Character and Design of the Book
The book is written in the Hebraic poetry form. Hebrew poetry is the oldest
form of poetry known. The design of the author is to draw the reader's interest
to a principle person. With the change of the character comes the change of
interest. This is not a ballad nor is it an epic poem. It does not have a
regular drama to it. It is written in three parts. There is the beginning or
the meeting with Satan, then there is the middle, which contains the dialogue
with the friends, and finally there is the conclusion or results of the meeting
with Satan and God.
Hebrew poetry does not constitute rhyme or the occurrence of similar sound. It
is not constituted by rhythm, which relates to the length and shortness of
syllables. Hebrew poetry does not have a regular form. It does however focus on
the nature of the subject. The author uses the language of nature to express
things around him. Every faculty of the soul is brought into use when writing.
The author will become animated at times. The effort to express an idea and the
form that it takes maybe the use of repetition or a slight variation in words.
Often the writer will use contrast to express an idea. This is called
parallelism. The author may use a form of alphabetical arrangement to express
his theme. This is similar to our acrostic.
The book is written so that it raises many problems and then they are settled.
The following problems can be found in this book.
1. Why do the righteous suffer? It offers one
answer. There are other answers.
2. How to deal with the slander of Satan against mankind.
3. Who was the man Job?
4. What is patience and how was Job patient?
5. What is true repentance?
All of the above problems are approached from man's responsibility to God.
Nowhere does this book bring in the Gospel or Good News of Christ. In fact Job
could have dealt with his situation better had he a living relationship with
Christ. But this book does clearly show man's relationship to God and our
responsibility to God.