(2) the speeches of Elihu (chaps. xxxii xxxvii), (3) the words of Jehovah and Job (chaps. xxxviii–xlii, 6). The Elihn section is best regarded as a later addition, made by some one who felt that the author had failed to pre sent the orthodox point of view maintained by the friends with enough strength. The original poem would then be made up of the two great divisions—the debate between Job and his friends and the interposition of Jehovah when the friends have been silenced. The poem is much more impressive in this briefer form. The first section is subdivided intoJob's curse and three cycles of debate. In each cycle the friends speak in turn, followed in every case by Job, except that in the third cycle the third friend, Zophar, does not appear. Some of the words ascribed to Job in this section probably belonged originally to Zophar (xxvii, 7-11, 13 23) so that the three cycles were complete. The notable poem on the unsearchableness of wis dom, near the close of the third cycle (chap. xxviii), belongs to no one of the speakers in the original debate and was probably introduced by some later hand.
In sharpest contrast to the prologue, the poem begins with Job vehemently cursing the day of his birth and longing for death. The friends are greatly shocked at Job's words. Eliphaz urges that confession of sin would be appropriate; Job is no doubt a great sinner for trouble does not come without a cause. He exhorts the sufferer to seek unto God, who will greatly bless if Job accepts correction and does not despise the chastening of the Almighty. Job admits that his words have been rash under his great calamity and again longs for death. He adds pertinently that when one is ready to faint and is forsaking the fear of the Almighty, kindness should be shown him from a friend; but his friends have proved as deceitful as the mountain torrents of Palestine which vanish under the summer's heat. He describes the horror of the disease with which he has been smitten, which gives him no respite day or night and then turns to bitter words toward the watcher of men who has set him up as a mark. Bildad now speaks, and more bluntly than Eli phaz had done, even suggesting that Job's chil dren may have met their sudden, tragic death because of their sin. At the close, he too holds out hope; but Job now sees his hopeless case with his friends. If it is true, as they believe, that God gives prosperity to the righteous and sends suffering to the wicked, then he is proven guilty, yet his conscience acquits him. His own suffering has opened his eyes to the fact that the time-honored dogma of material re wards and punishments is not true to the facts; rather wickedness prospers and it must be God who is responsible. If it be not He, who then is it? Returning at length to his longing for final release, he pleads with God for a little mercy before he goes to the land of the shadow of death. Zophar, untouched by the pathos of
Job's plea, charges that God is exacting less than Job's iniquity deserves. In this first cycle of the discussion, the point of view of the friends becomes clear. They have inherited the noble faith bequeathed by the prophets and are earnest defenders of God's justice and mercy. The prophetic doctrine that sin brings suffering to the sinner may be supported with much evi dence. Job has had a personal experience, however, which has made clear to him the fact that material benefits are not always appor tioned on the basis of merit. In closing this cycle of the debate, Job sarcastically scorns the friends' traditional wisdom with which he is as familiar as they. They draw their wisdom from the ancients; he tells them that wisdom is with God and power too; but Divine justice he cannot find in human affairs. From man he turns to God, longing to speak directly with Him; he will take his life in his hand and ap pear before the Almighty. Then the strength of the sick man fails. God's hand is upon him so that he cannot argue his case. He prays that he may be hidden in the grave till the wrath is past and then may have a hearing. Thus Job is brought to the question: If a man die, shall he live again? If Job could believe in a life after death, he could wait, but he sees only oblivion and sinks back in despair.
Already before this first cycle ends, the interest of the sympathetic reader has insensi bly passed from the argument of the debate to the unfolding of Job's inner life. In tht fol lowing cycles the accusations of the friends be come more direct, but they are able to add little that is new in support of their contention that all suffering is sent for sin. In the second cycle it becomes clear that all Job really asks of his friends is sympathy while he pursues his lonely quest through the darkness. It is God, not the friends, with whom he is really concerned. Once and again he rises to the momentary faith that his case is clear in heaven and that he will ultimately see God and find vindication. Under all his doubts there is the conviction that God must bejust as well as powerful. Job's real quest is for a satisfying view of God which the current theology could not afford him. The friends who represent this theology are silenced but not convinced. The debate closes with a long discourse of Job in which he tells how in his former honored con dition he had been accustomed to give sympa thy to the wretched and defends himself against the charges of sin. Then he realizes that his defense is hopeless; God does not hear and he is speaking in ignorance of the charge against him.