Job$Chapters$1$–$3$Notes$
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Background+and+Setting+
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Scholarship$varies$widely$on$the$understanding$of$the$history$of$Job,$but$the$
foundation$of$this$study$rests$on$2$Tim$3:16,$that$“All$Scripture$is$breathed$out$by$
God$and$profitable$for$teaching,$for$reproof,$for$correction,$and$for$training$in$
righteousness.”$I$believe$that$the$book$of$Job$is$as$true$as$God$is$and$that$it$recounts$
historical$events.$Job$is$not$myth.$
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Nothing$in$the$Bible$specifies$when$Job$lived,$but$a$few$clues$from$the$text$helps$
narrow$the$timeline.$Job$lived$140$years$plus$enough$years$to$have$ten$[grown]$
children$(Job$42:16,$1:2Q4).$If$you$were$to$plot$human$lifespan$through$the$
genealogies$in$Genesis$through$Judges,$you$would$see$that$they$start$very$high$
(Adam$lived$to$be$930$years$old),$start$dropping$precipitously$after$the$flood$and$
level$out$to$our$expected$age$range$by$the$time$Israel$moves$into$the$Promised$Land.$
Job’s$age$fits$in$the$curve$around$the$time$of$the$Patriarchs—Abraham,$Isaac$and$
Jacob.$Other$historical$clues,$such$as$names,$lifestyles$and$level$of$technology$
corroborate$that$Job$lived$around$2,000$BC.$
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Using$some$of$the$same$clues$to$date$Job,$we$may$estimate$the$approximate$area$in$
which$he$lived.$Being$a$man$“of$the$East”$(Job$1:3),$that$means$he$lived$East$of$the$
Jordan$River,$and$he$was$likely$bordered$between$Assyria$and$Edom.$The$blue$box$
highlights$this$area:$
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