Job 42

Job 42:9

9. — the Lord also accepted Job.] The Lord also heard the prayer that he made for his friends, and so accepted of his person and devotion, that He forgave their offence upon his intercession. Bp. Hall.

Job 42:10

10. And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, &c.] And the Lord released that miserable affliction, under which Job had been held bound, when out of his meekness and charity he was content to pray for his persecuting friends. Bp. Hall.

To “turn the captivity,” seems to have been a proverbial phrase for a happy reverse of condition. For certainly it here includes all that God did for this excellent man. Scott.

Job 42:11

11. Then came there &c.] When Job had humbled himself, and God had accepted him, He quickly turned the hearts of his friends to regard him with kindness, Prov. xvi. 7. Clark.

— every man also gave him a piece of money.] It

was an ancient custom, which is still observed in the East, never to visit a person of distinction without paying him the compliment of a present. It is uncertain, whether one kind of present made to Job on this occasion, was a sheep, or a piece of money, that had the figure of a sheep stamped upon it. Scott. See the note on Gen. xxxiii. 19.

Job 42:17

17. So Job died.] It has been urged as an objection against Job being the author of this book, that his death is mentioned at the conclusion of it. But this is easily accounted for, in the same way as the death of Moses recorded at the conclusion of the Book of Deuteronomy, which is generally believed to be an addition by some other hand. See the note there. The story, as told by Job himself, might probably conclude at the tenth, or be continued to the twelfth verse of this chapter. Peters.

The circumstance of the remote antiquity of this book, it being presumed to be prior to the Pentateuch, and therefore the oldest book in the world, stamps the highest value upon it, as a most faithful and authentic monument of the language, the learning, the manners, and the religion, of the earlier and purer patriarchal ages: it is a valuable voucher for all those historical facts and doctrines, which it notices jointly with the books of Moses, such as the creation of the world, the ministry of good angels, the agency of bad, the fall of Adam, the universal deluge, &c.; while the difference of the manner, and the new circumstances which it incidentally relates, not to be found in the Pentateuch, prove it to be also an independent voucher, which derived information from different sources or traditions, preserved in Aram’s and Joktan’s families. Dr. Hales.

There is one thing to be observed on the conduct of Job’s friends, and their rash unkind censures of him, which may help to set the poem in a proper light. Their harsh and unfounded reproofs were made admirably subservient to the great design of Providence with respect to Job, and the end proposed by the Divine wisdom to exhibit him as a pattern to all succeeding generations. For neither could his sufferings have been so complete, nor consequently his patience so exemplary, had not God permitted this, which may be almost called the severest trial of all, to befall him. There is scarcely

any thing, which a man of a generous mind is so little able to bear, as ignominy and reproach; especially the reproaches of those, who have been his friends. This therefore is a very delicate circumstance, that could not be omitted, if the afflictions of this good man were intended to be shewn in their proper light, so as to make his virtue, and the reward of it, the more conspicuous.

Peters. The grand moral of the book is to shew,

1st, That God sometimes permits the best men to be afflicted by Satan, and that most grievously, in this life, to prove their faith, patience, humility, and resignation to His will:

2dly, That this world is not a perfect state of retribution for virtue and vice: but that

3dly, All the inequalities, which are to be found here, will be completely redressed in a future state, at the

general judgment, in which the good will be finally rewarded, and the wicked punished.

Job indeed was one of the best men that ever lived; but he was not exempt from the frailties and infirmities of human nature: and he failed in some measure under his last and sorest trial. Still, with all his imperfections, he will shine forth to the end of time an admirable example and an heroick pattern of piety and patience; to be exceeded only by that inimitable Standard of perfection, who in His state of humiliation, was “meek and lowly of heart;” who was “in all points tempted like as we are,” and that “by the devil,” but yet “did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth;” and who “was perfected by sufferings in this life, that He might be transcendently “exalted at the right hand of God:” the blessed “Seed of the woman,” THE MAN JESUS CHRIST.

Dr. Hales.

The following are the Chapters from the Book of Job, appointed for Proper Lessons on Sundays and Holidays:

CHAP. I. …St. Luke,…Evening. —— XXIV, XXV. …St. Simon and St. Jude, …Morning. —— XLII. …ditto, …Evening. THE END OF VOL. I. LONDON: GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN’S SQUARE.