The riddle of an ending: the beauty of Job's daughters! (Jb 42,15)

This presentation wants to consider how the biblical assertion of the exceptional beauty of the last three daughters of Job must be re-read as an unusual case; a riddle that keeps the intensity of the drama developed in the book until the end. We know that in the Bible beauty can establish unusual cases. This is the case of Léa, Delilah, Susanna, Bathsheba and Esther, where their beauty plays a relevant role in the story: the beauty of Léa has always been a challenge in the relationship with her sister and with Jacob (Gn 29 -30; by her beauty, Delilah seduces Samson and manages to extract from him the secret of his enigma (Jz 14); the beauty of Beersheba leads the admirable King David to commit adultery and to cover him with death (2Sm 11 -12); and thanks to her beauty, Esther succeeded in obtaining a decree from the great King Ahasuerus to save the Jewish people exiled in Babylon from violent extermination (Est 5-9). However, in this specific case of the book of Job, the unusual seems to lead beyond beauty; a strategic literary work of the author, confirmed by the declaration to the heritage that immediately follows (Job 42,15b). The objective of this presentation is to unveil and understand this literary strategy which uses the argument of beauty as a support for intensity and challenge.