Is it possible the book of Job occurred prior to Genesis?

Answer 1

The events in the Book of Job could quite likely have occurred at a similar time to many of the events in Genesis. It contains a significant number of references to creation, the flood, and other events in Genesis. It contains no indication of Mosaic laws, nor Israel. Job was thus most likely a contemporary of Abraham and preceded Jacob.

Answer 2

The Book of Job does contain fragments of some of the most primitive myths in Judaism, and these may well have been written down long before Genesis was finalised. However, Jobalso features Satan as the loyal assistant of God. The concept of Satan was never mentioned in any biblical material written before the Babylonian Exile, and is believed to have been borrowed from the Zoroastrian religion of the Persian liberators. Based on this and other textual clues, we can date the story, in its final form, sometime after the 539 BCE conquest of Babylon by the Persians.