Job, Song of Songs, and Psalms

I.               The Beginning of the Jewish Nation: Genesis

A. Abraham and Sarah

B. Sodom and Gomorral

C. The Sacrifice of Isaac

D. Jacob and Esau

E. Jospeph and His Brothers

II.      The Prologue of Job and the Problem of Evil

A.     Wisdom Literature of the Middle Period, 585-555, and Job

B.     A Strange Bet: God and Satan

C.     Job’s Calamities

III.              The Poetry of Job: Poetic Dialogue and Arguments

A.     The Friends Visit: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar

B.     Job Asks a Question

C.     God Answers

D.     God’s Final Judgment

III. Psalms

A. Responses to God

B. Psalms 8 and 19: Praise of Creation

C. Psalms 23 and 104: Divine Protection

D. Psalm 137: The Exile's Lament

IV. The Song of Songs

A. Erotic Religious Poetry?

B. Love Poetry

C. "I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me."