The poetry of the book of Job is intricate,7 with the speakers sometimes responding to the others, but more often indulging in rhetorical excesses that obscure rather than clarify their points.8 The diverse characters articulate a variety of positions, so the readers must be careful to discern what the book as a whole is endorsing, or they may wrongly conclude that it teaches what it does not. In addition, even an initial perusal of Job indicates that the book frequently alludes to other biblical