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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...

large ranch that breeds, among other things, “three thousand camels”—the sheer number of which signals significant mercantile concerns (1:3). The poet knows of cities (15:28; 24:12; 29:7; 39:7), and the cities are walled (15:24; 16:14; 19:6, 12) and have gates where justice is dispensed (5:4; 29:7) and squares (29:7). The text mentions vineyards (24:6, 18; 27:18), winepresses (24:11), and olive groves (24:11), and the crops include those familiar to Israel (see 2 Chr 2:14[Eng 15])—grapes (15:33;
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