Apocryphal Testament of

Job

by
Damien F. Mackey

"Forsake not the Lord! Be charitable to the poor and do not disregard the
feeble. Take not unto yourselves wives from strangers."
Testament of Job

“The Testament of Job, said to have been condemned by pope Gelasius as

Apocryphal, regards the prophet Job as having belonged to the
approximate time of the patriarch Jacob, a view against which I have
firmly argued in my article:

Prophet Job did not belong to the Patriarchal or Judges era

 (4) Prophet Job did not belong to the Patriarchal or Judges era | Damien Mackey -
Academia.edu

Crawford Howell Toy and Kaufmann Kohler tell the story in “Job,
Testament of”, for JewishEncyclopedia: JOB, TESTAMENT OF -
JewishEncyclopedia.com
…. Greek apocryphal book, containing a haggadic story of Job. It was
first published by Angelo Mai in the seventh volume of the
"Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio" (pp. 180-191, Rome, 1833), and
was translated in Migne's "Dictionnaire des Apocryphes" (ii. 403), but
remained unnoticed by critics until Montague Rhodes James, in his
notes to the "Testament of Abraham" (in "Texts and Studies," p. 155,
Cambridge, 1892), called attention to it. Kohler, in the "Kohut
Memorial Volume" (1897, pp. 264-338), republished and translated
Mai's text, with introduction and notes, and about the same time M. R.
James reedited the work, after a Paris manuscript (which gives a text
by no means superior in value to Mai's), in "Apocrypha Anecdota" (pp.
104-137, Cambridge, 1897, with an introduction). The book was
condemned as apocryphal by Pope Gelasius I., about 496, in his
decree concerning canonical and noncanonical books. In Mai's version
it has a double title: "Testament of Job the Blameless, the Conqueror
in Many Contests, the Sainted" (which seems to be the older title) and
"The Book of Job Called Jobab, and His Life, and the Transcript of His
Testament." For the identification of Job with Jobab (Gen. xxxvi. 33)
see Septuagint, Job xlii.; also Aristeas, in Eusebius, "Præparatio
Evangelica," ix. 25; comp. Kohler, l.c. pp. 267 et seq., and
James, l.c. p. lxxxv.).

Contents of the Book.

Like the Patriarchs (comp. Test. Patr., Adam, 14, and Tan., Wayeḥi, 8,
ed. Buber, and Bo, 2), Job in a farewell address to his children reviews
his life, telling them that he is of the generation of Abraham, a
descendant of Esau (Gen. l.c.), and was known as "Jobab," a rich ruler
of the land of Uz (Ausitis), before God called him "Job" because of his
martyrdom (see Job, Critical View); that his second wife, their
mother, was Dinah, the daughter of Jacob (comp. B. B. 15b).

My comment: I would be far more comfortable, though, with the Rabbinic

traditions according to which Dinah’s daughter would become Joseph’s
wife, Asenath: “The traditions that trace Asenath to the family of Jacob
relate that she was the daughter born to Dinah following her rape by
Shechem son of Hamor”.
Asenath: Midrash and Aggadah | Jewish Women's Archive (jwa.org)

Like Abraham, [Job] had changed from idolatry to the worship of the
true God, the Maker of heaven and earth (comp. Num. R. xiv.); yet as
he had set out to destroy the idols of the land, the work of Satan, he
had been told by the archangel of God to prepare for a life-long battle
 with Satan, but at the same time he had been promised lasting
renown as a great spiritual athlete and a crown of amaranth in the
world to come, after the resurrection.
"I shall from love of God endure until the end," Job said, and received
from the angel the seal of life (comp. Soṭah v. 5, and Kohler, l.c. pp.
271, 316). Satan, after having first attempted, in the guise of a
beggar, to get Job into his power, but without success, secured from
God permission (comp. Targ. Job i. 12) to take away all his
possessions (ch. i.-ii., ed. Kohler; ch. i.-viii., ed. James).

My comment: According to my “Prophet Job” article above, Job was

Tobias the son of Tobit. Tobit chapter 1 (vv. 3-7) informs us that Tobit,
unlike his fellow Naphtalian Israelites, had never apostatised. Nor had his
devout son, Tobias, who would become the righteous Job. Hence there
was no need whatsoever for Job to have “changed from idolatry to the
worship of the true God, the Maker of heaven and earth”.

His Wealth and Charity.

Job then relates how he used his great wealth for the benefit of the
poor; how of the 130,000 sheep he owned he separated 7,000 for the
clothing of orphans and widows, of poor and sick; 800 dogs watched
his sheep (comp. Job xxx. 1), and 200 his house. Of his 9,000 camels
he caused 3,000 to work for the poor; and he sent out ships laden
with goods for the feeble, sick, and unfortunate. Of the 130,000
(340,000, Mai's text) wild asses in his possession he set 500 aside,
and the offspring and all the proceeds therefrom were given to the
needy.
The four doors of his house were opened to the poor, who came from
all parts of the country to enjoy his hospitality (comp. Gen. R. xlviii.,
lxix.; Ab. R. N., ed. Schechter, i. 7, ii. 14).
….
After each feast held by his children in turn, to atone for any possible
offenses committed by them through pride, he not only offered
sacrifices (Job i. 5) but also gave gifts of charity to the poor.

My comment: In general terms, this could just as easily be a description

of the unfailingly charitable Tobit, father of Job (cf. Tobit 1:8, 17-18).

Satan's Mischief.
These things, however, Satan begrudged Job, so he destroyed his
sheep and camels and herds by fire, or had them taken by
marauders. Finding that Job in his piety still gave praise to God,
instead of blaspheming, he came in the guise of the King of Persia
and besieged his city, capturing all the goods thereof; then he
overthrew the house of Job and killed all his children, and everything
he possessed was taken.
My comment: This was not the time of “the King of Persia”, but, rather, of
the king of the Chaldeans, Nebuchednezzar ‘the Great’, who did indeed
“besiege” (and conquer) the “city” dear to the Tobit family (viz.,
Jerusalem).
His “Chaldeans” had attacked and slain Job’s servants and had taken
away his camels (Job 1:17): “While he was yet speaking, there came also
another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon
the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with
the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee”.

Yet under all these sad happenings Job bravely spoke the words: "The
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the
Lord" (Job i. 21). While Job sat on his throne mourning over his
children, Satan came in the form of a great hurricane (comp. "ruaḥ
ḳozmiḳon," Gen. R. xxiv.; Yer. Ber. ix. 13d; Mek., Beshallaḥ, to Ex. xiv.
24), threw him upon the ground, and smote him from head to foot
with leprosy, so that his whole body was covered with sores and
worms (comp. Ab. R. N. l.c.; Tischendorf, "Apocalypses, Apocrypha,"
p. 67).

My comment: It was actually the all-powerful God, and not Satan, who
(Job 38:1): “[Then the LORD] answered Job out of the whirlwind … [var.
hurricane, storm]”.

For seven years (48 years; Paris MS.) he sat on a dunghill outside of
the city, while his wife, Sitis, who had been brought up in royal luxury,
served as water-carrier to win bread for herself and him. Afterward
(after 15 years; Paris MS.), when she was no longer allowed to take
him bread, Satan, disguised as a bread-seller, went to meet her,
asking, as the price of three loaves of bread for her starving husband,
for the hair on her head; to save her husband from famishing, she
consented (comp. Shab. 59a; Akiba's wife). At last, when under the
influence of Satan, her patience gave way, and in an impassioned
appeal, full of pathos (contrasting her former riches and glory with her
present state of gloom and poverty) and poetic grandeur, she called
upon Job to curse God and die (comp. LXX. Job ii. 9).

My comment: Job’s wife - Tobias’s wife - was Sarah, whose seven former
husbands had been murdered by the jealous demon, Asmodeus, leading
Sarah to contemplate suicide (Tobit ch. 3). According to the testimony of
the angel Raphael (6:12): ‘She is a thoughtful, courageous and very lovely
girl …’. This good, but much-tried woman, was most unlikely, then, to
succumb to Satan so as to urge her stricken husband to curse God. On
this, see my article:

Did Job's Wife really say to the Prophet: 'Curse God and die'?
https://www.academia.edu/81131646/
Did_Jobs_Wife_really_say_to_the_Prophet_Curse_God_and_die
 Job, however, indignantly rebuked her and challenged Satan, who had
been hidden behind her all this while, saying: "Only a coward fights
with frail woman; come forth and wage war with me!"
Then Satan broke forth into tears, and said, "I yield to thee who art
the great wrestler," and left him, abashed (ch. iii.-vi., ed. Kohler; ix.-
xxvii., ed. James; comp. B. B. 16a: "The grief of Satan was greater
than that of Job"). As to Job, the great "athlete" or "wrestler," see IV
Macc. vi. 10, xvii. 15-16; and Philo [where Job is frequently
characterized as such; comp. Heb. x. 32.
….
Elihu, the Satanic Beast.
These marvelous things, however, did not prevent the friends of Job
from contending that he must have sinned terribly to have brought
upon himself so much suffering, and when he resented these
insinuations, Elihu came forward, imbued with the spirit of Satan, and
spoke hard words to Job. God showed Job afterward that Elihu was a
wild beast ("serpent"), not a man (comp. Elihu as identified with
Baalam in Yer. Soṭah v. 20d). The three friends finally confessed their
error, brought to Job animals to be offered as sin-offerings to the Lord,
and obtained pardon through Job; Elihu, however, was not pardoned.
A peculiar lyric song closes this episode, in which the three friends
offer praise that their sin is taken away, while Elihu, "the evil one, the
son of darkness, the lover of the Serpent, the Northern One
["Zephoni"], and the hater of the saints," is cast into Sheol.

My comment: I would regard this as a horrible, and most inaccurate,

assessment of the great Elihu, who seems to serves as something of an
important bridge between Job and the Lord:

Young Elihu in the Book of Job corrects the ‘wisdom’ of the aged
https://www.academia.edu/63511809/
Young_Elihu_in_the_Book_of_Job_corrects_the_wisdom_of_the_aged

The story of Job's restoration to health is missing in the narrative. It

continues with Job's return to the city, where he held a feast of
thanksgiving, asking the people each to give him a lamb for the
clothing of the poor and four drachmas of gold or silver for their
support. Thus taking up again his former work of charity, he soon
became rich, married Dinah, and became the father of ten children,
as before. Job finally admonishes his sons, summing up his ethics and
his religion in the following precepts: "Forsake not the Lord! Be
charitable to the poor and do not disregard the feeble. Take not unto
yourselves wives from strangers." This last command proves beyond
the possibility of doubt that the book is Jewish in character and
conception. ….
My comment: It is also very much like the sage advice of Tobit to his son,
Tobias-Job (Tobit ch. 4).