The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-01-09
<HAT1ENT as Job" and the Patience
of Job" have long been popular


OF Job" have long been popular
phrases. denoting utter submis-
sim to misfortune and resignation under
thb most terrible sufferings. Not only in
Christian literature, but In the Hebrew
legends, and even in the Mohammedan
Koran, Job has been held up az . model
whose exemplary conduct In sorrow or
adversely all should emulate.
But now Dr.. Morris Jastrow. who holds
the chair u Semitic languages in the iUni-
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
q piece Of stone Of the various foreign
growths which had encrusted It through
the ages. DR.. Jastrow has, he believes.
succeeded in uncov erins the story Of Job
as 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 notifications which various
religious leaders of the time, shocked by
Jobs 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
ay upon something SO entirely contrary In
spirit to the religious teachings. They did
not have the courage to try to suppress 1t
entirely, as some modern "blue law" CEN
sors might have done, but they did alter
the story and add to II in such way as
to. obscure all it's original spirit and leave
Job pictured as a man Of infinite patience
and piety.
.ifhe original story. says Dr. Jastrow. was
a bit of folk lore. It was taken and elab-
GRATED by group Of bold and cynical think
ers. Their Job was an audacious skeptic
who questioned the assertion that a Deity
Of goodness and Justice ruled the world,
and who wanted to know why the right
eous should suffer, while the wicked were
Book of Job represents the later efforts to
bring this conception into harmony with
an orthodox theology which asserted the
existence OF just and merciful Creator.
In DIR. Jastrow's very interesting COM
merts, which are to be found In full In his
work upon this subject, "The Book Of Job"
published by J. b. Lppincott & Co., he
says.
>"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 ms correct. The
text of poetic composition is more liable
to corruption than that OF a prose nara
tive.
with the possible single exception OF
the Book Of Esther. which ia a propaganda
list romance that may not be earlier than
100 b. c., there liz not book Of the Old
Testament that can be assigned to any In
diyidual author. as none represents In It's
present form a genuine literary unity. Lit
erAry unity II not 20 be found even In so
late book a. that Of Daniel. written circa
100 B. c., when individual authorship
among the Hebrews had already come TO
the fore. for even in this book II Is recog-
nized by scholars that the last chapters
are not by the same writer as the one 10
Shom we owe the earlier ones"