Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Job, the object of sufferings and tribulations in the Book of Job, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
His life
Owing to the importance of the Book of Job, the Talmudists occupied themselves frequently with its chief character. One of the amoraim expressed his opinion in the presence of Samuel ben Nahmani that Job never existed and that the whole story was a fable. An opinion couched in similar words and pronounced by Simeon ben Lakish was interpreted to mean that such a person as Job existed, but that the narratives in the drama are inventions.
Apart from these utterances, all of the rabbis took it for granted that Job existed, but they differed widely as to the epoch in which he lived and as to his nationality, two points of discussion closely connected. Every one of the Talmudists inferred Job's epoch and nationality from an analogy between two Biblical words or sentences. According to Bar Kappara, Job lived in the time of Abraham; according to Abba bar Kahana, in the time of Jacob, he having married Dinah, Jacob's daughter.
Rabbi Levi said that Job lived in the time of Jacob's sons; and he also said, in the name of Jose ben Halafta, that Job was born when Jacob and his children entered Egypt and that he died when the Israelites left that country. Job consequently lived 210 years. When Satan came to accuse the Israelites of being idolaters, God set him against Job, whence Job's misfortunes. This opinion is supported by the statement that Job with Jethro and Balaam was consulted by Pharaoh as to the means of reducing the number of the children of Israel and that Job was stricken with calamity because he had remained silent.
This legend is narrated differently in Sefer ha-Yashar as follows: At first Job, who was one of Pharaoh's eunuchs and counselors, advised Pharaoh to have every male child murdered. Afterward Pharaoh, having had a dream which prognosticated the birth of a helper, again consulted Job. The latter answered evasively: "Let the king do as he pleases".
Levi b. Laḥma also held that Job lived in the time of Moses, by whom the Book of Job was written. Some of the rabbis even declare that the one servant of Pharaoh who feared the word of God (Exodus 9:20) was Job. Raba, specifying the time more accurately, said Job lived in the time of the spies who were sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. According to these rabbis, Job was a Gentile—an opinion which is elsewhere expressed more fully, in that Job is said to have been a pious Gentile or one of the prophets of the Gentiles.
Other tannaim place Job variously in the reign of Saba, in that of the Chaldeans, and in that of Ahasuerus. R. Johanan and R. Eleazar both declared that Job was one of those who returned from the Captivity and that his bet ha-midrash was at Tiberias. It is said in Bava Batra that these tannaim necessarily considered Job an Israelite; but R. Chananel ben Chushiel has in his text, "All the Tannaim and Amoraim, with the exception of the one who placed Job in the time of Jacob, were of the opinion that Job was an Israelite".
Job's prosperity is thus described: Samuel bar Isaac said: "He who received a prutah from Job prospered in his affairs." Jose bar Hanina inferred from Job 1:10 that Job's goats could kill wolves; and R. Johanan inferred from Job 1:14 that God gave Job a foretaste of the bliss of paradise. Satan, seeing Job's extraordinary prosperity, was filled with envy and therefore began in the councils of heaven to disparage Job's piety.
It was said that Job lived 210 years; this is inferred from Job 42:16, where it is said that he lived 140 years after his recovery. It is said also that the whole world mourned Job's death.
His suffering
According to the Targum Yerushalmi the two councils of heaven took place respectively on Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. When the messenger told Job that the Sabeans had seized his oxen, he armed his men and prepared to make war upon them. But the second messenger came, telling him that a fire from heaven had destroyed his sheep, and he then said: "Now I can do nothing".
The wind that blew down his house was one of the three great winds whose power was sufficient to destroy the world. Job was stricken by Satan with fifty different plagues. His house was filled with a bad smell, and Job sat down on a dunghill. His flesh was filled with worms which made holes in his body and began to quarrel with one another. Job thereupon placed every worm in a hole, saying: "It is my flesh, yet you quarrel about it'