CHAPTER I.
JOB'S CALAMITY; THE OPENING OF THE DIALOGUES.
(CHAPS. I.-XIV.)
The Book of Job is not the earliest monument of Hebrew
'wisdom,' but for various reasons will be treated first in order.
The perusal of some of the pages introductory to Proverbs
will enable the student to fill out what is here given.
The Hebrew 'wisdom' is a product as peculiar as the dialectic
of Plato, and not less worthy of admiration; and the
author of Job is its greatest master. To him are due those
great thoughts on a perennial problem, which may be supplemented
but can never be superseded, and which, as M.
Renan truly says, cause so profound an emotion in their first
naïve expression. His wisdom is that of intuition rather
than of strict reasoning, but it is as truly based upon the facts
of experience as any of our Western philosophies. He did
not indeed reach his high position unaided by predecessors.
The author of the noble 'Praise of Wisdom' in Prov. i.-ix.
taught him much and kindled his ambition. Nor was he in
all probability without the stimulus of fellow-thinkers and
fellow-poets. The student ought from the outset to be aware
of the existence of discussions as to the unity of the book—discussions
which have led to one assured and to several probable
results—though he ought not to adopt any critical results
before he has thoroughly studied the poem itself. The
student should also know that the supposed authors of the
