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Job
The title character of the book of Job suffers terribly, but we should not mistakenly think that this book is just about Job. It is about all of us, and ultimately about God.
Many have thought that the book simply restates the perennial questions that plague humankind in a world full of suffering. But often our questions are too limited, and we must learn to ask better questions so that we might find more significant answers. The book of Job answers our original questions obliquely, letting these answers prompt deeper questions, and leading us to discover the wealth that the book has to offer.
Most people assume that the book of Job deals with the question of why righteous people suffer. Instead, John Walton suggests that the book is about the nature of righteousness, not the nature of suffering. As we learn to deepen our questions, God will transform how we think about his work in the world and about our responses in times of suffering.
Many have thought that the book simply restates the perennial questions that plague humankind in a world full of suffering. But often our questions are too limited, and we must learn to ask better questions so that we might find more significant answers. The book of Job answers our original questions obliquely, letting these answers prompt deeper questions, and leading us to discover the wealth that the book has to offer.
Most people assume that the book of Job deals with the question of why righteous people suffer. Instead, John Walton suggests that the book is about the nature of righteousness, not the nature of suffering. As we learn to deepen our questions, God will transform how we think about his work in the world and about our responses in times of suffering.
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481 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 14, 2012
55 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
John H. Walton
117 books325 followersJohn H. Walton (PhD, Hebrew Union College) is professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College Graduate School. He is the author or coauthor of several books, including Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament; Ancient Israelite Literature in Its Cultural Context; Covenant: God’s Purpose, God’s Plan; The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament; and A Survey of the Old Testament.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See:
John H. Walton, Agriculture
John H. Walton, ceramics.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See:
John H. Walton, Agriculture
John H. Walton, ceramics.
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January 17, 2020
Walton, John H. Job The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.
Walton does theology by avoiding easy, cliched answers. It pays off in his commentary on Job. Although he is criticized for reading Ancient Near Eastern culture into the biblical text, Walton doesn’t actually do that. He goes to great pains to show how Job is different from ANE (Walton pp.33-37).
Ancient Near Eastern thought believed in “The Great Symbiosis.” We provide sacrifices for the gods and in return they protect us. If bad things happen to us, it’s probably because either a) that’s just how the cosmos is, or b) we made a ritual faux pas. Walton points out that the justice of a particular god is irrelevant. A god might be interested in promoting justice in a city, but ancient man had no reason to believe that the god himself is just.
This places “Satan’s” challenge in a new context. If the Great Symbiosis is true, and there is a strict “Retributive Principle” at work, then Satan is right. If Job even concedes that the evil has come as a result of Job’s sin, and in doing so expects God to restore the balance, the Challenger wins. By the end of the book we are affirmed in believing that God is just. The point of the book, however, is that wisdom, not justice, should be the epistemological foundation. We see God’s wisdom in the cosmos.
This book is unique among the NIVAC set in that Walton allows one of his former students to tell her story concerning a crippling nerve injury she had. It reads like a novel. Walton ends with some moving meditations about God’s will and suffering.
The ancient world believed the cosmos was ordered. However, within this ordered cosmos are spheres of disorder. Eden was an ordered cosmos, but not so the area outside Eden.
We do not always see God’s justice. The book of Job, however, promises us God’s wisdom. As Walton notes, “God has ordered the cosmos by his wisdom; justice is one of his attributes, but the cosmos do not always mirror his justice. Wisdom is at the heart of order” (Walton 411).
Chapter 1
Who are the “sons of God?” Walton correctly identifies the bene elohim as divine council members (64). They are not angels. Angels have a messenger function, whereas these have an administrative function.
Who is Satan? This is tricky. While Walton offers a lucid commentary on the morphology of the term, he muddies the waters by bringing in passages from Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. Let’s say for the sake of argument this is the “devil.” You could never make that case from Job 1. This “challenger” isn’t cast out from heaven. Nothing he says is evil (in fact, he makes a good case against the pagan ANE mindset of the time). All of that is true.
Walton, however, goes out of his way to prove that the “devil-figure” can’t be placed in the Isaiah and Ezekiel passages. This is irrelevant. I think he is wrong, but he does make a good case that since Ezekiel calls him “a cherub,” he can’t be the Serpent of Eden. That’s true. If anything, the Nachash would have been a seraph.
Some notes
4:15 is a reference to Zaqiq, the dream god (157). This would explain why when talking of the wind, Eliphaz mentions “a form before him.”
9:5-9 gives a beautiful description of cosmic geography. We have reference to the ‘pillars of the earth,’ implying a flat disc. The stars are “sealed” away (v. 7).
19. When Job asks for a mediator, does he mean Christ? Probably not. Job wanted a mediator to prove his innocence. Christ mediates for us precisely because we aren’t innocent!
25:5-6: The Realm of the Rephaim. The Rephaim are either the royal dead or quasi-demonic beings (or both). While they live in the underworld, Job identifies one of the access points as “beneath the waters.” Walton suggests that the language is the “cosmic waters,” rather than regular ocean water (250). This makes sense, otherwise we could access Sheol via submarine.
Walton correctly notes that eres can mean underworld in several locations (1 Sam. 28:13; Job 10:21-22; Eccl. 3.21; Isaiah 26:19; Jonah 2.6). Netherworld works instead of “earth” because it would be the opposite of the “heights of Zaphon.”
28:11: Sources of the Rivers. In Ugaritic literature the high god El dwells “at the source of the rivers” (Walton 286). Genesis 2 speaks of the origin of the four rivers coming from a sacred space (Eden). The origin of wisdom, then, is a cosmic mystery. There are several personifications in this passage:
Deep (tehom)
Sea (Yamm)
Abbadon (Destruction; Gk. Apollyon, personified as an evil Angel in Revelation 9). While Abbadon could be an evil entity, we need to be careful about reading later demonology into this passage.
Death
Nota Bene: Elihu mentions the spirit of God. We should be careful not to read a full Nicene theology into that phrase. For Elihu (and much of the Old Testament) the spirit of God is seen more as an extension of God’s presence than a separate person (though, of course, it is not contradictory to the later idea of the Spirit’s being a distinct person). Further, the spirit of man is “on loan” from God (Walton 376).
Walton does theology by avoiding easy, cliched answers. It pays off in his commentary on Job. Although he is criticized for reading Ancient Near Eastern culture into the biblical text, Walton doesn’t actually do that. He goes to great pains to show how Job is different from ANE (Walton pp.33-37).
Ancient Near Eastern thought believed in “The Great Symbiosis.” We provide sacrifices for the gods and in return they protect us. If bad things happen to us, it’s probably because either a) that’s just how the cosmos is, or b) we made a ritual faux pas. Walton points out that the justice of a particular god is irrelevant. A god might be interested in promoting justice in a city, but ancient man had no reason to believe that the god himself is just.
This places “Satan’s” challenge in a new context. If the Great Symbiosis is true, and there is a strict “Retributive Principle” at work, then Satan is right. If Job even concedes that the evil has come as a result of Job’s sin, and in doing so expects God to restore the balance, the Challenger wins. By the end of the book we are affirmed in believing that God is just. The point of the book, however, is that wisdom, not justice, should be the epistemological foundation. We see God’s wisdom in the cosmos.
This book is unique among the NIVAC set in that Walton allows one of his former students to tell her story concerning a crippling nerve injury she had. It reads like a novel. Walton ends with some moving meditations about God’s will and suffering.
The ancient world believed the cosmos was ordered. However, within this ordered cosmos are spheres of disorder. Eden was an ordered cosmos, but not so the area outside Eden.
We do not always see God’s justice. The book of Job, however, promises us God’s wisdom. As Walton notes, “God has ordered the cosmos by his wisdom; justice is one of his attributes, but the cosmos do not always mirror his justice. Wisdom is at the heart of order” (Walton 411).
Chapter 1
Who are the “sons of God?” Walton correctly identifies the bene elohim as divine council members (64). They are not angels. Angels have a messenger function, whereas these have an administrative function.
Who is Satan? This is tricky. While Walton offers a lucid commentary on the morphology of the term, he muddies the waters by bringing in passages from Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. Let’s say for the sake of argument this is the “devil.” You could never make that case from Job 1. This “challenger” isn’t cast out from heaven. Nothing he says is evil (in fact, he makes a good case against the pagan ANE mindset of the time). All of that is true.
Walton, however, goes out of his way to prove that the “devil-figure” can’t be placed in the Isaiah and Ezekiel passages. This is irrelevant. I think he is wrong, but he does make a good case that since Ezekiel calls him “a cherub,” he can’t be the Serpent of Eden. That’s true. If anything, the Nachash would have been a seraph.
Some notes
4:15 is a reference to Zaqiq, the dream god (157). This would explain why when talking of the wind, Eliphaz mentions “a form before him.”
9:5-9 gives a beautiful description of cosmic geography. We have reference to the ‘pillars of the earth,’ implying a flat disc. The stars are “sealed” away (v. 7).
19. When Job asks for a mediator, does he mean Christ? Probably not. Job wanted a mediator to prove his innocence. Christ mediates for us precisely because we aren’t innocent!
25:5-6: The Realm of the Rephaim. The Rephaim are either the royal dead or quasi-demonic beings (or both). While they live in the underworld, Job identifies one of the access points as “beneath the waters.” Walton suggests that the language is the “cosmic waters,” rather than regular ocean water (250). This makes sense, otherwise we could access Sheol via submarine.
Walton correctly notes that eres can mean underworld in several locations (1 Sam. 28:13; Job 10:21-22; Eccl. 3.21; Isaiah 26:19; Jonah 2.6). Netherworld works instead of “earth” because it would be the opposite of the “heights of Zaphon.”
28:11: Sources of the Rivers. In Ugaritic literature the high god El dwells “at the source of the rivers” (Walton 286). Genesis 2 speaks of the origin of the four rivers coming from a sacred space (Eden). The origin of wisdom, then, is a cosmic mystery. There are several personifications in this passage:
Deep (tehom)
Sea (Yamm)
Abbadon (Destruction; Gk. Apollyon, personified as an evil Angel in Revelation 9). While Abbadon could be an evil entity, we need to be careful about reading later demonology into this passage.
Death
Nota Bene: Elihu mentions the spirit of God. We should be careful not to read a full Nicene theology into that phrase. For Elihu (and much of the Old Testament) the spirit of God is seen more as an extension of God’s presence than a separate person (though, of course, it is not contradictory to the later idea of the Spirit’s being a distinct person). Further, the spirit of man is “on loan” from God (Walton 376).
January 2, 2015
Excellent book. Some deep writing for being NIVAC. I feel like I have a much better understanding of the book now. The running commentary of the real 'suffering woman' was something that I benefitted from. I know that not everyone appreciated this in a commentary, but it would be easy to skip over. He wrote a very good part near the end on what Job is about. He wrote with a lot of clarity on a book that at first appears to have little. He also wrote about interpreting Scripture, so there are other benefits too. His theology, which has God not quite as sovereign as I would have Him, or not quite as much in control of smaller things, disagrees with mine, but that is of little significance, because I can disagree with him on some minor matters and still learn just as much.
(Not sure when I started and finished this.)
(Not sure when I started and finished this.)
March 17, 2019
When I think of John Walton, I tend to think of Genesis as it seems those titles have received more press. He is a widely-published, influential author, and I felt it would be interesting to check out this work on Job in the NIV Application Commentary (NIVAC) series. What I found upon opening this work was exceptional writing, clear statement of scholarly options, and no fear to reach his own conclusions. On the other hand, I found as I often have before with him, that he reaches many conclusions that I couldn’t agree with. I’m not suggesting that agreement with me is a benchmark you need to consider in evaluating a book, but I wonder if many pastors will find his conclusions too far afield even if he is technically a “conservative” scholar.
In the Introduction, he states that Job is not on trial in the book. I’ve never thought that was the purpose of Job. Perhaps Walton is too hard on Job and God. Job won’t stand as a role model in his mind even if many of us have drawn great inspiration from him. He lets his conclusions on genre determine his thoughts of the trustworthiness of Job’s history and finds it lacking. He doesn’t see Satan as the Devil. Several of these conclusions will make it impossible to traverse the territory we normally do in Job.
The book gives much better help in individual passages. Perhaps he will serve as a foil to help you not carelessly reach old conclusions, or at least force you to think them out more carefully. The personal insights of “Kelly’s Story”, a student of his whose disability entails much suffering, do remind us how challenging the story of Job is. Walton has written extensively on OT theology and that shows up in some helpful ways as well.
This volume isn’t my favorite NIVAC one, but the set including this one is worth obtaining.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
In the Introduction, he states that Job is not on trial in the book. I’ve never thought that was the purpose of Job. Perhaps Walton is too hard on Job and God. Job won’t stand as a role model in his mind even if many of us have drawn great inspiration from him. He lets his conclusions on genre determine his thoughts of the trustworthiness of Job’s history and finds it lacking. He doesn’t see Satan as the Devil. Several of these conclusions will make it impossible to traverse the territory we normally do in Job.
The book gives much better help in individual passages. Perhaps he will serve as a foil to help you not carelessly reach old conclusions, or at least force you to think them out more carefully. The personal insights of “Kelly’s Story”, a student of his whose disability entails much suffering, do remind us how challenging the story of Job is. Walton has written extensively on OT theology and that shows up in some helpful ways as well.
This volume isn’t my favorite NIVAC one, but the set including this one is worth obtaining.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
April 8, 2023
For the most part an insightful, nuanced, and interesting approach to JOB with characteristic probing into ancient worldview, cosmology, and myths. I differ with some of Walton’s theological conclusions and didn’t care for some of the “Application” sections but agreed with his approach more than I expected. I award this an extra half star because Walton included a block quote of Anne Rice’s MEMNOCH THE DEVIL in an academic biblical commentary.
November 16, 2018
When people of faith go through suffering or grief, they often turn to the book of Job. After all he suffered loss of property, of family, and of health. Then, like us, he asks, “Why me?” He complains to God, wondering how this could all be especially when he was righteous. And finally, God shows up and talks to Job. God even restores to Job what he lost, and then some. Surely, this is the book where we will find answers and comfort in our distress.
When we get into Job, however, we don’t seem to find what we are looking for. We find complications and problems that seem to make things worse, not better. Why does God allow “The Challenger” in Job 1–2 to inflict Job will all his losses? Is God being capricious with life and limb just to win a bet?
Then at the end, how does God talking about his power as creator and sustainer of the universe in any way respond to Job’s woes and sorrows. As George Bernard Shaw is reputed to have said, “If I complain that I am suffering unjustly, it is no answer to say, ‘Can you make a hippopotamus?’”
In this commentary, John Walton walks us carefully through the book chapter by chapter to help us understand what it is trying to tell us, and what it is not. We get the wrong answers because we come to the book with the wrong questions. The book is not primarily about Job being on trial or human suffering. It is about God being on trial.
“The Challenger” sets up the primary question. He says it is bad policy for God to always reward the righteous because then they will seek righteousness for selfish motives (to get God’s benefits). And if that is the case, then they aren’t righteous at all. They are selfish. So the policy is self-defeating. Job becomes their test case. Will he curse God if all the benefits are removed?
Suffering thus comes into play, but indirectly. The big issue is whether or not God operates on a tit-for-tat basis, always punishing sinners and always giving good things to the righteous (the Retribution Principle). The answer of the book is no. He doesn’t.
Job passes the test, never cursing God or asking for all the benefits to be restored. But this sets up the challenge Job does put to God: it’s also bad policy for the righteous to suffer!
So how does God operate the cosmos and how does his justice come into play? Walton gives these questions plenty of helpful ink. As wisdom literature, the book of Job says we should primarily view God through the lens of his wisdom, not his justice. We actually don’t have access to how God runs the universe, so we should trust in his wisdom.
We are misguided to try to come up with airtight answers to evil and suffering (as Job’s comforters attempted) or to force God’s hand to give such answers (as Job did). If we could, we’d be as smart as God, and God would be less than God. As in the movie Bruce Almighty, playing God turns out to be neither as fun nor as easy as we thought.
Something that keeps the book honest are comments throughout from one of Walton's students, Kelly, who has struggled physically and spiritually with the chronic pain and disability she experiences. Together they show us that the main point of Job is not to increase our understanding about suffering but to increase our trust in God.
When we get into Job, however, we don’t seem to find what we are looking for. We find complications and problems that seem to make things worse, not better. Why does God allow “The Challenger” in Job 1–2 to inflict Job will all his losses? Is God being capricious with life and limb just to win a bet?
Then at the end, how does God talking about his power as creator and sustainer of the universe in any way respond to Job’s woes and sorrows. As George Bernard Shaw is reputed to have said, “If I complain that I am suffering unjustly, it is no answer to say, ‘Can you make a hippopotamus?’”
In this commentary, John Walton walks us carefully through the book chapter by chapter to help us understand what it is trying to tell us, and what it is not. We get the wrong answers because we come to the book with the wrong questions. The book is not primarily about Job being on trial or human suffering. It is about God being on trial.
“The Challenger” sets up the primary question. He says it is bad policy for God to always reward the righteous because then they will seek righteousness for selfish motives (to get God’s benefits). And if that is the case, then they aren’t righteous at all. They are selfish. So the policy is self-defeating. Job becomes their test case. Will he curse God if all the benefits are removed?
Suffering thus comes into play, but indirectly. The big issue is whether or not God operates on a tit-for-tat basis, always punishing sinners and always giving good things to the righteous (the Retribution Principle). The answer of the book is no. He doesn’t.
Job passes the test, never cursing God or asking for all the benefits to be restored. But this sets up the challenge Job does put to God: it’s also bad policy for the righteous to suffer!
So how does God operate the cosmos and how does his justice come into play? Walton gives these questions plenty of helpful ink. As wisdom literature, the book of Job says we should primarily view God through the lens of his wisdom, not his justice. We actually don’t have access to how God runs the universe, so we should trust in his wisdom.
We are misguided to try to come up with airtight answers to evil and suffering (as Job’s comforters attempted) or to force God’s hand to give such answers (as Job did). If we could, we’d be as smart as God, and God would be less than God. As in the movie Bruce Almighty, playing God turns out to be neither as fun nor as easy as we thought.
Something that keeps the book honest are comments throughout from one of Walton's students, Kelly, who has struggled physically and spiritually with the chronic pain and disability she experiences. Together they show us that the main point of Job is not to increase our understanding about suffering but to increase our trust in God.
March 16, 2018
This was the perfect commentary for me to use in preparing an adult 13-week discussion of Job which was a hybrid of themes and character portraits. Walton brings his expertise in ANE cultures and literature as backdrop to the logic of Job and his friends and the imagery which is highlighted in the text. The idea of God’s policies, not Job himself, being on trial (especially God’s justice as it is reduced to strict Retribution Principle) was especially helpful in understanding Job. Overall, I highly recommend this work.
September 1, 2020
What a commentary. Loved Walton’s analysis of the retributive principle and how that undergirds the whole book. I agree with his description of the “Challenger” as well as this entities motivations. So many good things to pull from this commentary. Not to mention the format of the NIV Application series - makes it easy to glide through for enjoyable reading.
September 20, 2018
An excellent commentary on the book of Job. Thoughtful, thorough, and clearly-written, this book was my primary scholarly companion as I prepared to lead a bible study group through the book of Job.
July 20, 2021
John Walton is the man!
December 20, 2024
Bit high level for a casual reader like me but I really enjoyed it.
May 4, 2020
This book was immensely helpful in navigating through the book of Job. I appreciate the way Walton introduces several viewpoints and gives extensive reasoning for why he has adopted a specific one (or thinks of a new one altogether).
Kelly's own story and her perspective was also very helpful. Here's what I hope to remember from Job/this commentary:
1. Job maintains his integrity before God by refusing to succumb to the pressure of his friends, who suspect a sin they have no proof of.
2. This is primarily about God and how he rules the cosmos. The Challenger and Job both provide distinct accusations against his policies.
3. Motivations matter. Am I doing good works for God himself or for blessings, favor and an easy life.
4. God has created the cosmos by the criterion of wisdom, not justice.
5. Reasons vs. Purpose; "If God has reasons, and they are important for us to know, his Spirit is perfectly capable of revealing them to us. But we should not be manufacturing them to satisfy our desire for coherency and closure."
6. Above all, God wants me to trust him. I don't need reasons for my suffering, though it may exist. I need God and the strength to honor him in the low moments.
Kelly's own story and her perspective was also very helpful. Here's what I hope to remember from Job/this commentary:
1. Job maintains his integrity before God by refusing to succumb to the pressure of his friends, who suspect a sin they have no proof of.
2. This is primarily about God and how he rules the cosmos. The Challenger and Job both provide distinct accusations against his policies.
3. Motivations matter. Am I doing good works for God himself or for blessings, favor and an easy life.
4. God has created the cosmos by the criterion of wisdom, not justice.
5. Reasons vs. Purpose; "If God has reasons, and they are important for us to know, his Spirit is perfectly capable of revealing them to us. But we should not be manufacturing them to satisfy our desire for coherency and closure."
6. Above all, God wants me to trust him. I don't need reasons for my suffering, though it may exist. I need God and the strength to honor him in the low moments.
September 7, 2016
Good book and commentary on a deeply complex biblical text. Although the author does not delve too deep into the original text and other textual matters, it is good enough for regular studies for being only 500 pages in length.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews