4: …. That I might come to His seat! // I would present my case beforeHim….” This idea recurs in other verses such as 13:20-22, 22:4, 34:23. The theme that Job starts with at the beginning of the speech in 23: 3-4, that is, an opportunity to have a meeting with God has already been mentioned several times: first, twice in the first cycle, 9:34-35 (Let Him take His rod away from me….Then I would speak and not fear Him….) But God is a despot that a trial might be useless, 9:2-4 (…If one wished to contend with Him, // He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand….), 16-21 (…I would not believe that He was listening to my voice. // For He crushes me with a tempest….), and 10:1 (…I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.. Second, in 13:3 (But I would speak to the Almighty….); this projects a more determined attitude to argue with God. Initially, he is afraid that his life may be at risk, but articulated his confidence that it might not be in 13: 14-16 (…Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him. // Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him….) And, third, the transitory fear is gone; his desires to see God are expressed again because he is convinced that he will be exonerated, 23: 3-7 (“…He would take note of me…. // There the upright could reason with Him, // And I would be delivered forever….) The legal term to reason with is seen in 13:3 (…And I desire to reason with God.) and 23:7, (There the upright could reason with Him….) What motivates Job to have confidence is his guarantee that he has been devoted to God’s commands, 23: 11-12 (My foot has held so fast to His steps; // I have kept His way and not turned aside). Eliphaz insists that he receive God’s instruction, 22:22 (… And lay up His words in your heart). But in 23:13-14: “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? // For He performs what is appointed for me…,” Job realizes that his exoneration can happen only in the presence of God; yet, God is not present and He might avoid the encounter with Him because there is no one who could change God’s decision. Whatever God wants for Job to under go, it will happen. This thought has been mentioned in 7:3 (So I have been allotted months of futility….). Job’s protestations are vocalized with the allegation that God is a despot.
4.1.2.2.7 On the topic that God is a despotThe subject that God is an oppressor is first alluded to by Job in 6:4: “… The terrors of God are arrayed against me,”“…The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges…who else could it be?....” The theme of the LORD’S despotism and arbitrariness reappears as in Job 12: 13-25: “… If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt…. He makes nations great, and destroys them….,” and 16:11:14: “… He pierces my heart and does not pity; … He runs at me like a warrior.” As Job speaks on injustice, the friends justify his being a sinner as a rationale for his misery, and have proposed that Job be repentant. Their advice is in accordance with the wisdom of old.
4.1.2.2.8 On the topic that man is an impure and transitory being The idea of a man’s impurity is referred to several times in: 14:4 “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? // No one!’ and 25:4 “How can a man be righteous before God? // Or how can a he be pure who is born of a woman? This chapter goes back to the theme initiated in 7:17-21 which says that man is transitory, miserable, and insignificant creature: “What is man, that You should magnify him…?” That man should be ignored is likewise referred to in 20:2-3: “Can a man be profitable to God, // Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself…? These verses convey God’s utter fairness because he gets nothing from man’s unblemished ways; neither his sins will do Him good. Job has alleged that God is stern in His treatment to him; since man’s iniquity does not harm him He should ignore it. Chapter 5:7 reveals that man is born impure: “Yet man is born to trouble, As the sparks fly upward.” The simile emphasizes the idea that man is sure to be drawn to affliction as the sparks are sure to fly upward. This is the same thought carried in Bildad’s short speech in 25:4-6: “…How can he be pure who is born of a woman. // If even the moon does not shine, // And the stars are not pure in His sight, // How much less man, who is a maggot….?). This short speech of Bildad touches on the theme of impurity in God’s sight which has taken place before in Eliphaz’s speech, 4:17-19; 15:14-16. The knowledge of Eliphaz is attributed to the received revelation in 4:12-16. Job as a fleeting creature is first cited in 7:6-7: “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, // And are spent without hope. // Oh,remember that my life is a breath!” then referred to again in the succeeding verse 7:16: “…I would not live forever…. For my days are but a breath,” and in 9:25-27: “Now my days are swifter than a runner; // They flee away, they see no good….”
4.1.2.2.9 On the wisdom of the sage Chapter 4:12-20 depicts the wisdom of the sage as revealed to Eliphaz: “Now a word was secretly brought to me…. Can a mortal be more righteous than God? // Can a man be pure than his Maker? This advice is alluded to by Bildad in 8:8-10 “For inquire, please, of the former age, // And consider the things discovered by their fathers;….” But Job refers to this sarcastically in 12:2 “No doubt you are the people, // And wisdom will die with you!” Job disclaims with sarcasm what is put forward to him by friends as reasons of his predicament which are based on revelation in 4:12-20, or wisdom of the old in 8:8-10. Job talks about his revelation in his words in 9:2: “Truly I know it is so, / But how can a man be righteous before God?” Job questions the axiom of his friends, specifically, Bildad’s about how the wicked are punished in 18:6: “The light is dark in his tent, // And his lamp beside him is put out.” Zophar refers to death and adversity the “portion” of the wicked in 20:29. Job inquires as to how often their destruction comes upon them: How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? // How often does their destruction come upon them, // The sorrows God distributes in His anger? (21:17) Believing that God destroys the good and the bad, Job regards his friends’ words useless. This reflects his meaning in 21:34: “How then can you comfort me with empty words, // Since falsehood remains in your answers?’’
4.1.2.2.10 On Job’s friends’ goodness and their advices Job refutes Eliphaz’ accusation that Job is a sinner by saying that Eliphaz dealt deceitfully like a brook in 6:14-23: “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend. // Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. // My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook….” This topic recurs in succeeding chapters, as is in 6:27: “Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, // And you undermine your friend,” and in 16:2: “I have heard many such things; // Miserable comforters are you all!” Still, Zophar urges him to repent in Chapter 11, and to this Job has answered in 12:3-12: “… I am not inferior to you…But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you…. Who among all these does not know // That the hand of the Lord has done this….” This message of Job telling them that he is not inferior appears again in 13:2: “What you know, I also know; // I am not inferior to you.” Bildad refers to this in his speech in Chapter 18: Why are we counted as beasts, // And regarded as stupid in your sight? Other speeches show apprehension on Job’s insulting remark (19:29: “Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment….”) as in 20:2-3:"Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer, // Because of the turmoil within me. // I have heard th rebuke that reproaches me….” Job’s sarcasm is a reflection of his belief: 21:34: “How then can you comfort me with empty words, // Since falsehood remains in your answers?” The friends continue to counsel Job and show Job how magnificent God is.
4.1.2.2.11 On God’s omnipotence and Wisdom The idea on God’s power recurs often in the speeches of friends and Elihu because they want to give explanation for the suffering of Job, that since he is a sinner, he is punished. God’s marvelous power is first detailed in the speech of Eliphaz in 5:9-16: “Who does great things, and unsearchable, // Marvelous things without number….” This same thought is referred to other chapters such as in Zophar’s speech in 11:7-9, in Job’s speech in 26:5-14, and 28. Poems on Wisdom, 28:1-28: “Surely there is a mine for silver, / And a place where gold is refined. // Iron is taken from the earth, / And copper is smelted from ore…. But where can wisdom be found? ....Man does not know its value….” talk on the inaccessibility of Wisdom to man; this is similar to the lines of Zophar in 11:7-9: “Can you search out the deep things of God?....// They are higher than heaven- what can you do?