THE OHEGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY .MORNING, JANUARY 16, 1921.
M
Laboratory Tests by a
Famous Biblical Scholar
Reveal, He Says, How the
Old Testament Leaders i
Scissored, Blue-Penciled
and Added to a Shockingly
Cynical Story to Make
It Safe for Their People
to Read
"Then Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord," Reads
Authorized Version of Job. Prof. Jastrow Says That Editors Added
the Pious Explanation in Chapter H. That Satan Came in at
God's Service and Not as an Independent Being.
T-xATIENT as Job" and the "Patience
of Job" have long been popular
phrases, denoting utter submis
sion to misfortune and resignation under
the most terrible sufferings. Not only in
Christian literature, but in the Hebrew
legends, and even in the Mohammedan
Koran, Job has been held up as a model
whoso exemplary conduct dn sorrow or
adversity all should emulate.
But now Dr. Morris Jastrow, who holds
the chair of Semitic languages in the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, and is perhaps
the most distinguished authority on the
Old Testament literature and history, says
this is not so.
Instead of being the most patient of men.
Job was, in fact, the most rebellious.
Dr. Jastrow has taken the Book of Job
and subjected it to laboratory methods in
much the same way that one would strip
a piece of stone of the various foreign
growths which had encrusted it through
the ages. Dr. Jastrow. has, he believes,
succeeded in uncovering the story of Job
las it was originally written, and the out
burst of audacious rebellion which forms
the main and central portion of the book,
from the mass of emendations, inter
polations and modifications which various
religious' leaders of the time, shocked by
Job's impiety, wrote Into the original.
' "The original story, with all Its rebellious
protests against, what was termed the in
justice! of God, attained wide popularity.
The religious leaders of the day were ap
palled to see their people seizing so eager
ly upon something so entirely contrary in
spirit to the religious teachings. They did
rot have the courage to try to suppress it
entirely, as some modern "blue law" cen
sors might have done, but they did alter
the story and add to it in such a way as
to obscure all its original spirit and leave
Job pictured as a man of infinite patience
'and piety.
The original story, says Dr. Jastrow, was
a bit of folk lore. It was taken and elab
orated by a group of bold and cynical think
ers. Their Job was an audacious skeptic
Who questioned the assertion that a Peity
of goodness and justice ruled the world,
and who wanted to know why the right
eous should suffer while the wicked were
often permitted to flourish. The present
. Book of Job represents the later efforts to
bring this conception into harmony with
n orthodox theology which asserted the
existence of a just and merciful Creator.
In Dr. . Jastrow's very interesting com
ments, which are to be found in full in his
work upon this subject, "The Book of Job."
Lippincott & Co., he
B.
published by J.
says :
1 "There are not ten consecutive verses
In the symposium between Job and his
friends, or in the speeches of Elihu, or in
the magnificent closing chapters placed as
speeches in the mouth of Yahweh, the text
of which can be regarded as correct. IThe
text of a poetic composition is more liable
to corruption than that of a prose narra
tive, i
"With the possible single exception of
the Book of Esther, which is a propagand
ist romance that may not be earlier than
100 B. C there is not a book of the Old
Testament that can be assigned to any In
dividual author, as none represents in its
present form a genuine' literary unity. Lit
erary unity is not to be found even in so
late a book as that of Daniel, written circa
160 B. C, when individual authorship
among the Hebrews-had alreadv come to
the fore, for even in this book it Is recog
nized by scholars that the last chapters
are not . by the same writer as the one to
whom we owe the earlier ones.
Jot), according to Professor
Jastrow, is a work of anony
mous and composite author
ship. It is full of most glaring
contradictions, the most ob
vious of which is the irrecon
cilability of the Job of the folk
tale a model of oiety and
silent resignation to the divine
will with Job as he is pict
ured in the symposium, volu
ble in his denunciation of the
divine injustice under which
he languishes.
The Job of the folk tale
"the man of 8Uz" is a very
ancient Asiatic story, familiar
long before the Bible book was
composed, on which the prob
lems were hung.
Besides the later chapters
completely added by orthodox,
editors, there are in the main
story as given in the
Bible very many in
terpolations inserted
to modify Its rebel
lious, Impious tone to
suit orthodoxy. For
instance, these defiant
words represent the
original story:
"Lo, lie goeth by
me and I see him not;
he passeth on also,
but I perceive him
not." (Chapter . ix.,
verse 9.)
Pious editors, ac
cording to Professor
Jastrow, have Insert
ed before this the
famous lines glorify
ing the Almighty:
"Which maketh
Arcturus, Orion and
the Pleiades and the
chambers - of the
south."
Where the original
Job said, "There ' is
security for those who
provoke God," the
pious commentator
has inserted- "whom
God holds in his
power."
Perhaps the most
famous speech of Job
in our traditional
rendering reads:
"Though he slay
me, yet will I trust
in him." (Chapter
xiii., 15.)
The author shows
that this should read:
"Aye, though ! He
slav one I tremble
Dot." i
Some commentator
could not reconcile
himself to the idea that the pious model
Job could utter such defiance of God and
changed it to our familiar form. . .j "
Equally .famous is the passage in, which
Job says: I
"I know that my redeemer liveth."
And goes on to express his belief that
though his flesh be destroyed, yet will be
"in the flesh" see God. The author shows
that in-the original Job was merely la
menting that only he and God knew his
sufferings and that the looking forward to
seeing his creator . is an emotional ampli
; fication.
Professor Jastrow separates the folk-
y7 o flOlk
"EWtewe r-- ........ ...
"Behold navf Behemoth which I made with thee." (Job,
Chapter 40, 15). Prof. Jastrow Says This Should Read:
"Behold, the great beast as compared to thee," and .
That It Clearly Refers to the Hippopotamus,
and Not to an Unknown Monster aft
Imagined by This Artit.
And Satan smote Job witn sore boiu from the sole of his foot unto his crown," Says
the Book of Job. Commentators Inserted After This Many Lines Explaining That
Job Never Sinned in Spite of His Afflictions.
to furnish more satisfactory
answers to the questions
raised in the symposium or
conversations.
Professor Jastrow asserts
that startling as his theories
may sound to many, they will
prove the real Book of Job an
even greater masterpiece than
the traditional one.
The original "problem story"
of Job built on a still earlier
folk-tale arose out of a group
of men who questioned that
the universe is ruled by Jus
tice and mercy and were not
content with the conventional
answer why the innocent suf-
fer in this world.
Hence the sympathy
of the writers of
Chapters ill. to xxvil.
with Jpb. The three
"friends" Introduced
as participants in the
discourse are merely
foils to Dress ' home
r - I the arguments of Job
Y f&ij-ii, J tions of orthodoxy.
lousness of the former In heaping mis
fortunes upon an innocent head Just for the
satisfaction of winning a wager. What a
shocking and Immoral story, we can fancy
the thinker saying, to tell children and to
Impress on their elders.". - -
There are really two Jobs in the book
one of the introductory story, the other of
the discussion with the three friends. The
first Job is the pious, patient, taciturnman,
and his story, is told in prose; the other
Job is Impatient, resentful, voluble ami
blasphemous and is made to speak in
poetry. '"
Professor Jastrow says that these famil-.
lar words are the utterance of the first
Job: - .
"The Lord gave and the Lord hath,
taken away; blessed be the name of the
Lord." (Chapter I., 21.)
These are the words of the second re
bellious Job and cannot express the
thoughts of the same man :
"Let the day perish wherein I was born,
and the night in which it was said there
Is a man child conceived." (Chapter ill
3 j ;. ;; ' ' '
The first Job exclaims with the greatest
piety: . ... ' ' . , ..
"What? Shall we receive good at th
hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? .
In all this Job did not sin with his Hps
(Chapter II.. 10.) - .,
"The sentiments of this Job are en
tirely "In contradiction with those ef the
skeptic Job accusing God. of deliberate in
justice in Chapter iil.
Tor he breaketh me with a tempest,
and multlplleth my wounds without cause.
"He will notsufferme to take my breath,
but filleth me with bitterness.
. . .
"This is one thing, therefore I said it.
He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked." ;
The conclusion of the story shows evi
dence of several different and successive
additions. One conclusion Is represented
by the passage In Chapter xlii.,, 10-17, be
ginning: . "And the Lord turned the captivity ot
Job, when he prayed for his friends; also
the Lord gave Job twice as much as he
had before." '
A very different conclusion has been
added to suit orthodoxy and is represented
by the passage in Chapter xL, 4-5, beginning:
"Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him," Says Job in the Traditional Rendering. Jastrow Says This
Should Read: "Aye, though he slay me, I tremble not.". Editors Changed It Because It Was Too
Daring a Defiance of the Almighty. The Drawings on This Page Are from William Blake's
Famous Illustrations of the Book of Job.
In Chapters xxxii.
toxxxvli. are the dis
courses of filihu in
defense of orthodoxy,
and, finally, in Chap
ters xxxviil. to lxi. the
magnificent series of
poems put into the
mouth of God.
These latter chan
ters have been ac
cepted by readers as
leading the story of
Job to a triumphant
orthodox conclusion,
but according to Pro
fessor Jastrow they
were late additions.
In the third chapter
Job begins by cursing
the day on whlch he
was born. . To be de
prived of family pos
sessions and station
and finally to be tor
tured with loathsome
disease would change - thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth,
the pious and God-
tale of Job's life from the poetical compo
sition in which two problems suggested by
the story the reason for Innocent suffer
ing in the world and for the frequent es
cape of the wicked from merited punish
ment are discussed.
Then, again, in the poetical composition
are three distinct strata in which the two
problems Involved are viewed from differ
ent angles. The first stratum is the con
versation between Job and his three
friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar
(chapters iii.-xxviL), and constitutes the
original book. The trend of this stratum
is distinctly skeptical. It emanated from
(C) 1921. Internttioiul TMturt Carrie. Inc.
a circle of bold and independent thinkers
who questioned conventional beliefs.: Be
cause of this, and because the conversa
tion ended" In an unsatisfactory manner,
orthodox circles among the Jews took up
the book and proceeded to amplify it.
As a result of this sentiment, the jbook
of Job contains comments by pious -commentators
and other additions, and two
additional; strata represented byi the
speeches of Elihu (Chapters xxxii. xxxvIL)
and the four closing chapters -of the book
(Chapters xxxviii.-xliL) , which represent the
endeavor 4f Jewish orthodoxy to counter
act the influence of the original book, and
-; Gratt Brltaia BitfsU SaMrveO. ,
fearing man into a
violent accuser of the
Deity. Throughout
the conversations Job
is represented as pro
testing against his
cruel and unjustifiable treatment He
wrings our soul with pity by his bitter
outcries. Those who write the speeches
which they put into his ut J1'? .
for us the sufferings of Job heyond human
endurance. Ever and again he breaks out
in his anguish and indulges in Indictments
against Divine Injustice that know no
bounds. - ' ' .
"What an awful Deity. comments Pro
fessor Jastrow "to permit a man perfect
and removed from evil' (Chapters L ana
ii.), to be thus wracked on the wheel!
The introduction 1 of the scene between
"Yahweh and Satan only enhances the cal-
The Bible has curiously preserved th3
fact that the Book of Job once terminated
with the thirty-first chapter, for it is there
written: "The words of Job are ended."
The poems about animals in Chapters
xxxviil. and xxxix. are additions to the orW
ginal and are not by the same writers. Ons
writer only eulogizes the powers of the
animals, while another stresses the cruel
and senseless habits-of the ostrich and
stork in deserting her young.
The nature poems were added to teach
the overpowering achievements of the Al
mighty and to neutralize somewhat th
denunciations of Job and Bis friends
against the arbitrariness of the divine will.
The author points out thdt the editors
of one Hebrew text of Job, simply out of
refinement, has substituted "bless" for
"curse" in Chapter i-i 5, and other place",
although the King James Bible, based
mainly on the Greek text, retains "curs,'
!