JOASH, the son and the successor of Jehoahaz, King of Israel. There was much in his conduct to commend. He had a great regard for the prophet Elisha, and visited him on his death bed, where by a divine oracle he was assured of three victories over the Syrians. He was also victorious when forced to give battle to Amaziah, King of Judah, and was one of the best kings of Israel. (II Kin. xiii: 9-25; xiv: 1-8; II Chr. xxv.) JOB, a patriarch notable for his pa tience. In the English version of the Bible, Job stands 1st in order of the poetic books of the Old Testament, but it is the 3rd in the Hebrew Scriptures, Psalms and Proverbs preceding it, and the Song of Solomon coming next. A prologue (ch. ii.) and the conclusion (ch. xlii: 7-17), are in prose. The rest is poetry and of a very high order.
The book of Job is absolutely unique in the Old Testament. The hero is not a Jcw. While the name Jehovah is used, the whole history of the Mosaic law and the chosen people is ignored. The author seems well acquainted with Egypt, its crocodiles (xli.), and its pyramids
(?) (iii : 14), and the desert with its ostriches (xxxix: 13-18), its wild asses (xxiv: 6, xxxix: 5-8), and its too suc cessful, tent-living predatory tribes (xii : 6). The language is Hebrew, with vari ous Aramaisms, and with a faint Arabic tinge. The view still held by most com mentators is that the book is very an cient, and its author probably Moses. If so, then it is intelligible why there is a resemblance between expressions in Job and in Genesis. (See Gen. ii: 23, and Job ii: 5; Gen. iv: 21, and Job xxi: 12, xxx: 31; Gen. vi: 2, and Job i: 6.) Others place it about the time of Solomon or that of one of the succeeding kings; Renan says about 100 years befoie the Captivity. The Talmud originated the view, since adopted by various Biblical critics, that the book is only a parable. But against this view may be quoted Ezek. xiv: 14, 20, and James v: 11.