Revised by Kathryn M. Schifferdecker (4/24)
There is no clear historical context for the writing of Job, though a strong case can be made for the period of Israel’s exile in Babylon (587-539 BCE) or the years immediately following. Questions about the meaning of suffering and God’s participation in the tragedies of life are common throughout history, whether in the lives of individuals or in the experience of a whole community or nation. During and after the exile, God’s people were forced to consider what went wrong in their unique relationship with God. Were the ancient promises of God’s love and protection no longer valid? Whose fault was it that the king and templeThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged… More were destroyed and many sent into exile? The prophets and the history in the books of SamuelThe judge who anointed the first two kings of Israel. More and Kings had made a connection between the sins of the people and these terrible consequences. During the exile, however, some began to question the simplistic idea that all suffering is caused by the sin of the sufferer. Some people who are innocent, like Job, also suffer. The Book of Job could well have emerged from such a time of questioning.
