It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.
Parallel Translations
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It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.
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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.
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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.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Job 42:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 11:5-6 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you, that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.
- Job 32:2-3 Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God. Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
- Job 32:5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was kindled.
- Job 2:11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.
- Job 4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
- Psalms 51:4 Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
- Job 8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (23 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Who had a good cause, but handled it evil.
Who had a good cause, but handled it evil.
You took in hand an evil cause, in that you condemned him by his outward afflictions, and not comforted him with my mercies.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 42:7 And it was [so], that after the…
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].
Ver. 7. And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job] And Job those other again to God, it soon repented the Lord concerning his servant. Pro magno delicto parum supplicii saris est patri, A little punishment is enough to a loving father for a great fault (Terent.). "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord, … for (alas) they have received of my hand double for all their sins," Isa 40:1-2. So it seemed to him who is all heart, and who in all their afflictions is equally afflicted. God weeps on his people’s necks tears of compassion; they weep at God’s feet tears of compunction. Oh beautiful contention!
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The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite] Because he was the oldest man, of greatest authority, and he that passed the heaviest censures upon Job, doing enough to have driven him into desperation.
My wrath is kindled ayainst thee] Thus God passeth not sentence on Job’s side till he had first angrily repressed and reprehended those three friends of his, who had assailed him without all right and reason. Let God’s servants hold out faith and patience; sooner or later they shall be righted.
And against thy two friends] Bildad and Zophar who stuck so close to thee, and chimed in with thee, against a better man than any of you all. As for Elihu, he is neither commended here nor condemned. He spake well for the main, but many times took Job at the worst, and misconstrued his speeches. He is therefore punished (as ambassadors are used to be when they commit indecencies) with silence, which is the way royal to correct a wrong. The other three had great cause to be much troubled and terrified at that short, but sharpest speech, of God, My wrath is kindled against you; for, Who knoweth the power of God’s wrath? saith David, Psa 90:11. It is as the messenger of death and harbinger of hell. God never said so much to Job in all those long and large speeches he made unto him, for he knew that milder words would do, and he loveth not to over do.
Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox.
By the way observe, that although these three had offended more than Job, yet he was afflicted, and they escaped free. Judgment beginneth at God’s house; neither have any out of hell ever suffered more than those worthies of whom the world was not worthy, Heb 11:38
For ye have not spoken the thing that is right] 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 respect, and were much biassed in their discourses. Hypocrites and heretics (saith Gregory here) seem unto men more righteous; but God accepteth them not for all their plausible pleas and specious pretences. Luk 16:15, "Ye are they," said our Saviour to the Pharisees, "which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."
As my servant Job hath] They also were God’s servants, but because they had lent Satan their service against Job, and drawn from him many passionate speeches, they are for a punishment set by after a sort; as David was also when he had numbered the people, 2Sa 24:12, "Go and say unto David." Now it is plain David, who was wont to be my servant David, 2Sa 7:5. That Job is called God’s servant (and that emphatically and exclusively) is a very great honour done him upon his repentance; and the like was done to David and Peter.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain To Eliphaz the Temanite; as the eldest of the…
To Eliphaz the Temanite; as the eldest of the three, and because he spoke first, and by his evil example led the rest into the same mistakes and miscarriages.
Thy two friends, to wit, Bildad and Zophar, who are not excused, but severely reproved, although they, were drawn into the sin by Eliphaz’s authority and influence. Elihu is not here reproved, because he dealt more justly and mercifully with Job, and did not condemn his person, but only rebuke his sinful expressions.
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As my servant Job hath; either,
1. As Job hath now spoken: you have not acknowledged your errors as he hath done. Or rather,
2. As Job did in his discourses with you; which is not to be understood simply and absolutely, (as is manifest from God’s censure upon Job for his hard and evil speeches of him,) but comparatively, because Job was not so much to be blamed as they; partly, because his opinion concerning the methods of God’s providence, and the indifferency and promiscuousness of its dispensations towards good and bad men, was truer than theirs, which was that God did generally reward good men and punish sinners in this life; partly, because their misbelief of God’s counsels and dealings with men was attended with horrid uncharitableness and cruelty towards Job, whom they wounded with bitter and injurious speeches, and condemned as a hypocrite, not only without sufficient evidence, as not being able to search his heart, but upon false and frivolous grounds, to wit, his sore afflictions, and against many evidences of piety which Job had given; and partly, because Job’s heavy pressures might easily cloud and darken his mind, and draw forth his impatience and passionate speeches; which although it did not wholly excuse Job, yet did certainly much extenuate his offences; whereas they were under no such temptations or provocations, either from God or from Job, but voluntarily broke forth into their hard, and severe, and untrue expressions concerning God’s counsels and Job’s conditions, thereby adding affliction to him whom God did sorely afflict, which was most unfriendly and inhuman.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Job, in his discourses, had complained very much of…
Job, in his discourses, had complained very much of the censures of his friends and their hard usage of him, and had appealed to God as Judge between him and them, and thought it hard that judgment was not immediately given upon the appeal. While God was catechising Job out of the whirlwind one would have thought that he only was in the wrong, and that the cause would certainly go against him; but here, to our great surprise, we find it quite otherwise, and the definitive sentence given in Job's favour. Wherefore judge nothing before the time. Those who are truly righteous before God may have their righteousness clouded and eclipsed by great and uncommon afflictions, by the severe censures of men, by their own frailties and foolish passions, by the sharp reproofs of the word and conscience, and the deep humiliation of their own spirits under the sense of God's terrors; and yet, in due time, these clouds shall all blow over, and God will bring forth their righteousness as the light and their judgment as the noon-day, Psa 37:6. He cleared Job's righteousness here, because he, like an honest man, held it fast and would not let it go. We have here,
I. Judgment given against Job's three friends, upon the controversy between them and Job. Elihu is not censured here, for he distinguished himself from the rest in the management of the dispute, and acted, not as a party, but as a moderator; and moderation will have its praise with God, whether it have with men or no. In the judgment here given Job is magnified and his three friends are mortified. While we were examining the discourses on both sides we could not discern, and therefore durst not determine, who was in the right; something of truth we thought they both had on their side, but we could not cleave the hair between them; nor would we, for all the world, have had to give the decisive sentence upon the case, lest we should have determined wrong. But it is well that the judgment is the Lord's, and we are sure that his judgment is according to truth; to it we will refer ourselves, and by it we will abide. Now, in the judgment here given,
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1. Job is greatly magnified and comes off with honour. He was but one against three, a beggar now against three princes, and yet, having God on his side, he needed not fear the result, though thousands set themselves against him. Observe here, (1.) When God appeared for him: After the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, Job 42:7. After he had convinced and humbled him, and brought him to repentance for what he had said amiss, then he owned him in what he had said well, comforted him, and put honour upon him; not till then: for we are not ready for God's approbation till we judge and condemn ourselves; but then he thus pleaded his cause, for he that has torn will heal us, he that has smitten will bind us. The Comforter shall convince, Joh 16:8. See in what method we are to expect divine acceptance; we must first be humbled under divine rebukes. After God, by speaking these words, had caused grief, he returned and had compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies; for he will not contend for ever, but will debate in measure, and stay his rough wind in the day of his east wind. Now that Job had humbled himself God exalted him. True penitents shall find favour with God, and what they have said and done amiss shall no more be mentioned against them. Then God is well pleased with us when we are brought to abhor ourselves. (2.) How he appeared for him. It is taken for granted that all his offences are forgiven; for if he be dignified, as we find he is here, no doubt he is justified. Job had sometimes intimated, with great assurance, that God would clear him at last, and he was not made ashamed of the hope. [1.] God calls him again and again his servant Job, four times in two verses, and he seems to take a pleasure in calling him so, as before his troubles (Job 1:8), "Hast thou considered my servant Job? Though he is poor and despised, he is my servant notwithstanding, and as dear to me as when he was in prosperity. Though he has his faults, and has appeared to be a man subject to like passions as others, though he has contended with me, has gone about to disannul my judgment, and has darkened counsel by words without knowledge, yet he sees his error and retracts it, and therefore he is my servant Job still." If we still hold fast the integrity and fidelity of servants to God, as Job did, though we may for a time be deprived of the credit and comfort of the relation, we shall be restored to it at last, as he was. The devil had undertaken to prove Job a hypocrite, and his three friends had condemned him as a wicked man; but God will acknowledge those whom he accepts, and will not suffer them to be run down by the malice of hell or earth. If God says, Well done, good and faithful servant, it is of little consequence who says otherwise. [2.] He owns that he had spoken of him the thing that was right, beyond what his antagonists had done. He had given a much better and truer account of the divine Providence than they had done. They had wronged God by making prosperity a mark of the true church and affliction a certain indication of God's wrath; but Job had done him right by maintaining that God's love and hatred are to be judged of by what is in men, not by what is before them, Ecc 9:1. Observe, First, Those do the most justice to God and his providence who have an eye to the rewards and punishments of another world more than to those of this, and with the prospect of those solve the difficulties of the present administration. Job had referred things to the future judgment, and the future state, more than his friends had done, and therefore he spoke of God that which was right, better than his friends had done. Secondly, Though Job had spoken some things amiss, even concerning God, whom he made too bold with, yet he is commended for what he spoke that was right. We must not only not reject that which is true and good, but must not deny it its due praise, though there appear in it a mixture of human frailty and infirmity. Thirdly, Job was in the right, and his friends were in the wrong, and yet he was in pain and they were at ease - a plain evidence that we cannot judge of men and their sentiments by looking in their faces or purses. He only can do it infallibly who sees men's hearts. [3.] He will pass his word for Job that, notwithstanding all the wrong his friends had done him, he is so good a man, and of such a humble, tender, forgiving spirit, that he will very readily pray for them, and use his interest in heaven on their behalf: "My servant Job will pray for you. I know he will. I have pardoned him, and he has the comfort of pardon, and therefore he will pardon you." [4.] He appoints him to be the priest of this congregation, and promises to accept him and his mediation for his friends. "Take your sacrifices to my servant Job, for him will I accept." Those whom God washes from their sins he makes to himself kings and priests. True penitents shall not only find favour as petitioners for themselves, but be accepted as intercessors for others also. It was a great honour that God hereby put upon Job, in appointing him to offer sacrifice for his friends, as formerly he used to do for his own children, Job 1:5. And a happy presage it was of his restoration to his prosperity again, and indeed a good step towards it, that he was thus restored to the priesthood. Thus he became a type of Christ, through whom alone we and our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God; see Pe1 2:5. "Go to my servant Job, to my servant Jesus" (from whom for a time he hid his face), "put your sacrifices into his hand, make use of him as your Advocate, for him will I accept, but, out of him, you must expect to be dealt with according to your folly." And, as Job prayed and offered sacrifice for those that had grieved and wounded his spirit, so Christ prayed and died for his persecutors, and ever lives making intercession for the transgressors.
2. Job's friends are greatly mortified, and come off with disgrace. They were good men and belonged to God, and therefore he would not let them lie still in their mistake any more than Job, but, having humbled him by a discourse out of the whirlwind, he takes another course to humble them. Job, who was dearest to him, was first chidden, but the rest in their turn. When they heard Job talked to, it is probable, they flattered themselves with a conceit that they were in the right and Job was in all the fault, but God soon took them to task, and made them know the contrary. In most disputes and controversies there is something amiss on both sides, either in the merits of the cause or in the management, if not in both; and it is fit that both sides should be told of it, and made to see their errors. God addresses this to Eliphaz, not only as the senior, but as the ringleader in the attack made upon Job. Now, (1.) God tells them plainly that they had not spoken of him the thing that was right, like Job, that is, they had censured and condemned Job upon a false hypothesis, had represented God fighting against Job as an enemy when really he was only trying him as a friend, and this was not right. Those do not say well of God who represent his fatherly chastisements of his own children as judicial punishments and who cut them off from his favour upon the account of them. Note, It is a dangerous thing to judge uncharitably of the spiritual and eternal state of others, for in so doing we may perhaps condemn those whom God has accepted, which is a great provocation to him; it is offending his little ones, and he takes himself to be wronged in all the wrongs that are done to them. (2.) He assures them he was angry with them: My wrath is kindled against thee and thy two friends. God is very angry with those who despise and reproach their brethren, who triumph over them, and judge hardly of them, either for their calamities or for their infirmities. Though they were wise and good men, yet, when they spoke amiss, God was angry with them and let them know that he was. (3.) He requires from them a sacrifice, to make atonement for what they had said amiss. They must bring each of them seven bullocks, and each of them seven rams, to be offered up to God for a burnt-offering; for it should seem that, before the law of Moses, all sacrifices, even those of atonement, were wholly burnt, and therefore were so called. They thought they had spoken wonderfully well, and that God was beholden to them for pleading his cause and owed them a good reward for it; but they are told that, on the contrary, he is displeased with them, requires from them a sacrifice, and threatens that, otherwise, he will deal with them after their folly. God is often angry at that in us which we are ourselves proud of and sees much amiss in that which we think was done well. (4.) He orders them to go to Job, and beg of him to offer their sacrifices, and pray for them, otherwise they should not be accepted. By this God designed, [1.] To humble them and lay them low. They thought that they only were the favourites of Heaven, and that Job had no interest there; but God gives them to understand that he had a better interest there than they had, and stood fairer for God's acceptance than they did. The day may come when those who despise and censure God's people will court their favour, and be made to know that God has loved them, Rev 3:9. The foolish virgins will beg oil of the wise. [2.] To oblige them to make their peace with Job, as the condition of their making their peace with God. If thy brother has aught against thee (as Job had a great deal against them), first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift. Satisfaction must first be made for wrong done, according as the nature of the thing requires, before we can hope to obtain from God the forgiveness of sin. See how thoroughly God espoused the cause of his servant Job and engaged in it. God will not be reconciled to those that have offended Job till they have first begged his pardon and he be reconciled to them. Job and his friends had differed in their opinion about many things, and had been too keen in their reflections one upon another, but now they were to be made friends; in order to that, they are not to argue the matter over again and try to give it a new turn (that might be endless), but they must agree in a sacrifice and a prayer, and that must reconcile them: they must unite in affection and devotion when they could not concur in the same sentiments. Those who differ in judgments about minor things are yet one in Christ the great sacrifice, and meet at the same throne of grace, and therefore ought to love and bear with one another. Once more, observe, When God was angry with Job's friends, he did himself put them in a way to make their peace with him. Our quarrels with God always begin on our part, but the reconciliation begins on his.
II. The acquiescence of Job's friends in this judgment given, Job 42:9. They were good men, and, as soon as they understood what the mind of the Lord was, they did as he commanded them, and that speedily and without gainsaying, though it was against the grain to flesh and blood to court him thus whom they had condemned. Note, Those who would be reconciled to God must carefully use the prescribed means and methods of reconciliation. Peace with God is to be had only in his own way and upon his own terms, and they will never seem hard to those who know how to value the privilege, but they will be glad of it upon any terms, though ever so humbling. Job's friends had all joined in accusing Job, and now they join in begging his pardon. Those that have sinned together should repent together. Those that appeal to God, as both Job and his friends had often done, must resolve to stand by his award, whether pleasing or unpleasing to their own mind. And those that conscientiously observe God's commands need not doubt of his favour: The Lord also accepted Job, and his friends in answer to his prayer. It is not said, He accepted them (though that is implied), but, He accepted Job for them; so he has made us accepted in the beloved, Eph 1:6; Mat 3:17. Job did not insult over his friends upon the testimony God had given concerning him, and the submission they were obliged to make to him; but, God being graciously reconciled to him, he was easily reconciled to them, and then God accepted him. This is that which we should aim at in all our prayers and services, to be accepted of the Lord; this must be the summit of our ambition, not to have praise of men, but to please God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks, and seven…
Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks, and seven rams,.... Creatures used in sacrifice before the giving of the Levitical law, Gen 4:4; and the same number of the same creatures were offered by Balaam in the country of Moab, not far from where Job lived, nor at any great distance of time from his age, Num 23:1; and among the Gentiles in later times (q). And these were typical of Christ, being strong creatures, especially the bullocks, and which were used for labour; and the number seven may point at the perfection of Christ's sacrifice; to which these men were directed in their sacrifices to look for the complete atonement of their sins: now though they were not at their own dwellings, and could not take these out of their own herds and flocks, and Job had none, yet they could purchase them of others; and which having done, they are bid to do as follows:
and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; that is, by Job, who was to offer it for them in their name, and at whose hands the Lord would accept it, and for his sake. Job, as the head and master of his family, was wont to sacrifice, as every such man did before the Aaronic priesthood took place, Job 1:5. Now this was doing Job a great deal of honour, both by calling him his servant, as before in Job 42:7, and twice more in this; which was plainly giving the cause on his side; confirming the character he always bore, and still retained; and declaring he had other thoughts of him than his friends had; as well by sending them to him with their sacrifices to offer for them; which was saying, that they had sinned, and must offer sacrifice, and that Job was in the right; and therefore must offer the sacrifice for them. This was putting them on a great piece of self-denial; that men, who were older than Job, great personages, heads of families, and who had been wont to offer sacrifices in them, yet are now sent to Job to offer them for them; a man now in mean circumstances, and who in they had treated with great contempt; and he in his turn had used them as roughly. And it was also a trial of Job's grace, and of his forgiving spirit, to do this for them, and pray to God on their behalf: and the Lord's design in it was, to exercise the graces of them both, and to reconcile them to one another, and to himself;
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and my servant Job shall pray for you; that their sacrifice might be accepted, and their sin pardoned. In this Job was a type of Christ, as he was in many other things; see the notes on Job 16:9. There is an agreement in his name; Job, whether it signifies love or hatred, desired or hated, in both ways the etymology of it is given; it agrees with Christ, who is beloved of God and man, and the desire of all nations; who hates iniquity, and was hated for his inveighing against it. Job was a type of him in his threefold state; before his low estate, in it, and after it; see Phi 2:6. In his temptations by Satan, and sufferings from men; and particularly in his office as a priest, who both offered himself a sacrifice for his people, and offers their services and sacrifices of prayer and praise to God; and who prayed for his disciples, and for all the Father has given him, for transgressors and sinners, and even for his enemies that used him ill;
for him will I accept; or his face, that is, hear his prayer, and grant what is asked by him; as well as accept his sacrifice;
lest I deal with you after your folly; as all sin is, being committed against God, a breach of his law, and injurious to men themselves; see Deu 32:6. Though here it seems to be restrained to their particular sin and folly in their dispute with Job; want of wisdom in them was discerned by Elihu, Job 32:7. So it follows:
in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job; and if by neglect of his advice, which would have been another instance of their folly, they had provoked the Lord to deal with them as their sin deserved, it must have gone hard with them. The Targum is,
"lest I should do with you "what would be" a reproach''
(or disgrace); would put them to shame, and make them appear ignominious to men; as by stripping them of their substance and honour, and reducing them to the condition Job was in.
(q) "----Septem mactare juvencos", &c. Virgil. Aeneid. 6. v. 38, 39.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Eliphaz - As the eldest of the three, and…
Eliphaz - As the eldest of the three, and because he spoke first, and by his example led the rest into the same miscarriages. Two friends - Elihu is not here reproved, because he dealt more mercifully with Job, and did not condemn his person, but only rebuked his sinful expressions. Ye have not, &c. - This is not to be understood absolutely, but comparatively. Job was not so much to be blamed as they, because his opinion concerning the methods of God's providence, and the indifferency of its dispensations towards good and bad men was truer than theirs, which was, that God did always reward good men and punish sinners in this life.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. After the Lord had spoken these words]…
Verse 7. After the Lord had spoken these words] Those recorded at Job 40:7-14; he said to Eliphaz, who was the eldest of the three friends, and chief speaker: Ye have not spoken of me - right. Mr. Peters observes, "It will be difficult to find any thing in the speeches of Eliphaz and his companions which should make the difference here supposed, if we set aside the doctrine of a future state; for in this view the others would speak more worthily of God than Job, by endeavouring to vindicate his providence in the exact distribution of good and evil in this life: whereas Job's assertion, Job 9:22, 'This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked,' which is the argument on which he all along insists, would, upon this supposition, be directly charging God that he made no distinction between the good and the bad. But now, take the other life into the account, and the thing will appear in quite a contrary light; and we shall easily see the reason why God approves of the sentiments of Job, and condemns those of his friends. For supposing the friends of Job to argue that the righteous are never afflicted without remedy here, nor the wicked prosperous on the whole in this life, which is a wrong representation of God's providence; and Job to argue, on the other hand, that the righteous are sometimes afflicted here, and that without remedy, but shall be rewarded in the life to come; and that the wicked prosper here, but shall be punished hereafter, which is the true representation of the Divine proceedings; and here is a very apparent difference in the drift of the one's discourse, and of the others'. For Job, in this view, speaks worthily of God, and the rest unworthily. The best moral argument that mankind have ever had to believe in a life to come, is that which Job insists on - that good and evil are, for the most part, dealt out here promiscuously. On the contrary, the topic urged by his friends, and which they push a great deal too far, that God rewards and punishes in this world, tends, in its consequences, like that other opinion which was held by the stoics in after times, that virtue is its own reward, to sap the very foundation of that proof we have, from reason, of another life. No wonder, therefore, that the sentiments of the one are approved, and those of the other condemned."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 42:7. After the Lord had spoken these words…
Job 42:7. After the Lord had spoken these words unto Job — Jehovah, having confounded all the false reasonings of Job, and sufficiently humbled his pride, now proceeds to the condemnation of the principle upon which his three friends had proceeded in all their speeches, which principle he declares not to be right. The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite — God addresses him, because he was the eldest of the three, had spoken first, and by his example had led the rest into the same mistake which he himself had committed; My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends — Elihu is not hre reproved, because he had dealt more mercifully with Job than these three had done, and had not condemned his person, but only rebuked his sinful expressions; for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right — Because they had laid it down as a certain maxim, that all (without exception) who were afflicted with such grievous calamities as Job was, must needs be under the wrath of God, as being guilty of some notorious crime; and that all who passed through life in prosperity must needs be accounted as righteous in the sight of God: whereas God wills that we should know he does not judge of men according to their condition in this life, but according to their spirit and conduct; and should always be assured that he is averse to the wicked, however prosperous they may be, and always approves of and regards the righteous, whatever afflictions they may suffer; because the divine wisdom and goodness often see most wise reasons, which we cannot comprehend, why the righteous should struggle with adversities even all their life long, and the wicked have every outward and temporal good through the whole course of their lives. As my servant Job hath — What Job said may be reduced to three principal heads: 1st, He maintained that he was innocent, that is, that he was guilty of no flagrant crime, which should be the cause of his being afflicted more grievously than others; and this was nothing more than the truth. 2d, He maintained that though God often inflicted exemplary punishment on the wicked, and remarkably prospered the righteous; yet sometimes he suffered the righteous to be in affliction and trouble, and the wicked to flourish; which cannot be denied to be often the case. 3d, We find Job, notwithstanding his great afflictions, still holding fast and professing his confidence in the divine goodness. These, then, being the assertions which Job had made, and these not being repugnant to, but according with, the ways of divine providence, God approved of them rather than of what his friends had advanced, who were in an error as to their notions of God’s counsels and dispensations. However, we are not to conclude from this expression that God approved of all that Job had said; for, without doubt, being too sensibly affected with the severity of his afflictions, particularly when the false and uncharitable surmises of his friends were added to them, he sometimes had spoken less reverently of God than he ought to have done, and for this the Lord had severely reproved him.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And it was so, that after the Lord had…
And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job - Had the matter been left according to the record in Job 42:6, a wholly erroneous impression would have been made. Job was overwhelmed with the conviction of his guilt, and had nothing been said to his friends, the impression would have been that he was wholly in the wrong. It was important, therefore, and was indeed essential to the plan of the book, that the divine judgment should be pronounced on the conduct of his three friends.
The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite - Eliphaz had been uniformly first in the argument with Job, and hence, he is particularly addressed here. He seems to have been the most aged and respectable of the three friends, and in fact the speeches of the others are often a mere echo of his.
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My wrath is kindled - Wrath, or anger, is often represented as enkindled, or burning.
For ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath - This must be understood comparatively. God did not approve of all that Job had said, but the meaning is, that his general views of his government were just. The main position which he had defended in contradistinction from his friends was correct, for his arguments tended to vindicate the divine character, and to uphold the divine government. It is to be remembered, also, as Bouiller has remarked, that there was a great difference in the circumstances of Job and the three friends - circumstances modifying the degrees of blameworthiness chargeable to each. Job uttered indeed, some improper sentiments about God and his government; he expressed himself with irreverence and impatience; he used a language of boldness and complaint wholly improper, but this was done in the agony of mental and bodily suffering, and when provoked by the severe and improper charges of hypocrisy brought by his friends. What “they” said, on the contrary, was unprovoked. It was when they were free from suffering, and when they were urged to it by no severity of trial. It was, moreover, when every consideration required them to express the language of condolence, and to comfort a suffering friend.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Two friends. It is astonishing that Eliu is not…
Two friends. It is astonishing that Eliu is not also reprehended, as he was no better than the rest. Some answer, that god had passed sentence upon him first. Others maintain, that he spoke with greater dignity of God’s judgments, and that his ignorance was blameless; while others remark, that he was connected with some of the three friends, or only came accidentally to enter into the debate. God gives sentence in favour of Job, though with some reproof for his manner of speaking. --- As. They had maintained false doctrines, and shewed a want of due respect and compassion for their friend; (Tirinus) whereas Job’s assertions were true. (Calmet) --- How then can he be accused of denying the divine justice, or of speaking disrespectfully of Providence? God seemed to interrogate him on this account, though he approved of his sentiments, because some might draw such inferences from his words as all his friends did. But Job entertained no such ideas. He was not guilty of such folly, ver. 8. Septuagint, "Thou hast sinned, and thy two friends, for you have spoken in my presence nothing true like my servant Job."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 1. Glorious vindication of Job before his friends: Job_42:7-10
HISTORICAL CONCLUSION
Job_42:7-17
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1. Glorious vindication of Job before his friends: Job_42:7-10
7And it was so, that, after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord saidto 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. 8Therefore 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 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 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.
2. The restoration of his former dignity and honor: Job_42:11-12.
11Then 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 ear-ring of gold. 12So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.
3. The doubling of his former prosperity in respect to his earthly possessions and his offspring: Job_42:12 b—17
12b For he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 13He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. 15And in all the land were nowomen found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them an inheritance 16among their brethren. After this Job lived an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. 17So Job died being old and full of days.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The inward restoration of Job, his deliverance from the errors which had beclouded his heart and his knowledge, and his penitent submission under God’s righteous and gracious will, is immediately followed by his outward restoration and redemption, This comes to pass in immediate connection with the sharp rebuke which God visits upon them because of their unreasonably harsh condemnation of Job, and also in connection with the brotherly intercession which Job offers in their behalf, thus heaping coals of fire on their head. The brilliant vindication, which the sorely understood man thus enjoys, is accompanied by the not less brilliant restoration of his external prosperity, as the result of which he is permitted even in this life, sooner therefore and more gloriously than he had dared to hope, to behold God as his Redeemer, and to taste in all its fulness His rewarding grace and taste in all its fulness His rewarding grace and mercy. As this conclusion of the whole matter carries us back, in respect to the facts, to the Introduction (Job_1:1 seq.), so also does the external form of the introductory narrative here reappear; the lofty poetic style gives place again to simple prose, as the only medium suitable to the simple but weighty facts, in which the hero’s destiny is accomplished.
2. The vindication of Job, together with the divine rebuke of the three friends: Job_42:7-10. And it came to pass, after that Jehovah, etc.אַחַר אֲשֶׁר=אַהַר, and so conjunctional, as in Lev_14:43. God addresses Eliphaz in particular, as the spokesman, and leader of the three, who shaped their opinions. For ye have not spoken of me that which is right, as my servant Job. נְכוֹנָה signifies not that which is subjectively true, i.e., honest, upright (Ewald, Hirzel, Schlottmann), but that which is objectively true, right (directum), comp. the ἀληθές of the LXX.). In respect to this objective truth, pertaining to facts, the friends in their speeches had either erred or kept silence, inasmuch as they had persistently refused to recognize Job’s essential innocence, his freedom from sins of the graver sort, and had assiduously endeavored to brand him as a heinous sinner. Job, on the contrary, had maintained that which was objectively true, comparatively at least, and in substance, inasmuch as he had retained the consciousness of his innocence, and the sense of God’s nearness in the heat of his trials. God accordingly solemnly recognizes him as “His servant” (comp. Job_1:8; Job_2:3), and fulfils literally the wish uttered by Job (Job_16:21) that he would “do justice to a man before God and his friends.”
Job_42:8. And now take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams.—The same kind and number of animals for sacrifice as in Num_23:1; comp. also the use of the number seven above in Job_1:2; and see Introd., § 2, near the end. On אֵלִים, defectively written for אֵילִים, comp. Ewald, § 15, b.—עוֹלָה בַּעַדְכֶם, “a burnt-offering for you,” i, e., to atone for you; comp. Job_1:5.—Only to him will I have regard—lit. “only (כִּי אִם, comp. Ewald, § 356) his person will I lift up, will I regard favorably,” comp. Gen_19:21. Job’s essential innocence, purity, and irreproachableness could not be more strongly declared and confirmed, in opposition to the petty suspicions of the friends than by thus commissioning him to be a priestly mediator and interceder in behalf of the three who had incurred the divine disfavor, and by thus directly verifying what Eliphaz had promised him in Job_22:30 (comp. also Abraham’s intercession for Abimelech: Gen_20:7; Gen_20:17).—That I visit not upon you the folly: lit. “that I may not do (fulfil) for you folly,” i.e. the punishment of your folly; נְבָלָה here means “reward, punishment of the folly,” in like manner as חַטָּאת or עַוֹן signifies the penalty of sin.—For ye have not spoken in respect to me that which is right, like my servant Job.—Some MSS. exhibit both here and in the 7th verse, where the same words occur, the reading: “against my servant Job” (בְּעַבְדִּי instead of כְּֽעַבְדִּי); and so the Sept. also here: κατὰ τοῦ θεράποντός μου Ἰώβ. This change of the text is manifestly, however, an intentional correction in both cases.
Job_42:9. Then went Eliphaz, etc. The ו, which is wanting before צֹפַר, is supplied by some MSS., but without any necessity; see Ewald, § 349 a, 2. [Schultens on the contents of the ver.—stupenda conversio rerum!]
Job_42:10. And Jehovah turned the captivity of Job.—Thus are Job’s past sufferings described, in accordance with the representation which he himself has often given of them as a state of captivity or imprisonment; comp. Job_7:12; Job_13:27, etc.; also the familiar Pauline expression: “I, a prisoner in the Lord” (Eph_3:1; Eph_4:1, etc.) Taken by itself, this phrase שׁוּב שְׁבוּת signifies neither here nor elsewhere, where it occurs (as in particular in the Messianic promises of many prophets) “to turn the imprisonment of any one,” but only “to turn the turning, to cause an unfortunate turn of affairs to be succeeded by a fortunate one, which puts an end to the former.” So Symmachus on this passage: ἐπέστρεψε τὴν ἀποστροφὴν τοῦ ’Ιώβ; and so also the remaining versions outside the Targum. It might therefore be translated: “and Jehovah turned the misery of Job.” When he prayed for his friends.—So correctly Delitzsch, Dillmann, etc.—not “because he prayed” (as commonly explained), or “in return for his praying” (Hirzel). For בְּ before הִתְפַּלְלוֹ can express only the idea of simultaneousness (“while, during”); and there is deep significance in the fact that the moment when his disease departs from him is the very moment when, as regards his friends, he completely forgives and forgets, notwithstanding they had so grievously injured him. The original text properly reads in the sing.: “for his friend” (בְּעַד רֵעֵהוּ), which sing., however, is to be understood generally, as in Job_16:21; comp. Job_12:4.—And Jehovah increased all that Job had twofold;לִמִשְׁנֶה, comp. Isa_61:7, and the still stronger word πολλαπλασίονα (referring indeed to the eternal recompense hereafter) in Luk_18:30. The description which follows sets forth how this doubling of his former possessions (which of course is not to be pressed throughout with literal exactness) was carried out in detail.
3. The restoration and (partial) doubling of Job’s former prosperity (Job_42:11-17). Job_42:11 and Job_42:12 a narrate first of all the restoration of his former honor, authority and dignity.—Then came there unto him all his brethren, etc.; all those persons accordingly, of whose cold, heartless withdrawal from him he had reason to complain so bitterly in his misery; comp. Job_19:13 seq. (from which passage also the term יֹדְעָיו, used here, is derived).—And they gave him each a kesita, and each a ring of gold.—to wit, a ring for the ear or the nose (נֶזֶם), which according to Exo_32:3 was a favorite ornament of both men and women; comp. Gen_24:22. The קְשִׂיטָה is a piece of gold of the patriarchal age, which, besides this passage, is mentioned only in Gen_33:19 and Jos_24:32, signifying according to the ancient Versions a “lamb,” but according to the later, and perhaps the better founded etymology a “piece weighed out.” Its value, it would seem, was four times that of the shekel (comp. Gen_33:19 with Job_23:10). At any rate it is a gold coin representing a higher value than the shekel of a later period, and hence not very accurately translated by Luther a “beautiful groschen” [nor with sufficient precision by E. V. “a piece of money”]. F. Münter’s Prog. über d. Kesitah (Copenhagen, 1824), in which a Cyprian coin, with a lamb engraved on it, is erroneously identified with the old Hebrew Kesitah, presents a view that is antiquated, and to be used only with caution. [Carey also favors the view that it was a weight in the form of a lamb, like the bull’s heads of Egypt, and the lions and ducks of Nineveh. So also the Art. “Money” in Smith’s Bib. Dic.], In respect to the custom of bestowing presents when making a visit (either of congratulation or condolence), comp. Winer’s Realwörterb. Art. “Geschenke” [Smith’s Bib. Dic. “Gifts”].—And Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.—אַחֲרִית—רֵאשִׁית, the earlier, the later period; comp. Job_8:7.
Job_42:12 b–17 describe the doubling of Job’s former earthly possessions, to wit, in cattle (comp. Job_42:12 b with Job_1:3), and also the restitution made to him in children.
Job_42:13. And there were to him seven sons and three daughters.—In this respect accordingly there was no doubling; nevertheless according to the Old Testament view deceased children were not regarded as absolutely lost (see 2Sa_12:23), so that this new blessing of children which Job now enjoys is still to be regarded as signifying more than the simple restoration of the earlier good. The pausal form שִׁבְעָנָה is not to be treated as an error of transcription for שִׁבְעָה (Hirz., Olsh.), but with Ewald, § 269, c, as an obsolete substantive שִׁבְעָן, with an unaccented feminine ending.
Job_42:14. And the one they called [or, was called] Jemima, etc.—The subject of וַיִּקְרָא is indefinite, “one, they.” The names here mentioned accordingly are not such as were given to the daughters by the father himself, but appellations which the people of their acquaintance bestowed upon them on account of their beauty. Of these three names יְמִימָה seems to signify the “dove,” or “pure as the dove” (possibly the “dove-eyed;” comp. Son_1:15; Son_2:14; Son_4:1), unless we follow the ancient versions, and bring the word into connection with יָמִים, “days,” Arab. יְמָמָא, explaining it to mean “pure, bright as the day” (comp. Diana from dies). קְצִיעָה = cassia, is in any case “fine as the essence of cassia,” she who was “as if woven out of the fragrance of cinnamon” (Del., with a reference to Son_1:8). The third was called קֶרֶן הַפּוּךְ “paint-horn, box of ointment,” on account of her graceful nature and action, which served to heighten her natural beauty; hence the charming one, who spread her charm all about her. In respect to קֶרֶן “box, jar,” comp. 1Sa_16:1; 1Sa_16:13. On the painting of oriental women, see 2Ki_9:30; Jer_4:30; Eze_23:40; also Rosenmüller, Morgenland, IV. 269 seq.; Hartmann, Das Ideal weiblicher Schöheit, p. 35 seq., 307 seq [Smith’s Bib. Dic. Art. “Paint”].
Job_42:15. And their father gave to them their inheritance in the midst of their brethren.—This act of Job’s, which was strictly at variance with the regulations of the Mosaic law (see Num_27:8 seq.), but which has its parallel in certain family customs of the Arabs, rather than in practices specifically Hebrew, was intended to make it possible for the daughters to continue to live among their brothers even after their marriage; it is mentioned accordingly as a sign of the brotherly and sisterly concord which prevailed among these later children of Job as among the earlier (comp. Job_1:4).—The masc. endings are used in לָהֶם and אֲחֶיהֶם (referring in each case to the daughters), as in Job_39:3.
Job_42:16. And Job lived after this a hundred and forty years.—How long he had lived before this does not appear from what precedes. The LXX. arbitrarily represent him as being seventy years old at the time when his sore trial befals him, as is evident from their rendering of this passage: ὲ̓ζησεν δὲ Ιὼβ μερὰ τὴν πληγὴυ ὲ̓τη ἑκατόν ἑβδομήκοντα· τὰ δὲ πάντα ζῆ ἐτη διακόσια τεσσαράκοντα (so at least the Vatican text, while the Cod. Alex. and various other MSS. and Ed.’s add an ὀκτώ to the latter number, thus placing the πληγή in Job’s seventy-eighth year, and representing his entire age as being two hundred and forty-eight years). [“As we do not know how old he was when his affliction came upon him, we cannot precisely determine the age at which he died; but as he had previously to his affliction a family of ten children all grown up, he could not have been less than sixty or seventy years. And as in other respects God gave him twice as much as he had before, so perhaps also in this. The half, then, of one hundred and forty gives us seventy, and the two periods united make two hundred and ten, an age which unquestionably places Job in patriarchal times.” Carey].—And saw his children, and children’s children, through four generations.—Instead of וַיַּרְא the K’ri exhibits the unusual form וַיִּרְאֶה, preferred probably on account of its fuller musical tone (comp. 1Sa_17:42; Eze_18:14). As parallels in thought, comp. Gen_1:23; Pro_17:6; Psa_128:6; Tob. 9:11.
Job_42:17. And Job died old and sated with life.—The same formula is found in Genesis in recording the end of Abraham’s life, and of Isaac’s (Gen_25:8; Gen_35:29). Delitzsch strikingly: “The style of primeval history, which we here everywhere recognize, is retained to the last words.”
4. The Alexandrian Version presents after Job_42:17 the following long addition (see the same in the original, together with the more important variations in Stier and Theile’s Polyglotten-Bibel, III. 1, 604 seq.): “It is written however that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up. This man [Job] is described in [lit., interpreted out of”] the Syriac Book [Bible] (i.e., is described according to the account of the Hebrew Holy Scripture3) as living in the land of Ausis [Uz], on the borders of Idumea and Arabia; but his name before was Jobab. And he took an Arabian wife, and begat a son whose name was Ennon. But he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha (Bozra), so that he was the fifth from Abraham. And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, over which land he also ruled; first, Balac, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba (Dinhaba); but after Balac Jobab, who is called Job; and after him Asom (Chusham), who was governor out of the country of Thæman; and after him Adad (Hadad), the son of Barad, who destroyed Midian in the plain of Moab; and the name of his city was Gethaim. And the friends who came to him were Eliphaz, a son of Sophan, of the sons of Esau, king of the Themanites; Bildad, son of Ammon, the son of Chobar, sovereign of the Sauchæans (Shuhites), Sophar, king of the Minæans (Naamites). Theman, son of Eliphaz, ruler of Idumea. This one is described by [interpreted out of] the Syrian [i.e., Hebrew] Bible, as living in the land of Ausis [Uz], on the borders of the Euphrates; but his name aforetime was Jobab; but his father was Zareth, from the rising of the sun (the East).”
Here evidently we have to do with an interpolation, compiled with a good deal of confusion and recklessness out of the statements of our book and those of Genesis 36. (especially Gen_42:10; Gen_42:15; Gen_42:32-36), either by Hellenistic Jews, or possibly even by Christian hands (as Hirzel infers from the allusion to the resurrection in the introductory words). No sort of value attaches to it, and it was rejected accordingly even by Origen (Ep. ad. African.) and Jerome. Neither was it introduced into the Greek versions of Aquila and Symmachus, nor into that of Theodotion except in part, and so it has always been excluded from the authorized Latin version of the Bible.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
It has been justly remarked (Del. II. 392) that a New Testament writer would have closed our book in some other way than with the recital of an abundant temporal recompense, such as finally befel the great sufferer, of an earthly restoration and an indemnification in material possessions, and the prolongation of his life on earth; for it is certainly true that the New Testament regards the recompense of affliction and sore tribulations as belonging to the hereafter, and always points those who suffer for Christ and the Gospel to a future reward in heaven (comp. Mat_5:3; Mat_5:10-12; Mat_19:29; Mar_10:29-30; Rev_7:14, etc. It would, however, be a one-sided inference from the conclusion of the book as it stands to regard it as ministering to an external, abstract, temporal theory of retribution. Just as decidedly to be rejected as one-sided is the theory adopted by several modern expositors (comp. Introd. § 4 a), that the purpose of the book is just the opposite, to controvert—namely, the Mosaic theory of retribution, and that the contents of the epilogue, for that reason, contradict the poem proper, and that the genuineness and authenticity of the former are accordingly to be questioned (Introd. § 8). That Job, after enduring to the end a trial of suffering of inexpressible severity should be rewarded with prosperity in this life, that he should not only receive a most brilliant vindication, and be again honored, but also be most abundantly indemnified, this is, first of all, a feature of the book which is characteristic of the Israelitish nationality, which is in harmony with the spirit of the Old Testament people of God (a feature which may be compared with that truly German depth of feeling and freshness of life which is impressed on the well-known bright conclusion of the Gudrun). It is in the next place a feature which harmonizes with the spirit of the Old Testament revelation itself, which is most deeply grounded in that revelation, in which the faith of believers before the coming of Christ in the unchangeable wisdom and righteousness of God’s dealings, found one of its most glorious witnesses. This close of the narrative, indeed, has nothing to say of that which took place in heaven after Job’s victorious struggle of faith; neither does it undertake to furnish any prophetic descriptions of Job’s own entrance into the communion of the holy and the blessed in the life beyond. All the more fresh and true to nature, however, are the colors with which it pictures the restored earthly prosperity of the sufferer, and it visibly refrains from causing the wishes and hopes which Job had frequently uttered (especially in chaps. 17 and 19) for a vindication from God in the future life to be transcendently surpassed and eclipsed by the splendor of that which in part he enjoyed here on earth. Without this conclusion, the heart’s need of Old Testament believers would have found no true satisfaction; the issue of the conflict of doubt, excited by the peculiarly severe and hard to be understood visitation of Job, would have remained more or less undecided; those children of God who were limited to the anticipatory and typical fides Veteris Testamenti would not have been able to derive from the book perfect and true consolation. Nevertheless it remains no less true that the consolation ministered by the book, according to its inmost essence, is not different from the consolation of the children of God under the New Testament. The Book of Job is a genuine “Cross and Comfort Book” for us who are Christians, as well as for Old Testament believers, as surely as that it teaches unconditional submission to God’s holy will, and childlike resignation to His merciful Fatherly love as the only true source of religious blessedness and real peace of soul, and presents in Job the example of a sufferer, whose suffering has a twofold aim, on the one side to prove his innocence, on the other to tempt, i.e., to reveal his inmost secret sinfulness, who accordingly has a twofold typical significance as sufferer, being typical of Christ, who through suffering was perfected as Mediator and High-Priest of the New Covenant, and typical also of Christians, whose sufferings, like those of Job, ever present the double aspect of probational and castigational visitations of God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
In the homiletic treatment of the epilogue, special attention should be devoted to the thought last emphasized, to wit, the character of Job’s suffering, as intended both for probation, and also for chastisement or purification. The most suitable opportunity for presenting this thought will be in connection with the rebuke of the friends, which Jehovah proceeds to administer immediately after that true and complete repentance has been wrought in Job (Job_42:7-10). For it is at this point that Job’s comparative innocence is definitely declared on the one hand, at the same time that it is only where Job has been humbled in sincere heartfelt penitence, that he is solemnly pronounced righteous by God,—nay more—that it is only when in fervent brotherly love he intercedes for his opponents that his bodily suffering is removed (see on Job_42:10), wherein it is most clearly intimated that sin is to be included as one cause of his suffering. It is t this description of Job’s justification, which furnishes occasion for a concise recapitulation of the fundamental ideas of the whole dialogue, (especially of the discourses of Elihu and of God), that the practical expositor should most of all give his attention, while what is said concerning the restitution and doubling of Job’s external possessions need occupy only a secondary place.
Particular Passages
Job_42:7 seq. Brentius: The three friends spoke ill, Job well; while at the same time Job argued ill, the friends well. For the friends thought wickedly, when from the affliction they decided that God was angry, and Job wicked, although they discourse excellently concerning the omnipotence and wisdom of God. Job on the other hand speaks well when he continually affirms that afflictions had befallen him not because he had deserved them, and that they were not evidences of his wickedness, and of an angry God. But he speaks ill when he impugns God’s decree, and blasphemes God. Now since Job has a good cause as against the friends, although he sins in the management of his cause, while the friends are at fault touching the merits of his cause, the Lord pronounces sentence for Job against the friends; for He had previously rebuked his blasphemies.—V. Gerlach: Inasmuch as Job, although guilty of speaking foolishly, nevertheless gave utterance to his sense of the contradiction which tortured him, in that he retained the consciousness of his fellowship with God in the midst of his feeling of God’s wrath, he was nearer the solution of the enigma than the friends.
Job_42:10 seq. Brentius: You now see by the fact itself what is the issue of trial; for God inflicts nothing on any one in order that He may destroy him, but that He may restore much more; “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord,” etc. (Jam_5:11).—Starke: God causes the temptation of His saints to work a good end (1Co_10:13); He lays a burden on us, but He helps us again, (Psa_66:10 seq.; Psa_68:20). After the trial comes the revival; after the cry of distress the gracious hearing; after the sowing in tears the reaping in joy (Psalms 126.; Tob. 3:22) … (on Job_42:11); As the swallows depart before the winter, but return again with the summer, so is it with the friendship of men. When tribulation has been endured to the end, and when days of prosperity and abundance of riches return, friends immediately make their appearance (Sir_6:8; Sir_12:8 seq.).—V. Gerlach: It was necessary that Job should be purified inwardly from a mercenary spirit, from self-righteousness, and selfishness in its more refined forms. This having been accomplished, he now appears in possession of honor and riches, a conspicuous memorial of God’s recompensing love, recognizing all that he receives and enjoys as from God, and honoring Him far above His gifts. His life accordingly ends, having received its full completion; there remains in it nothing more that is obscure or inexplicable; it is full of promise for all God’s struggling ones under the Old Dispensation; it is a type of the Perfectly Holy One, who humbled Himself to the death of the Cross, who, although a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and who has therefore received a name which is above every name—that Jesus Christ may be Lord to the glory of God the Father.
AMEN
Footnotes:
[3]We find a help to the right explanation of the singular words οὗτος (sc. Ἰὼβ) ἑρμηνεύεται ἐκ τῆς Συριακῆς βίβλου in a remark of Olympiodorus in the Catena Patr. Græc. in l. Job, coll. Niceta, Lond., Job 1637: Συριακὴν νῦν τὴν τῶν ‘Εβραίων διάλεκτον καλεῖ. From this it appears that οὗτος refers not so much to the book of Job (Ddlm.), but also to the person of the hero, and that ἑρμηνεύεσθαι ἐκ is used in the sense of “being related, or described by.”
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain EPILOGUE, in prose. (Job 42:7-17)
EPILOGUE, in prose. (Job 42:7-17)
to Eliphaz--because he was the foremost of the three friends; their speeches were but the echo of his.
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right--literally, "well-grounded," sure and true. Their spirit towards Job was unkindly, and to justify themselves in their unkindliness they used false arguments (Job 13:7); (namely, that calamities always prove peculiar guilt); therefore, though it was "for God" they spake thus falsely, God "reproves" them, as Job said He would (Job 13:10).
as . . . Job hath--Job had spoken rightly in relation to them and their argument, denying their theory, and the fact which they alleged, that he was peculiarly guilty and a hypocrite; but wrongly in relation to God, when he fell into the opposite extreme of almost denying all guilt. This extreme he has now repented of, and therefore God speaks of him as now altogether "right."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain Historical Conclusion — Epilogue. Job_42:7-17.
Historical Conclusion — Epilogue. Job_42:7-17.
JEHOVAH’S ADDRESS TO ELIPHAZ AND HIS FRIENDS. Job_42:7-8.
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7. The Lord (Jehovah) said to Eliphaz the Temanite, etc. — While Job, penitent in dust and ashes, abhors himself, the three friends, we may imagine — like the Pharisee — contemplate themselves admiringly and Job’s repentance approvingly. The voice of God startles them from their self-complacency. That voice this time means them. They are the great offenders. They have not spoken to God that which is right. They have compromised the truth by maintaining one-sided dogma (Jesuit-like) for the glory of God. The self-righteousness with which they still tower above Job serves only to draw down the burning wrath of God.
The thing that is right — This is to be understood as predicated not of the arguments and positions maintained by Job during the course of the debate, but of the twofold confession made by Job. (Job_40:4, and Job_42:2-6.) Aben Ezra rightly deemed that the commendation “pertains solely to the confession which Job had made unto God and the others had not.” The construction of דבר (piel form) with אלי, spoken concerning me, is precisely that which in the same verse is rendered spoken unto Job, and should have been translated similarly. Yet it is not to be overlooked that the best German exegetes agree in rendering the el, concerning; with exceptions, however, such as Rosenmuller, who follows the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac in reading el, before, in the presence of, and Arnheim and Gesenius, who translate elayi, unto me. Thus also Drusius, Fry, Coleman, Tayler Lewis. The Hebrew, we think, makes this clear: for it is not what Job said of God, but אלי, unto or before (thus Noldius, p. 48) God, which he now commends. The word נכונה, nekonah, rendered right, means also that which stands fast, (Hitzig,) which agrees with the root idea of koun, “to be firm,” “to stand upright.” The same word is used of the day in Pro_4:18, and means, according to Gesenius, (Thes., p. 667,) the stable (part) of the day — “the meridian hour, when the sun seems to stand immovable on the height of the heaven.” True humility is the pedestal on which the maturest piety stands, and only can stand.
Delitzsch, with many others, renders the word nekonah, what is correct, and tamely interprets it to “consist of his having denied that affliction is always a punishment of sin, and his holding fast the consciousness of his innocence, without suffering himself to be persuaded of the opposite. That denial was correct, and this truthfulness was more precious to God than the untruthfulness of the friends who were zealous for the honour of God.”
My servant Job — The honourable title he bore at the outset of his trial (Job_1:8) is now restored, and four times repeated as he comes forth from the ashes of repentance. The title was also conferred upon Moses (Num_12:7) and upon the Messiah. Isa_42:1; Isa_49:6; Isa_52:13.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. the thing which is right] The Lord blames…
7. the thing which is right] The Lord blames the three friends for not speaking that which was right concerning Him, not concerning Job; He also commends Job for speaking what was right concerning Him. It is obvious that the three friends spoke many just and profound things concerning God, and that Job on the other hand said many things that were both blameworthy and false, things for which he was both rebuked by the Almighty, and expressed his penitence. The reference cannot be to such things as these. Neither can the charge made against the friends here be merely that brought against them by Job, that they did not speak in honesty and sincerity (ch. Job_6:25, Job_13:7), though this may be included. Rather, the friends are blamed for speaking in regard to God that which was not right, or true, in itself; and the reference must be to the theories they put forth in regard to God’s providence and the meaning of afflictions. On this point the friends spoke in regard to God what was not right, while Job spoke that which was right (ch. Job_21:23-24). The Author puts the Divine imprimatur on his own theory of the meaning of suffering, or at least on Job’s attacks on the theories advocated by the three friends.
The three friends “had really inculpated the providence of God by their professed defence of it. By disingenuously covering up and ignoring its enigmas and seeming contradictions, they had cast more discredit upon it than Job by honestly holding them up to the light. Their denial of its apparent inequalities was more untrue and more dishonouring to the divine administration, as it is in fact conducted, than Job’s bold affirmation of them. Even his most startling utterances wrung from him in his bewilderment and sore perplexity were less reprehensible than their false statements and false inferences” (Green, Book of Job, p. 219).
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Ch. Job_42:7-17. Job, having humbled himself before God, is restored to a prosperity two-fold that which he enjoyed before
7–9. Job is commanded to intercede for his three friends lest Jehovah should visit their folly upon them, because they spoke not that which was right concerning Him.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) And it was so.—The verdict that is spoken…
(7) And it was so.—The verdict that is spoken against the friends of Job is based rather on the tone and spirit of what they have said than on any of their actual words, for many of these are conspicuous for their wisdom, truth, and beauty. But throughout they had been on the wrong side, and seemed to think that the cause of God had need to be upheld at all risks, and that it might even be required to tell lies for God (Job_13:7); and it was this that provoked the Divine indignation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And it was so, that after the Lord had…
And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job. The "words" intended seem to be those of ch. 38-41., not any words in the earlier portion of this chapter. God heard Job"s confession in silence, and, without further speech to him, addressed Eliphaz and his "friends." The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends. The superior position of Eliphaz is here very strongly recognized he alone is mentioned by name, he alone addressed directly. The precedence thus given to him accords with that which he holds, both in the earlier historical narrative (Job_2:11) and in the dialogue. (Job_4:1 Job_15:1 Job_22:1) For ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Job had, on the whole, spoken what was right and true of God, and is acknowledged by God as his true servant. The "comforters," consciously or unconsciously, had spoken what was false. Even if they said what they believed, they ought to have known better.
Vers. 7-17. Conclusion of the story.
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I THE DIVINE JUSTIFICATION OF JOB. (Vers. 7-10) The cure of the inward sickness of the sufferer"s spirit is followed here, as we often see in the course of life, by outward health and happiness.
1. The reproof of the friends. (Ver. 7) Addressing Eliphaz, as their chief spokesman, Jehovah declares his displeasure that they have not spoken the truth concerning him. Not that they have spoken with wilful dishonesty, but that they have been in error. There has been a want of heart, and therefore a want of right thought. They have refused to receive the testimony of a brother"s substantial innocence; have persistently tried to fix on him a guilt which did not exist. The habit of censeriousness, the habitual exclusion of charity from our feelings, vitiates and falsifies the whole course of our thought. The grave question arises, whether any intellectual error can in the end escape condemnation; whether the very definition of such error is not the thought arising from an evil state of heart. But Job, on the other hand, has spoken the substantial truth, and for the opposite reason. Again and again we have seen how his contention is for truth; and how, beneath all the irritation of his hasty words, there has been throbbing a heart true to God. And now comes the hour of recognition, as it ever will come for every faithful soul. What a blissful sound is there in those words of recognition and of pardon and of justification, "My servant Job"! What grace in the long-delayed, but now fully granted answer to the prayer (Job_16:21) that right may be done before God and his friends! But let us clearly grasp and retain the principle and the contents of this Divine judgment. The friends spoke ill, and Job spoke well. This is the Divine judgment. On what ground is it based? Their one point was this: affliction is the evidence of God"s wrath, and of the afflicted one"s guilt. And they were wrong. Job"s insistence is that afflictions are not always the sign of the sufferer"s guilt nor of the anger of God. And Job is right. And there remains the grand principle illustrated by the discourses of Jehovah, and on which this judgment rests, that affliction comes from the will of supreme power and justice. And this is so, although the reasons of affliction cannot by our imperfect intelligence be fully known. At the same time, the judgment on this great point at issue does not exclude the elements of truth and beauty to be richly found in the discourses of the friends; nor does it excuse the passion and the hasty speeches of Job.
2. Sacrifice for sin and intercessory prayer. (Vers. 8, 9) The friends are directed to perform an act of worship, the character el which appears to point back to early times. (comp. Num_23:1 Gen_7:2, 3 8:20, et seq.) All outward sacrifices were the visible expression of inward feelings, of thankfulness and joy, of reverence, and especially, as here, of the desire of the penitent to renounce his sin and be at one with his God. Blood was the most sacred symbol, because it was the expression of life. The life of the animal offered in sacrifice represents the life of the worshipper surrendered to God. Hence for us the deep significance of the "blood of Christ;" and the highest act of worship is the presenting ourselves, body, soul, and spirit, to God through Christ and his sacrifice; that is, with his spiritual sacrifice present to the eye of the spirit, as the ancient animal sacrifice was present to the bodily eye of the early worshipper. Then, on the other hand, sacrifice as divinely ordained is a language from God to us, as well as one on our part to God. It bespeaks the willingness of God to enter into relations of peace with man. It therefore announces the possibility of repentance and of forgiveness conditional upon repentance; and so calls man to turn, to be converted and healed. Thus regarded and used, the great Christian sacrament is a powerful means of grace, and is most appropriately resorted to at such great epochs of spiritual history as that here set before us. Again, the passage brings to notice the privilege of intercession. "Pray for one another, that ye may be healed" As the intercession of Abraham for Abimelech is honoured, so now is Job appointed a mediator and intercessor for those who have forfeited a measure of Divine grace, and thus the prophecy of Eliphaz (Job_22:30) is realized. We are encouraged in the New Testament to pray for one another. The great law of mediation runs through life (comp. Butler"s "Analogy"), and this is one of its illustrations. A value is justly attached to good men"s prayers. How far this privilege extends, and what are its limits, we do not know. It belongs to spiritual laws, the operation of which cannot be fully verified in the field of experience. It is a truth revealed in the heart and for the heart; and the heart has reasons, as Pascal says, which reason knows not. Let us sacredly guard the oracles of the heart, and thankfully receive every ray of confirmatory light that actual experience affords. The song of a tiny bird by the wayside which brings us comfort, may be a messenger of God to the soul; and the prayer of our feebleness for those whom we know not otherwise how to assist may effect a far-working good, as may theirs for us. But what a beautiful touch is this in the narrative, "Jehovah turned the captivity of Job while he was praying for his friends"! For it points to the fact that amongst the best moments of our life are those in which we lose sight of self in thought for others; when we can forgive and forget the injuries we have received from others, and seek their good in deeds of kindness, in words of prayer.
II RESTORATION OF OUTWARD PROSPERITY. (Vers. 11-17) "Twice as much as he had before." God takes away only to enrich, never to ruin and destroy, the faithful heart. He knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation; and as we have seen throughout the book the powers by which he leads souls to himself more nearly, so here we see his "end". (Jam_5:7-11 1Co_10:13) The swallow-like friendship of men, vanishing as the winter of trouble draws on, returning when the sun of prosperity gains power once more, is contrasted with t he enduring, never-changing friendship of the eternal, one God. The life, then, the sufferings, the triumph and happy end of Job, are a type for all ages of the lot of the Christian, of the child of God. A harmony of the inward spirit with the outward surroundings is necessary to the completeness of life. This restored possession of wealth and honour is a happier state than his life"s beginning, because it is a state more truly in relation to God. All that he has and enjoys he now possesses for God"s sake. God is revealed in his gifts, and from his presence and love they derive their savour. Dens meus et omnia! "My God and my all!" is the motto of the heart purified and humbled by affliction. The darkness and the mystery pass away from the life when the great secret is discovered that in all outward changes "God is God to me." Here is a type of him who was humbled to the death of the cross, and who, because he, though a Son, learned obedience by the things he suffered, received a name above every name. What, then, have we to do, as followers of him, but to commit ourselves to God as to a faithful Creator; to receive what he assigns us humbly, and enjoy it thankfully, knowing that by denying us many things on which our hearts are set, he is doing us the greatest kindness in the world, which is to "keep us from temptation," and by keeping us from temptation, to "deliver us from evil," and by delivering us from evil, to prepare and fit us for all the good that can be desired, and for himself, the endless inexhaustible Fountain of it, "in whose presence there is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore"? To whom be ascribed all praise, might, majesty, and dominion for ever. Amen. J.
Vers. 7-17. The Divine vindication of Job.
The poem ends in undimmed brightness. The great ends of suffering have been answered. Job has been put to the proof and tried, and he has been found faithful. God has permitted all the joy and light of his life to be wiped out. His faithful servant of whom it was said, "There is none like him in the earth," has been subjected to the severest tests; yet, according to the Divine assertion, he has spoken of God "the thing that is right." Now he who had appeared to be Job"s enemy appears as his true Vindicator, and bears his witness and high testimony to Job"s fidelity. The Divine vindication of Job embraces
I AN ASSERTION OF THE ERROR OF HIS ENEMIES. (Ver. 7) They had not spoken of God the thing that was right, and their unjust accusations of Job are found to have had no foundation in truth.
II A TESTIMONY TO JOB"S RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Vers. 7, 8) As the heart is so the lips speak; and Job had spoken that which was right. To this Jehovah bears witness. But a higher testimony is forthcoming
III IN THE DECLARATION OF THE ACCEPTABILITY OF HIS PRIESTLY SERVICE. "Him will I accept." Even the self-assured teachers who could find so many faults with Job are now directed to bring their offering to him that he may intercede for them. It was the utmost humiliation of them (ver. 9) and the utmost elevation of him. "The Lord also accepted Job.
IV A further vindication is given IN THE SPECIAL MARKS OF THE DIVINE FAVOUR SHOWN TO JOB.
1. His affliction was removed. "His captivity was turned.
2. He was enriched with abundant possessions. "The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before" (ver. 12).
3. His friendships were restored (ver. 11).
4. He was enriched by the tokens of sympathy and good will. "Every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an ear-ring of gold.
5. His family joys were restored to him (vers. 13-16).
6. His life was prolonged in honour and happiness (vers. 16, 17). "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. R.G.
Vers. 7-9The accusers accused.
Job is first dealt with; when he has Been brought to a right state of mind, God turns to the three friends. They have been permitted to play their Part without any interference on the part of God, and perhaps they have regarded his silence as a mark of acquiescence. Now their time has come.
I THEY WHO ACCUSE OTHERS LAY THEMSELVES OUT TO BE ACCUSED. Even when they act innocently this is the case. The censor should be above reproach. His action shows that he is awake to moral considerations, that he is not unable to perceive them, that he sets a high value on them. Then he should apply them to himself. "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things". (Rom_2:1) Further, the habit of censoriousness provokes accusations. It shows an unkind and a proud spirit. There is not the motive of compassion to lead us to pass lightly over his faults in the case of a censorious person, which influences us when we have to do with one of a modest and kindly disposition. (Mat_7:1-7)
II GOD IS ANGRY WITH THOSE WHO ADVOCATE HIS CAUSE UNRIGHTEOUSLY. This was the great fault of the three friends. They represented themselves as God"s champions, and professed to speak for God when they arraigned Job. Yet they spoke what was not right. God cannot but be angry when he is thus misrepresented. He does not seek the low-toned homage of the courtier who cares only to propitiate his Master, regardless of right and truth. Some of the people who think themselves God"s best friends will have a great deal to answer for when their just and righteous Lord calls them to account. No falsehood can please God, and least of all can one please him that professes to be uttered for his benefit. This is not a case in which the end justifies the means. It is most grievous in the sight of God, because it dishonours his Name. We cannot depend on unjust actions By representing them as beneficial to the cause of religion. A false theology is not redeemed by the pretext that it glorifies God.
III THE TRUE REVENGE IS TO "HEAP COALS OF FIRE" ON MEN BY DEEDS OF KINDNESS. Job is fully and gloriously avenged. Not only is his innocence of the gross charges brought against him by his friends made clear, not only are they condemned by God, but Job is called upon to intercede for their pardon. Thus in the first place they are thoroughly humiliated, as Haman was when he was condemned to lead the horse of Mordecai. (Est_6:9, Est_6:10) But Job is far too magnanimous to triumph over their defeat, Even when he is interceding for them, we may be sure that his action betrays no pride. For has he not been repenting himself in dust and ashes (ver. 6)? Assuredly Job"s intercession was generous and heartfelt. He could afford to forgive when he had himself been graciously accepted by God. The best vengeance we can have on those who ill-treat us is to pray for them, not in hypocritical self-righteousness, but in truehearted, unaffected kindness. This is Christ"s method. He subdues his enemies by dying for them. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy…
Job_42:7-9
My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends.
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Jobs friends condemned and he acquitted
These words suggest the following reflections.
I. God is an auditor to all the discussions of mankind. If men realised this, all frivolous, vain, ill-natured, deceitful, profane, irreverent, and untruthful speech will be hushed.
II. The professed advocates of religion may commit sin in their advocacy. These three men were engaged in an endeavour to vindicate the ways of God. They considered Job a great heretic; and they took on themselves to stand up for God and truth. Notwithstanding this, they had not spoken of Him the thing that was right. There are professed advocates of religion who speak not the thing that is right concerning God.
III. A practical confession of sin is the duty of all sinners. Take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, etc.
IV. Intercession of one man for another is a Divine law. 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.
1. Intercessory prayer is an instinct of the soul. Nothing is more natural than to cry to heaven on behalf of those in whom we feel a vital interest.
2. Intercessory prayer is a blessing to the soul.
V. The life of a good man is a blessing to a community. My servant Job shall pray for you; for him will I accept; lest I deal with you after your folly. For Jobs sake these men were forgiven and blessed. God educates, saves, and ennobles man by man. (Homilist.)
As My servant Job hath.
My servant Job
Look at Job in his misery. Now comes the problem. Why this sudden, this awful change? Morally, spiritually, religiously, this man is just what he was before. The friends vainly tried to account for it on the score of his own ill-doings and moral defects. Job victoriously repels all their charges and insinuations. Elihu tries to meet the case by arguing that God is greater than man. How can the finite have the infinite made simple? You cannot pour the ocean into a pond. Though we cannot understand His matters, yet He has revealed enough of Himself and His doings, and more than enough, to show us that trust in His providence, loyalty to His rule, and hope in His Word is gloriously certain to result in our safety and security, our sustentation and deliverance, our ultimate prosperity and peace. My servant Job. God calls him by that name in the days of his wealth and prosperity. Riches and grace can go together. God calls him by the same name before ever the days of testing, trial, and calamity came upon him. The expression is used by the Almighty at the end of the book as well as at the beginning, and what was Jobs condition then? Just before this was said, Job bad uttered hard things of his God,--of His government, of His dealings with himself. Even when God came to speak to him he was sullen under a sense of wrong. And yet, in spite of all his faults, infirmities, and sins, the Lord lays His hand lovingly on his bended head, and fondly owns him, in the presence of his three friends, as My servant Job. (J. Jackson Wray.)
In the wrong
It is not the first time in the history of the world that the majority of religious professors have been wrong. The solitary thinker, the philosopher, the heretic, the forlorn monk, the rejected of his day, has been sometimes, even in spite of many errors, in the right, That little group in that unknown land of Uz, who tried to silence the one among them who was in his wild cries and low wails the herald and the apostle of a truth that was one day to be embodied in the symbol of Christs religion--they warn us against thinking that truth is always to be found on the side of numbers, that the God of truth marches always with the largest battalions. How startling to those who heard them, how instructive to us who read them, are the words which we shall find when next we meet, Ye who have been so earnest, so rigid in justifying My ways, and asserting My righteousness; ye have not spoken the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath. (Dean Bradley.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain
XXIX.
EPILOGUE
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Job_42:7-17
AFTER the argument of the Divine voice from the storm the epilogue is a surprise, and many have doubted whether it is in line with the rest of the work. Did Job need these multitudes of camels and sheep to supplement his new faith and his reconciliation to the Almighty will? Is there not something incongruous in the large award of temporal good, and even something unnecessary in the renewed honour among men? To us it seems that a good man will be satisfied with the favour and fellowship of a loving God. Yet, assuming that the conclusion is a part of the history on which the poem was founded, we can justify the blaze of splendour that bursts on Job after sorrow, instruction, and reconciliation.
Life only can reward life. That great principle was rudely shadowed forth in the old belief that God protects His servants even to a green old age. The poet of our book clearly apprehended the principle; it inspired his noblest flights. Up to the closing moment Job has lived strongly, alike in the mundane and the moral region. How is he to find continued life? The authors power could not pass the limits of the natural in order to promise a reward. Not yet was it possible, even for a great thinker, to affirm that continued fellowship with Eloah, that continued intellectual and spiritual energy which we name eternal life. A vision of it had come to him; he had seen the day of the Lord afar off, but dimly, by moments. To carry a life into it was beyond his power. Sheol made nothing perfect; and beyond Sheol no prophet eye had ever travelled.
There was nothing for it, then, but to use the history as it stood, adding symbolic touches, and show the restored life in development on earth, more powerful than ever, more esteemed, more richly endowed for good action. In one point the symbolism is very significant. Priestly office and power are given to Job; his sacrifice and intercession mediate between the friends who traduced him and Eloah who hears His faithful servants prayer. The epilogue, as a parable of the reward of faithfulness, has deep and abiding truth. Wider opportunity of service, more cordial esteem and affection, the highest office that man can bear, these are the reward of Job; and with the terms of the symbolism we shall not quarrel who have heard the Lord say: "Well done, thou good servant, because thou wast found faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities!"
Another indication of purpose must not be overlooked. It may be said that Jobs renewal in soul should have been enough for him, that he might have spent humbly what remained of life, at peace with men, in submission to God. But our author was animated by the Hebrew realism, that healthy belief in life as the gift of God, which kept him always clear on the one hand of Greek fatalism, on the other of Oriental asceticism. This strong faith in life might well lead him into the details of sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, flocks, tribute, and years of honour. Nor did he care at the end though any one said that after all the Adversary was right. He had to show expanding life as Gods recompense of faithfulness. Satan has long ago disappeared from the drama; and in any case the epilogue is chiefly a parable. It is, however, a parable involving, as our Lords parables always involve, the sound view of mans existence, neither that of Prometheus on the rock nor of the grim anchorite in the Egyptian cave.
The writers finest things came to him by flashes. When he reached the close of his book he was not able to make a tragedy and leave his readers rapt above the world. No pre-Christian thinker could have bound together the gleams of truth in a vision of the spirits undying nature and immortal youth. But Job must find restored power and energy; and the close had to come, as it does, in the time sphere. We can bear to see a soul go forth naked, driven, tormented; we can bear to see the great good life pass from the scaffold or the fire, because we see God meeting it in the heaven. But we have seen Christ.
A third point is that for dramatic completeness the action had to bring Job to full acquittal in view of his friends. Nothing less will satisfy the sense of poetic justice which rules the whole work.
Finally, a biographical reminiscence may have given colour to the epilogue. If, as we have supposed, the author was once a man of substance and power in Israel, and, reduced to poverty in the time of the Assyrian conquest, found himself an exile in Arabia-the wistful sense of impotence in the world must have touched all his thinking. Perhaps he could not expect for himself renewed power and place; perhaps he had regretfully to confess a want of faithfulness in his own past. All the more might he incline to bring his great work to a close with a testimony to the worth and design of the earthly gifts of God, the temporal life which He appoints to man, that present discipline most graciously adapted to our present powers and yet full of preparation for a higher evolution, the life not seen, eternal in the heavens.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain The Epilogue
The Epilogue
7-17. These vv. describe the happy ending to Job's trials and his restoration to prosperity. It is a sequel in full accord with the religious ideas of the Hebrews. With no clear idea of a future state, where compensation will be found for the ills of this world, long life and earthly happiness were regarded as the only evidence of God's favour and approval. The feeling that the happy ending spoils the effect is modern, but incorrect. For it would have made a very bad impression on the reader, if God had been represented as callously leaving Job to suffer, when the occasion for trial had passed away.
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7-9. The friends receive the divine condemnation. 'The three friends had really inculpated the providence of God by their professed defence of it. By disingenuously covering up and ignoring its enigmas they had cast more discredit on it than Job, who honestly held them up to the light. Their denial of its apparent inequalities was more untrue and dishonouring to the divine administration as it is in fact conducted than Job's bold affirmation of them' (W. H. Green's 'Argument of the Book of Job unfolded'). At the same time there is a strange contrast between the judgment on Job expressed here and that expressed in the speech out of the storm, which supports the view that the prose portions were borrowed by the writer from an older book.
11. A piece of money] Heb. Kesitah, a very early word occurring only in Gen_33:19 and Jos_24:32. It was probably an uncoined piece of silver representing the value of a lamb as the LXX and Yulgate translate it. This, with the rings, 'constituted, I suppose, the nuzzur, or present, such as Orientals still make on paying a visit of ceremony' (Cox).
12. Note that the numbers are double those mentioned in Job_1:3, an indication of the ideal nature of this history of Job: see on Job_1:2. The prophets often allude to the double compensation in store for their afflicted people: Isa_61:7; Jer_16:14-18; Zec_9:12.
14. These names contain allusions to feminine charms. Jemima means 'dove': cp. Son_1:15. Keziah probably means 'cassia' or 'cinnamon,' a fragrant spice: cp. Psa_45:8. Keren-happuch means 'a horn of eye paint.' It was a dye made of antimony with which the eyelashes were tinged, and was considered by Orientals to enhance the beauty of the eye: cp. 2Ki_9:30; Jer_4:30; Eze_23:40.
15. Inheritance among their brethren] this was an unusual privilege to women: cp. Num_27:1-11.
17. In LXX a postscript is added, 'It is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.' This is probably an addition made by some reader, who felt the inadequacy of any material compensation or reward.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. Jehovah’s message to Job’s friends (Job 42:7-9)
VII. THE EPILOGUE: JOB’S RESTORATION AND BLESSING
CHAPTER 42:7-17
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1. Jehovah’s message to Job’s friends (Job 42:7-9)
2. Job’s restoration (Job 42:10-15)
3. The conclusion: Peace (Job 42:16-17)
Job 42:7-9. Like the beginning of the book, the prologue, the epilogue is not in a poetic measure, but in prose. The Lord addresseth Eliphaz as the most prominent one of the three friends of Job. His wrath is kindled against the three. Though they had apparently stood up for Him and defended His character, yet under the searchlight of the Omniscient One, who searcheth the hearts of men, they are found wanting. The charges they had brought against his servant Job, were false. They had wickedly accused Job, whom He had declared to be “a perfect and an upright man.” In all their charges they had slandered God. Then the Lord said, “for ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath.” Here is a beautiful lesson. Job hath confessed and Jehovah hath forgiven. He forgets all Job’s sinful utterances; He remembers them no more. But in infinite grace He takes the few sentences scattered throughout Job’s speeches in which he honoured the Lord and expressed trust in Him and with these He is well pleased. It must have been a sweet music in Jehovah’s ear when Job said, “Though He slay me yet will I trust.” And so He acknowledgeth Job as His servant. They must bring sacrifices--a burnt offering; and that blessedly shows us the cross.
“And my Servant Job shall pray for you; for him I will accept.” Sweet scene now as Job prays for his humbled friends. How it again reminds us of Him, who ever liveth and maketh intercession for His people. Him God hath accepted in His great sacrificial work on the cross, and we are accepted in Him.
So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them; and the Lord accepted Job. This is the last as to Job’s friends.
Job 42:10-15. And now Job’s restoration and double blessing. All his kinfolks return with all his acquaintances and sit down to a meal in sweet communion. What about his bodily disease? Nothing is said of that. But assuredly the Lord touched his suffering body, and He who spoke to the leper, must have spoken to Job, “Be thou clean,” and the loathsome disease vanished, and as Elihu had said, his flesh became like that of a young child. They also brought him money and rings of gold. They were not presents to enrich him, the Lord did that for Job, but simply to show how happy they were over Job’s healing and restoration.
All his wealth becomes twice as large as before. The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. While his possessions are doubled, his sons and daughters are not. He gives him also seven sons and three daughters. This does not mean, as some suppose, that they were not new sons and daughters, but that the restoration is that in resurrection. Such a view is untenable. The sons and daughters were born to him. The names of the three daughters are given. Jemimah (a dove); Keziah (cassia); Keren-happuch (flashes of Glory). Such were the blessed results of Job’s experience, expressed by these names. Purified and humble like the dove; cassia, which is fragrance, worship and adoration; and the flashes and splendour of glory.
Job 42:16-17. We have reached the end. It is an end of peace, a perfect day. Four generations he beholds and at the ripe old age of 140 years he is gathered to his fathers. In consulting the Septuagint version we find a long addition to the last verse which begins with this statement: “and it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.” Then follows Job’s genealogy. It is taken from some apocryphal writing but it shows that the hope of the resurrection of the body was believed in ancient days. Surely Job will be there, “in that day” and his great utterance, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” and the hope of seeing Him will be realized.
“Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (Jas 5:11). And all His people know this matchless truth, that the Lord in all His dealings with His people “is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” In our annotations we have pointed out repeatedly the comparison of Job in his sufferings with the Lord, our Saviour, and His holy sufferings in the sinner’s place. It brings out the perfection of Him who is altogether lovely.
An application to Israel can also be made. If this is followed out it will prove of much interest. Israel, like Job, is suffering, self-righteous, but some day the nation will come face to face with Jehovah and be humbled in the dust. Then their restoration when they will receive double of the Lord’s hand for all their sins (Isa 11:2).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Job Vindicated and Restored to Prosperity
Job Vindicated and Restored to Prosperity
v. 7. And it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, after Job had made his penitent reply, the Lord said unto Eliphaz, the Temanite, as the spokesman and leader of the three friends, My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends, Bildad and Zophar; for ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right as My servant Job hath, they had persisted in their endeavor to brand Job as an enormous sinner, guilty of gross trespasses, their conclusion therefore having been that calamities always prove guilt, this being a false representation of God’s manner of dealing with Job.
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v. 8. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, Cf Num 23:1, and go to My servant Job, who was to act in the capacity of priest, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, to make an atonement for themselves; and My servant Job shall pray for you, acting as mediator in their behalf, interceding for them; for him will I accept, regarding him favorably, lest I deal with you after your folly, visiting the penalty of their foolishness upon them, in that ye have not spoken of Me the thing which is right like My servant Job.
v. 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, regarding him favorably in his intercession for his friends.
v. 10. And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, restored him, vindicated him, amply indemnified him for the losses which he had sustained, when he prayed for his friends, thus showing the proper forgiving spirit; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
v. 11. Then came there unto him all his brethren and all his sisters, all the relatives who had so heartlessly withdrawn from him during his misery, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, Cf 19:13-19, and did eat bread with him in his house, once more glad to enjoy his hospitality; and they bemoaned him, after the fashion of friends of this type, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. Every man also gave him a piece of money, a piece of gold believed to have been stamped with the figure of a lamb, worth about four times as much as a shekel, Gen 33:19, and everyone an earring of gold, for nose rings and earrings were worn by both men and women at that time.
v. 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, by doubling his former substance; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses, Cf 1:3.
v. 13. He had also seven sons and three daughters, a large family being a special sign of God’s blessing upon a household.
v. 14. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch, all three names being descriptive of the beauty, charm, and grace of the young women and of the happy change in Job’s fortunes.
v. 15. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job, distinguished for extraordinary beauty; and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren, this being an indication of the fine harmony which prevailed in this family.
v. 16. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years and saw his sons and his son’s sons, even four generations, a special proof of divine favor, Psa 128:6; Pro 17:6.
v. 17. So Job died, being old and full of days, a long and happy life also being a blessing of Jehovah, Gen 25:8; Gen 35:29. Note: Many a Christian who is bearing heavy crosses has received comfort from the lesson of Job. It may not always happen so that sufferers among the believers are returned to health and prosperity as was Job, but the time will come when they will know and understand the ways of God, realizing fully that He always has thoughts of peace toward us and never thoughts of evil, that He always desires our welfare.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 It came about that
It came about that
This phrase is used here to mark an important event in the story. If your language has a way for doing this, you could consider using it here.
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Eliphaz the Temanite
See how you translated this man's name in Job 2:11
My wrath is kindled against you
Fire is a metaphor for anger, and starting a fire is a metaphor for becoming angry. AT: "I have become very angry with you" (See: Metaphor)
seven bulls
"7 bulls" (See: Numbers)
so that I may not deal with you after your folly
The abstract noun "folly" can be translated as an adjective. AT: "even though you have been very foolish, I will not punish you as you deserve" (See: Abstract Nouns)
Bildad the Shuhite
See how you translated this man's name in Job 2:11
Zophar the Naamathite
See how you translated this man's name in Job 2:11
Yahweh accepted Job
The person is a metonym for the prayer he prays. AT: "God accepted Job's prayer for his three friends" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
word
wrath
servant
cow
ewe
burnt offering
pray
fool
command
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 42:7 Eliphaz the Temanite was the spokesman for the…
42:7 Eliphaz the Temanite was the spokesman for the friends, which probably indicates his seniority. Eliphaz had falsely implied that his advice originated in prophetic visions (4:12-16); now God did speak to him, but not to affirm his message. • Unlike his three friends (cp. 13:7-10), Job had spoken accurately about God. Job’s blunt questions were better suited to arriving at the truth about God than the friends’ superficial orthodox doctrine.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.