“Like a Garment Eaten by Moths” (Job 13:28): Clothing, Nudity and Illness in the Book of Job

Abstract

The book of Job provides the most complex and detailed descriptions of illness in biblical literature. Less explored are the frequent references made in the text to dressing and undressing. These references demonstrate the various dimensions, contexts and functional roles of clothing in the world of the Hebrew Bible. But as well as references to actual textile items, the book of Job also refers to clothing in a much more symbolic sense. Drawing on sociological and anthropological approaches to dress and the body, I argue that dress and nudity are connected to and in fact a key part of Job’s experience of illness. By unpacking these ideas, we can better comprehend ancient Israelite conceptions of medical anthropology, as well as embodiment more generally.