Editing Book of Job (section)

===Job and the wisdom tradition===
Job, [[Ecclesiastes]], and the [[Book of Proverbs]] belong to the genre of wisdom literature, sharing a perspective that they themselves call the "way of wisdom".{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=129}} ''Wisdom'' means both a way of thinking and a body of knowledge gained through such thinking, as well as the ability to apply it to life. In its Biblical application in wisdom literature, it is seen as attainable in part through human effort and in part as a gift from God, but never in its entirety—except by God.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|pp=129–30}}

The three books of wisdom literature share attitudes and assumptions but differ in their conclusions: Proverbs makes confident statements about the world and its workings that Job and Ecclesiastes flatly contradict.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|pp=130–31}} Wisdom literature from Sumeria and Babylonia can be dated to the third millennium BCE.{{sfn|Bullock|2007|p=84}} Several texts from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt offer parallels to Job,{{sfn|Hartley|2008|p=346}} and while it is impossible to tell whether any of them influenced the author of Job, their existence suggests that the author was the recipient of a long tradition of reflection on the existence of inexplicable suffering.{{sfn|Hartley|2008|p=360}}