The book consists of seven different collections of proverbs, as follows: 1. i, 7-ix; 2. x-xxii, 16; 3. xxii, 17-xxiv; 4. xxv-xxix; 5. xxx; 6. xxxi, 1–9; 7. xxxi, 10–31. The first six verses are a preface.
The first collection, it is admitted, was not the work of Solomon. These proverbs were composed as late as 600 B.C. The second collection is presented as “The Proverbs of Solomon.” If any of Solomon’s proverbs exist they are contained in this collection. The third collection is anonymous. The fourth begins as follows: “These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out” (700 B.C.). The fifth contains “The words of Agur the son of Jakeh.” The sixth, comprising the first nine verses of the last chapter, are “The words of King Lemuel.” The seventh, comprising the remainder of the chapter, is a poem, written after the Captivity.
Job.
It is remarkable that the book which, from a literary point of view, occupies the first place among the books of the Bible, should be the only one in the collection that was not written by a believer in the religion of the Bible. It is almost universally conceded that the book of Job was not written by a Jew, but by a Gentile.
Most Christians ascribe its authorship to Job himself; but there is no more authority for ascribing it to Job than there is for ascribing the Pentateuch to Moses. Job is the name of the leading character of the book, not the name of its author. Its authorship is unknown. The Talmud asserts, and probably correctly, that Job was not a real personage—that the book is an allegory. Luther says, “It is merely the argument of a fable.”
Regarding its antiquity, Dr. Hitchcock says: “The first written of all the books in the Bible, and the oldest literary production in the world, is the book of Job.” The date assigned for its composition is 1520 B.C.
Had Job been written a thousand years before the time claimed, it would not be the oldest literary production in the world. But it was probably written a thousand years after the time claimed. Luther places its composition 500 years after this time; Renan says that it was written 800 years later, Ewald and Davidson 900 years later. Grotius and De Wette believe that it was written 1000 years after the date assigned, while Hartmann and others contend that it was written still later. While its exact date cannot be determined, there is internal evidence pointing to a much later age than that named.
“Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south” (ix, 9).
The use of these Greek astronomical names proves a later origin. So, too, does the following passage: