What was the affliction which Job suffered from, according to the Bible?
How long (days, months, years) did job suffer?
The McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia records that from antiquity Job’s disease was commonly believed to have been “elephantiasis or black leprosy,” and that a very early Greek version names this disease in the text of Job 2:7 as Job’s ailment. However, McClintock and Strong also cautions that it may not be possible from the Bible text to confidently affirm from what particular disease Job suffered. After all, contemporary doctors do not customarily diagnose diseases, for instance, over the phone, and Job is removed from the possibility of examination by over 2,500 years. Yet, the Barnes’ Commentary likewise presents the likelihood of Job’s disease being elephantiasis or black leprosy that was common in Egypt. The description of the symptoms and Job’s recourse to attempt some relief lead commentators to suspect Job’s disease was black leprosy (to distinguish it from white leprosy). In addition, the definitions of the original language words in Job that are pertinent to the disease describe a burning ulceration that enveloped all of Job’s skin. Black leprosy is marked by eruptions in the skin that are first red and later turn black. Especially with the limbs, the skin swells and becomes crusty and irregular, resembling the hide of an elephant, hence the name, elephantiasis. The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary agrees that Job’s illness appears to be black leprosy or elephantiasis, and it also concurs with other reference works that the original language word for “boils” in Job 2:7 is not plural. “Rather, as it is singular in the Hebrew, a burning sore, Job was covered with one universal inflammation.” The Keil & Delitzsch Commentary also ascribes elephantiasis to Job, describes the disease and remarks of an Egyptian king who died of the disease. Wycliffe summarizes Job’s disease:
Modern medical opinion is not unanimous in its diagnosis of Job’s disease, but according to the prognosis in Job’s day, it was apparently hopeless. The horrible symptoms included inflamed eruptions accompanied by intense itching (Job 2:7-8), maggots in ulcers (7:5), erosion of the bones (30:17), blackening and falling off of skin (30:30), and terrifying nightmares (7:14), though some of these may possibly be attributed to the prolonged exposure that followed the onset of the disease. Job’s whole body, it seems, was rapidly smitten with the loathsome, painful symptoms.
Regarding how long Job suffered his disease, I was unable to find any useful information. Various commentators construe Job’s lifespan as being anywhere from 140 years (70 years old and at the end of his trial given another 70 years) ranging to 200 years.
Works Cited
Barnes’ Notes. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 1997.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 1997.
“Job’s Disease.”McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 2000.
Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament. New Updated Ed. CD-ROM. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996.
Wycliffe Bible Commentary. CD-ROM. Chicago: Moody, 1962.
