Job

Habel’s OTL volume remains one of the most original and consistently illuminating commentaries on Job. Its particular strength is the integration of detailed exegesis with sustained attention to literary design: narrative development, legal metaphor, repetition, irony, imagery and structural patterns illuminate both individual passages and the movement of the book as a whole. His tracing of Job’s development from sufferer to increasingly determined litigant is especially fruitful, and many of his literary observations have influenced subsequent interpretation. Some of Habel’s theological descriptions of Yahweh, particularly in the prologue, are more provocative than I find warranted, and not every reconstruction convinces. Nevertheless, even where one disagrees, Habel repeatedly draws attention to features of the text that are easily missed. One of the finest commentaries on Job and an outstanding example of literary criticism serving rather than replacing exegesis.

 

Detailed linguistic notes with insights of literary structure. [Full Review]