Was Job Real?

Ravindran said:
James also refers to Job.. Every word is inspired by Holy spirit.. Some one can claim even genealogy is made up.. My point is, when there is no indication in text itself, it is not good to wonder if that really happened
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What I said earlier still stands. It doesn't matter if people in the New Testament refer back to it or not. That doesn't mean that it couldn't just be poetry. I'd be willing to debate how inspired our current Bible is, but that's a discussion for another time.

I understand your point. I too think it's dangerous to start playing the guessing game on what really happened and what is a fictional story to make a point. I just don't see Job as book requiring itself to be factual. Since Job isn't in the genealogy and he had no contact with anyone else mentioned in the Bible I question whether the events actually happened or if he even existed.
 
I'd be willing to debate how inspired our current Bible is, but that's a discussion for another time.

I am having that debate on another forum as we speak...my opponent in the debate is a deist...

When we think of the word inspiration we have to define it before there can be discussion but yes that would be a different thread...

I believe there would be a few different understandings...perhaps we should do it...
 
Brother Paul said:
The problem in the OP is you cannot "prove" most ancient people. Most of the time we only have information allegedly from them or from others many years after them. Hammurabi is such an example...we have his alleged code...but how do we know someone just didn't claim to be Hammurabi? Se what I mean? Now I certainly believe in Hammurabi because I see no reason to believe he was not a real person. So why would one think Job was not a real person? What proof is there he may not have been? Same with Alexander the Great, who would doubt he was real? But "proof"? Not much I can tell you that. Most of what we know about him is from 100s of years after his death.
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That's a good point. I think the difference is the only text we have for Job is in the poetic/wisdom books. Job literally does not effect anything else in the Bible. We don't even know when he lived. I think looking at the book of Job in a historical sense we would be required to say that we don't have enough evidence to say either way. I just think if it was actually history it would be put somewhere else in the Bible.

Brother Paul said:
I'd be willing to debate how inspired our current Bible is, but that's a discussion for another time.

I am having that debate on another forum as we speak...my opponent in the debate is a deist...

When we think of the word inspiration we have to define it before there can be discussion but yes that would be a different thread...

I believe there would be a few different understandings...perhaps we should do it...
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I'm game. I like discussing that stuff. We need to just keep certain people out so that it remains a civil discussion.

*edit*
I probably shouldn't have used the word "debate" though. I'm not smart enough to debate anyone. We could "discuss" it. :)
 
Huntingteckel said:
That's a good point. I think the difference is the only text we have for Job is in the poetic/wisdom books. Job literally does not effect anything else in the Bible. We don't even know when he lived. I think looking at the book of Job in a historical sense we would be required to say that we don't have enough evidence to say either way. I just think if it was actually history it would be put somewhere else in the Bible.
I'm game. I like discussing that stuff. We need to just keep certain people out so that it remains a civil discussion.
*edit*
I probably shouldn't have used the word "debate" though. I'm not smart enough to debate anyone. We could "discuss" it. :)
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:eek:.....:LOL:

Yea Brian is a trouble maker!
 
Hillarious Mitz...

Hunting...we have the book of Job and then those that reference him and then the books of others written about him...but I agree, this is not "proof" and that is after all the point...but I believe it is true. I see no reason to not believe it...
 
I like Job, many practical lessons there for me and along with the many Scriptural references to Job as has been mentioned already, here is another test,

Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little,

His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. Job 41:15

And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. Act 9:18

I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. Hos 12:10

Putting it together, it was Paul's tremendous pride, the Pharisee of Pharisee's, the one being groomed to become the High Priest, that was vanquished on the Damascus Road which permitted him to say later on in his life, ...we now know (regard) no one according to flesh. 2 Cor 5:16

Just my two cents.

Gene
 
Brian Kurkjian said:
I've read Job a couple times (finishing it again right now) and am not sure if he was actually real or if it was a story created by Moses (suggested as a possibility by my apologetics Bible). Do we know the author or is that still up for debate? Thoughts?
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sure Job was real .. has the OT ever represented a non-factual account ???
many scholars believe he lived about about 1200 bce (the Judges period) ..
the Torah would therefore predate it by 200+ years ..
the author is unknown and possibly the resident Levite Priest in that area ..
note: the Levite's were given no land, but lived as priests in all 12 tribes lands ..
the author writes from a position of being present ..
 
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No way...the land of Uz was not even called that in 1200 b.c. it had become Edom...the Edomites settled there...Uz was the offspring of Aram from before Abraham...I believe the conservative view that Job was a contemporary with Abraham...but we can agree to disagree...
 
Brother Paul said:
No way...the land of Uz was not even called that in 1200 b.c. it had become Edom...the Edomites settled there...Uz was the offspring of Aram from before Abraham...I believe the conservative view that Job was a contemporary with Abraham...but we can agree to disagree...
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Edom is a derivative of Esau and was named after him ..
so I doubt it was called Edom yet and most likely was still called Uz ..

in "some places" in the OT, you can find updates by a scribe long after, to update a places name to the one everyone now knows it as .. most likely so the location would not be lost
 
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Esau (a Hebrew) moved to Edom and then bred with the local pagans ..
this made the Edomites half Hebrew .. Herod was one if these ..
it is unknown if Job was a full-blooded Hebrew living in Edom, or an Idumæan from Edom ..
 
The book of Job is said to have been written as a dramatic play. Even so, it is a work based on a real life man whom God loves and whose love for Him is tested severely. We all can learn much from it---mostly that we can trust God and that w need to persevere through dire circumstances simply because God is good and He loves us. That is why God has inspired the writer, most likely Moses or Job himself to write it.
 
ixoye_8 said:
Edom is a derivative of Esau and was named after him ..
so I doubt it was called Edom yet and most likely was still called Uz ..

in "some places" in the OT, you can find updates by a scribe long after, to update a places name to the one everyone now knows it as .. most likely so the location would not be lost
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Yes in the time of Job it was called Uz but in the time 200 years after the Exodus (1200 b.c.) Jacob and Esau had long since passed and the land of Esau was Edom...the offspring of Uz may also have still lived there but it was no longer known as Uz...
 
Not sure if this has already been mentioned. He must have been a real person since he is mentioned by James, and how the Lord had compassion on him.

James 5:11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
 
Euphemia said:
The book of Job is said to have been written as a dramatic play. Even so, it is a work based on a real life man whom God loves and whose love for Him is tested severely. We all can learn much from it---mostly that we can trust God and that w need to persevere through dire circumstances simply because God is good and He loves us. That is why God has inspired the writer, most likely Moses or Job himself to write it.
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Moses' didn't even finish the Torah, let alone write the Book of Job ..
nice trick writing about his death and what happened afterward .. lol
 
the Torah was a compilation .. my guess is Arron wrote some of it as it written in some places (then Moses said this and did that) .. then Joshua probably finished it and wrote of Moses' and Aaron's death .. so the Torah has at least 3 authors .. NOT just Moses ..
 
ixoye_8 said:
Moses' didn't even finish the Torah, let alone write the Book of Job ..
nice trick writing about his death and what happened afterward .. lol
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Job is the oldest book of the bible. Moses could most certainly have written it in its entirety.
 
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