Book of Job

[alrdyreg]

ok.. i read somewhere that Job is the oldest book in the Bible...

did i just make this up or is there some proof to this???

[Hootmon]

I dont know if there is an 'proof' or not, but it is generally accepted that Job was authored very early on...

[alrdyreg]

I dont know if there is an 'proof' or not, but it is generally accepted that Job was authored very early on...


so ... pre moses?

[Hootmon]

This seems plausable to me... Job evidently lived about the time of Abraham.

Except for the first eleven chapters of Genesis, which almost certainly were originally written by Adam, Noah, the sons of Noah, and Terah, then eventually edited by Moses [see Genesis], the book of Job is probably the oldest book in the Bible. It contains more references to creation, the Flood and other primeval events than any book of the Bible except Genesis, and provides more insight into the age-long conflict between God and Satan than almost any other book. Remarkably, it also seems to contain more modern scientific insights than any other book of the Bible.

Uniform Jewish tradition ascribed the book of Job to Moses and also accepted it as part of the true canon of Scripture. This ascription seems quite reasonable if Moses is regarded as the editor and original sponsor of Job's book rather than its author. Undoubtedly, Job himself was the original author (Job 19:23,24), writing down his memoirs, so to speak, after his restoration to health and prosperity.

Moses most likely came into possession of Job's record during his forty-year exile from Egypt in the land of Midian (not far from Job's own homeland in Uz), and quickly recognized its great importance, perhaps editing it slightly for the benefit of his own contemporaries. It was all probably similar to how he compiled and organized the primeval records from which he has also given us the book of Genesis.

http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/job.html

[Paul]

ok.. i read somewhere that Job is the oldest book in the Bible...

did i just make this up or is there some proof to this???
The dating is all over the map for Job. I believe the oldest tradition says it was written by Moses. According to a tradition in the Talmud Job wasn't a real person, but was only a parable. I'm not sure what this info is based on though.

Here is a nice intro to Job...
AUTHOR AND DATE OF WRITING: Who wrote the book, and when? No one really knows. Jewish tradition attributes the book to Moses, and other
authors have been suggested (Job, Elihu, Solomon, Isaiah, Hezekiah, and
Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe).

"All that can be said with certainty is that the author was a loyal Hebrew who was not strictly bound by the popular creed that assumed suffering was always the direct result of sin" (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown). Because the author is unknown, it's date has been hotly debated among scholars. Some think it was written before Moses (pre 1500 B.C.). Others put it at the time of Solomon (ca. 900 B.C.), and some even as late as the Babylonian Exile
or later (post 600 B.C.).

From: http://www.ccel.org/contrib/exec_outlines/job/job_01.htm