Abstract
At present, the book of Job appears less as a single book and more as an assemblage of disparate materials. In this article, I assess the hermeneutical values of modern scholarship that sustain such a judgment and propose an alternative means of envisioning the literary integrity of the Joban drama. Imagery is not merely an artistic vehicle for abstract meaning but a poetic and cognitive device that links together dissonant speeches and genres. I demonstrate the significance of a hermeneutics of poetry by examining Eliphaz’s first speech and Job’s response, as well as other structurally troubling places. Thus, reappraising the function of imagery demonstrates a graphic coherence and, therefore, a greater intelligibility to the book of Job.
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