Job 22:21

The reader of the Hebrew Old Testament can easily recognize something different about the book of Job. It is evident that this book has its own peculiar style and vocabu­lary, and in some places just what the writer meant is not clear.

The background of the book of Job may help somewhat to clarify the reason why the book is different from the rest of the Old Testa­ment. All the books of the Old Testament, with the exception of those written during the Exile, have their setting in Palestine, and deal with the people of Israel; whereas, the land that was the stage for the story of Job was Arabia. The characters in the book of job came from Arabia, and their names are quite identical with Arabic names. In fact, Arabicisms and Arabic backgrounds in the book of Job are numerous, ² but they are be­yond the scope of this study.

Moreover, the writer of the book of Job (and there are evidences indicating that it was Moses himself who wrote it) was a literary genius. Having lived about forty years in the land of Midian, he undoubtedly learned the language of the land and also the story of Job. However, judging from internal evidence of the book of Job, the writer has introduced numerous foreign words and expressions, as a result of his acquaintance with other Semitic languages besides Hebrew. There are certain expressions that could be either Aramaisms or Arabicisms. Examples of these are the words 'Eloah for God,' used nearly all through the book; nehara, Job 3:4, for day; geled, ch. 16:15, for skin; and Sahed, ch. 16:19, for wit­ness. It is commonly believed that such ex­pressions are Aramaisms, and thus the book of Job is dated by some around the sixth century B.c. However, if these expressions are explained as Arabicisms, the book of Job could be reasonably dated back to the time of Moses, since Arabic indicates quite a re­mote date.'

To be sure, explaining some of the diffi­culties of the book of Job in the light of Arabic relationships may solve some problems, especially since Arabic has undergone relatively less change than the Aramaic since those an­cient days.

The Rendering of Job 22:21

Coming now to Job 22:21, we observe that the first part of the text is rendered in the Authorized Version thus: "Acquaint now thy­self with him, and be at peace." The Douay Version says, "Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace." The Revised Standard Version gives, "Agree with God, and be at peace." The Complete Bible in Modern English says, "Now make him your friend, and have peace." And the Emphasized Bible gives, "Shew thyself to be one with him—I pray thee—and prosper." The other versions nearly all agree with the Authorized. Nevertheless, the different ways by which this text is rendered in the above trans­lations indicate that there is quite a confusion about the original Hebrew.

The Hebrew says, hasken-na"immo ushelam. This expression contains two imperatives—one from the root sakan in the hiphil form, and the other from the root shalem in the Kal form. Both these roots have various meanings in Hebrew and other Semitic languages, in the different foams of the verb. For instance, in Arabic the root gakan means (1) "to dwell," or "to stay," (2) "to be quiet," or "to be still." In Hebrew, however, sakan means "to be useful," and from this root some secondary meanings have developed. For example,

(1) the participle soken means "attendant" or "steward," such as in Isaiah 22:15 (R.S.V.);

(2)    a secondary sense of the Kal form was used to mean "be prosperous" (Job 34:9);

(3)    a usage in the pual form was used to mean "poor" (Isaiah 40:20); (4) a usage in the hiphil fosisi was used to mean "to be accus­tomed to" (Numbers 22:30). It could be noticed how hard it is to apply these definitions to the passage in Job 22:21. The meaning "to be acquainted with" was given by the trans­lators to our passage. In this sense it occurs elsewhere only in Psalm 139:3.

The second imperative of our statement comes from the root shalem, whose cognate, salima, means in Arabic (1) "to be whole," (2) "to have peace," (3) "to give to," or "to hand to." Just one example for each of these meanings will be given here to show how these meanings were used also in Hebrew. (1) From the meaning "to be whole" there is the sense "to prosper" (Job 9:4), (2) from the mean­ing "to have peace" there is the participial use in Psalm 7:4, and (3) from the meaning "to give" there is the derived meaning, "retri­bution" (Deut. 32:41).

There are several derived meanings from the above basic ones, which are beyond the scope of this article. However, the meaning chosen for our passage by translators is the imperative of "to have peace."

The translation of the first part of the verse, hasken, with "acquaint" has only Psalm 139:3 to support it. But the meaning in Psalm 139:3 is obviously related to the meaning in Num­bers 22:30. Moreover, it does not make very good sense in the context. Commentaries on the book of Job, however, seem to have accepted this translation or its equivalent.

The Advice of Eliphaz

The three friends of Job are desperately trying to refute his philosophy, but he seems to show himself better acquainted than they with the problems of life and with God's deal­ings with man. This attitude angers the three friends; and in chapter 22 Eliphaz is speaking to Job, trying to tell him not to make himself too wise with God. So if Eliphaz feels that Job has exceeded his limits in trying to show his understanding of the mysteries of life, it does not seem plausible that he should give him instruction to acquaint himself with God. Such instruction seems out of the context.

The whole matter resolves itself in this brief sketch. Job's friends seem to be firm believers in the doctrine of retribution, and they have been trying to convince Job that it was due to his sins that God allowed him to suffer through all these tribulations. On the other hand, Job knows down deep in his heart that this is un­true, and he is trying to convince his friends that it is impossible to know why God allows the righteous to suffer and the wicked to pros­per. In his great distress Job goes to the ex­treme of attributing apparent injustice to the Almighty. Compare Job 19:6-22; 21:7-14, 19­26. Such expressions sound too bold to Job's friends, and in Job 22:21 Eliphaz says to Job, "hasken-na"immo ushelam" which, if it rep­resents an Arabicism, means according to Arabic cognates, "Be quiet now with Him, and submit." The first imperative comes from the second Arabic meaning of .akana, meaning "to be quiet" or "to be still." It is used in the hiphil form to show intensity. ⁵ The second im­perative comes from the third Arabic meaning of :salima, meaning "to give in" or "to submit." From this root comes the word rs/cim, which means "submission." It is the name of the re­ligion of the Moslems. Eliphaz' counsel to Job, to keep quiet and submit, after the latter's bold speech about the Almighty, sounds very reasonable and fits the context very well. This translation can be supported by Arabic cognates and usages of the roots of the words concerned.

Moreover, the rest of this text, Job 22:21, substantiates this translation. After Eliphaz had told Job to keep quiet and submit, he said, "bahem tebo'atheka tobah," which means, "By these [two things] good will come to you." Eliphaz asked Job to do two things: (1) keep quiet with God the Almighty, (2) submit to His will. By these two things good shall come.

Accordingly, Job 22:21, "hasken-na"immo ushelam bahem tebo'atheka tobah," could be translated thus, "Keep quiet, now, with Him, and submit; by these two things good shall come to thee."

This meaning adds beauty to the text and gives it a fitting place in the book of Job it­self, as well as in human experience. Thus, as hardships and tribulations confront God's people, there is no need to murmur about them. The instruction is to approach them quietly, without complaints, and learn to sub­mit to the will of God. The result will be the assurance of gaining the good that follows.