Book of Job in Byzantine illuminated manuscripts
There are fourteen known Byzantine manuscripts of the Book of Job dating from the 9th to 14th centuries, as well as a post-Byzantine codex illuminated with cycle of miniatures.
In that it uses as departure point the literary framework of the story of Job, a devout, wealthy and respected man, who, with God's permission, was struck by Satan with the greatest misfortunes.
Being a king, according to the Septuagint, Job was the model of the God-fearing, wise and philanthropic ruler who was also enjoying a peaceful life in the bosom of his large family and among his friends.
It was precisely this deep piety and the divine favour which incited the envy of Satan who - not without much effort - eventually succeeded in obtaining God's consent to put Job to the test.
Finally, after many years of trial, God again reverses the just man's fate, restoring to him twofold all his worldly goods and giving him a new family.
Tradition propagated by the so-called Letter of Aristeas ascribes it in its entirety to a group of seventy Jewish scholars working at the order of Ptolemy II Philadelphus who ruled Egypt from 285 to 246 BCE.
[fn 1] The only indication for dating the translation of the Book of Job in that chronological framework is an excerpt from a Hellenistic–Judaic work (ʺΠερί Ἰουδαίωνʺ) by the above-mentioned Alexandrian historian Aristeas.
[fn 4] Furthermore, this date conforms to and confirms the general impression given by the Greek text that it is genuinely Hellenistic, created by and familiar to circles relatively alien to a solely Judaic way of thinking.
The character of the Septuagint text mentioned above, which undertakes to give the genealogy of Job and to identify his three friends, is not the only significant deviation-addition peculiar to the Greek edition.
According to Origen (AD 184–254), the Greek text of the Septuagint was shorter by one sixth than the Hebrew,[fn 6] whereas St. Jerome testifies to a difference of over one fourth.
[fn 9] Examined in this light, the Septuagint text seems to express a particular theological tendency, evident in “emendations” of a dogmatic nature, which subsequently permeates the entire Book of Job.
This is so, not only because his speeches in the Septuagint are less provocative in tone, but also because a new element of patient submission and humility, unknown in the prototype, has been introduced here for the first time.
The development of this dogmatic expunging culminates in the Testament of Job, where the atrophied dialogue does not preserve even a trace of the philosophical-theological analysis of the problem provided in the original poem.
[fn 10] Before concluding this brief survey of the textual problems, the remaining Greek translations must also be mentioned, since they were taken into account by the Church Fathers in their commentaries on the Book of Job and could, therefore, have a bearing on the iconography.
[fn 11] Unfortunately, all three works have only come down to us fragmentary, and they differ significantly from one another in regard to the accuracy in rendering the Hebrew text and in the handling of the Greek language.
Finally, Theodotion's translation, characterized by a painstaking accuracy in the use of the Greek language combined with careful study of the Hebrew text, has found great response among Christians.
[fn 13] Literally, it belongs to the “testaments”, an apocryphal body of writings which were compiled to preserve the teachings and the histories of great, usually Biblical, figures whose names they bear.
The two texts in the colophon are of great value in determining the codex's date and origin by providing the names of Leon Nikerites and Anna Notara.
The codex, incomplete today, begins with the fourth chapter of the Job text and consists of 196 parchment leaves 30 x 22 cm.
The codex consists of 278 parchment leaves 16.5 x 23.5 cm, and was planned to include 154 miniatures -which were never executed Date: 12th century.
The oldest paper edition of the group, consisting of 247 folios 30.5 x 39 cm and 198 miniatures inserted in various ways in the text with the scenes shown without background or frame.
17 While he was yet speaking, there came another messenger, and said to Job, The horsemen formed three companies against us, and surrounded the camels, and took them for a prey, and slew the servants with the sword; and I only escaped, and am come to tell thee.
9 And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, How long wilt thou hold out, saying, Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance?
for, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, even thy sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows; and thou thyself sittest down to spend the nights in the open air among the corruption of worms, and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours and my pangs which now beset me: but say some word against the Lord, and die.
Chapter IV (4) 1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said, 10 The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.
14 They surrounded me with spears, aiming at my reins: without sparing me they poured out my gall upon the ground Chapter XX (20) 26 And let all darkness wait for him: a fire that burns not out shall consume him; and let a stranger plague his house.
terror is round about his teeth 22 He makes the deep boil like a brazen caldron; and he regards the sea as a pot of ointment,
9 So Eliphaz the Thaemanite, and Baldad the Sauchite, and Sophar the Minaean, went and did as the Lord commanded them: and he pardoned their sin for the sake of Job.
