Lectionary Calendar
Friday, December 13th, 2024
the Second Week of Advent
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Bible Commentaries
Job

Haydock's Catholic Bible CommentaryHaydock's Catholic Commentary

Chapter 1
Job's Righteousness; His Severe Testing by Satan.
Chapter 2
Satan Attacks Job's Health; Friends Arrive.
Chapter 3
Job Curses His Birth, Laments His Suffering.
Chapter 4
Eliphaz's First Speech: Job Must Have Sinned.
Chapter 5
Eliphaz: Seek God, Who Disciplines but Heals.
Chapter 6
Job's Reply: My Suffering Is Just.
Chapter 7
Job Laments the Futility of Life.
Chapter 8
Bildad's First Speech: Job, Repent for Restoration.
Chapter 9
Job: God's Wisdom and Power Are Unfathomable.
Chapter 10
Job Pleads With God for Understanding.
Chapter 11
Zophar's First Speech: Job Deserves Worse Punishment.
Chapter 12
Job's Reply: God's Wisdom and Sovereignty Affirmed.
Chapter 13
Job: I Will Defend My Ways Before God.
Chapter 14
Job: Man's Life Is Brief and Full of Trouble.
Chapter 15
Eliphaz's Second Speech: Job's Words Are Arrogant.
Chapter 16
Job: Friends Are Miserable Comforters; My Suffering Is Intense.
Chapter 17
Job: My Spirit Is Broken; Hope Seems Distant.
Chapter 18
Bildad's Second Speech: The Fate of the Wicked.
Chapter 19
Job: My Redeemer Lives; Friends, You Have Wronged Me.
Chapter 20
Zophar's Second Speech: The Wicked's Prosperity Is Short-Lived.
Chapter 21
Job: Why Do the Wicked Often Prosper?
Chapter 22
Eliphaz's Third Speech: Repent, and God Will Restore You.
Chapter 23
Job: I Desire to Present My Case Before God.
Chapter 24
Job: The Wicked Seem to Escape Judgment.
Chapter 25
Bildad's Third Speech: Man's Insignificance Before God.
Chapter 26
Job: God's Power and Wisdom Are Incomparable.
Chapter 27
Job: I Will Maintain My Integrity Despite Suffering.
Chapter 28
Job: The Search for Wisdom Is Beyond Human Reach.
Chapter 29
Job Reminisces About His Former Prosperity.
Chapter 30
Job Laments His Present Misery and Alienation.
Chapter 31
Job Asserts His Innocence and Righteousness.
Chapter 32
Elihu's Anger; He Begins to Speak.
Chapter 33
Elihu: God Speaks Through Suffering and Dreams.
Chapter 34
Elihu: God Is Just and Righteous in His Judgments.
Chapter 35
Elihu: Human Actions Don't Affect God's Nature.
Chapter 36
Elihu: God's Greatness and Justice Are Unmatched.
Chapter 37
Elihu Extols God's Majesty and Power in Nature.
Chapter 38
God's Response: Questions Reveal Job's Limited Understanding.
Chapter 39
God Continues: Wonders of Creation Highlight Divine Wisdom.
Chapter 40
Job Humbles Himself; God Challenges Him Further.
Chapter 41
God Describes Leviathan; Emphasizes His Power.
Chapter 42
Job Repents; God Restores His Fortunes.

- Job

by George Leo Haydock

THE BOOK OF JOB.

INTRODUCTION.

This Book takes its name from the holy man, of whom it treats; who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau, and the same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned [in] Genesis xxxvi. 33. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter. (Challoner) --- The beginning and conclusion are historical, and in prose. Some have divided this work into a kind of tragedy, the first act extending to chap. xv., the second to chap. xxii., the third to chap. xxxviii., where God appears, and the plot is unfolded. They suppose that the sentiments of the speakers are expressed, though not their own words. This may be very probable: but the opinion of those who look upon the work as a mere allegory, must be rejected with horror. The sacred writers speak of Job as of a personage who had really existed, (Calmet) and set the most noble pattern of virtue, and particularly of patience, Tobias ii. 12., Ezechiel xiv. 14., and James v. 11. Philo and Josephus pass over this history, as they do those of Tobias, Judith, &c. (Haydock) --- The time when Job lived is not clearly ascertained. Some have supposed (Calmet) that he was a contemporary with Esther; (Du Hamel; Thalmud) on which supposition, the work is here placed in its chronological order. But Job more probably live during the period when the Hebrews groaned under the Egyptian bondage, (Haydock) or sojourned in the wilderness, Numbers xiv. 9. The Syrians place the book at the head of the Scriptures. (Calmet) --- Its situation has often varied, and is of no great importance. The subject which is here treated, is of far more; as it is intended to shew that the wicked sometimes prosper, while the good are afflicted. (Haydock) --- This had seldom been witnessed before the days of Abraham: but as God had now selected his family to be witnesses and guardians of religion, a new order of things was beginning to appear. This greatly perplexed Job himself; who, therefore, confesses that he had not sufficiently understood the ways of God, till he had deigned to explain them in the parable of the two great beasts, chap. xlii. 3. We cannot condemn the sentiments expressed by Job, since God has declared that they were right, chap. xlii. 8) and reprimands Elihu, (chap. xxxviii. 2.) and the other three friends of Job, for maintaining a false opinion, though, from the history of past times, they had judge it to be true. This remark may excupate them from the stain of wilful lying, and vain declamation. (Houbigant) --- However, as they assert what was false, their words of themselves are of no authority; and they are even considered as the forerunners of heretics. (St. Gregory; St. Augustine, &c.) (Tirinus) --- Job refutes them by sound logic. (St. Jerome) --- We may discover in this book the sum of Christian morality, (Worthington) for which purpose it has been chiefly explained by St. Gregory. The style is very poetical, (Haydock) though at the same time simple, like that of Moses. (Du Hamel) --- It is interspersed with many Arabic and Chaldaic idioms; (St. Jerome) whence some have concluded, that it was written originally by Job and his friends (Haydock) in Arabic, and translated into Hebrew by Moses, for the consolation of his brethren. (Worthington) --- The Hebrew text is in many places incorrect; (Houbigant) and the Septuagint seem to have omitted several verses. (Origen) --- St. Jerome says almost eight hundred, (Calmet) each consisting of about six words. (Haydock) --- Shultens, in 1747, expressed his dissatisfaction with the labours of all preceding commentators. To explain this book may not therefore be an easy task: but we must be as short as possible. (Haydock) --- Those who desire farther information, may consult Pineda, (Worthington) whose voluminous work, in two folios, will nearly (Haydock) give all necessary information. (Calmet)

 
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