Job 42

THen Job answered the LORD, and said,

I know that thou canst do Not only by power, but also by (for that he always thought) right; about which he had in some sort doubted and disputed. It is a Maxim in Law, that a Man can only do that which he has a right to do. every thing Whatsoever it pleaseth thee to do with thy Creatures., and that no thought can be withholden from thee He speaks either, 1. Of Iob's thoughts. Thou knowest me and all my sinful and unworthy thoughts of thy providential dealings with me, though I was not able to see the evil of them. Or 2. Of God's thoughts. Whatsoever thou thinkest or purposest to do, thou canst or mayest do it; and neither I nor any of thy Creatures can either restrain thee from it, or condemn thee for it, as I have boldly and wickedly presumed to do. So this last Clause of the Verse explains the former..

Who is he i. e. What am I that I should dare to do so? Ah silly audacious wretch that I am, that I should be guilty of such madness! that hideth counsel without knowledg Which words are repeated out of Ch. 38. 2. where they are explained.? therefore Because my mind was without knowledge, therefore my speech was ignorant and foolish. Or, Being sensible of my ignorance and rashness, I think fit to make this humble and ingenious confession. have I uttered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew not I have spoken foolishly and unadvisedly of things f... r above my reach, even of God's infinite and soveraign Majesty and of his deep and unsearchable Counsels and Providence..

Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak Hear and accept my humble and penitent confession and recantation.: I will demand of thee, Or, and enquire, to wit, counsel or instruction as a Scholar does of his Master, as the following words note. I will no more saweily dispute the matter with thee, but beg information from thee. The words which God had uttered to Iob by way of challenge, Ch. 38. 3. & 40. 7. Iob returns to him again in way of submission. and declare thou unto me.

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee The knowledge which I had of thy Divine nature, and perfections and counsels was hitherto dark, and doubtful, and conjectura... being grounded chiefly, if not only upon the instructions and reports of other men, but now it is clear and certain, as being immediately inspired into my mind by this thy glorious Apparition and Revelation, and by the Operation of thy Holy Spirit; which makes these things as certain and evident to me as if I saw them with my bodily Eyes..

Wherefore I abhor i. e. Dislike, and detest, and loath. my self Or, my former words and carriage. One of these or some like supplement is necessary to complete the sense, and is clearly gathered from the following words., and repent in dust and ashes Sitting in dust and ashes; which hitherto I have done in token of my grief for my affliction, but now I desire and resolve to do in Testimony of my penitence for my sins..

And it was so that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite As the Eldest of the three, and because he spoke first and by his evil example le... the rest into the same mistakes and miscarriages., My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends To wit. Bildad and Zophar, who are not excused but severely reproved, although they were drawn into the sin by Eliphaz his authority and influence. Elihu is not here reproved, because he dealt more justly and mercifully with Iob, and did not condemn his Person, but only rebuke his sinful expressions., for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has Either, 1. as Iob has now spoken: you have not acknowledged your errours as he has done. Or rather, 2. as Iob did in his discourses with you. Which is not to be understood simply and absolutely (as is manifest from God's censure upon Iob for his hard and evil speeches of him) but comparatively; because Iob 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 Iob, whom they wounded with bitter and injurious speeches, and condemned as an 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 Iob had given: and partly because Iob'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 Iob, yet did certainly much extenuate his offences; whereas they were under no such temptations or provocations either from God or from Iob, but voluntarily broke forth into their hard, and severe, and untrue expressions concerning God's counsels and Iob's conditions, thereby adding affliction to him whom God did so sorely afflict, which was most unfriendly and inhumane..

Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job Whom though you have censured and condemned as an Hypocrite I own for my faithful Servant, humane infirmity excepted., and offer up By the hand of Iob, whom I do hereby constitute your Priest to pray and Sacrifice for you. for your selves a burnt-offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept To wit, on your behalf as well as on his own.: lest I deal with you after your folly Lest my wrath and just judgment take hold of you for your false and foolish speeches., in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them Showing their repentance by their submission to God, and to Job for God's sake, and by taking shame to themselves.: the LORD also accepted Job Both for his Friends and for himself, as the next Verse explains it..

And the LORD turned the Captivity of Job i. e. Brought him out of that state of Bondage, in which he had been so long held by Satan and by his own Spirit, and out of all his distresses and miseries. Or, returned Job's Captivity, i. e. the Persons and things which had been taken from him, not the same which he had lost, but other equivalent to them, and that with advantage. when he prayed for his friends Whereby he manifested his obedience to God and his true love and charity to them, in being so ready to forgive them and heartily to pray for them; for which God would not let him lose his reward.: also An emphatical Particle. He not only gave him as much as he lost, but double to it. the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Then When Job had humbled himself, and God was reconciled to Iob, he quickly turned the Hearts of his Friends to favour him, according to Prov. 16. 7. as during his impenitency, and his trial and humiliation he had alienated their Hearts from him, of which Iob so sadly complains. came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters Largely so called according to the Scripture-use of these Titles, to wit, his kindred distinguished from his other acquaintance., and all they that had been his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him i. e. Feasted with him, as that Phrase is commonly used in Scripture, to congratulate with him for God's great and glorious favour already vouchsafed to him in so eminent a Vision and Revelation. in his house: and they bemoaned him They declared the sense which they had of his calamities whilst they were upon him, although they had hitherto wanted opportunity to express it., and comforted him over all the evil Or, concerning all the evil; which though it was bitter to endure when it was present, yet the remembrance of it revived in him by the discourses of his Friends was very delightful, as is usual in such cases. that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an ear-ring of gold Partly to make up his former losses, and partly as a Testimony of their honorable respect to him..

So the LORD blessed Not only with Spiritual, but also with Temporal and Earthly Blessings. the latter end of Job more then his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.

He had also seven sons and three daughters.

And he called Giving them such Names as signifie their excellent beauty of which see my Latin Synopsis. the name of the first, Jemima, and the name of the second, Kezia, and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.

And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them Gave his Daughters a share, and possibly an equal share with his Sons in his Inheritance: which in so plentiful an estate he might easily do, especially to such amiable Sisters without the envy of their Brethren: and which peradventure he did to oblige them to settle themselves amongst their Brethren, and to marry into their own Religious Kindred, not to Strangers, who in those times were generally swallowed up in the gulf of Idolatry. inheritance among their brethren.

After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons sons, even four generations.

So Job After God had turned his Captivity, as is said, v. 10. died being old, and full of days By which length of his days it seems most probable that he lived before the times of Moses when the days of humane life were much shortned, as he complains..