This study focused on the bold cosmogonical prototype of the creation of the first day, which reverses the first day of creation, and compared the text of Chapter 3 with the Egyptian worldview and cultural history. The solar and lunar eclipses on the day of birth in verses 3-10, as well as the prayer for infertility at night, reinforce the meaning through retrograde escalation. Grammatically, the jussive form, which signifies will and prayer, is used. This usage of jussive evokes incantation. The afflicted one longs for the chaos of the pre-creation stage, and the sun and moon are depicted as personified beings. The feminine and positive image of night in the self-curse poem in the first half of Chapter 3 evokes Nut, the goddess of the sky who sends forth the sun in the morning. The depiction of solar and lunar eclipses draws on the motif of the battle with the dragon (serpent), a common motif in ancient Asia, but it does not result in victory. In ancient Egypt, a solar eclipse was interpreted as an attack by Apophis, the god of chaos, on Re. While the Book of Job's text is unique in that solar and lunar eclipses are not catastrophes affecting the entire land or kingdom, but rather individual conceptions and births, from a cultural and historical perspective, they could be interpreted by contemporaries as omens, signifying divine wrath or the collapse or overthrow of the established order. The association of birth and constellations in Mesopotamian culture emerged in the late 2nd millennium BCE. As the ancient Oriental common motif progresses through Petitions I and II, its Egyptian overtones become more pronounced. Petition I (verses 11-19) begins with a plea for the absence of miscarriage or stillbirth (verses 11-13), and then, in a chronological progression, depicts the afterlife as a stable paradise of lying down (šākab), sleeping (jāšēn), peace (šāqaṭ), and rest (nûaḥ). Furthermore, the world of the grave (verses 14-15) is described as a place where dominant Egyptian symbols (pyramids and mortuary temples) are depicted, as well as a leveling of status (ascension) and wealth, and where earthly discrimination is abolished. The world of the dead (Totenwelt), indicated by the demonstrative adverb “there” as a place that is not unclean, is a land of non-violence, rest, and continual harmony for all. The Osiris allusion ('asîrîm, verse 18) is noteworthy here. All in the underworld (Unterwelt) live free from (or through) the judgment (Totengericht) of the dead, equal and free, both great and small (verses 16-19). Burial in the grave is a return to the womb (regressus ad uterum), reminiscent of rejuvenation (rebirth) in childhood in the embrace of the goddess (Nut). The image of the afterlife depicted in Lament I, aided by Totenliteratur, closely resembles the afterlife view of the Third Intermediate and Late Periods (1069–332 BC), following the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, where everyone was ultimately justified and participated in divine immortality.
Lament II (verses 20–29) depicts the suffering person as confronting their bitter reality (verse 20) and depicts death as a state of redemption that overcomes their current circumstances. Job longs for death more than for hidden treasure (verses 21–22). Death is depicted as a place of celebration for those who have unearthed it. His life, blocked by God's hostile violence (verse 23), is a living hell. Lament II’s view of death as personal redemption, the image of the excavation, the image of a hostile god, and the depiction of the tomb procession as a festive procession all closely resemble the ancient Egyptian afterlife view. The archetypal motif of the creation of the universe and the afterlife in Job 3 share similarities with ancient Oriental worldviews, but culturally, it coincides with the late Egyptian period (1069–332 BC), after the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. While the depiction of the afterlife in Job 3 speaks of the continuation of immortal existence, the concept of an immaterial soul alone is absent. Historically, the text of Job 3 suggests a non-Israelite environment outside of Palestine, perhaps after the time of Ezekiel (600 BC). Furthermore, the absence of the soul (Pythagoras, Empedocles) or dichotomous or tripartite differentiation (Plato) as representative concepts of personality in the description of the dead suggests that the cultural background of the author and recipients of Job 3 predates the emergence of Hellenism in the ancient Orient (332 BC). The motifs used in Job 3 suggest a strongly late Egyptian context for the author and recipients. These suggestive clues recall the life circumstances of the scene where God speaks directly at the climax of the argument (Job 38-41).