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17 - Divine Justice in the Book of Job

from Part IV - Wisdom/Poetic Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2021

By
C.-L. Seow
Edited by
C. L. Crouch
C. L. Crouch
Affiliation:
Fuller Theological Seminary, California
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Summary

Divine justice is a given throughout the Bible. The psalmists celebrate God’s rule over the cosmos, emphasizing that “justice and rectitude” form the firm base of the divine throne (Pss 89:15 [14]; 97:2). This sovereign “loves justice” (33:5; 37:28) and performs it (9:5 [4]; 99:4). God is renowned for the exercise of justice (Deut 32:3–4; Pss 9:17 [16]; 36:7). The world is “firmly established” because God “judges with equity” (Ps 96:10). Indeed, the earth’s stability depends on divine justice (58:2–3), and its foundations are shaken when that justice is lacking (75:3–4 [2–3]).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics , pp. 257 - 273
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Arnauld, D. Corpus des textes de bibliothèque de Ras Shamra-Ougarit (1936–2000) un sumérien, babylonien et assyrien. AuSorSup 23. Barcelona: Ausa, 2007.Google Scholar
Dobbs-Allsopp, F. W. “The Genre of the Meṣad Ḥashavyahu Ostracon.” BASOR 295 (1994): 49–55.Google Scholar
Dobbs-Allsopp, F. W., Roberts, J. J. M., Seow, C. -L., and Whitaker, R. E.. Hebrew Inscriptions: Texts from the Biblical Period of the Monarchy with Concordance. London: Yale University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Klein, J. “Man and his God: A Wisdom Poem or a Cultic Lament?” Pages 123–43 in Approaches to Sumerian Literature: Studies in Honor of H. L. Vantisphout. Edited by Michalowski, P. and Veldhuis, N.. Cuneiform Monographs 35. Leiden: Brill, 2006.Google Scholar
Kramer, S. N. “Man and His God: A Sumerian Variation on the ‘Job’ Motif.” Pages 170–82 in Wisdom in Israel and the Ancient Near East Presented. Edited by Noth, M. and Thomas, D. Winton. VTSup 3. Leiden: Brill, 1960.Google Scholar
Kramer, S. N. “The Oldest Literary Catalogue: A Sumerian List of Literary Compositions Compiled about 2000 B.C.” BASOR 88 (1942): 10–19.Google Scholar
LaCocque, A. “Justice for the Innocent Job,” BibInt 19 (2011): 19–32.Google Scholar
Lambert, W. L. “A Further Attempt at the Babylonian ‘Man and His God’.” Pages 187–202 in Language, Literature, and History. Edited by Rochberg, F.-Halton. AOS 67. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Moran, W. L. “Rib-Hadda: Job at Byblos?” Pages 173–81 in Biblical and Related Studies Presented to Samuel Iwry. Edited by Kort, A. and Morschauser, S. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1985.Google Scholar
Moran, W. L. “The Babylonian Job.” Pages 182–200 in The Most Magic Word: Essays on Babylonian and Biblical Literature. Edited by Hendel, R.. CBQMS 35. Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2002.Google Scholar
Newsom, C. A. The Book of Job: A Contest of Moral Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Oosthuizen, M. J. “Divine Insecurity and Joban Heroism: A Reading of the Narrative Framework of Job.” OTE 4 (1991), 295–315.Google Scholar
Oshima, T. Babylonian Poems of Pious Sufferers: Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi and the Babylonian Theodicy. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 14 Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.Google Scholar
Seow, C. -L. “Elihu’s Revelation.” ThTo 68 (2011): 253–71.Google Scholar
van der Toorn, K. “Theodicy in Akkadian Literature.” Pages 57–89 in Theodicy in the World of the Bible. Edited by Laato, A. and de Moor, J.. Leiden: Brill, 2003.Google Scholar
Weinfeld, M. “Job and Its Mesopotamian Parallels – A Typological Analysis.” Pages 217–26 in Text and Context. Edited by Claassen, W. T.. JSOTSup 48. Sheffield: JSOT, 1988.Google Scholar

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