Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Michael Abernathy" <mabernathy AT isot.com>]

>> Job is said to own 3,000 camels.  It is pretty well established that 
>> camels were not domesticated too much before 1,000 BC.  Job is also 
>> presented as being a sedentary individual, not a migratory shepherd as 
>> would be more appropriate to a Israelite of the patriarchal era.>>

I don't want to get off point but this is a common error.  We have had 
archaeological evidence  to the contrary for about 70 years but this keeps 
showing up in books.  I have a recent edition of An Old Testament survey by 
Lasor, Hubbard, and Bush in my office.  The body of the text makes a similar 
statement on page 42.  Seven hundred and seven pages later a footnote that 
evidence now suggests that camels may have been known to the inhabitants of  
Syria-Palestine as early as the turn of the 3rd millenium BC.
Sincerely,
Michael Abernathy
>From tmcos AT rogers.com  Fri Jun 11 13:08:02 2004
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From: "Tony Costa" <tmcos AT rogers.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
References: <20040611.102659.-702495.0.gfsomsel AT juno.com>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Re: Job & Sumer
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> This has somewhat puzzled me.  Why would one wish to place the
> composition of Job at such an early date (assuming for the moment the
> reality of the Exodus)?  Even such conservatives as Keil & Delitzsch
> thought the work was a product of the exilic period as a M$L LY&R)L.  Is
> this simply a general resistance which is to be met with in all cases?
> No JEDP but Moses.  No Maccabean apoclalyptist but Daniel.  No wisdom
> writer of Job during the Exile but Moses?  What is the basis for wanting
> to retroject this back to the time of the origins of Israel?  Surely it
> reflects a patriarchal scene, but this does not necessitate that it be
> composed early.
>
> gfsomsel

George, I believe what probably led the rabbis to maintain that Moses
authored the book of Job was perhaps the content of the book.  Job was a
Gentile from the land of "Uz", the book doesn't have any particular Jewish
elements, it had sacrifices, but these sacrifices in Job are offered up with
no Temple which was forbidden to do if the Temple was already standing in
Jerusalem. Sacrifices are not necessarily Jewish, since they were offered up
to God by Abel and Noah before Abraham. The frequent reference to God as
"Shaddai" is reminiscient of the usage of this same title in relation to the
patriarchs (eg.Gen.17:1; Exod.6:3) The book of Job never mentions notable
Jewish figures such as Moses, or even the patriarchs themselves or even
Israel. It comes across as the story of a faithful Gentile who feared God.
In Ezek.14:14 (NRSV), "even if Noah, Daniel,  and Job, these three, were in
it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the
Lord God." Job appears here as a model of a righteous man before God.
It was perhaps due to these reasons that the rabbis viewed Job as coming
from the patriarchal period.

Tony Costa