Job 39 Explained

Job 39 is the 39th chapter of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.[1] The book is anonymous; most scholars believe it was written around 6th century BCE. This chapter records the speech of God to Job, which belongs to the "Verdicts" section of the book, comprising –42:6.

Text

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 30 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC; some extant ancient manuscripts of this version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

ak{G}

B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK:

ak{G}

S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A;

ak{G}

A; 5th century).

Analysis

The structure of the book is as follows:

Within the structure, chapter 39 is grouped into the Verdict section with the following outline:

God's speeches in chapters 38–41 can be split in two parts, both starting with almost identical phrases and having a similar structure:

First speech Second speech
A. Introductory formula (38:1) A1. Introductory formula (40:6)
B. Thematic challenge (38:2–3)

i. Theme A (key verse – verse 2)

ii. Summons (verse 3)

B1. Thematic challenge (40:7–14)

i. Summons (verse 7)

ii. Theme B (key verse – verse 8)

iii. Challenge expanded (verses 9–14)

C, Particularization of theme

i. In the physical world (38:4–38)

ii. In the animal and bird kingdoms (38:39–39:30)

C1, Particularization of theme

i. With Behemoth (40:15–24)

ii. With Leviathan (41:1–34)

D. Brief Challenge to Answer (40:1–2)

The revelation of the Lord to Job is the culmination of the book of Job, that the Lord speaks directly to Job and displays his sovereign power and glory. Job has lived through the suffering—without cursing God, holding his integrity, and nowhere regretted it – but he was unaware of the real reason for his suffering, so God intervenes to resolve the spiritual issues that surfaced. Job was not punished for sin and Job’s suffering had not cut him off from God, now Job sees the end the point that he cannot have the knowledge to make the assessments he made, so it is wiser to bow in submission and adoration of God than to try to judge him.[2]

Chapter 39 completes the survey of animals that began at Job 38:39 (feeding of the lions and the ravens) with the habits and instincts of the "wild goat", the "wild donkey", and "wild ox" (verses 1–12); then a transitionto the most remarkable of birds, the ostrich (verses 13–18), followed by the horse in a passage of extraordinary fire and brilliancy (verses 19–25), closed by the depiction of remarkable birds, the hawk and eagle (verses 26–30).[3]

Verse 1

[YHWH said:] "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you observe the calving of the does?"[4]

The ibex can only be observed from distance in the En Gedi area of Israel as the animals resist domestication by humans, but manage to survive with the instinct that God has given.

Verse 9

[YHWH said:] "Will the wild ox be willing to serve you

or spend the night by your manger?"[6]

Art depictions of aurochs exist since as early as the Paleolithic period (such as cave paintings in Lascaux) also in Egyptian, Ugaritic and Mesopotamian paintings, reliefs and literature (including in the hunting scenes).

See also

Sources

. Michael D. Coogan . The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 . Coogan . Michael David . Marc Zvi . Brettler . Carol Ann . Newsom . Pheme . Perkins . Augmented 3rd . Oxford University Press . 2007 . 9780195288810 .

. Henry Hampton Halley. Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary . 24th (revised). Zondervan Publishing House . 1965 . 0-310-25720-4.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
  2. Note [a] on Job 38:1 in NET Bible
  3. Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). On "Job 39". In: The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.
  4. 2 Job ESV
  5. https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/guid/MCZ:Mamm:11480 Capra nubiana sinaitica
  6. 2 Job MEV
  7. Book: Magnell, O. . 2017 . Climate change at the Holocene thermal maximum and its impact on wild game populations in South Scandinavia . Climate Change and Human Responses . Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology . 123–135 . https://books.google.com/books?id=e-hyDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 . Monks, G.G. . Springer . Dordrecht . 10.1007/978-94-024-1106-5_7 . 978-94-024-1105-8.
  8. Rokosz, M. . 1995 . History of the Aurochs (Bos taurus primigenius) in Poland . Animal Genetics Resources Information . 16 . 5–12 . 10.1017/S1014233900004582 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130114152435/http://agtr.ilri.cgiar.org/agtrweb/Documents/Library/docs/agri16_95.pdf . 14 January 2013.

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