Garrett, Duane A. Job. Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2024. xvii+673 pp.; Hb.; $69.99. Link to Lexham Press
Duane A. Garrett is the John R. Sampey Professor of Old Testament Interpretation and professor of biblical theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Garrett is known for his work in Wisdom Literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs in the NAC series; Song of Songs and Lamentations in the WBC) and the prophets (Hosea and Joel volume in the NAC series, Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Text of Amos, and Jeremiah and Lamentations in the Kerux series, reviewed here). Garrett wrote A Modern Grammar for Classical Hebrew (B&H, 2002). He recently published a commentary on Exodus (KEL, Kregel Academic, 2014, reviewed here). Garrett’s The Problem of the Old Testament: Hermeneutical, Schematic, and Theological Approaches (IVP Academic 2020) is essential reading for a Christian approach to the Old Testament. His new commentary on Job in the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary is a highly anticipated contribution to the study of the Hebrew text of Job.
In his fifty-four-page introduction, Garrett observes that Job is anonymous. There is no single Jewish tradition for authorship, and dates range from Abraham’s time to the Hellenistic era. “Evangelical scholarship has abandoned a pre-Israelite date for the book’s composition” (4). Linguistic data does not help much since both Aramaic and Ugaritic parallels are inconclusive. Historical, geographical, and ethnic data lean toward a neo-Babylon. More helpful is the theology of the book, such as the reference to Satan in the prologue. Since the only other use of the word Satan is in Chronicles, the word implied a postexilic date. Intertextuality may help since many scholars detect illusions to Psalms, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. But Garrett suggests Job shares a common way of speaking with the Hebrew Bible. There are words, concepts, and even phrases that appear without applying literary dependence. Garrett surveys a long list of possible allusions and then narrows his list of suggested textual connections to just a few possible literary illusions, such as the creation story and Job 7: in the body of the commentary, he argues that this passage is a parody of Psalm 8:4–8 and was therefore written after it (14).
Garrett concludes, “The audacious theological stands taken by Job is more likely to be from a time of theological boldness” (14). It is not like Sirach, for example. “Job is not like Second Temple era wisdom” because it questions the life described by Proverbs, a life embraced by Sirach. This becomes clearer when one observes the structure of the entire book. Garrett suggests a chiastic structure for Job, with the wisdom poem (Job 28) in the center, framed by the first cycle of speeches and Elihu and God’s speeches. Garrett explains that Job 28 is an “axiomatic poem on wisdom.” No one, regardless of effort, can find wisdom. There is no real connection to the rest of the book, but it is between the two speeches. The Wisdom poem cannot come from Elihu (as is sometimes suggested) since he is too short of his own wisdom to account for the speech. In fact, Job 28 is the voice of the narrator. Therefore, he suggests that the author more likely lived in Israel’s golden age, the reign of Solomon. He does not conclude whether there was a real, historical Job (42).
Garrett is not interested in complicated compositional history of Job’s text, nor does he think there are misplaced or missing sections. “The case for subjecting Job to such radical surgery is not compelling” (18). The key for Garrett is placing Job 28 in the center of the book. It is the product of an omniscient narrator, foreshadowing God’s speeches. He suggests it is pretense to think that one has discovered the true compositional history of Job or a pre-canonical arrangement that makes better sense than the canonical Job (20). He also surveys ancient eastern parallels to Job with brief summaries of each. “It is all but certain that the author of Job was aware of this literary tradition,” but he acknowledges that “differences are great” (22).
With respect to genre, Garrett recognizes Job as wisdom literature and points out that it is “something of a literary tour de force” (24). The book includes lamentation, hymn, proverb, prophetic, inspiration, wisdom poem, numerical sayings, reflective questioning, concealed catalog, and a trial motif (25). The poetry and rhetoric of the book are of the “highest order of sophistication” (25). Garrett suggests that Job has similarities to biblical apocalyptic. He argues that this will help clarify the meaning and purpose of the book (26). To support this assertion, surveys eleven characteristics of apocalyptic and draws parallels with the book of Job. For example, apocalyptic often includes “cosmic conflict” to describe conditions on earth. This is obvious from the prologue: spiritual powers are behind Job’s affliction. He considers Job “the apocalypse of wisdom” (30). It is certainly true that apocalyptic and wisdom literature often overlap. Garrett argues that recognizing this overlap will help interpret the Book of Job.
Job is a debate, but it is a most peculiar debate for modern readers. The participants do not engage with each other’s views. Rather, they recite conventional wisdom and traditional proverbs to win over their dialogue partners. What is this debate about? Garrett surveys a “plethora of interpretations,” including medieval Jewish commentaries and modern critical and evangelical scholarship. Garrett agrees with the common suggestion that the Job is theodicy. The question the book addresses is God just in his governance of the world” (40). The doctrine of retribution is at the center of all four men’s theology. Even Job believes God is just, rewarding the righteous and punishing evil. The wisdom Paul and Job 28 is the key: humans cannot obtain wisdom, so they need to trust God and accept that there is a divine plan beyond their grasp (49). What Elihu has to say is superfluous (44). He does not add any substance to the conversation. He only echoes what the other three have already said. Garrett calls this a “massive, meandering speech;” if the speech were dropped, Job would still be an unusually long and difficult book (44). For Garrett, Elihu represents the reader, using Job’s words, looking for blasphemy and theological error (45).
God’s speech surprises everyone. He never accuses Job of sin (since Job did not sin, nor is he being punished). Job never gets a good reason for his suffering. “The speech is both peculiar and jolting,” almost as though “God is browbeating Job” (45). God knows what he is doing, running the world, even if Job does not understand what he has experienced. The greatest wisdom is continuing to trust God.
For most readers, the most perplexing part of God’s speeches are references to Behemoth and Leviathan. Garrett argues that these two strange creatures are composite beasts and symbolic. They are not literal animals (528). They are certainly not a hippopotamus and a crocodile, suggested by Marvin Pope (to which Garrett responds in a lengthy footnote) or translation notes in many English translations. Although he does not mention this possibility, I am sure he would also reject the possibility that these two creatures refer to dinosaurs, a popular view among creationists.
Behemoth represents “powers that attempt to impose order on the earth” (529). Behemoth is wisdom (537), but wisdom perverted for evil. Leviathan is the “embodiment of all evil” (557), the sum of all the evil and injustice the Job has complained about. To support his view, Garrett collects ten points from apocalyptic beasts and shows that Behemoth represents national imperial authority (538–40). Garrett then demonstrates this consistent with Daniel’s apocalyptic composite animals and the two beasts in Revelation 13 (540). These apocalyptic examples of bizarre creatures represent nations attempting to impose their own order on the world, a perverse order that twists God’s wisdom.
Job and his friends may have thought God would slaughter Leviathan, destroying evil in the world. But God does not. “God does have the power to overcome the monster, but even for him, true victory over evil is a complex problem, and it is not solved by brute force (557). In Christian theology, the one who defeats the great dragon does not slay it in heroic combat but through the cross, the ultimate act of the hidden wisdom of God (557).
As is well known, the Hebrew of Job is difficult. There are many rare and unique words, and the poetry is terse and highly elliptical. The Old Greek is a free, paraphrasing translation that is not helpful for translating the Hebrew. The result is often very different translations of Job. Garrett states that “scholars should not be editors;” they should not try to “improve” the book (16). Emendations should be used sparingly and only when the text is incomprehensible. “Can never know that proposed is valid” (16).
Garrett follows this practice in the body of the commentary. Each section begins with textual notes, comparing the Septuagint, Vulgate, and other versions. This is followed by his translation, which has copious footnotes explaining his translation choices. He explains his syntactical and lexical decisions in these notes, often interacting with major commentaries. Since this section is so detailed, he does not repeat these comments in the commentary itself. The result is that his textual notes are often longer than his commentary. For example, commenting on Job 28:1-11, he makes three textual notes comparing various retentions of the Septuagint and Vulgate. Five pages of translation notes follow, including thirty-one footnotes for eleven verses. In contrast, the commentary is about a page and a half, followed by a little more than a page of biblical theological comments. Sometimes, Garrett includes a theological summary after this, but not always. A paragraph on “Application and Devotional Implications” appears only at the end of a major section.
Conclusion. Duane Garrett’s exegetical commentary on Job is the product of many years of teaching wisdom literature and reflection on the book of Job. Although this commentary is a detailed, academic study of the book of Job, it will certainly assist those who want to teach this difficult book in a church context.
Review of other commentaries in this series:
- JoAnna M. Hoyt, Amos, Jonah, Micah
- Mark J. Keown, Philippians
Bonus: Read an interview with Garrett and Burer on the Lexham Press blog.
NB: Thanks to Lexham Press for kindly providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not influence my thoughts regarding the work.
