10:8-11 A succession of images describes God’s role in creating Job. • You formed me with your hands . . . made me from dust: This was how a potter made a vessel (Isa 45:9; Jer 18:1-12). Although the potter has incontestable sovereignty over the clay (Isa 45:9; Jer 18:5-12; Rom 9:20-25), Job was questioning God. • back to dust: This common motif in Job represents the temporary nature of life (Job 4:19; 7:9-10, 21; 14:1-2, 10; see Gen 3:19). • You guided my conception and formed me in the womb: The Hebrew terminology (literally You poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese) evokes graphic images of a newborn baby still covered with the creamy substance called vernix.

When suffering comes to us, we often ask why. People sometimes say it’s because the sufferer did something wrong. The book of Job examines the suffering of one man who suffered precisely because he was blameless. Job’s friends supposed that he was guilty of some unknown sin. They tried to persuade him to repent, but Job knew he hadn’t sinned, so he questioned God. Finally, God appeared, but he did not give Job the answers he sought. Instead, God confronted Job, changed his perspective, and blessed him. Setting The book of Job unfolds early in the patriarchal age, before Israel became a nation. Job’s wealth, like Abraham’s, was in livestock and slaves (1:3; 42:12; see Gen 12:16; 32:5). He was his family’s priest, as was a common practice before the law of Moses (1:5; 42:8; see Gen 4:4; 8:20; 12:7-8; 13:18; 15:9-10; 26:25; 33:20; 35:1-6; 46:1). During Job’s time, the Sabeans and Chaldeans were nomadic raiders (1:15, 17), not important political and economic powers as in the late monarchical period (cp. Isa 45:14; Joel 3:8). The money used by Job and his relatives was called the kesitah, which was used during the patriarchal age (42:11; see Gen 33:19; Josh 24:32). Only those who...

The Book of Job Purpose To offer reflection on the issue of human suffering, primarily by questioning the oft-held connection between moral goodness and prosperity Author Unknown Date Unknown Setting The patriarchal period, possibly in the land of Edom