What Was Job's Malady?

Abstract

This article explores the nature of Job's malady on various levels, using insights from disability studies as they have been applied to other parts of the Hebrew Bible, but rarely Job. What was the nature of Job's skin disease? Beyond that, how should we assess Job's mental torment accompanying his physical illness, as part of a broader intertextual resonance of lament as known from certain Psalms? It is argued that it is Job's feelings of social exclusion that are a major aspect of his malady, a factor well attested in disability studies but often left out of account in traditional biblical studies evaluations, which tend to focus on moral issues. The relevance of the moral judgment of the friends who regard Job's disease as a punishment for sin is assessed. A fresh interpretation is offered of the strange omission of Job's restoration from illness from the Epilogue.