Introduction
Job 25-27. offer a difficult critical problem. “ The phenomena which excite attention are these: ( a) Bildad’ s speech is unusually short; ( b) Job’ s reply contains a section ( Job 26:5-2 Chronicles :) very like Bildad’ s speech; ( c) Zophar fails to speak; ( d) ch. 27 has a title prefixed, which has no real parallel elsewhere in the middle of a speech belonging to the original poem (ch. 29 forming no real exception); ( e) the greater part of ch. 27 so completely contradicts Job’ s views as elsewhere expressed, that it seems very hard to believe that it can have formed part of this speech” (Peake).
Here what is a very usual rearrangement will be adopted. We shall take Job 25 and Job 26:5-2 Chronicles : as Bildad’ s speech, Job 26:1-Numbers : and Job 27:2-Joshua : as Job’ s reply, and Job 27:7-Isaiah : as the missing third speech of Zophar. This seems the simplest arrangement, though it is open to objections. For this and alternative views, see Peake’ s Commentary.
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