THE POETIC STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF
JOB AND THE UGARITIC LITERATURE
BY CHARLES LEE
FEINBERG, TH.D., PH.D.
INTRODUCTION
Within the short period of less than
half a century (1887-
1929)
the scholarly world was placed under heavy debt to
two peasants. Through a peasant
woman at Tell El-Amarna
in
light (1887, and through
the plowing of an Alaouite peasant
at
texts were later
unearthed by the French archaeologist
Schaeffer (1929)." The texts
resulting from these discoveries
date from a period
about the middle of the second millennium
B.C. The findings at
Ras Shamra have opened to
us the vast
extent of the
Canaanite civilization: its society, commerce,
political institutions,
and religion.1 These had formerly been
only imperfectly
known through allusions in the Hebrew Bi-
ble and from Greek
sources. As study progresses much light
is being thrown not only upon
Hebrew lexicography, gram-
mar, and poetry, but also upon the
cultural milieu in which
The task of comparing the Biblical
literature with the
Ras Shamra
alphabetic texts is an exacting one and has
many ramifications.
The purpose of this article is to com-
pare the poetic
structure of both literatures. The matters
1 W. F. Albright,
CBQ, Vol. VII, 1945, pp. 5-9, and the fuller discussion
in Studies of the History of Culture, pp.
11-50. Note the abbreviations
used in
this article: AJSL, American Journal of
Semitic Languages and
Literatures; BASOR, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental
Re-
search; CBQ, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly; JPOS, Journal of the
Palestine Oriental Society; RB, Revue Biblique;
RP, Revue de Paris;
ZA, Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie.
of similarities and differences in
grammar, vocabulary, and
concepts will occupy us
in future studies.
HEBREW METRICS
Though unanimity has not been achieved
on all points
and much remains yet to be done, the
study of Hebrew meter
has made definite advance. Some of
the early deliverances
on the subject were those of
Josephus and Philo, who held
that Hebrew poetry
had meter.2 Whether they were judg-
ing by Greek models
or not, as some affirm, it is impossible
to determine. Toward the end of the
eighteenth century
Lowth made his
contribution to the study in his lectures at
Oxford.3
To him we are indebted for characterizing the
basic relationship in
Hebrew verse as parallelismus membro-
rum.4 This phenomenon
had been noticed before him by Ibn
Ezra
(twelfth century) and Kimchi (thirteenth century),
but
the latter had not designated it in
the clear fashion which
Lowth did. Lowth also maintained that the utterances of
the prophets especially, as well as
other parts of the Hebrew
Bible,
were originally in metrical form. Subsequent study
has borne out the validity of this
position. His shortcomings
were that he drew
his examples from Greek and Latin
sources, since he was
not conversant with Oriental literature
as such, and that, though he
recognized the Hebrew poets
must have had
metrical rules, he felt it was impossible to
ascertain them now.
Because of the rich discoveries of the
past century through
archaeological campaigns in
the
made possible with
Babylonian and Assyrian, as well as
Egyptian,
poetry.5 Assyrian poems, like the Epic of Crea-
tion and the Descent
of Ishtar, reveal that the Accadians had
a regular metric system and that
the meter was accentual.
2 The statements
of Josephus are not pertinent to Job, because Ant. II 16.1
refers to
the song of Exodus 15; Ant. IV 8.44
to Deuteronomy 32; and
Ant. VI 12.3 to
hymns composed by David.
3 Robert Lowth,
Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the
Hebrews, 1829.
4 For his
definition of this phrase cf. R. Lowth, op. cit., pp. 35, 43, and 157.
5 W. F. Albright,
JPOS, II, 1922, pp. 69-71.
Job and the Ugaritic Literature 285
Usually
the couplets were of two bicola (four hemistichs),
each with a caesura.
Delitzsch and Zimmern
showed that the
bicolon was 2 plus 2.
Some of the poems manifest a com-
plex strophic
arrangement as well as a refrain, as in the
Ishtar
and Saltu poem.6 The
strophes are quatrains with
four bicola. When dealing with the Assyrian poems, we
must keep in mind
that much of the Accadian poetry has
been translated from
a Sumerian original.7 Not only is the
meter of Assyrian
poetry accentual, but, as Erman has
shown, that of
Egyptian poetry was also. Generally the me-
ter was 3 plus 3 or
2 plus 2. The period of greatest develop-
ment in prosody in
Twelfth
Dynasty (c. 1989-1776 according to Edgerton's re-
vised low
chronology).
The work of Ley
and Sievers, along with Budde,
Duhm,
and others, was destined to lay the
foundation for later
strides in the study of
Hebrew metrics. Over a period of
some twenty years Ley occupied himself with the subject and
published three basic
works.8 Sievers set out to find the
rhythm of Hebrew
poetry and to judge the Hebrew meter
from it.9
The conclusion was that Hebrew did not count syl-
lables, that is, it
was not quantitative in the strict sense of
the term, but depended upon the
number of accents. Lyric
meter was found to be
2 plus 2 (Canticles), dirge (qinah) is
3
plus 2 (Lamentations), and epic or didactic is 3 plus 3
(Job and Proverbs).
6 E. Sievers, ZA,
N.F., 4, 1929, pp. 22-29. Note refrain in strophes XIII
and XXVIII,
pp. 23, 24, and 26.
7 W. F. Albright,
BASOR, 91, 1943, p. 44.
8 J. Ley, Die metrischen Formen der hebraischen Poesie, 1886 (here much
emphasis
was placed on alliteration as a metric form of Hebrew
(poetry); Grundzuge des Rhythmus, des Vers-
und Strophenbaues in
der hebraischen Poesie, 1875. (esp. pp. 8-15 on accent as.
the principle
of Hebrew
meter); and Leitfaden der Metrik der hebraischen
Poesie,
1887.
9 E. Sievers, Studien zur hebraischen Metrik, 1901. The two basic laws of
his system
may be summarized thus: (1) no more than four unaccented
syllables
may accompany an accented syllable, so that a word with five
syllables
would have two stresses; (2) the accented syllable follows the
unaccented
ones and may not in turn be followed by more than a single
unstressed
syllable. Cf. G. B. Gray, Forms of Hebrew
Poetry, pp. 143-
144.
286
Bibliotheca
Sacra
THE POETRY OF JOB
Before entering into a more detailed
treatment of the
poetry of Job, we note
the view of Bickell and, more recently,
Holscher, because it
differs from the position just stated that
the meter of Job is 3 plus 3.10
These scholars, judging the
Biblical
material from Syriac patterns where the law of ac-
centuation places the tone
on the penult, seek to construct a
system of quatrains
for the Book of Job. Bickell holds that
the strophe of the book is "durchgangig je zwei siebensilbige,
rhythmischjambische, inhaltlich parallele Verszeilen zu einem
Doppelverse, und zwei von diesen zu einer Strophe verbin-
det."11 The
arrangements resulting from these attempts are
not only quite subjective, but require
much emendation of the
text. Rigid
conformity to one pattern is not possible through-
out the whole poem, as we shall see.
What
type of poetry is Job? Is it drama, Greek tragedy,
a didactic poem, or an epic poem?
No one will deny that
the book has dramatic action, but
the action in the pro-
logue and epilogue is
subordinate to the main purpose of the
work. Nor can we
call Job a Greek tragedy for, among other
distinctions, there is
nothing in it to answer to the inter-
spersed choral odes.
Though its subject matter is of a didac-
tic nature, it is not a didactic
poem, for its differences from
the poetry of the Book of Proverbs
are clear. It is definitely
an epic poem, treating of a lofty
theme with unity and some
progress in the action.12
This poem, the longest in the Old
Testament, is unique
in that it combines prose and
poetry and utilizes the dialogue,
the narrative being in prose and the
dialogue in poetry. In
the historical books of the Hebrew
Bible, as well as in the
prophetic books, we have
the combination of prose and
poetry, but not in the
same manner as Job. Dialogue may
10 G.Holscher,
Syrische Verskunst,
1932, esp. pp. 49-123, and Das Buch
Hiob, 1937, esp. pp.
3, 4, 8.
His p~ition, as far as Job is concerned, is
that the
poem follows the same metric system as the Syriac.
11 G. Bickell, Das Buch Hiob, p. 11.
12 R. Dussaud, RP,
1937, p. 216, thinks Ras Shamra
has what Hebrew and
Arabic poetry
lack; namely, epic poetry. Surely Job can be placed in
the
category of the epics.
Job and the Ugaritic Literature 287
be found in the Song of Solomon
(for example, 2 :1-3), but it
is not employed in the same type of
discussion.
Attempts have been made to find
parallels to the Book of
Job in Semitic literature. The Babylonian
poem on the right-
eous sufferer, the
so-called Babyloman Job, has been com-
pared to the Biblical
Job.13 Even a cursory reading of the
Babylonian
selection reveals that the resemblances are slight,
while the differences
are considerable. The cuneiform poem
is, moreover, monologue and not
dialogue. Among the As-
syrian texts published
by Ebeling he entitles one Ein baby-
lonischer Kohelet, but Dhorme thinks the relationship to Job
is closer, although he is not
dogmatic on the point.14 The se-
lection contains a
discussion of the problem of evil and bears
some striking
parallels to Job. It is composed in twenty-seven
strophes and employs the
dialogue. Our Judgment would be
that a closer
parallel to the subject matter of Job must still
be sought. As to the use of the dialogue
in epic poetry, both
a Babylonian and an Egyptian
source have been posited.
The
"Descent of Ishtar" has been compared with Job, be-
cause in both
dialogue is introduced into epic.15 "The Say-
ings of Amenemope" has been suggested as the Egyptian
source of the
dialogue." These maxims are arranged
in thirty chapters, and are
counsels directed to Amenemope's
youngest son, who was
priest in the
olis. In form they
scarcely parallel Job. Comparisons with
the philosophical dialogue of the
Greeks are not relevant.
The 3 plus 3 meter in the Book of Job
is unmistakable.
Whether
it be in the cycles of addresses of Job and his
friends or in the Elihu monologue or in the Jehovah speeches,
the predominant epic meter is clear.
Jerome had spoken of
"the hexameters" of Job 3:2 to 42:6 in distinguishing
the
prose from the
poetry. There is no serious disagreement
13 H. Zimmern, Der Alte Orient, 7, 3, pp. 28fF.
14 E. Ebeling,
Berliner Beitrage
zu Keilschriftforschung,
1922.
P. Dhorme,
RB,
32, 1923, pp. 5-27.
15 E. Konig,
Einleitung in das Alte
Testament, pp. 410 f.
16 G. Holscher, Das Buch Hiob, p. 4 refers to H. Gressmann, Altorienta-
lische Texte zum Alten Testament (2nd ed.),
1926, pp. 38-46."
with this view,
apart from the position of Bickell and Hol-
scher discussed
above. The three basic parallelisms--syn-
onymous, antithetic,
and synthetic or constructive-appear
in the text, with the great
majority of the last type and few
of the second type. An example of
each will suffice.
Synonymous parallelism, Job 8:3:
Will God pervert justice,
Or will Shaddai
pervert righteousness?
Antithetic parallelism, Job 8:7:
Though your beginning was
small,
Yet your latter end will be
very great.
Synthetic parallelism, Job 5:19:
In six troubles he will
deliver you,
And in seven no evil will
touch you.
Though the prevailing rhythm of Job is
that of the bal-
anced bicolon with three accents to each colon, rigid uni-
formity is not maintained
throughout the poem. Attempts
to impose such uniformity have been
unsatisfactory. On the
other hand,
variations are comparatively few and must be
dealt with
cautiously.17 Ley, according to Budde, claimed to
be able to find 800 bicola out of 1,000 verses.18 The presence
of tricola
can be explained as resulting from the poetic
freedom and skill of
the writer. Most of the alleged ex-
amples, however, are
doubtful or open to suspicion. Those
in Job 3 :4, 5, 6, and 9 probably
arise from disturbance in
the text. Possible examples are
and 39:25. What appears to be a tricolon of 2 plus 2 plus 2
in
two words are vertical dittography
from line 20. Few cases
of 3 plus 2 and 4 plus 3 rhythm are
original, while 3 plus 4;
4
plus 4; and 2 plus 2 are very rare. However, there are
too
many variations from
the dominant rhythm to allow the
conclusion that none of
them is original.
17 B. Gray, AJSL,
36, 1919-20, pp. 95-102. His emendations are not con-
vincing.
l8 K. Budde,
Das Buch Hiob, p. VII, n.
2.
Job and the Ugaritic Literature 289
When we examine the bicolon more closely, we find a
number of variations
in the sentence structure. While the
literary form a b c--a b
d occurs in the Hebrew Bible,
there are no examples
in the Book of Job. The common
harmonic sequence in Job
is a b c--a' b' c'. Variations
from this pattern
occur, but we shall occupy ourselves with
the bicolon
most frequent in the poem. Following Gordon's
arrangement,19 we allow s,
v, o, p, and x to represent sub-
ject, verb, object,
prepositional phrase, and adverb or any
miscellaneous particle.
Analysis shows that these harmonic
Ibalances are present: pv pv,
4:9,
"By the breath of God they
perish,
And by the blast of his anger they are
destroyed";
vsp vsp, 6:5 (also
"Brays the wild ass upon (when he
has) the grass,
Or lows the
ox over his fodder?"
pvo pvo, 7:2 (also 26:12),
"As a servant that desires the
shade,
And as a hireling awaits his
wages";
ovo ovo,
"(With) skin and flesh thou dost
clothe me,
And with bones and sinews thou dost
knit me together";
and vpo vpo,
"He shall shake off as the vine
his unripe grape,
And he shall cast off as the
olive-tree his flower."
Instances
could be multiplied, but variety, even within cer-
tain types of bicola, is clear. We are coming to realize in-
creasingly that Hebrew
prosody was much more complex
than formerly
recognized.20 Early in this century
held that "The rhythmopoiia of Hebrew is, as we should
expect, of the
simplest and crudest description."21 His pro-
nouncement is not borne
out by subsequent studies.
In concluding our discussion of the
poetry of Job, we
19 C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Grammar (
20 W. F. Albright,
CBQ, 7, 1945, p. 19.
21 W. R. Arnold, Old Testament and Semitic Studies in Memory
of W. R.
Harper, Vol. I, p. 202.
290
Bibliotheca
Sacra
may note that the poem employs
alliteration and assonance
(
Rhyme,
like strophe (see 31:5-10; 37:9-10), is only an occa-
sional form of Hebrew
poetry. Efforts have been made to
divide large portions
of Job strophically, as in Bickell's
system, but the
results are subjective and arbitrary.
UGARITIC POETRY
With the finding of the Ras Shamra texts we have poetry
which comes from a
cultural and literary setting more
closely related to Hebrew
poetry than either the Babylonian
lor Egyptian. We do
well to remember also that the cunei-
form tablets have
not undergone the copyings which the
Hebrew
poetic books have. In the short period in which the
mythological poems of
distinctive features of the
prosody have been noted. Like
Hebrew
poetry, Ugaritic poetry is accentual. It is charac-
terized by parallelism
with the common rhythm of three
accents to a colon.
Examples are numerous so we confine
ourselves to one case. 49
(I AB) III 6, 7:
NrFmt
Nmw Mmw
Mtbn jlt MlHn
The heavens rain oil;
The wadies
run with honey.
Not
only is the bicolon frequent, but the tricolon is common
as well. A case in point is 49 VI
27.
Though the poetry was not quantitative
in the strict sense,
as we understand it from Indo-European
models, there ap-
pears to have been an
attempt at counting syllables. Words
vary from two to
four, and even five, syllables. Cases with
more than four are
rare. Verbs with double energic nun
appear to have five
syllables: Nnprwt and Nnyrdt in 49 II 32 and
33.
The number in each colon varied from eight to ten sylla-
bles, with the
commonest at nine. If the second member of a
bicolon omitted a word
found in the first, there was added in
22 I. M. Casanowicz (Paronomasia
in the Old Testament) cites 52 examples
(pp. 91-92) of
this literary device in Job.
Job and the Ugaritic Literature 291
the former one or more words to
counterbalance the latter, a
"ballast variant" as Gordon calls it.23 A
list of such devices
shows how largely it
entered into Ugaritic versification. Al-
bright explains the
fact thus, "The regularity in the number
of syllables must be connected with
the fact that these poems
were chanted with
simple melodies adapted to regular poetic
syllabification, not as psalms
and liturgies are chanted today
in ecclesiastical music, where
almost any number of syllables
can be accommodated to the melody.24
As in Job, the Ugaritic
poetry manifests variations from
the parallel cola with three beats. Dussaud, after referring
to the dominant rhythm in
Phoenician poetry, holds that
when a colon of two
accents follows two cola with three
stresses each, it is
always by the intention of the poet. The
uneven colon marks the
pause or punctuation.25 Besides the
tricola, Ginsberg marks
other divergences from the bicolon:
single (extra-metric)
words, as fdxv
in
49 III 8; single (ex-
tra-metric) lines,26
as the oft-repeated Hcyv
hg xwy; run-on
lines; apocopated end-lines; and rhyme, as ydy and ydhy
in 67 VI 17-21.27
Ugaritic
poetry enjoys a wide variety of harmonic bal-
Ances
within verses.
The poets of Ras Shamra
endeavored
by artistic devices to avoid
monotony, and the result is an
elaborate system of
sentence structure. Gordon has listed
twenty-six different
types of verses, and this number does
not exhaust the possibilities.
Before we summarize the similarities
between the poetry
of Job and the Ugaritic
texts, we call attention to some dif-
ferences. First, there
is nothing in Job that answers to the
long sections in Ugaritic poetry which are repeated twice.
Second,
the verse-form a b c-a b d common in the cunei-
form texts is
completely lacking in Job. Third, Ugaritic poetry
23 C. H. Gordon, op. cit., pp. 83, 84.
24 W. F. Albright,
BASOR, 91, 1943, pp 43-44.
25 R. Dussaud,
1937, pp. 534-535) holds the same
position.
26 Such
extra-metric lines are found in Job 4:1; 6:1; 8:1; etc.
27 H. L. Ginsberg,
Orientalia,
N.S., 5, 1936, p. 171.
292
Bibliotheca
Sacra
makes use of refrain
(49 VI 16-22) as well as strophic ar-
rangements (51 IV 52-57).
Job has no example of the for-
mer, and the
occasional examples of the latter in the book
are not so extended as the Ugaritic patterns.
The similarities between the poetry of
Job and the Ras
Shamra literature may
now be summarized briefly. (1) Par-
allelism, with its
repetition, marks both literatures. (2) The
3
plus 3 meter based on accented syllables is the dominant one
for both. (3) Lines vary as to the
number of words, and
words differ in the
number of syllables they contain. The
corollary to this fact is
that neither Hebrew nor Ugaritic
poetry is quantitative
in the strict sense. (4) There does
seem to be a
conscious effort to keep lines approximately to
(the same quantity. (5) Rhythms vary in both literatures,
so that change in rhythm cannot be
interpreted as "the blend-
ing of different
poems."28 Rigid uniformity is not to be im-
posed on either the
Hebrew or Ugaritic poems. (6) The sen-
tence structure
within verses reveals great artistic skill.
Prose
order does not apply; the elements of the verse may be
found in any order.
Definite points of contact, then,
between Hebrew and
Ugaritic poetry cannot
be denied. Indeed, the relationship is
closer than that which
exists between Hebrew poetry and
that of Mesopotamia
and
28 C. H. Gordon, op. cit., p. 79, sec. 12.2.
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