The Formation of the Book of Job: the Priority of Poetry, the Primacy of Prose

Abstract

A more holistic method has become a common way of reading Job. Ultimately, however, the argument for a polyphonic reading as the best answer for interpreting the “dynamic structure†of the book is unconvincing. Rather than being one part among many, in the end there is a voice in the text that is privileged, and this voice is among the latest additions to the text. There is a voice that holds a place of honor, whose contribution to the book of Job intends to create a sense of closure by tying up loose ends and disparaging (while not eliminating) other views in the poetic dialogue. This voice promotes a worldview that privileges the final redactor and his own community. This is the voice the reader meets in the prose of the didactic narrative that frames the book to establish the status of elites in the restoration community of Yehud.