"That the book of Job was completed before the concept of the resurrection of the body became a part of the metaphysical view of the ancient Jews is undeniable. ...the major view about death in the book of Job is quite naturalistic. This fact, perhaps more than any other, goes a long way to explaining why the book of Job ends with the rather unsatisfactory solution in which Job receives everything back double, including a new set of children. By the completion of Job in its present form in the sixth century BCE, the notion of a covenant beyond the grave was not yet a part of the intellectual landscape of the ancient Jew. In Job, if the rewarding of the righteous was to happen, it would have to be in this life.
-- The Image of the Biblical Job: A History, Volume One: Job in the Ancient World, Stephen J. Vicchio, 2006, p. 44-45.
No comments:
Post a Comment