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Abstract
This study investigates the coherence of the combination of the prose and poetry of Job. The text contains numerous features that appear consistently throughout. At the same time, scholars have perceived discontinuity and contradiction in some central features, such as the characterization of Job and of YHWH and in the role of Job’s wife and the satan in the plot. As a result, for several centuries the question of Job’s coherence has been an active point of debate.
Through a narrative and philological analysis of several key passages in Job, this study argues that the character of YHWH, Job, Job’s friends, and the role of Job’s wife and the satan are coherent. I argue that Job’s character develops at several points of the narrative and that this does not create incoherence because any changes have clear causes in the story. I also argue that the most significant aspects of YHWH’s characterization—his prioritization of his own reputation and his pursuit of speech that elevates it—are consistent throughout the text. In this light, YHWH’s description of Job’s friends is consistent with their characterization elsewhere in the text. In addition, I show that the satan and Job’s wife fulfill their functions in the narrative of contributing to the characterization of YHWH and Job, respectively, and that therefore their absences do not create incoherence in the plot.
Ultimately, Job tells a coherent story in which YHWH’s foremost priority is elevating his own reputation, particularly by compelling speech that demonstrates his place at the top of the hierarchy of creation. YHWH’s pursuit of this objective leads Job to face undeserved affliction which results in several stages of character development before he is compelled to set aside his questions about the justice of his suffering and affirm YHWH’s superiority. The story depicts a world in which speaking in a way that glorifies YHWH is more important than determining his divine designs, which are most often inaccessible to the human beings affected by them.