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Elite Lives: Job 29—31 and Traditional Authority

Box 29408, Graduate School of Theology, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX 79699, USA

Job 29—31 carefully portrays the values, lifeways, and patterns of consumption of both economic and social goods by an elite member of society, Job. The character's exploration of social relationships and acceptable and unacceptable behaviors within them allow the book's author to explore the nature of human society within a religious framework. By portraying the ideal nobleman as one who protects the vulnerable, the book seeks to reintegrate the society of his implied audience and to reconstruct a well-functioning hierarchy. Job 29 portrays a well-functioning society, ch. 30 its undoing at multiple levels, and ch. 31 a possible way of reconstructing it. This part of the book also portrays the nobleman Job as one worthy of YHWH's attention, and thus as a potential model for the restoration of Israel itself.

Key Words: Job 29—31 • political legitimacy • elite groups • social relationships • power • literary portrayals of aristocracy • Israelite political thought.

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