The first part of this story was evidently used by the author as an introduction to the great dramatic poem.  He thereby deliberately protested against the solution of the problem of innocent suffering suggested by the ancient story.  The poem itself cannot be dated earlier than the middle of the Persian period.  In it the great ethical and social standards of the pre-exilic prophets are fully accepted.  Its marvelous breadth of vision also implies an advanced stage in Israel’s thinking.  The problem of suffering with which it deals is not merely that of the nation but of the individual or of a class within the Judean community.  It is precisely the problem that confronted the author of Malachi and to which he refers in 3:13-16.  It is the same problem that bulks largely in the psalms of this period and finds its noblest solution in Isaiah 53.  All its affinities, therefore, confirm the conclusion that it comes from the middle of the fifth century B.C. and is probably slightly older than Isaiah 49-55, which presents a more fundamental treatment of the problem of human suffering.  The author still holds the old, prophetic conception of the universe (38:4-6), and is unaffected by the priestly thought and tendencies which became especially prominent during the closing years of the Persian period.

The Elihu speeches and the supplemental poem in description of wisdom in 28, and of the behemoth and leviathan in 40:15-41:34, probably come from the Greek period.

III.  The Prose Story.  In the prose story Job is pictured as a man of superlative piety and prosperity.  According to the popular standards of the earlier day he lived a blameless life.  His afflictions came simply as a means of demonstrating the unselfish character of his piety.  In rapid succession he is stripped of all his possessions and afflicted by the vilest of all diseases, apparently the loathsome tubercular leprosy.  Even his wife tempts him to curse God and die, but he fully meets the test, and, according to the testimony of the concluding epilogue, receives Jehovah’s approval and is restored to the joys of family, reputation, and riches.  It is obvious that, as in the stories found in the opening chapters of Genesis, this is a popular narrative freely adjusted to the ends which the story-teller wished to attain.  The incidents recorded are not in keeping with the ordinary experiences of life, but belong rather to the realm of popular fancy.  As a reference in Ezekiel implies, it was probably, like the similar stories regarding Noah and Daniel, a heritage from the common Semitic lore.  In fact, a recently discovered Babylonian tablet tells of a famous king of Nippur, Tabi-utul-Bel by name, whose experiences and spirit corresponds closely to those of the hero of this prose story.

The message of the prose story of Job, as it was sent out to the Jewish race, was that it was not always possible to understand the reason why the righteous were afflicted, but that if they faithfully met the test restoration to Jehovah’s approval, with the honor and reputation that necessarily follow, were assured.  To the nation such a message was not without its practical application and value, but it failed completely to meet the individual problems that became pathetically insistent during the middle of the fifth century B.C.