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•JOASH whom Jehovah bestowed. (1.) A contracted form of Jehoash, the father of Gideon (Judges 6:11, 29; 8:13, 29, 32).
(2.) One of the Benjamite archers who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:3).
(3.) One of King Ahab’s sons (1 Kings 22:26).
(4.) King of Judah (2 Kings 11:2; 12:19, 20). (See JEHOASH [1].)
(5.) King of Israel (2 Kings 13:9, 12, 13, 25). (See JEHOASH [2].)
(6.) 1 Chronicles 7:8.
(7.) One who had charge of the royal stores of oil under David and Solomon (1 Chronicles 27:28).
•JOB persecuted, an Arabian patriarch who resided in the land of Uz (q.v.). While living in the midst of great prosperity, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a series of sore trials that fell upon him. Amid all his sufferings he maintained his integrity. Once more God visited him with the rich tokens of his goodness and even greater prosperity than he had enjoyed before. He survived the period of trial for one hundred and forty years, and died in a good old age, an example to succeeding generations of integrity (Ezekiel 14:14, 20) and of submissive patience under the sorest calamities (James 5:11). His history, so far as it is known, is recorded in his book.
•JOBAB dweller in the desert. (1.) One of the sons of Joktan, and founder of an Arabian tribe (Genesis 10:29). (2.) King of Edom, succeeded Bela (Genesis 36:33, 34). (3.) A Canaanitish king (Joshua 11:1) who joined the confederacy against Joshua.
and language to those in the Psalms and Proverbs (see Psalm 88 and 89), the prevalence of the idea of “wisdom,” and the style and character of the composition, it is supposed by some to have been written in the time of David and Solomon. Others argue that it was written by Job himself, or by Elihu, or Isaiah, or perhaps more probably by Moses, who was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). He had opportunities in Midian for obtaining the knowledge of the facts related. But the authorship is altogether uncertain.
As to the character of the book, it is a historical poem, one of the greatest and sublimest poems in all literature. Job was a historical person, and the localities and names were real and not fictious. It is “one of the grandest portions of the inspired Scriptures, a heavenly-repleished storehouse of comfort and instruction, the patriarchal Bible, and a precious monument of primitive theology. It is to the Old Testament what the Epistle to the Romans is to the New.” It is a didactic narrative in a dramatic form.
This book was apparently well known in the days of Ezekiel, B.C. 600 (Ezekiel 14:14). It formed a part of the sacred Scriptures used by our Lord and his apostles, and is referred to as a part of the inspired Word (Hebrews 12:5; 1 Corinthians 3:19).
The subject of the book is the trial of Job, its occasion, nature, endurance, and issue. It exhibits the harmony of the truths of revelation and the dealings of Providence, which are seen to be at once inscrutable, just, and merciful. It shows the blessedness of the truly pious, even amid sore afflictions, and thus ministers comfort and hope to tried believers of every age. It is a book of manifold instruction, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
It consists of,
(1.) An historical introduction in prose (ch. 1,2).
(2.) The controversy and its solution, in poetry (ch. 3-42:6).
Job’s desponding lamentation (ch. 3) is the occasion of the controversy which is carried on in three courses of dialogues between Job and his three friends. The first course gives the commencement of the controversy (ch. 4-14); the second the growth of the controversy (15-21); and the third the height of the controversy (22-27). This is followed by the solution of the