Job–Sirach

Abstract

Job–Sirach Christopher T. Begg and Joseph E. Jensen 1385. [Job; Isaiah 40–55] C. L. Brinks, "Job and Deutero Isaiah: The Use and Abuse of Traditions," BibInt 20 (2012) 407-20. The similarities between Job and Deutero-Isaiah have been used to argue for a relative chronology. These kinds of arguments are problematic; nevertheless, noting quotations and allusions when they occur is of great value in interpreting the quoting or alluding text. For example, M. Fishbane's explication of the allusion to Ps 8:4-6 in Job 7:17-18 sheds light on Job's attitude toward the psalmist's view of humankind's status in the created order. Literary theorists have noted similar kinds of allusions, called "reflexive" or "dialectic" allusions, in which one text alludes to another in such a way that the alluding text "smears" the source text and the value systems of the two texts compete with one another. Allusions fitting this description have been noted with regard to Job, both in individual texts and in the genre of the book as a whole. Here, I argue for two further allusions of this kind to Deutero-Isaiah, as found, respectively, in Job 9:4, 8 and 12:9. In both cases, the author of Job uses words to describe God that are the same as or similar to those used by Deutero-Isaiah but with a profoundly different effect on the reader. In so doing the Joban author effectively sets up a competing way of interpreting the same picture that Deutero-Isaiah paints of God and God's action in creation. Accordingly, readers who note the similarities between the two texts experience the Deutero-Isaiah texts as having been "smeared" by the Job texts. Recognizing the above allusions fills out our picture of the elusive author(s) of Job and his/their attitudes toward familiar texts and traditions. [Adapted from published abstract] [End Page 472] 1386. [Job] Markus Witte, "Was die Hiobforschung bewegt—Eine historisch-kritische Übersicht über 300 Jahre literargeschichtliche Arbeit am Buch Hiob," Hiobs viele Gesichter, 13-35 [see #1617]. W.'s essay offers a compact but wide-ranging survey of research on the Book of Job during the last three centuries taking the 1712 commentary on the book of the learned Benedictine monk A. Calmet as its starting point. W. organizes his presentation of this multifaceted research under five headings, the translated titles of which read as follows: (1) The Language of Job and the Text of the Book of Job; (2) The Form of the Book of Job and Its Component Forms; (3) From Composition-history to Redaction-history; (4) Job the Idumaean and the Near Eastern Tradition of the Suffering Righteous Person; and (5) From Inner-Biblical Reception to the History of Reception as Part of Exegesis. In each instance, W. highlights the key figures and tendencies in the given area of research on Job over the course of the period in question. His essay concludes with a summary reflection on the research history presented by him in which he directs particular attention to three perduring avenues of inquiry throughout the above period that will also doubtless continue to occupy future researchers on Job: the book's text, its literary history, and its reception-history. 1387. [Job 2; 42:7-10] Paul K.-K. Cho, "Job 2 and 42:7–10 as Narrative Bridge and Theological Pivot," JBL 136 (2017) 857-77. C. reexamines the literary relationship between the prose frame (Job 1–2; 42:7–17) and the poetic core (3:1–42:6) of the Book of Job. Building on previous work that identifies Job 1; 42:11–17 as an older and independent composition, C. argues that the author of the poetic core composed Job 2; 42:7–10 as a narrative bridge and a theological pivot from the prose frame to the poetic core as authored by him. Job 2; 42:7–10 narratively connects the prose frame to the poetic dialogue, principally through the introduction of Job's friends, and adumbrates pivotal theological themes so as to prepare for the contentious dialogue to come. [Adapted from published abstract] 1388...