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Originally Posted by AHIYAH
I got to the first part and I've come back with some things to think about. Now the reason why I went into Moses possibly being the writer of this book is when such words like Sacrifice comes into use. Since this book is widely accepted as being written about the time of the Torah you'd have to wonder what feast these people are celebrating and what the sacrifices were for according to the Torah. Another thing is the Cohen that performs these sacrifices there's no mention of them being present. Consider this when stating this was Job's custom.
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Day 1) Chapter 1. We see Job as a wealthy and great man, with his sons and daughters often feasting together. "When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.
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my personal belief is that it was written around the time of the exile into Babylon. Young Jews were being taken and educated by the Babylonians into reading Babylonian literature with Babylonian ways/religion. The Jews wanted to maintain identity while benefitting from education. So they took the Babylonian stories and adapted them.
Gilgamesh talks of a flood..... they wrote the story of Noah.
They adapted the story of Job to make it YHWH-palatable (though not too embellished) and dampen down referneces to Babylonian dieties.
They adapted the Babylonian creation stories into genesis, with some contrasts thrown in for their own culture (the Babylonians were dualists who believed in evil god/good god..... Genesis said God made all things and he did not want Adam and Eve to swallow that "Good vs Evil" dualistic concept symbolized by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
I read another book once that laid out evidence that a lot of the patriarch stories were adaptations of older Egyptian stories. May be some truth to that.
The spirit of Job reminds me of the spirit of Abraham. Sacrifice was present but it was an individual thing, not structured priesthood, (Job is sort of a patriarchal figure). and there is the direct discourse/willingness to haggle/argue with God.