Job 1 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

This chapter introduces a story about a man named Job who lived during a time long before the author.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Wealth

In the time and place in which the book of Job is set, a person’s wealth was measured by the number of animals he owned. The book describes how Job owned thousands of animals in order to indicate that he was very rich. (See: figs-explicit)

Sacrifices

Job was a man who obeyed Yahweh carefully. We might therefore wonder why he offered sacrifices on behalf of his children, as 1:5 describes, since he was not one of the descendants of Aaron, who were the only ones whom the law of Moses allowed to offer sacrifices. It must be remembered that Job lived prior to the time when God gave Moses the law, so his religious practices were different from those of the Hebrew people after Moses. In Job’s culture, it was normal and acceptable for the father to act as a priest for his family and to offer sacrifices on their behalf. The events that this book relates took place about the same time as the life of Abraham. Therefore, this book corresponds more with Genesis 12–50 than with the rest of the Old Testament. (See: godly and lawofmoses)

Translation Issues in This Chapter

“the adversary”

The Hebrew word satan means “adversary.” The Old Testament uses the word in that sense in several places, for example, 1 Kings 11:14, “Yahweh raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite.” In 2 of the book of Job, there is a character called “the satan” or “the adversary.” This seems to be a created angelic being who opposes righteous people and accuses them before God of having wrong motives. Many interpreters of the book of Job identify this character with Satan, the devil. The UST follows that interpretation, but the ULT translates the term more basically as “adversary.” You can decide how to translate this term in your own translation.