as a “stranger to modesty” who “frequently finds it necessary to certify his own genius” (Rowley), or even “in attempting to vindicate God, falls into the trap of playing God” (Habel). By his braggadocio, it is said, he spoils his vision of a divinely ordered universe (Good), or even, it is claimed, his “presumption reached an apex with this verse” (Alden). His claim is extravagant, presumptuous, and absurd (Strahan). It is “extravagant self-praise, even for an Oriental, the more pitiful