A 1:1-5. Introduction. Historical.B 1:6 - 2:10. Satan's assault. Job stripped of all.
C 2:11-13. The three friends. Their arrival.
D 3:1 - 31:40. Job and his friends.
E 32:1 - 37:24. The ministry of Elihu: The Mediator* D 38:1 - 42:6. Job and Yehovah.
C 42:7-9. The three friends. Their departure.
B 42:10-13. Satan's defeat. Job blessed with double.
A 42:14-17. Conclusion. Historical.
* Note that by this grand Introversion the ministry of Elihu, the Mediator, is placed in the middle, summing up the ministry of Job's three friends, and introducing the ministry of Yehovah.
But, if Job was the son of Issachar (Gen.46:13), then we have a clue that might help us to a decision on both. It is better to keep within the Bible itself of its problems; and to treat the whole Book as the context of all its parts.
There is no reason why Job should not be the son of Issachar, and no better evidence is forthcoming for a different view.
The three friends of Job were descendants of Esau; they would therefore be contemporaries.
Eliphaz, of Teman, in Indumea, was a son of Esau, and had a son called Teman, from whom his country took its name (Gen.30:10,11). It was noted for its "wise men" (Jer.49:7); and is mentioned with Edom (Amos 1:11,12). Compare Jer.25:23, where both were connected with Buz, the brother of Uz (Gen.22:21).
Bildad the Shuhite. Shuah was the sixth son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen.25:2); and is mentioned in connection with Esau, Edom, and Teman (Jer.49:8).
Zophar the Naamathite. Naamah (now Nã’aneh, 6 miles south of Lod, in the lowlands of Judah).
If Job was the third son of Issachar (Gen.46:13), he would have gone down to Egypt with his father.
Issachar was 40 at "the going down to Egypt"
If Job was the third son (Gen.46:13), he would have been about 20 at that time (1706 B.C)>
We are told that he lived 140 years after his "double" blessing (42:10). If that "double" blessing included length of years, then his age would have been 70 + 140 = 210 (i.e. three seventies of years). His lifetime would be from 1726-1516 B.C.
According to this, he was born the year after Joseph was sold, and died 119 years after the death of Joseph (in 1635 B.C). When Joseph died, Job was 91. If his "double" blessing did include length of years, then his affliction took place 21 years previously, when he was 70. His removal from Egypt to Uz must therefore have taken place earlier still.
When Job died (1516 B.C.) Moses was 55, and had been in Midian 15 years (25 years before the Exodus).
This would account for Job being a worshipper of the God of Abraham, and explains how Moses could have been the author of the Book, and perhaps an eye- and ear-witness of the events it records in Midian. If so, the time has come (as Dr. Stier foretold and hoped¹) when this Book would be regarded as "the Porch of the Sanctuary"; and when this "fundamental wisdom of original revelation will cease to be ascribed, as it now is by som of the best, to a later poet in Israel".
¹ The Words of the Lord Jesus. Vol.iv, p.40.