The name Job: Summary
Meaning
ReturningEnemy, The Persecuted
EtymologyFrom a noun that means "he who returns."From the verb איב (
ayap), to be an enemy.
The name Job in the Bible
Job was a man from
Uz, whose unfortunate test by
satan became fuel for the greater discussion of what sin is and does (Job 1:1).
Sin (literally: to miss your mark/goal) is whatever makes a person deviate from perfection. How
YHWH manages the universe is hard to guess at, and also why some of us lose our children to violent people or natural forces. Why do some of us get cancer, plunge into insanity or bankruptcy or any kind of destructive temptation? Has it all to do with God choosing the least of evils? The consequences of sin are inescapable, and sadly the consequences of our neighbor's sin may easily affect us.
Some of us die, and we don't know why. But we have the promise that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose (
ROMANS 8:28).
After his ordeal Job has seven sons, who remain unnamed, and three daughters of astonishing pulchritude. "And in all the land no women were found so fair as Job's daughters" — Job 42:15. Their names are
Jemimah,
Keziah and
Keren-happuch (42:14).
Job is mentioned only once in the New Testament. The epistler
James refers to Job (spelled Ιωβ,
Iob) as an example of endurance (
JAMES 5:11).