Of all the 66 books in the Bible, not one has as many dramatic scenes as the Book of Job. With the usage of dramatic techniques such as rhetorical questions, this very book contains conversations between God and his arch-enemy (Satan), Job and his wife, Job and his three friends, God and Job as well as God and one of Job’s three friends.
There is no indication that the Book of Job was written by the Jewish prophets or one of them and thus, we conclude that this book is not prophetic even though there are some prophecies in it. We would rather say that the Book of Job is a historical book presented with the usage of dramatic techniques.
As this book in its entirety is purely dramatic, it is hard to ascertain if the author was a human. It has, however, been declared by some scholars that the writer of the Book of Job was Moses. But, this is what some Jewish traditions say. There is no evidence to corroborate such assertion.
The book of Job could not have been written by Moses because its literary styles do not relate to the Pentateuch books supposedly written by Moses. It must even be noted that throughout the book of Job, the word ‘Israel’ was not even mentioned, indicating that it could not have been written in the land of Israel. If Moses was the writer of this book, Israel’s cultures, and literary styles could have been incorporated.
This implies that the writer could have been someone other than Moses the prophet. But if it was written by someone other than Moses or the prophets, the ancient critics could have demanded evidence of the writer, being an eyewitness of the dramatic conversations, especially the ones where God was having a dialogue with his arch-enemy. But, surprisingly, the ancient critics did not consider the book a myth as it was added to the canonized Scriptures, indicating it was from an authorized source whose source is divine.
In the New Testament, a reference is also made to the Book of Job. This alone tells us that the book of Job, even though it is purely dramatic, is not a myth but rather God’s inspired Scriptures.
James 5:11 (KJV) “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
James, referring to the afflictions of Job in his Epistle, shows that the dramatic discourse in the book of Job was genuine and indeed the conversations between God and Satan actually transpired.
But one thing we know, which the Scriptures also confirmed, is that the Book of Job was not written at the time the incident took place. From Job’s words, we learned that when he was afflicted and his friends came to comfort him, all the conversations were never written down.
Job 19:23-24 (KJV) “Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!”
It was obvious, however, that as time went on, the dramatic conversations were documented. But the chronological document could not have been human but rather by the help of the Holy Spirit, being the third person in the Trinity.
Moreover, the operation of the Holy Ghost, in those ancient times, seems to be absolutely different from the way he operates today. For instance, when we take a look at Job 1:6, it reads, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”
In the quoted verse from the book of Job, the LORD (God), the sons of God (the angels), and Satan were presented as real persons/beings. And it seems the writer was an eyewitness of this very meeting. If the writer was just a human, there would have been little to no trust in this book as being a Scripture.
But the eyewitness of the incident was the Holy Spirit and in his own method of operating in those days (Which is now unknown to us), he handed it to a human whose source was known to have been divine.
The writer of the book of Job is not known today because the human who could have been involved did not want to give credit to himself as the incidents and the chronological compilations were done by a divine being (the Holy Spirit).
The involvement of the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament books was also confirmed by Apostle Peter in his Epistle to the Hebrews.
2 Peter 1:21 (KJV) “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
Conclusion
Myths are often fascinating and exaggerated stories. They are fictional. When we apply myths to reality, we know that they are fictional. The story of the sun discussing with the moon on how to prosper is an instance of a myth. We know such can not happen in reality. Thus, the books of the Bible especially the book of Job can not be regarded as a myth as the incidents recorded are not exaggerated.
Besides, some of the things said in this book are historically and scientifically proven to be true.
