Divergence of the book of Job from deuteronomic / priestly Torah : intertextual reading between Job and Torah

Abstract

The book of Job prominently portrays the motif of the pious sufferer and the confrontation between Job’s three friends who claim the retribution principle and Job who witnesses the undermined moral order in reality, and indicates finally Yahweh’s speech which marginalises issues of justice and judgment which Job vehemently called for. On the one hand, these distinct features to some extent may reflect a critical and belittling idea of Deuteronomic Torah, although it does not deny the entire concept of Torah and traditional laws about divine judgment. On the other hand, while it has been argued that the book of Job reflects the Priestly context in the Pentateuch, in a closer examination the author of Job hardly has the creational order, rituals, and ideology that priestly materials in general imply.