The Chiastic
Structure of Job
Rhetorically, Job is a series of long
speeches in poetic form (3:1-42:6) bounded by a prologue (1-2) and epilogue (42:17-27),
both in prose. The structure of Job is as follows:
I. Prologue: Job’s affliction (1-2)
II The Three Cycles of Debate
A. First Cycle (3-14)
B. Second Cycle (15-21)
C.
Third Cycle (22-27)
III. The Inaccessibility of Wisdom
(28)
IV. The Three Major Speeches (29-41)
A.
Job’s Speech (29-31)
B.
Elihu’s Speech (32-37)
C.
God’s Speech (38:1-42:6)
V. Epilogue: Job’s Vindication (427-17)
The three cycles of Job 3-27 follow a
sequence in which Job debates each of the three friends in turn. After Job’s
initial speech in chap. 3, the order of speeches in each cycle is Eliaphaz,
Job, Bildad, Job, Zophar, and Job. In the third cycle, Bildad’s speech is very
short (25:1-6), and Zophar gives no speech. After an unusual wisdom poem (28),
the three cycles are balanced by three lengthy speeches given by Job, Elihu,
and God. There is thus a chiastic symmetry to the book, with Job 28 set in the structural
center as the pivotal text. Also, it is noteworthy that Job initiates all the
speeches of the book by cursing the day of his birth, and he concludes the
speeches by making intercession for the three friends (42:7-9).
A. Job’s Affliction (1-2)
B:
Job Curses the Day of his Birth (3)
C.
The Three Days of Debate (4-27)
D.
The Inaccessibility of Wisdom (28)
C’:
The Three Major Speeches (29:1-42:6)
B’:
Job Intercedes for the Three Friends (42:7-9)
A’: Job’s Prosperity (42:10-17)
On close examination, one other
structural element of Job is significant The book has two accounts of
revelations given by supernatural beings and one chapter (chap. 28) that is an axiomatic
poem on wisdom and functions effectively as revelation. The revelatory texts are
Eliphaz’s account of an encounter with a “spirit” in the night at the beginning
of the dialogue (4:12-21) and Job’s encounter with YHWH at the end of the
speeches (chaps. 38-41). Both present a message from a heavenly being to a
human actor. (Duane A. Garrett, Job [Evangelical Exegetical Commentary; St.
Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Academic, 2024], 1-2)