Job 42:1-6, 10-17 - EXEGESIS
IMMEDIATE CONTEXT: is a lengthy speech in which God "answered Job out of the whirlwind" (38:1 - 40:1). In that monologue, God asked a series of questions calculated to show Job the scope of God's responsibilities-and to promote a sense of humility and awe in Job. Job responded briefly to that monologue (40:3-5) by acknowledging that he was "of small account" and that he would no longer challenge God. Then, in a second speech, God asked, "Will you even annul my judgment?
Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?" (40:8)-and proceeded to expand Job's vision of the Godly enterprise through a series of statements and questions (40:9 - 41:34). In a sense, then, Job's desire to find God-to lay out his case before God-and to "understand what he (God) would tell me (Job)" (23:3-5) has been fulfilled. However, that fulfillment falls short of the full vindication that Job envisioned. Instead, God has shown Job the greatness of God and the relative smallness of Job. Job has also learned that he should not have put God in the wrong so that Job might be justified (40:8).
JOB 42:1-6. THEN JOB ANSWERED GOD
1 Then Job answered the LORD and said, 2 "I know that You can do all things, And that no plan is impossible for You. 3 'Who is this who conceals advice without knowledge?' Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I do not know. 4 'Please listen, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.' 5 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent, sitting on dust and ashes."
When Job responds to God, he restates some of the things that God said in chapters 38-41 (42:3a = 38:2; 42:4b = 38:3b and 40:7b).
"Then Job answered Yahweh" (v. 1). This is the same as 40:3, where Job made a brief response to God's first lengthy speech.
"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained" (v. 2). Job has acknowledged all along that God was capable of doing all things. His bone of contention was not that God was weak, but that God had failed to render justice.
• But now, as a consequence of God's two lengthy speeches (38:1 - 40:1 and 40:6 - 41:34), Job has a broader vision of God's work. He still believes that God is all-powerful, but (as we will see in the next verse), he is no longer willing to challenge God with regard to the issue of justice.
"Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?" (v. 3a). This is the question (slightly reworded) that God asked Job in 38:2. On that occasion, God continued with a series of questions and didn't give Job a chance to answer. Now Job restates the question so that he might answer at last. His answer, however, will proceed from the understanding that he gained through the two Godly speeches (38:1 - 40:1 and 40:6 - 41:34), and will be much different than the answer he would have given earlier.
"therefore I have uttered that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn't know" (v. 3b). Job acknowledges his error in talking about things that were beyond his understanding. However, Job "has not sinned in his lamenting. That is why Job does not confess any sin here" (Hartley, 536). This is a significant point, because God never, in this account, accuses Job of sin. Instead God earlier pronounced Job "a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil" (1:8)-and he will soon say that Job has spoken of God "that is right" (42:7).
"Listen, now, and I will speak" (v. 4a). Earlier, when Job said, "I will speak," it was in the spirit of complaint or
bitterness (7:11; 10:1). However, now his vision of God and of justice has been expanded, and his speaking will take on an entirely new tone.
"I will question you, and you will answer me" (v. 4b). Near the beginning of each of his lengthy speeches, God had said, "I will question you, and you will answer me" (38:3b; 40:7b). In each of those instances, God had proceeded with a series of questions calculated to put Job in his place. In neither of those instances did God give Job a chance to respond.
• But now it is time for Job's response, so Job quotes God's earlier statements as an introduction to his response.
"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear" (v. 5a). Earlier, Job spoke of the binding of water into clouds and other natural phenomena that revealed something of God, and said, "How small a whisper do we hear of him" (26:14). In other words, the heavens revealed the glory of God, but in a veiled way.
• Job was "a man in the land of Uz" (1:1), so unless he was a Jewish proselyte, he would not have known God through the Hebrew Scriptures and temple worship. He understands that his knowledge of God has been quite incomplete.
"but now my eye sees you" (v. 5b). Hearing about someone and seeing them face to face are very different experiences. Seeing is the superior experience.
• When Moses asked to see God's glory, God responded, "You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). How is it that Job could see him and live? That is one of the many issues about which the author of this book is unconcerned. Perhaps it is poetic license that Job can say, "my eye sees you." Perhaps he is spared because God has spoken to him from a whirlwind that obscured Job's vision (38:1; 40:6). But whatever the explanation, Job earlier wanted to speak personally with God (23:3-5), and now God has granted his wish.
"Therefore I abhor (ma∙as) myself" (v. 6a). Verse 6 can be translated variously. In The New Interpreter's Bible, Carol Newsom lists six possibilities (Newsom, 629).
• The verb ma∙as means "to reject, to despise, to abhor, to refuse" (Baker and Carpenter, 562). In this context, Job acknowledges his lowliness as compared with God's grandeur. He also acknowledges rejecting the pride that motivated him prior to seeing God.
"and repent (naham) in dust and ashes" (v. 6b). The verb naham means "to be sorry, to pity, to comfort, to avenge... (or) to regret" (Baker and Carpenter 723).
• Many scholars (Anderson, 292; Hartley, 537; Murphy, 273; Newsome, 558; Tucker, 449) believe that, in this context, naham does not mean that Job is repenting of his sins, because the thesis behind this book is that Job is "blameless and upright" (1:1) and that he speaks what is right about God (42:7). Otherwise, Job would be capitulating to the earlier request of his friends that he repent of his sins-a request that Job rejected because he saw himself as righteous-an opinion in which God concurred (1:8). Thus, if Job is now repenting-doing what his friends earlier advised him to do-he is undermining the idea that he is "blameless and righteous"-an idea that is foundational to the book.
• However, dust and ashes are appropriate symbols for repentance and remorse. In particular, the word "ashes" connotes humility (Genesis 18:27; Daniel 9:3) or worthlessness (Job 13:12) or repentance (Jeremiah 6:26; Matthew 11:21).
• The meaning of this verse, therefore, cannot be that Job is repenting of his sins, as his friends suggested that he do. Instead, he is repenting of having spoken in ignorance-of suggesting that God has rendered an injustice to him. Now that he has seen God, he wishes to retract the challenges to God that he once spoke.
JOB 42:7-9. GOD'S DISPLEASURE WITH JOB'S FRIENDS AND AFFIRMATION OF JOB
7 It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so as not to do with you as your foolishness deserves, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has." 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job.
In the interest of a compact reading, the lectionary reading does not include these verses. However, the choice to eliminate them is unfortunate, because they are critical to the understanding of this book (Murphy, 271). Verse 7 is particularly important, because in that verse God rebukes Job's friends for not speaking rightly of God, "as my servant Job has." Thus, in that verse, God confirms the original estimate of Job as "blameless and upright" (1:1).
• The These verses present the delicious irony of God ordering Job's friends to sacrifice "seven bulls and seven rams" (v. 8)-a very large and expensive offering. Not only are they to make the sacrifice, but they are also required to present the sacrifice to Job. While God does not require the friends to ask Job for his prayers, God announces that, once the friends have made this offering, Job will pray for them and God will answer Job's prayers. That is, in fact, what happens. These friends, who earlier accused Job of guilt, find themselves guilty and requiring Job's prayers as a way of gaining forgiveness.
JOB 42:10-17. GOD GIVES JOB TWICE AS MUCH AS HE HAD BEFORE
10 The LORD also restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased double all that Job had. 11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold. 12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job's daughters; and their father gave them inheritances among their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man and full of days.
"Yahweh turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends" (v. 10a). This doesn't say that the Lord restored the fortunes of Job's foolish friends when Job prayed for them. It says that the Lord restored Job's fortunes when he prayed for his friends. He was praying for them, but ended up being the beneficiary himself.
The issue here is cause and effect. First, Job prayed for his friends. Second, the Lord restored Job's fortunes. Did First cause Second? Or did Second just happen to occur after First? The text isn't absolutely clear on that matter. It doesn't say, "BECAUSE Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored Job's fortunes."
• However, some scholars believe that Job's prayer for his friends resulted in the restoration of his good fortune (Andersen, 293; Alden, 412), and it sounds as if the Lord were waiting for Job to do the right thing (praying for his not-very-wonderful friends) before restoring Job's fortunes.
• But other scholars deny any cause and effect relationship between Job's prayers and the restoration of his fortunes (Newsome, 559; Hartley, 540). Their concern is that the book of Job is intended to counter the popular notion that good fortune is always linked to good behavior. Much of the Old Testament and some of the New Testament promise rewards for good behavior and punishment for bad behavior. This book says, "It Ain't Necessarily So!"
"Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before" (v. 10b). Whether the Lord gives Job this abundant blessing as a reward for righteous behavior or not, he does give it.
• Exodus 22:4 requires a thief to repay double if he is found guilty of stealing an ox or donkey or sheep. Does the Lord reimburse Job doubly because the Lord is found to be a thief, having taken away Job's possessions without cause? Hardly! But the rule in Exodus acknowledged that simply reimbursing a victim what he or she lost in the theft would fall short of fully restoring that person's situation. As anyone who has been the victim of a theft knows, the victim experiences emotional trauma at being violated. There is also a time during which the victim doesn't have access to his or her property, which can lead to real suffering. The double-reimbursement rule in Exodus attempts to compensate all the victim's losses-not just the original loss.
• So it could be that the double restoration of Job is intended to compensate Job for his pain and suffering as well as the loss of his family and material goods.
"Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold" (v. 11). Where were these brothers and sisters and friends when Job really needed them? When Job was suffering, why didn't they say, "Job, come and stay at our house" or "Job, here is some money and a gold ring"? Why did they wait until Job's fortunes were fully restored before offering their solace?
• The answer is that, when Job was down and out, his family was far from him and his acquaintances were estranged from him. They failed him and forgot him. He had become "an alien in their sight" (19:13-15).
Their lack of compassion was almost certainly rooted in the popular belief that human suffering is the result of God's displeasure. If they believed that God had taken away Job's family and wealth as punishment for some terrible sin, it would make sense for them to distance themselves from him. For one thing, if they made him more comfortable, they might be found guilty of taking away the sting that the Lord had inflicted to teach Job a lesson. For another, if they got too close to sinful Job, the Lord might inflict suffering on them too.
• But now Job's fortunes have returned and so have his family and friends. Now that he is "up" they give him the sympathy and comfort that he needed when he was "down." It happens all the time. This book encourages us to be different. It encourages us not to assume that a suffering person has brought it upon him/herself.
• Whatever the motives of Job's family and friends, they are back in full voice now. Can't you hear them? "Job, we're so happy for you!" "Job, we felt so bad when you were suffering." "Job, we love you!"
In addition to their words of sympathy and comfort, they also give Job money and gold rings. Did these gifts become the seed corn for investments that eventually led to Job's full restoration, as some scholars suggest? (Hartley, 541). Possibly! But the story says that the Lord restored Job's fortunes doubly (v. 10), and the family and friends then got on board (v. 11). In other words, it sounds as if God fully restored Job before Job's family and friends became friendly again.
"So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys" (v. 12). The number of livestock mentioned here is exactly double the number that Job had prior to his troubles (1:3).
"He had also seven sons and three daughters" (v. 13). Job had seven sons and three daughters in his pre-catastrophe life, but a great wind collapsed the house in which they were eating, and they were all killed (1:18-19).
Seven and three both connote completeness in Hebrew literature, so these seven sons and three daughters represent an ideal family. Job's material possessions were doubled, but not his sons and daughters. The original numbers were simply restored. Did Job have these children by his original wife? Probably so, given that she was mentioned in 2:9; 19:17; 31:10 (but nowhere by name). But we don't know. If God had given Job a new, beautiful wife, the author would surely have mentioned that.
"He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch" (v. 14). The usual practice, if any names were to be given, would be to name the sons. It is somewhat unusual that we aren't given those names. It if very unusual that we are given the names of the daughters. Jemimah means little dove. Keziah comes from the word cassia-a flower known for its lovely fragrance. Keren-happuch means "horn of antimony." Antimony was used by women to highlight their eyes (From Bromily, ISBE, the articles on these three names).
"In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job" (v. 15a). This is another evidence of the Lord's gift to Job. His daughters are beautiful. There is no mention of the sons being strong or handsome or smart. It is unusual that the writer would mention the beauty of the daughters without saying something positive about the sons.
"Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers" (v. 15b). This is also unusual. Jewish law gave the firstborn son a double share of the inheritance and the other sons a single share (Deuteronomy 21:15). Thus, if a man had five sons, the firstborn would receive two of six shares, and the four remaining sons would receive one share apiece. Daughters would usually receive a dowry (a gift from their father) at the time of their marriage, but would not receive a share of the inheritance.
• But Job is a man of Uz and not of Israel. He might not be subject to Jewish law regarding inheritance-and might not even be familiar with it.
"After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, to four generations" (v. 16). Psalm 90:10 mentions seventy years as "the days of our years," so Job's one hundred and forty years represents a double portion of years.
"So Job died, being old and full of days" (v. 17). "Old and full of days" (or full of years) is a formula used for the patriarchs: Abraham (Genesis 25:8), Isaac (Genesis 35:29), and David (1 Chronicles 29:28). It is a way of saying that Job lived a long and full life, so that his death represents a natural passage rather than a tragedy. It is also a way of numbering him among the great men of Israel's history.
Job Chapter 42 - Commentary
Verses 1-6: Job's confession and repentance took place finally. He still did not know why he suffered so profoundly, but he was done complaining, questioning and challenging God's wisdom and justice. He was reduced to such utter humility, crushed beneath the weight of God's greatness, that all he could do was repent for his insolence. Without answers to all of these questions, Job quietly bowed in humble submission before his Creator and admitted that God was sovereign (Isa. 14:24; 46:8-11). Most importantly for the message of the book, Job was still diseased and without his children and possessions, and God had not changed anything (except for the humbling of the heart of His servant). Satan had been proven completely wrong in the charges he brought against Job and in thinking he could destroy true saving faith; Job's companions were completely wrong in the charges they brought against him, but most critically, Job himself was completely wrong in the charges he had raised against God. He expressed his own sorrowful regret that he had not just accept God's will without such ignorant complaints and questions.
• The point of all of God's questions was not lost on Job: he has a new awareness of the wisdom of God's hidden plans, a new sense of the limits of his own wisdom, and a new sensitivity to his own sin. He admits that his has been a limited perspective, and he totally submits to God's will and authority.
• Job's second response is one of complete submission to the sovereignty of God. He affirms that God is free, He can do anything, and He does what is good and right. Job was right where God wanted him to be, where He wants each person to be, humbling, bowing before Him in worship and repentance. Job had gone from silence to submission.
Job 42:1 "Then Job answered the LORD, and said,"
For though he had said he would answer no more (Job 40:5); yet he might mean not in the manner he had, complaining of God and justifying himself. Besides he might change his mind without any imputation of falsehood or a lie (see Jer. 20:9). To which may be added, that he had then said all he had to say, and did not know he should have more. He then confessed as much as he was convinced of, but it was not enough. And now through what the Lord had since said to him he was more convinced of his ignorance, mistakes, and sins, and had such a sight of God and of himself, that he could not forbear speaking. Moreover, an injunction was laid upon him from the Lord to speak again, and therefore he was obliged to give in his answer (see Job 40:7).
Verses 2-4: Job did not confess any of the sins that Eliphaz accused him of or say any of what Eliphaz told him to say, because he was guiltless of all these things. Job's folly was in making judgment about matters "I understood not", especially disputing with God over His justice.
Job 42:2 "I know that thou canst do every [thing], and [that] no thought can be withholden from thee."
Job here subscribes to God's unlimited power, knowledge, and dominion, to prove which was the scope of God's discourse out of the whirlwind. And his judgment being convinced of these, his conscience also was convinced of his own folly in speaking so irreverently concerning him.
• "No thought can be withholden from thee": No thought of ours can be withholden from thy knowledge. And there is no thought of thine which thou canst be hindered from bringing into execution.
•Job recognized the magnificence of God. God has all power, as well as all wisdom and understanding. God reads the heart of man, even before he speaks his words. God knows that Job had a clean heart. Job knew that nothing he might think or do, could ever be hidden from God. Job had never denied that God was all powerful, but it was brought even more clearly to his attention in the last few chapters, as the LORD spoke to him.
Verses 3-4: Job twice alluded to statements God had made in His interrogation of Job. The first allusion "Who [is] he that hideth counsel without knowledge?" (Compare 38:2), indicted Job's pride and presumption regarding God's counsel. The second, "I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me" (38:3; 40:7), expressed God's judicial authority to demand answers from His own accuser, Job. The two quotes manifested that Job understood the divine rebuke.
Job 42:3 "Who [is] he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not."
a. What am I, that I should be guilty of such madness? Or b. "Therefore have I uttered that I understood not": Because my mind was without knowledge, therefore my speech was ignorant and foolish; things which I knew not. "I have spoken foolishly and unadvisedly of things far above my reach": Even of God's infinite and sovereign majesty, and of his deep and unsearchable counsels and providence. "The recollection of Job," says Dr. Dodd, "in this and the two following verses, is inimitably fine, and begins the catastrophe of the book, which is truly worthy of what precedes. The interrogatory clause in the beginning of this verse is a repetition of what Jehovah had said; the latter part of this verse, and the fourth and fifth verses, are Job's conclusions."
• The truth is that no one has this kind of knowledge, until the Lord God Almighty chooses for us to know it. He teaches us by His blessed Holy Spirit. Job did not understand what was going on. His only failure was that he insisted on knowing. Job wanted to confess to God his total dependence upon Him. The things of God are too wonderful for mortal man to know and understand.
Job 42:4 "Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me."
Not in the manner he had before, complaining of God and justifying himself, but in a way of humble entreaty of favors of Him, of confession of sin before Him, and of acknowledgment of His wisdom, goodness, and justice in all His dealings with him, which before he arraigned.
"I will demand of thee": Or rather "I will make petition to thee", as Mr. Broughton renders it; humbly ask a favor, and entreat a gracious answer; for to demand is not so agreeable to the frame and temper of soul Job was now in.
"And declare thou unto me": Or make him know what he knew not. He now in ignorance applies to God, as a God of knowledge, to inform him in things he was in the dark about, and to increase what knowledge he had. He was now willing to take the advice of Elihu, and pursue it (Job 34:31).
• This was the beginning of Job's confession to God that he knew very little of the ways of God. Job wanted to speak to God and explain his foolishness.
Verses 5-6: God did not condemn Job for any sin or foolishness. He did though, charge Job for mistakenly and arrogantly asserting that he could better explain what was happening in the world and better order and control its affairs. Job was wrong on both counts. Therefore, Job said "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes".
Job 42:5 "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee."
"Have heard ... now mine eye seeth thee": At last, Job said he understood God whom he had seen with the eyes of faith. He had never so well grasped the greatness, majesty, sovereignty, and independence of God as he did at that moment.
• Job had been taught of others of God, but this voice of God coming from the whirlwind had given him a brand new awareness of who God is. Hearing from others is not like hearing for ourselves. Job had been in the very presence of God, and was greatly humbled by the experience.
Job 42:6 "Wherefore I abhor [myself], and repent in dust and ashes."
"Repent in dust and ashes": All that was left to do was repent! The ashes upon which the broken man sat had not changed, but the heart of God's suffering servant had. Job did not need to repent of some sins which Satan or his accusers had raised. But Job had exercised presumption and allegations of unfairness against his Lord and hated himself for this in a way that called for brokenness and contrition.
• This was the same ash heap that Job had been sitting in from the beginning of his troubles. Now, he hated that he had not trusted God, that all was well with his soul. He had listened to too much that his so called friends had said, and knew it wasn't true that he worked himself up to the position to question what God was doing with him. God is the potter and we are the clay. Job was clay in the hands of the LORD. The clay cannot tell the potter what to do with it. Job realized that now. He abhorred himself for not having more faith than he had.
(In verses 7-17), the text returns to prose instead of poetic language begun (in 3:1), in the epilogue. The final picture of Job mirrors the opening picture of him (in chapter 1). God restored Job, not as payment for Job's sacrifice but as a gift.
Verses 7-9: Job's friends are rebuked for their errors, with Eliphaz being singled out as the leader of the three. The Lord refers to Job as "my servant" four times to show His approval.
"Eliphaz" was the oldest of the group, so God addressed His rebuke to him. The sacrifice required for the three men was staggering (enough for all of Israel), and shows the great error of their counsel. Anyone who speaks on behalf of God must make sure his or her words reflect the Word of God and represent His character. Human opinion is worth nothing.
Verses 7-8: "ye have not spoken of me [the thing that is] right": God directly vindicated job by saying that Job had spoken right about God in rejecting the error of his friends. They are then rebuked for those misrepresentations of insensitivity and arrogance. This does not mean that everything they said was incorrect, but they had made wrong statements about the character and works of God, and also had raised erroneous allegations against Job.
Job 42:7 "And it was [so], that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me [the thing that is] right, as my servant Job [hath]."
What follows came to pass:
"That after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job": Which he spoke to him out of the whirlwind, and after he had heard Job's confession, and the declaration he made of his humiliation and repentance.
"The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite; who with his two friends were still present and heard the speeches of the Lord to Job, and the acknowledgment he had made of sin. Though some think that, when the dispute ended between Job and them, they returned to their own country, where Eliphaz was now supposed to have gone, and was bid with his two friends to go to Job again, which they did, as is concluded from the following verses. But no doubt they all stayed and heard what Elihu had to say; and the voice of the Lord out of the whirlwind would command their attention for them to stay. And they were very interested as they wanted to know how the cause would go, for or against Job; the latter of which they might expect from the appearance of things. Now the Lord directs his speech to Eliphaz, he being perhaps the principal man, on account of his age, wisdom and wealth, and being the man that led the dispute. Began it, and formed the plan to go upon, and was the most severe on Job of any of them; wherefore the Lord said to him:
"My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends": Who were Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. Who gave into the same sentiments with Eliphaz, and went upon the same plan, speaking wrong things of God, charging Job falsely, and condemning him. Which provoked the Lord, and caused his wrath to be kindled like fire against them, of which there were some appearances and breakings forth in his words and conduct towards them.
"For ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath": They had said many right things of God, and Job had said many wrong ones of him, and yet upon the whole Job had said more correct things of God than they. Their notion, and which they had expressed, was, that God deals with men in this life according to their outward behavior. That God did not afflict good men, at least not sorely, nor long. And that wicked men were always punished now. From whence they drew this inference, that Job, being so long and so greatly afflicted, must be a bad man, or God would never have dealt with him after this manner. Job, on the other hand, affirmed, that wicked men enjoyed great prosperity, which good men did not. And therefore, the love and hatred of God were not known by these things. And men's characters were not to be judged of by these outward things; in which he was doubtless right. Some render the words "have not spoken unto me", before him, in his presence; for they were all before God, and to him they all appealed, and he heard and observed all that was said, and now passed judgment. No notice is taken of Elihu, nor blame laid on him; he acting as a moderator, taking neither the part of Job, nor of his friends, but blaming both. Nor did he pretend to charge
Job with any sins of his former life as the cause of his calamities. Only takes up some indecent, unguarded, and extravagant expressions of his in the heat of this controversy, and rebukes him for them. And throughout the whole vindicates the justice of God in his dealings with him.
• This was about the last thing these friends wanted to hear, but they fully deserved every word. They had judged Job without any evidence to convict him. We must notice in this verse above, that God approved of the things that Job had said, but did not approve of the things the others had said. He spoke to the three friends here, and not to Elihu, because He had already reprimanded Elihu, and because Elihu was a young man and probably knew no better. These old counselors should have known better. God was very angry with Job's friends.
Verses 8-9: As God had been gracious to Job, so He was to Job's friends, by means of sacrifice and prayer. Here the book points to the need for a sacrifice for sin, fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself as an offering for sins and ever lives to intercede (compare 1 Titus 2:5). Even before the Levitical priesthood, family heads acted as priests, offering sacrifices and mediating through prayer.
Job 42:8 "Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you [after your] folly, in that ye have not spoken of me [the thing which is] right, like my servant Job."
"Seven bullocks and seven rams": This was the number of sacrifices specified (in Num. 23:1), by Balaam the prophet, so perhaps it was a traditional kind of burnt offering for sin. "Go to my servant Job": Whom though you have censured and condemned as a hypocrite, I own for my faithful servant, human infirmity excepted.
"Offer up by the hand of Job": Whom I do hereby constitute your priest, to pray and sacrifice for you.
"Him will I accept": To wit, on your behalf, as well as on his own. "Lest I deal with you after your folly": Lest my wrath and just judgment take hold of you for your false and foolish speeches.
• The number "seven" means spiritually complete. After all of the hard things they had said to Job, now they must go back to him and ask him to pray for their forgiveness, or they would feel the wrath of God upon them. The time of Job was before the time of the priests, so Job would receive their offerings for their sins for them.
They had not spoken for God with all of their accusations of Job. They must now humble themselves before the very man they tried to humiliate and destroy.
Job 42:9 "So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite [and] Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job."
I.e. "went" to Job, and asked his aid and interposition, and obtained it. The Lord also accepted Job; i.e. looked favorably on Job's intercession, and for his sake pardoned those for whom he made his prayer. Job is thus a type of Christ, not merely in his sufferings, but also in his mediatorial character.
• Their only chance of being forgiven was for Job to accept them and pray to God for them. God had already accepted Job. They knew they must go, since God had commanded them to. This had to be one of the hardest things they had ever done.
Verses 10-17: "Turned the captivity" is a figure meaning "released." In other words, God brought an end to Job's suffering and set him free to enjoy life again. God's restoration of Job is immediate and bountiful: he is given friends (verse 11), material prosperity (verse 12), family (verses 13-15), and long life (verses 16-17). The point to be garnered from the book is not that God intends to deal with every servant as abundantly as He did with Job; rather, that God holds sovereign and loving sway over every human life. Therefore, He can be trusted implicitly in all things (Rom. 8:28; 1 Thess. 5:18). Yahweh "turned" the fortune and family of Job to a level surpassing that at the beginning of the book.
Job 42:10 "And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before."
Job prayed for his friends, evidence that Job's heart was no longer filled with resentment or bitterness toward them. Job not only forgave his friends but experienced the forgiveness of God for himself.
Job was completely restored when he prayed for his friends to be forgiven. Job had been a rich man before this all began, but now God had restored him double for his faithfulness.
Job 42:11 "Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold."
When Job had humbled himself, and God was reconciled to Job, he quickly turned the hearts of his friends to favor him, according to (Prov. 16:7). As during his impenitency, and for his trial humiliation and lies had alienated their hearts from him, of which Job so sadly complains.
• Now that things had turned around for Job, all his relatives and friends came to celebrate with him. They all brought presents to Job such as gold and money. They had not even sympathized with Job during his trouble, but now they had much sympathy for his punishment he endured without a cause.
Verses 12-14: God gave Job back twice as much as he lost, including another 10 children. These did not replace the first 10 but were added to them. Between heaven and earth, he had 20 children.
Job 42:12 "So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses."
Which verified the words of Bildad (Job 8:6); though they were spoken by him only by way of supposition. All blessings are of the Lord, temporal and spiritual. And sometimes the last days of a good man are his best, as to temporal things, as were David's, and here Job's; though this is not always the case. However, if their last days are but the best in spiritual things, that is enough. If they have more faith, hope, love, patience, humility, and self-denial, and resignation of will to the will of God. Are more holy, humble, spiritually and heavenly minded; have more light and knowledge in divine things; have more peace and joy, and are more fruitful in every good work, and more useful. And often they are in their very last moments most cheerful and comfortable: the best wine is reserved till last. "For he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses": Just double the number of each of what he had before (Job 1:3).
• These are twice as many animals, as he had before all of his trouble came to him.
POSTSRIPT: The book ends as it begins, with a positive picture of Job and focused on his just character. Job acknowledges all of his children as equals in the "inheritance" he left them, a rarity in ancient times. By Jewish law, daughters only received an inheritance when there were no sons (Num. 27:8). Job had plenty for all.
Job lived 140 years longer, so he probably lived to be 210 years old, a typical lifespan for the patriarchal age. "Old and full of days" is an idiom that means Job lived a rich, full life all the way to the end.
• Job went the way of all men. His flesh died and returned to the earth from whence it came.
There are many profound lessons of life brought out in this study. We could all see ourselves in Job. Sadly enough, we could also see ourselves in his so-called friends too.
Extra Commentary on Job 42:1-6, 10-17
We have walked with Job the last few weeks through the book that bears his name. This week we read the final chapter of the book and find out what becomes of Job in the end.
This epilogue to the book of Job is, for many readers, hard to accept. The whole book up to this point has been (apparently) an argument against the doctrine of retributive justice; that is, the idea that God always rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. Now, at the end of the book, that belief seems to be upheld: Job is rewarded for his piety (or at least reimbursed for his losses). The friends seem to have been right all along.
On top of that, we moderns are understandably troubled by the notion that God replaces Job's ten dead children with ten new children at the end of the book, as if children were replaceable.
The epilogue to the book of Job can be (and has been) read as a facile ending to an otherwise profound book. It can be (and has been) read as a kind of modern absurdist ending that calls into question everything that has preceded it. But these kinds of readings do justice neither to the details of the epilogue nor to its relationship to the rest of the book. And, frankly, these readings don't "preach."
So, let's sketch a reading of the epilogue that takes into consideration its relationship with the rest of the book, a reading that will "preach." I'll spend time at three particular points in the epilogue, knowing that much more could be said about each:
Job's Response
Job responds to the divine speeches by acknowledging that he has neither God's power nor God's wisdom. "I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know" (42:3). He had accused God of creating a world of chaos, and God responded by showing Job the world as it really is: a place of order, but also of freedom and beauty, not centered on human beings, full of wild creatures Job never imagined in his former life.
And somehow, through that vision of creation, Job's fierce hope is fulfilled. Earlier, in the throes of despair, Job had proclaimed,
"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (19:25-27).
Now, after the divine speeches, Job says to God, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" (42:5).
Somehow, through the grand vision of God's creation, Job's profound desire to be in the presence of God has been fulfilled. He has seen God. And that vision moves him out of despair into life again.
One more note about Job's response: The last verse is notoriously difficult to translate. The NRSV reads, "Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (42:6). There are a number of problems with this translation. Without getting into all the details of the Hebrew, suffice it to say that a better translation (in my opinion) is this, from the Tanakh: "Therefore, I recant and relent, being but dust and ashes" (42:6).1
Job does not abjectly repent on his ash heap, browbeaten into submission. Instead, he acknowledges that he spoke of things he did not understand. He recants, and he realizes anew his place in the world, a mortal human being. But at the same time, this creature of "dust and ashes" (like Abraham before him) is privileged to stand in the presence of God himself: "Now my eye sees you."2
Job is not the center of the universe. He knows that now. But he has a place; he has a role to play, and he takes up that role again in the verses that follow.
The "Friends" Reprimanded
The lectionary skips verses 7-9, which tell the story of God's response to the "friends." It is worth reading this passage, though, as it makes an important point:
"After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: 'My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done'" (42:7-8).
All English translations of these verses translate God's charge along these lines: "You have not spoken about me what is right." But note that the Hebrew can also be translated, "You have not spoken to me rightly, as has my servant Job."
This latter translation points out what was true all along. For all their speaking about God, the "friends" never once in the book speak to God; they never once pray for their suffering friend. Job, on the other hand, moves from speaking only about God to speaking more and more directly to God.
The friends theologize; Job prays.
The friends try to defend God; Job laments. He holds on to God with one hand and shakes his fist at God with the other. He stays in relationship with God, addressing God directly even from the depths of despair; and for this, he is commended by God in the end.
And then Job the sufferer becomes Job the mediator. God commands his three companions to offer sacrifices. And Job, still presumably covered with boils, offers prayers on their behalf. He for whom they never prayed now prays for them; and God accepts the prayer of his suffering servant, Job. We don't have the words of the prayer, but perhaps it begins, "Father, forgive them..."
The Restoration of Job3
God restores Job's fortunes, giving him twice as much wealth as before, and ten more children, and it seems to many readers a cheap ending to the book. But note the details of this restoration: Job's three daughters are the most beautiful women in the land, and Job gives them an inheritance along with their brothers, an unheard-of act in the ancient Near East. He also gives them unusually sensual names: Dove (Jemimah), Cinnamon (Keziah) and Rouge-Pot (Keren-happuch).
It seems that Job has learned to govern his world as God does. As Ellen Davis argues, the cautious patriarch of the prologue who offered "preemptive sacrifices" for his children has become a parent after God's own heart. He gives his children the same freedom that God gives God's creation, and, like God, he delights in their freedom and in their beauty.4
Davis writes, "The great question that God's speech out of the whirlwind poses for Job and every other person of integrity is this: Can you love what you do not control?"5 It is a question worth pondering. Can you love what you do not control: this wild and beautiful creation, its wild and beautiful Creator, your own children?
As for the question of whether ten new children can replace those lost, Davis argues that it is useless to focus on how much it costs God to restore Job's fortunes. (It obviously costs God nothing.) "The real question is how much it costs Job to become a father again."6 Like a Holocaust survivor whose greatest act of courage is to bear children after the cataclysm, Job chooses against all odds to live again. Job (and his wife) choose to bear children into a world full of heart-rending beauty and heart-breaking pain. Job chooses to love again, even when he knows the cost of such love.
Living again after unspeakable pain is a kind of resurrection. The book of Job does not espouse an explicit belief in resurrection.7 Nevertheless, the trajectory of the whole book participates in that profound biblical movement from death to life. It is not surprising, therefore, that the translators of the Septuagint add this verse to the book of Job: "And Job died, old and full of days. And it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up."
And perhaps that is an appropriate place to leave this story of Job, waiting with God's other servants for the world to come. This complex work, the book of Job, plumbs the depths of despair and comes out on the other side into life again. In this movement, it testifies not only to the reality of inexplicable suffering but also to the possibility of new life - life lived out in relationship with the God of Israel, the God of resurrection, who, as both synagogue and church proclaim, is faithful even until death, and beyond.
EW Commentary
Job 42 - Job's Repentance and Restoration
A. Job's repentance.
1. (42:1-3) Job confesses his presumption and lack of knowledge.
Then Job answered the LORD and said, 2 "I know that You can do all things, And that no plan is impossible for You. 3 'Who is this who conceals advice without knowledge?' Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I do not know.
a. I know that You can do everything: This wonderful statement from Job was obviously connected to the impressive display of the power and might of God over creation; but it was also connected to the comfort that the sense of the presence of God brought to Job. God indeed could do everything, including bring comfort and assurance to Job, even when Job still did not understand the origin or meaning of his crisis.
b. And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You: The God who can master Behemoth and Leviathan (Job 40 and 41) can also accomplish every purpose in Job's life, including the mysterious meaning behind the twists and turns.
c. I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know: Job said many sad and imprudent things, both in his agonized cry of Job 3 and in the bitter and contentious debate with his friends. At times he doubted the goodness of God and His righteous judgment in the world; at times he doubted if there was any good in this life or in the life beyond. Now Job has come full circle, back to a state of humble contentment with not knowing the answers to the questions occasioned by his crisis and his companions.
i. "Job felt that what he had spoken concerning the Lord was in the main true; and the Lord himself said to Job's three friends, 'Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath'; but under a sense of the divine presence Job felt that even when he had spoken aright, he had spoken beyond his own proper knowledge, uttering speech whose depths of meaning he could not himself fathom." (Spurgeon)
ii. Job's thinking here is well expressed by one of the shortest psalms, Psalm 131:
2. (4-6) Job repents before God.
4 'Please listen, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.' 5 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent, sitting on dust and ashes."
a. Listen, please, and let me speak: Before, Job seemed to want to challenge God (Job 31:35-40) in a confrontational way. Now, after his wonderful revelation of God, He respectfully asked God for the right to speak.
b. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You: This reminds us that the most powerful aspect of Job's encounter with God was not primarily what God said; but God's simple, loving, powerful presence with Job that changed him most profoundly.
i. Seeing God - not with his literal eye, but in a way literally real - gave Job what he so wanted: to know that God was with him in his crisis. This wonderful presence of God has humbled Job.
ii. We should not assume that what Job knew of God was necessarily false; yet each fresh and deeper revelation of God has a brightness that makes previous experience of God seem rather pale. What he had just experienced was so real, it made his previous experiences seem unreal.
c. Therefore I abhor myself: It is important to understand each phrase of this statement of Job's. This would seem to be the normal conviction of sin that even a saint like Job senses in the presence of God; yet there is good evidence that Job, with this statement, was really formally retracting his previous statements made in ignorance.
i. "The verb translated 'I despise myself (Job 42:6) could be rendered 'I reject what I said.'" (Smick)
ii. "The Hebrew word literally means, from the standpoint of etymology, to disappear; from the standpoint of usage, to retract, to repudiate. As a matter of fact, Job at this point went beyond what he had previously said when he declared, 'I am of small account,' and declared that he practically cancelled himself entirely. I disappear, I retract all that has been said; I repudiate the position I have taken up." (Morgan)
iii. "I despise (and translations usually supply myself as the object not found in the Hebrew). This does not go as far as the abject self-loathing of that radical repentance that requires admitting known sins. If we are to connect it with verse 3, Job could be expressing regret at his foolish words, uttered hastily and in ignorance." (Andersen)
d. And repent in dust and ashes: It was right for Job to repent. He had done nothing to invite the crisis that came into his life; the reasons for that crisis were rooted in the contention between God and Satan as recorded in Job 1 and 2. Yet he did have to repent of his wrong words and wrong attitude after the crisis; both for excessively giving in to despair in Job 3, and for his unwise and intemperate speech as he contended with his companions.
i. It is important to note that Job did not give in to his friends and admit that they had been right all along. That simply was not true. The sins Job repented of here were both general sins, common to all men, which seemed all the darker in the presence of God, yet were not the cause of the catastrophe that came into his life; and they were sins committed after the catastrophe came.
ii. What did Job have to repent of? In his sermon, Job Among the Ashes, Charles Spurgeon suggested several things:
· Job repented of the terrible curse he had pronounced upon the day of his birth.
· Job repented of his desire to die.
· Job repented of his complaints against and challenges to God.
· Job repented of his despair.
· Job repented that his statements had been a "darkening of wisdom by words without knowledge"; that he spoke beyond his knowledge and ability to know.
iii. One might say that these words of Job - words of humble repentance and submission before God for sins that were greatly provoked, sins that come from the godly and not from the wicked - these words that contain no curse of God whatsoever - these words ended the contest between God and Satan and demonstrated that the victory belonged to God and to Job.
iv. God's confidence in Job's faith was completely vindicated. "Job is vindicated in a faith in God's goodness that has survived a terrible deprivation and, indeed, grown in scope, unsupported by Israel's historical creed or the mighty acts of God, unsupported by life in the covenant community, unsupported by cult institutions, unsupported by revealed knowledge from the prophets, unsupported by tradition, and contradicted by experience. Next to Jesus, Job must surely be the greatest believer in the whole Bible." (Andersen)
v. Simply put, "Without anger toward him, God allowed Job to suffer in order to humiliate the Accuser and provided support to countless sufferers who would follow in Job's footsteps." (Smick) This was now accomplished.
B. Job's restoration.
1. (40:7-9) Job's friends are rebuked; Job is vindicated
7 It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will ]accept him so as not to do with you as your foolishness deserves, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has." 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job.
a. My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends: God rebuked Job's three companions, addressing Eliphaz as their head (he was the first of the three to speak).
i. Curiously, Elihu is not addressed by God in this final chapter. Some people think this is because Elihu was correct in what he said and was indeed God's messenger to Job. Taking into account exactly what Elihu said, it is better to think that God did not answer him as a way of dismissing him altogether.
ii. "He is therefore punished (as ambassadors are used to be when they commit undecencies) with silence, which is the way royal to correct a wrong." (Trapp)
b. You have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has: The friends of Job spoke many general principles that, in their setting, have great wisdom. The problem was that in Job's circumstance, their principles of wisdom did not apply. They presented God as angry and judgmental against Job, when He was not. This displeased God.
i. It displeased God so much that He specifically repeated the charge (Job 42:8); He commanded them to sacrifice a burnt offering to make atonement for their sin; and He commanded them to humble themselves and ask Job to pray for them.
ii. We can imagine that they were quite surprised by this. They no doubt thought that God was in agreement with them all along. "And yet they seemed to be all for God; and to plead his cause against Job throughout. But as in some things they were much mistaken, so they had their self-respects, and were much biased in their discourses." (Trapp)
iii. God's rebuke of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar was at the same time an explicit vindication of Job. It was true that in his frustration, stubbornness, and misery Job said things that he had to repent of. Yet God could still say of him, "as My servant Job has," putting forth Job as an example of one who spoke what is right.
c. So Eliphaz... Bildad... and Zophar... went and did as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had accepted Job: The friends of Job were accepted for Job's sake, because the LORD had accepted Job. God made Job a mediator to his friends. This must have been a humbling and instructive experience for the friends, and a happy and healing experience for Job.
i. "These men did not say, 'No, we will not go to Job'; they did not attempt to justify themselves, they did exactly what God told them to, and in so doing they did a grand and noble thing, and took the only chance of getting to know God." (Chambers)
ii. "They had attempted to restore Job by philosophy. They had failed. He was now to restore them by prayer. The bands of his own captivity were broken, moreover, in the activity of prayer on behalf of others." (Morgan)
iii. "Job was permitted to take a noble revenge, I am sure the only one he desired, when he became the means of bringing them back to God. God would not hear them, he said, for they had spoken so wrongly of his servant Job, and now Job is set to be a mediator, or intercessor on their behalf: thus was the contempt poured upon the patriarch turned into honor." (Spurgeon)
2. (10-11) Job is blessed and received by his friends again.
10 The LORD also restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased double all that Job had. 11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold.
a. And the LORD restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends: God was good enough to restore Job's wealth to him, even though Job never asked for this. Job's agony was always more rooted in the more spiritual aspects of his crisis, much more than the material. Yet once the spiritual was resolved, God restored the material.
i. As the margin in the New King James Version notes, this can also be translated, and the LORD turned the captivity of Job. This is a suggestive phrase; that the act of praying for his friends and restoring his relationship with them in a sense freed Job from captivity.
ii. It does not say that God turned the poverty of Job, nor the health of Job, nor his friendships; rather, literally, He turned the captivity of Job. A man may be poor, sick, and friendless without being captive. Yet until Job had a revelation of God; until he humbled himself before God; until he brought atonement to his friends and prayed for them, he was still in captivity.
iii. This happened after Job's relationship with his friends was restored (when he prayed for his friends). It would have been a weak restoration if Job's relationship with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar remained as contentious and bitter as it was during their debate.
b. Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house: Job was once an outcast, even from his own family (as described in Job 19:13-14). Now these relationships were restored.
i. It is interesting to notice that they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him, and this was even after his losses were restored, his captivity was released. "It is worth dwelling on the fact that, even when everything is set right, Job still feels the hurt of his losses, and needs human comfort for them." (Andersen)
ii. They also gave him generous gifts (a piece of silver and each a ring of gold); probably more to honor his greatness than to make it. "Partly to make up his former losses, and partly as a testimony of their honourable respect to him." (Poole)
3. (42:12-17) The happy end to the story of Job.
12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job's daughters; and their father gave them inheritances among their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man and full of days.
a. Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning: In the beginning of the story of Job we find a blessed and godly man; at the end of the Book of Job we find a man more blessed and more godly. In the end, all the attack of Satan served to make Job a more blessed and more godly man.
i. "Our sorrows shall have an end when God has gotten his end in them. The ends in the case of Job were these, that Satan might be defeated, foiled with his own weapons, blasted in his hopes when he had everything his own way." (Spurgeon)
ii. Job had doubled his possessions under the blessing of God and doubled his children also. "Job had the number of his children doubled; for they are ours still whom we have sent to heaven before us." (Trapp)
iii. We can also see, as Mason suggests, this chapter as an example of the work of revival.
· God's people are convicted of their sin (I abhor myself).
· God's people are broken and repentant (repent in dust and ashes).
· God speaks to hard hearts and they listen (the LORD said to Eliphaz).
· God's people pray for others and God answers (Job shall pray for you).
· God's people obey God (Eliphaz... Bildad... and Zophar... went and did as the Lord commanded them).
· God's people are united and jubilant (all his brothers, all his sisters... came to him and ate food with him in his house).
· God's people are blessed (the LORD blessed).
b. He also had seven sons and three daughters: Nothing could replace the children Job so tragically lost in Job 1; yet these ten children were of true consolation. It also is some evidence that Job's relationship with his wife was restored to goodness as before.
i. The daughters of Job were also uniquely blessed, noted as being beautiful, and having an inheritance among their brothers. There was, no doubt, some connection between Job's godly conduct as a family man (Job 31:1-4; 31:9-12) and this blessing on his daughters.
ii. The names of the daughters of Job are of some interest.
· Jemimah: "Turtledove" or "Day-bright."
· Keziah: "Cinnamon" or "Cassia," a fragrant scent.
· Keren-Happuch: "A Jar of Eye Paint" or "Horn of Beauty"; the idea was that she was so beautiful that she needed no cosmetics.
c. Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations... Job died, old and full of days: Job's life ended long and blessed. He was well rewarded as a warrior who won a great battle for God's glory.
i. According to Adam Clarke, the idea behind full of days is that Job died when he was "satisfied with this life." "Job is now as willing to die as ever he was to dine; he is satisfied with days, saith the text, not as meat loathed, but as a dish, though well liked, that he had fed his full of." (Trapp)
ii. "The greatest, the most important purposes were accomplished by this trial. Job became a much better man than he ever was before; the dispensations of God's providence were illustrated and justified; Satan's devices unmasked; patience crowned and rewarded; and the church of God greatly enriched by having bequeathed to it the vast treasury of divine truth which is found in the Book of Job." (Clarke)
iii. "In this great Book there is no solution of problems. There is a great revelation. It is that God may call men into fellowship with Himself through suffering; and that the strength of the human soul is ever that of the knowledge of God." (Morgan)
iv. "We are not all like Job, but we all have Job's God. Though we have neither risen to Job's wealth, nor will, probably, ever sink to Job's poverty, yet there is the same God above us if we be high, and the same God with his everlasting arms beneath us if we be brought low; and what the Lord did for Job he will do for us, not precisely in the same form, but in the same spirit, and with like design." (Spurgeon)
