Job 41 and 42

After reading chapter 41:

*Yahweh is still poetically boasting to Job. This whole chapter is about his magnificent creature creation, the leviathan. This leviathan sounds exactly like a big ol' crocodile. If Job can't hope to subdue a leviathan, how does he have any claim against Yahweh? Everything under heaven belongs to him.

After reading chapter 42:

*Verses 1-6 are the last of the poetry. Job replies to Yahweh. He seems humbled, saying he knows Yahweh can do all things. He spoke of things he did not understand. Before, he had heard of Yahweh, now his eyes have seen him. Wait. What?! I thought nobody had seen him. Job is joining a long list of nobodies who have seen the God of the bible. As a result, Job now despises himself and repents in dust and ashes. Yep that's pretty much what it feels like to be a true believer.

*Verses 7 through the rest of the chapter revert to prose, just like the first section of the book, leading me to think it may be another possible addition to the original saga, maybe by the same person that wrote the first bit of prose. If the book had ended at verse 6, Job's friends would have been justified and Job thoroughly humiliated. But the story continues. Yahweh tells Job's friends he is angry with them. They didn't speak what was right about Yahweh, Job did. Huh? Now they have to go get seven bulls and sacrifice them as a burnt offering (Barbeque!) for themselves and Job will pray for them, so they will not be punished.

*Job prayed for his friends. Then Yahweh gave him twice as much stuff as he had before. His relatives associated with him again and gave him gifts. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble Yahweh had brought upon him. Where had they been when he was in trouble? Job ended his life as a very rich man. He now had exactly twice as many sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys as he had started. Plus, he again had seven sons (the perfect number)and three daughters, to replace the previous seven sons and three daughters that Yahweh had caused to be killed. That must have made everything okay. (Sarcasm, in case you didn't guess.) I wonder if he had the same wife?

*For some unknown reason we are told the names of Job's three daughters. Plus, we are informed that they were extraordinarily beautiful and that they recieved an inheritance from Job, along with his sons. Also, Satan, the accuser, is not mentioned again.

*I wonder how old Job was. The first set of 10 children would have taken at least 20 years to produce. At the beginning of the story, the children were all grown. That would have taken another 15 years at least. We are not told how long his trials took. Then another 20 years would be needed to produce another 10 children, making Job at least 75 when the last child would have been born. How old was his wife? In verse 16 we are told Job lived to 140 years and saw his children and their descendants to the fourth generation! That might just barely work if there was a new generation every twenty years. A true patriarch.

The End (Yay!)