Probably the most characteristic, and in many ways the most interesting, production of the wise men or sages of Israel is the book of Job. The Interpreter's Bible cites the poet Tennyson's description of it as "the greatest poem of ancient and modern times."
As to the dating of the book of Job, there has been wide divergence of opinion, not only in modern times but among the Hebrews. Some of the rabbis associated it with Moses. Others connected this famous work with the period of Solomon, or of the Babylonian exile. While the book appears to contain no reference to current historical events to aid us in dating it, the personification of the adversary as Satan (or Slanderer), presenting himself among "the sons of God" (1:6), reflects Persian influence and would seem to exclude any preexilic date.
Though the theme of this book—the problem of suffering and of the trials of the righteous—is ageless, it is now generally agreed that philosophical debate such as is found here does not fit logically into the thinking or the literature of the Hebrews until a comparatively late period in their development. It may have been composed in the sixth century b. c, when men like Second Isaiah were meditating on why the great national catastrophe of captivity had befallen the Hebrew people, but the general consensus suggests that it came from a century later. If so, the author of the book of Job may have been a contemporary of the equally anonymous writer of the prophecy of "My Messenger," the book of Malachi.
