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Job 1–21: Interpretation and Commentary is unavailable, but you can change that!

The Hebrew book of Job is by all accounts an exquisite piece of literary art that holds its rightful place among the most outstanding compositions in world literature. Yet it is also widely recognized as an immensely difficult text to understand. In elucidating that ancient text, this inaugural Illuminations commentary by C. L. Seow pays close attention to the reception history of Job, including...

on his body, looking dignified despite his suffering, and usually clad as a Greek philosopher (see Fig. 2). Indeed, 1:21 was one of the Joban texts most commonly cited in early Christian preaching on steadfastness. The reference to Job’s acceptance of his nakedness also came to be associated with asceticism (Clement of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea). At the same time, interpreters linked Job’s nakedness to the new birth symbolized in Christian baptism (Clement of Alexandria, Ephrem the Syrian). In
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