The author or authors are unknown. Probably more than one-not to mention numerous subsequent editors.
The author may have been a Jew or an Edomite.
The author was a scholar of great learning-had a vast vocabulary. He was an original theological thinker.
The author of Job is the only Biblical writer who has been compared to Shakespeare.
The book is based on an ancient legend-the folk tale of Job.
Ezekiel knew about the story of Job in the sixth century-possibly before the present book was written. He refers to Job, along with Noah and Daniel (Eze. 14:14).
The prologue and epilogue are in prose; the book itself is a poem.
The book was put in its present form after the exile, during a time when Satan had appeared in Jewish theology, and could be held responsible for evil.
The psychology of Job is both profound and modern. The authors were well versed in the wisdom of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The vocabulary “affinities” in Job number fifteen to twenty, but are not sufficient to prove connection with any other Biblical books.
The Job story is as old as the eighth or even tenth century B.C. But the present book was written about the third or fourth century B.C.
The hymn of wisdom (Chap. 28) is an interruption of the narrative and may have separate authorship.
There are many passages in Job that suggest familiarity with the writings of Jeremiah.
There are also a few verses that suggest passages in the Second Isaiah.
The introduction to the discourse by Elihu is both ponderous and redundant -vastly different from the rest of Job.
The discourses of Yahweh seem to be directed toward raising the controversy from the finite level of man to the infinite level of God.
In the vocabulary of Job there are many expressions not found anywhere else in the whole Bible.
The literary style of Job is unsurpassed on the Bible. The sensibility, vigor, and elegance are superior to that found in any Hebrew writings.
The author knows astronomy. He talks about Orion, the Pleiades, and the Southern Cross.
There are a number of serious problems presented in Job:
A. Why do the righteous suffer?
B. Job’s friends present a sixth century view of pain and affliction; the latter part of Job tends toward the third century attitude.
C. The meaning of living faith.
D. The wisdom of God vs. the wisdom of men.
The drama represents the revolt of individual conscience against the tyranny of orthodoxy.
The book attacks the problem of retributive justice.
It contrasts the divinity of God and the humanity of man-relations between man and God-the mission of GRACE.
The paradox of adversity as the reward of integrity-the mystery of the circumstances of life.
How the innocent can be struck with misfortune in heroic proportions.
Job, in facing death, begins to wonder about the future life. “If a man die, shall he live again?”
Job wants to prove that orthodoxy is a sort of theological sin.
Job craves a mediator-he wants someone to help him in dealing with the power, mystery, and perfection of God. He really foreshadows the ministry of the incarnation of Christ.
At last he concludes: “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high.”
Job asserts his faith in the resurrection, and exclaims: “I know that my Redeemer (Vindicator) lives.”
Job says: “When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Belief becomes living faith. “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee.”
And the final conclusion: “That righteousness is not the work of but the gift of God.” man