JOASH, or JEHOASII, King of Israel, was the son of Jehoahaz, and succeeded his father in D.C. 850. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Isis predecessors had done ; but he visited Elisha when ho was dying, lamented over him, and the dying prophet predicted his victories over the Syrians. Ile vanquished Ben-hadad in three battles, and recovered the cities of Israel from the dominion of the Syrians. He was next attacked by Amaziah, king of Judah, whom he defeated, entered Jerusalem, plundered the temple, and broke down four hun dred cubits of the city wall ; but he suffered Amaziah to retain his crowo, taking hostages for his future good behaviour. After a reign of sixteen years he died, and was succeeded by Jeroboam, his son.
JOB, the Book of, is ono of the poetical books of the Old Testa ment. Its title is taken from the patriarch Job, whose story It relates. Some critics have supposed, from the nature of the exor dium, that Job was not a reel person, and that tho narrative in the book is fictitious. lie appears however to be referred to as a real person by Ezekiel (ch. xlv. Ter. 16), and James (ch. v. ver. 11); and the style of the book has all the circumstantiality of a real narrative. It has been inferred from Lis longevity (ch. xlii. 16), his holding the office of priest In his own family (eh. i. 5), his allusion to no other species of Idolatry than tho worship of the heavenly bodies (ch. mi. 26-28), the silence of the book respecting the history of the Israelites and the Mosaio laws, and several incidental allusions to patriarchal customs, that Job lived in the patriarchal age. Dr. Hales has attempted, by astronomical calculations, to fix the exact time of Job's trial at 184 years before the birth of Abraham. (Hales, 'Chronology, vol. ii. pp. 55-57, sec. edit.) There is a genealogy of Job at the end of the Septnagint version of this book, which makes him the fifth in descent from Abraham. Some critics have discovered what they consider proofs of a ranch later date in the book itself.
The scene of the poem is laid In the "land of Us," which, as Bishop Lowth has shown, is probably Mumma. The language to Hebrew, with a considerable admixture of Arable, or, as others contend, of Aramaic.
The author is unknown. The arguments already stated with re spect to the age at which Job lived are considered by most twines to prove the very high antiquity of the book. Lightfoot and others have supposed that Elihu was the anther. This Idea Is fonuded chiefly on a translation of ch. assn. 16.17, the correctness of which is very doubtful. A very general opinion among critics ascribes it to
Mom. Dr. Mason Good has concluded, from the character of the book, that tho writer must have possessed certain qualifications of style, knowledge, country, and age, which are to be found in Moses alone. The same writer has collected a nnmber of passages in which he sees a resemblance to the sentiments and style of Moses. (Oood, ' Book of Job, Prelim. Disc.,' p. lull., &c.) But the authority of Dr. Mason Good on such a subject is not very high, and on tho other hand Bishop Lowth remarks, that the style of Job differs widely from the poetical style of Moses, being much more concise, and more accu rate in the poetical conformation of sentences. Several critics, among whom is Eiehborn, assign to the book a date earlier than the time of Moses. Schultens, Lowth, and others suppose Job himself, or some contemporary, to have been the author, and that the book fell into the bands of Moses while he lived in Idumrea, and was used by him to teach the Israelites patience and submission to the will of God, either during their bondage in Egypt, or in their subsequent wander ings. It is alleged that this hypothesis solves the difficulties arising out of the internal character of the book, and accounts for its admis sion into the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures. Other critics assign a much later date to the book ; several have ascribed it to Solomon, chiefly on the ground of a resemblance between certain passages iu it and in the Proverbs. Umbreit places it at the time of the Babylon's!' captivity (Umbreit, ' Version of the Book of Job,' in tho 'Biblical Cabinet,' Introduction).
The canonical authority of the Book of Job la established by fre quent quotations from it, both in the Old and New Testament.
The design of this book appears to be to teach patience under suffer ing, from the doctrine of a Divine Providence governing all things. It coulee of a controversy between Job and three friends who came to visit him in his distress, on the question whether men enjoy prosperity or suffer adversity in this life according as their actions are good or nicked. At ch. xxxii. a new disputant is introduced In the person of Elihu, who reproves both parties for the sentiments they had expressed; and at length the dispute is decided by the interposition of God him self. Tho Integrity of Job, which his friends had called in question on account of his calamities, is vindicated, and he is restored to posses sions twice as great as he had before his trial. (Compare James v. 10, IL)