Rumors of Wisdom: Job 28 as Poetry.

• Author: Fox, Michael V.
• Position: Book review

Rumors of Wisdom: Job 28 as Poetry. By SCOTT C. JONES. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, vol. 398. Berlin: WALTER DE GRUYTER, 2009. Pp. xx + 293. [euro] 84.07.

Scott Jones offers an innovative interpretation of Job 28: the poem begins by recounting a journey, describing it on the basis of Mesopotamian accounts of royal expeditions, and it ends with an account of creation conceived as survey and construction comparable to Mesopotamian architectural practices. The structure of the original poem (omitting vv. 15-19) is framed by a three-part epigram: "There is indeed a source for silver [v. 1a] ... / But wisdom--where is it found? [v. 12a] / ... awe of the Lord, that is wisdom [v. 28a[beta]]" (p. 39).

Section One (vv. 1-11) of Job 28 and the royal expedition accounts, Jones argues, both describe epic journeys to distant regions, and share the motif of the first discoverer. The Standard Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh is the primary (though not necessarily direct) model for Job 28. Both end with the discovery of a more modest, human-scale wisdom. Job 28:28 teaches what Gilgamesh learns: "humans must learn their place in the divine scheme of things. They may nevertheless approximate the wisdom of the gods by acting and ruling wisely" (p. 38).

One of Jones's fresh observations is that the movement in Section One is horizontal, not vertical. It has nothing to do with mining into the depths of the earth, with miners swinging on bucket-seats deep in the earth, a notion commentators seem to have learned one from another. Mesopotamian rulers, such as Gudea (Gudea Cylinder A) boast of bringing gold and silver from distant lands. The voyager of Job 28 "probes every limit for the stone of deepest gloom" (v. 3), recalling the claim that Sargon of Akkad's journey brought him to the ends of the world, into darkness, then to light (King of Combat; Jones p. 45; compare Job 28:4-7, 1lb). (It should be noted, however, that the wording of Job 28:11 does not quite fit the parallel.) Job 28:6 and 9 resemble royal boasts of opening passes in mountains to find precious stones and metals. The animals in Job 28 also recall motifs of royal inscriptions. Sargon II claims that his expedition reached farther than any winged creature (pp. 53-54).

Jones pursues each detail in the first part of Job 28 and convincingly finds echoes of royal inscriptions. Sometimes, however, the connections seem forced. The lions and serpents are mentioned in Job...