Pt3 Book of Job in Talmudic Interpretation: Job's Contested Righteousness and Satan's Character (Bava Batra 15b-16b)

This is the third and final part of a three-part series. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here; the outline of the series can be found at Part 1.

Rava - Job’s chastity is less impressive than Abraham’s - Job 31:1; Genesis 12:11

״ברית כרתי לעיני,

ומה אתבונן על בתולה״ –

אמר רבא:

עפרא לפומיה דאיוב,

• איהו –

  • באחרניתא,

• אברהם –

  • אפילו בדידיה לא איסתכל

דכתיב:

״הנה נא ידעתי

כי אשה יפת מראה את״ –

מכלל ד:

מעיקרא לא הוה ידע לה.

Job also said: “I have made a covenant with my eyes;

why then should I look upon a virgin?” (Job 31:1).

Rava says:

Dirt should be put in the mouth of Job for saying this;

• he --

  • did not look at other women,

• but Abraham --

  • did not even look at his own wife (=Sarah),

as it is written:

“Now I know

that you are a beautiful woman” (Genesis 12:11).

One may learn by inference that

initially he did not know how beautiful she was because he had not gazed at her.

Rava - Job denied resurrection - Job 7:9

״כלה ענן וילך,

כן יורד שאול לא יעלה״ –

אמר רבא:

מכאן ש:

כפר איוב בתחיית המתים.

Job further said: “As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,

so he who goes down to the grave shall come up no more” (Job 7:9).

Rava says:

From here it may be inferred that

Job denied the resurrection of the dead,¹

as he said that one who goes down to the grave will not come up and live again, just as a cloud that dissipates will not return.

Rabba - Job blasphemed with a tempest and was answered in a tempest - Job 9:17; 38:1

״אשר בשערה ישופני,

והרבה פצעי חנם״ –

אמר רבה:

איוב —

1. בסערה חרף,

2. ובסערה השיבוהו.

He also stated: “He crushes me with a tempest,

and multiplies my wounds without cause” (Job 9:17).

Rabba says:

Job —

1. blasphemed (חרף) with mention of a tempest (סערה - “storm”)

2. and he was answered with mention of a tempest.

בסערה חרף –

דכתיב: ״אשר בשערה ישופני״;

אמר לפניו:

רבונו של עולם!

שמא רוח סערה עברה לפניך,

ונתחלף לך בין איוב לאויב?

בסערה השיבוהו –

דכתיב:

ויען ה׳ את איוב מן הסערה,

ויאמר:

[וגו׳] אזר נא כגבר חלציך,

אשאלך והודיעני.

[...]

Rabba explains: He blasphemed with mention of a tempest [se’ara] --

as it is written: “He crushes me with a tempest.”

Job said before God:

Master of the Universe!

perhaps a tempest passed before You

and You confused Iyov, Job, with oyev, enemy?!

He was answered with mention of a tempest,

as it is written:

“Then YHWH answered Job out of the tempest,

and said: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Gird up now your loins like a man,

for I will demand of you and let me know your answer” (Job 38:1–3).²

[...]

Rava - A person isn’t judged for words said in distress - Job 34:35 vs 42:8

״[איוב] לא בדעת ידבר,

ודבריו לא בהשכל״;

וכתיב:

״כי לא דברתם אלי נכונה

כעבדי איוב״

אמר רבא:

מכאן ש:

אין אדם נתפס בשעת צערו.

The Talmud comments: On the one hand, the text states:

“Job has spoken without knowledge,

and his words were without wisdom” (Job 34:35).

But on the other hand, it is written with regard to Job’s friends:

“You have not spoken of Me the thing that is right,

like my servant Job” (Job 42:8).

Rava said:

From here it may be inferred that

a person is not held responsible for what he says when he is in distress.³

Although Job uttered certain words that were wrong and inappropriate, he was not punished for them because he said them at a time of pain and hardship.

Job’s Friends and Daughters

Rav Yehuda citing Rav - Job’s friends all arrived through one gate - Job 2:11; The friends' synchronized arrival suggests supernatural coordination—via crowns or trees

״וישמעו שלשת רעי איוב את כל הרעה הזאת הבאה עליו,

ויבאו איש ממקומו –

1. אליפז התימני

2. ובלדד השוחי

3. וצופר הנעמתי,

ויועדו יחדו

לבוא לנוד לו ולנחמו״

The verse states: “And Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him,

they came every one from his own place,

1. Eliphaz the Temanite,

2. and Bildad the Shuhite,

3. and Zophar the Naamathite;

for they had made an appointment (יועדו) together

to come to mourn with him and to comfort him” (Job 2:11).

מאי ״ויועדו יחדו״?

אמר רב יהודה, אמר רב:

מלמד ש:

נכנסו כולן בשער אחד.

ותנא:

בין כל אחד ואחד שלש מאות פרסי.

מנא הוו ידעי?

• איכא דאמרי:

  • כלילא הוה להו.

• ואיכא דאמרי:

  • אילני הוה להו, וכיון דכמשי, הוו ידעי.

What does “they had made an appointment together” mean?

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says:

This phrase teaches that

they all entered through one gate at the same time.

And a Sage taught in a baraita:

There were 300 parasangs between each and every one of them, i.e., each one lived 300 parasangs away from the other.

The Talmud asks: How did they all know at the same time what had happened to Job so that the three of them came together?

• There are those who say that

  • they each had a crown (כלילא - “diadem”) which displayed certain signs when something happened to one of the others.

• And there are those who say

  • they each had trees and when the trees withered (כמשי) they knew that sorrow had visited one of them.

Rava - “Either a friend like Job’s friends—or death” - Job 2:11

אמר רבא:

היינו דאמרי אינשי:

או חברא כחברי דאיוב,

או מיתותא.

[...]

Rava said that

this closeness between Job and his friends explains the adage that people say:

Either a friend like the friends of Job

or death.⁴

If a person lacks close friends, he is better off dead.

[...]

The Meaning of Job’s Daughters’ Names - Job 42:14

כתיב:

״ויהי לו שבענה בנים ושלוש בנות,

ויקרא

1. שם האחת ימימה,

2. ושם השנית קציעה,

3. ושם השלישית קרן הפוך״.

it is written:

“He had also 7 sons and 3 daughters.

And he called

1. the name of the first Jemimah,

2. and the name of the second was Keziah,

3. and the name of the third one was Keren-happuch” (Job 42:13–14).

All three names relate to the daughters’ beauty.

Each name reflects beauty:

1. Jemima (ימימה): like daylight (יום)

2. Keziah (קציעה): fragrant like cassia⁵

3. Keren-happuch (קרן הפוך): Rav Sheila’s School interprets that she was like the “horn (קרנא) of a keresh”⁶

1. ימימה –

   1. שהיתה דומה ליום.

2. קציעה –

   1. שהיה ריחה נודף כקציעה.

3. קרן הפוך –

   1. אמרי דבי רבי שילא: שדומה לקרנא דקרש.

1. Jemimah [Yemima];

   1. in her beauty she was similar to the day [yom].

2. Keziah;

   1. her scent wafted like the cassia [ketzia] tree.⁷

3. Keren-happuch;

   1. in the school of Rav Sheila they say: She was similar to the horn [keren] of a keresh,⁸ an animal whose horns are particularly beautiful.

Eretz Yisrael scholars mock the “horn of a keresh” interpretation; Rav Ḥisda - “like garden saffron” (Jeremiah 4:30)

מחייכו עלה במערבא:

קרנא דקרש לקותא היא!

אלא אמר רב חסדא:

ככורכמא דרישקא במיניה –

שנאמר: ״כי תקרעי בפוך״.

They laughed at this in the West, Eretz Yisrael,

since it is considered a blemish when a person resembles the horn of a keresh.

Rather, Rav Ḥisda said:

She was like garden (רישקא) saffron,⁹ which is the best of its kind. Keren refers to a garden, and pukh means ornament,¹⁰

as it is stated: “Though you enlarge your eyes with paint,¹¹ you beautify yourself in vain” (Jeremiah 4:30).

Appendix - Did Job Serve God Out of Love, or Out of Fear? - Job 13:15, 27:5, 1:1 (Mishnah Sotah 5:5)

Mishnah_Sotah.5.5

R' Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus - Job served God out of love (אהבה) - Job 13:15, 27:5

R' Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus asserts that Job served God out of love.¹² He cites Job 13:15, “Though He slay me (יקטלני), yet I will trust in Him,” as evidence. However, since the verse is ambiguous—the word לו can mean either “to Him” or “not”—the matter remains uncertain.

To resolve the ambiguity, R' Yehoshua points to Job 27:5: “Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me.” He interprets this as a clear affirmation that Job’s loyalty stemmed from love rather than fear.

בו ביום דרש רבי יהושע בן הורקנוס:

לא עבד איוב את הקדוש ברוך הוא אלא מאהבה,

שנאמר (איוב יג):

“הן יקטלני

לו איחל”

ועדין הדבר שקול,

לו אני מצפה או איני מצפה,

תלמוד לומר (שם כז):

“עד אגוע לא אסיר תמתי ממני”

מלמד ש:

מאהבה עשה.

On that same day R’ Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus taught:

Job served God only out of love,

as it is stated:

“Though He will slay me,

still I will trust in Him” (Job 13:15).

And still, the matter is even, i.e., the verse is ambiguous, as there are two possible interpretations of the verse.

Was Job saying: I will await Him, expressing his yearning for God; or should the verse be interpreted as saying I will not await Him. As the word “lo” can mean either “to him” or “not,” it is unclear which meaning is intended here.

This dilemma is resolved elsewhere, where the verse states a clearer indication of Job’s intent:

“Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me” (Job 27:5).

This teaches that

he acted out of love.

R' Yehoshua (ben Hananiah) citing Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai - Job served God out of fear (יראה) - Job 1:1

R' Yehoshua (ben Hananiah) responds by imagining speaking to R’ Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus’s teacher’s teacher, Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai.

Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai had maintained throughout his life that Job feared God, citing Job 1:1, which describes Job as “God-fearing and shunning evil.” R’ Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus, a disciple of a disciple, now overturns that view.

אמר רבי יהושע:

מי יגלה עפר מעיניך, רבן יוחנן בן זכאי!

שהיית דורש כל ימיך:

שלא עבד איוב את המקום אלא מיראה,

שנאמר (שם א):

“איש

1. תם

2. וישר

3. ירא אלהים

4. וסר מרע

והלא יהושע תלמיד תלמידך למד ש:

מאהבה עשה

R’ Yehoshua said:

Who will remove the dirt from your eyes, Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, so that you could live and see this?

As you taught all your life that

Job worshipped God only out of fear,

as it is stated (Job 1:1):

“And that man was

1. wholehearted (תם)

2. and upright (ישר)

3. and God-fearing (ירא אלהים)

4. and shunned evil (סר מרע)”

but now Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus, the disciple of your disciple, has taught that

Job acted out of love.

1. תחיית המתים.

On this fundamental principle in the Talmud, see my recent two-part series: “Scripture, Logic, and Polemic: Proofs for the Principle of the Mass Resurrection of the Jewish Dead in the Future Messianic Era (Sanhedrin 90b-91a)“, final part here.

2. The Talmud goes on to give a lengthy discourse on this. I elide it here, I plan to analyze it in a separate piece.

3. שעת צערו - literally: “his hour of pain”.

4. The same line appears elsewhere in the Talmud in a general sense—without mention of Job and his friends—at the conclusion of the well-known story of Ḥoni HaMe’aggel’s supernaturally-long sleep in Taanit.23a.17:

אמר רבא:

היינו דאמרי אינשי:

או חברותא או מיתותא

Rava said:

This explains the folk saying that people say:

Either friendship or death,

as one who has no friends is better off dead.

5. This spice is famously an ingredient in the ‘ketoret’, see my “The List of Ingredients in the Temple Incense: The ‘Ketoret’ Formula in Detail (Keritot 6a)“, section “Four secondary spices each require 16 maneh: myrrh (מור), cassia (קציעה), spikenard (שיבולת נרד), and saffron (כרכום)“.

6. קרש.

On this animal, see Jastrow (modernized):

קרש - sense #2,

masculine

ḳeresh, name of a kind of antelope, unicorn

• Hullin 59b - קרש טביא וכ׳ - the ḳeresh is the gazelle of Be-Ilai (see טגרוס).

• Ibid. - קרש אע"פ שאין לו וכ׳ - “the ḳeresh is permitted, although it has only one horn”

• Yerushalmi Shabbat 2:4d bottom of page - קרש היה שמה וכ׳ - “it (the taḥash) was named ḳeresh … having one horn”

• Bava Batra 16b (referring to קרן הפוך, Job 42:14) - שדומה לקרנא דקרש - “she had the complexion of the horn of the ḳeresh”. קרנא דקרש לקותא היא - “but this would mean a defect (not a description of beauty)”

On that passage in tractate Hullin, see my “Gigantic Lion; Blinding Sun; Massive Meals; and God the Carpenter: Four Stories of R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya’s Interactions With the Roman Emperor (Chullin 59b-60a)“, section “The Gigantic Gazelle and Lion of Bei Ilai“:

וקרש אע"פ שאין לו אלא קרן אחת מותר:

אמר רב יהודה:

• "קרש" --

  • טביא דבי עילאי

• "טגרס" --

  • אריא דבי עילאי

אמר רב כהנא: תשע אמהתא הוי בין אונא לאונא דאריא דבי עילאי

אמר רב יוסף: שיתסר אמהתא הוי משכיה דטביא דבי עילאי

The baraita states: And with regard to the animal called a keresh, even though it has only one horn, its fat is permitted for consumption.

Rav Yehuda says:

• The keresh —

  • is the gazelle that is native to the area of Bei Ila’ei.

• The tagras mentioned by the Sages (from Greek tígris: “tiger”.) —

  • is the lion of Bei Ila’ei.

Rav Kahana says: There are 9 cubits between the ears of the lion of Bei Ila’ei.

Rav Yosef says: The length of the gazelle of Bei Ila’ei is 16 cubits.

7. “Cassia” is in fact the straightforward etymology of the name, see Wikipedia at her name.

8. It’s unclear what the perceived etymological connection is between ‘(ha-)pukh” of her name, to ‘keresh’.

9. כורכמא.

Notably, this spice—saffron— is (like cassia mentioned previously) also a an ingredient in the ‘ketoret’; see my previous footnote citing Keritot 6a.

10. Meaning, her name is etymologically analyzed as “Keren-ha-Pukh“ - “horn of kohl, kohl horn”.

This is in fact the straightforward etymology of the name, see Wikipedia at her name. And see Hebrew Wikipedia, “קרן הפוך“, section “מדרש שמה“, my translation:

A keren ha-pukh is a container or small vessel used to hold eye paint.

In ancient times, people would sometimes store perfumes and cosmetics in the horns of animals.

The Epic of Gilgamesh states that after Gilgamesh killed the mythological Bull of Heaven, he ordered its horns to be plated and filled with ointment.

11. פוך - “kohl (as eye shadow)”.

This verse is cited as a negative omen in the context of Aher, see my “Pt1 Aḥer’s Apostasy and Its Aftermath (Chagigah 15a-b)“, section “Aḥer’s Doomed Fate: A Series of Unfavorable Omens (Isaiah 48:22; Jeremiah 2:22, 4:30)“.

On the (purported) health benefits of placing ‘pukh’ /kohl as eye shadow, see my “A Sugya of Talmudic Medicine, with Historical, Linguistic, and Botanical Notes (Shabbat 108b-109a)“, section “Eleven severe warnings related to hygiene and the handling of one's body parts“:

אמר רבי יוחנן: פוך:

1. מעביר בת מלך,

2. ופוסק את הדמעה,

3. ומרבה שיער בעפעפיים.

R’ Yoḥanan said: When eye shadow is placed on the eyes,

1. it causes the evil spirit called “King’s Daughter” (בת מלך) to pass,

2. and it stops tears

3. and causes eyelashes to grow.

12. As opposed to “fear”, as in next section.

The contrast of serving God out of love vs. out of fear is a common one in the Talmud.