There was a
man in the land of Uz named Job. That man was blameless and upright; he feared
God and shunned evil. (Job 1:1)
Talmudic commentary
Rava
says: Job lived at the time of the spieswhom Moses
sent to scout the land of Canaan. This is proven by the fact that it is written here: “There was a man in the
land of Utz, whose name was Job” (Job 1:1), and it is written there in the account of the spies: “Whether there are trees [eitz] in it” (Numbers
13:20). The Gemara asks: Is it comparable? Here the word that is used is Utz, whereas there the
word is eitz. The Gemara answers: This is what Moses said to Israel, i.e.,
to the spies: Is that man named
Job still alive, he whose years
are as long as the years of a tree and who protects his generation like a tree? This
is why the allusion to him here is through the word eitz, rather
than Utz. (Talmud Bava
Batra 15a:14)
Notice from the rabbinic commentary “Moses said to Israel, i.e., to
the spies: Is that man named
Job still alive”. There’s more,
The baraita further
states that Moses wrote his own book, i.e., the
Torah, the portion of Balaam, and the book of Job. This supports Rabbi Levi
bar Laḥma, as Rabbi
Levi bar Laḥma says: Job lived in the time of Moses. It is
written here with regard
to Job: “Oh, that my words were
written now [eifo]” (Job 19:23), and it is written there in Moses’
words to God: “For in what shall it be known
here [eifo]” (Exodus 33:16). The unusual use
of the word eifo in these two
places indicates that Job and Moses lived in the same generation. (Talmud Bava Batra 15a:11)
Interesting not only was
job alive during the time of Moses he, Moses also wrote the word of Job. wonder
how christian would swallow this rabbinic commentary.
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