Job

Seow’s Job 1–21 is an exceptionally learned and original commentary that combines rigorous philology, close literary analysis, theological reflection, and an unparalleled history of interpretation. Particularly impressive are his willingness to explain apparent irregularities in the received text rather than reconstruct them away, his reading of the deteriorating dialogue and Job 28 as the climax of Job’s appropriation of the friends’ wisdom, and his unusually substantial account of Elihu as mediated revelation preparing for YHWH’s direct response. His sensitivity to ambiguity, wordplay, irony, and the difficult Hebrew repeatedly produces fresh exegetical insight, while the “History of Consequences” sections trace Jewish, Christian, Muslim, literary, artistic, and musical reception in a depth rarely found in a commentary. Seow’s theological conclusions, especially his insistence that the divine speeches leave the question of divine justice unresolved, will not persuade every reader, but even where one disagrees he makes the interpretive issues unusually clear. Although limited to Job 1–21, this is a major contribution and one of the strongest commentaries on the portion it covers.