Job 1:19

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness,.... Most probably from the wilderness of Arabia, winds from such places being generally very strong, Jeremiah 4:11 as this was, and is called

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

From the wilderness; whence the fiercest winds came, as having most power in such open places. See 13:24. Smote the four corners; in which the chief strength of the house did consist. It smote these either all together, or rather successively, one immediately after another, being possibly a whirlwind, which comes violently and suddenly, whirling about in a circle, and being driven about by the power of the devil, which is very great. The young men; his sons in their youth, and his daughters also, as appears from the sequel.

Job 1:19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.Ver. 19. And behold, there came a great wind] The devil, doubtless, was in this wind (as he is, by Divine permission, "the prince of the power of the air," Ephesians 2:2, and can thereby do much mischief); what wonder, then, though it were a great wind, since spirited by him, and came ( ventus a veniendo), came on amain, and with a force, as being driven on by the devil. It was a wonderful wind (belike a whirlwind), and hath, therefore, a "behold" set upon it; such a wind as the relater had never known before; the Rabbis say, that he was so frightened with it, that no sooner had he made an end of his report of it to Job, but he fell down dead at his feet. Sure it is, that he relateth the matter punctually and graphically, with singular diligence, and without that moderation and making the best of things at first, as in such cases is usual, when parents are first made acquainted with the sudden death of their children, or other sad accidents that have befallen them. This messenger cluttereth out all at once, being thereunto set on and induced by Satan (as Lavater thinketh) to stir up Job’ s stomach, and to make him break off that so well twisted thread of his patience. From the wilderness] Of Idumea, or Arabia, called Deserta. The devil, who haunteth dry and desert places, was the Aeolus that sent it. Let us bless that God (the maker and master of these meteors, and of all things else) who bindeth up such an enemy and boundeth such a power. And smote the four corners of the house] This was extraordinary, and, therefore, the more dreadful; God seeming to fulfil upon Job and his children what he threateneth in the law, Deuteronomy 28:59, I will make their plagues wonderful. But what saith Solomon, and that after long debate with himself about occurrents of this nature? "For all this I considered in mine heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them," Ecclesiastes 9:1-2 by externals we cannot judge aright of eternals. Let it be our care to "lay hold on eternal life"; and then sudden death can do us no hurt; no guest cometh unawares to him who keeps a constant table. And it fell upon the young men, and they are dead] No doubt but they were miserably mauled and dismembered by the fall, so that they were pulled forth piece-meal, and it could hardly be known which was which, as we say.

Verse 19. A great wind from the wilderness] Here was another proof of the influence of the prince of the power of the air. What mischief might he not do with this tremendous agent, were he not constantly under the control of the Almighty! He seems to have directed four different currents, which, blowing against the four corners or sides of the house, crushed it together, and involved all within in one common ruin.

13–22. Job’s first trial; and its issue: his reverence towards God remains unshaken Between Job 1:12-13 there is an interval, an ominous stillness like that which precedes the storm. The poet has drawn aside the curtain to us and we know what is impending. Job knows nothing. His children are about him and he thinks the Almighty is yet with him, Job 29:5. The earth smiles to him as it was wont by day; and by night the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades come forth in their silent procession, and the Dragon trails his glittering folds across the heavens overhead, and he looks with wonder into the deep chambers of the South. All is glorious with a constant glory because it is an unchanging hand that leads them forth, the hand of the Holy One from whose words he has never declined, Job 6:10, and whose candle as he deems still shines upon his head, Job 29:3. He does not know that he is being played for like a pawn. Suddenly the catastrophe overtakes him. Messenger after messenger, each taking up his tale of ruin before the other has concluded his, announce that all he had has been taken from him. Heaven and earth have combined to overwhelm him. The forces of nature and the destructive violence of men have united to strip him bare. The description has many features of the ideal. First, the catastrophe befell on the day when Job’s children were feasting in their eldest brother’s house, Job 1:13, the day on the morning of which Job had sent for his children and sanctified them and offered sacrifices on their behalf. Job’s godliness and his calamity are brought into the closest contrast. He felt this, and as he regarded every event as wrought by the hand of God immediately, his afflictions threw his mind into the deepest perplexity regarding the ways of God. Again, while heaven and men alternate their strokes upon him, these strokes follow one another with increasing severity, and in each case only one escapes to bring the grievous tidings. The rapid touches of the Author do not suggest any struggle or rising rebelliousness in Job’s mind. He manifests the liveliest grief, but maintains his self-control. And the scene closes upon the sufferer, a solitary man, worshipping God amidst the waste where his rich possessions once had lien.

There came a great wind - Such tornadoes are not less common in Oriental countries than in the United States.

19. From the wilderness — Literally, from beyond the desert. δξγαψwith the article as here, generally signifies the great Arabian desert, lying to the south of Palestine, and extending from Egypt as far as the Persian Gulf.