I have always been intrigued by the book of Job. It is one of the oldest books of the Old Testament, although some have tried to place it as late as the period of the Second Temple. But either way, it is a fascinating book.

Job is the first of the books found in the poetry and wisdom section of the Old Testament, along with Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon. It is a series of poetic conversations between Job and his friends, sandwiched between two shorter sections of prose, that describe the setting and the conclusion of the events contained within the rest of the book.

As poetry, Job a very interesting piece of literature. Hebrew poetry does not have meter or rhyme, like the poetry of English, or most other modern, western languages. Rhythm is not achieved by repetition of similar sounds, as it is in rhymed verse; and not by rhythmic accent as in blank verse, but rather by the repetition of ideas. This is called parallelism, and is found throughout the poetical literature of the Bible. Take Psalm 9:9 for example:

The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
   A stronghold in times of trouble…

Parallelism is called synonymous when the thoughts are identical, as in Psalm 9. It is antithetic when the primary and the secondary ideas are in contrast, as in Psalm 1:6:

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
   But the way of the wicked will perish.

And it is considered synthetic when the thought is developed or enriched by the parallel, as it is in Job 11:18:

Then you would trust, because there is hope;
   And you would look around and rest securely.

And Job is filled with example after example of parallelism, which is interesting in itself. But when it comes to classifying just what kind of poetic literature Job is has been vigorously contested throughout the years. Here are few of the different forms that have been suggested by scholars.