mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 42.xml

<div2 id="Job.xliii" n="xliii" next="Ps" prev="Job.xlii" progress="20.90%" title="Chapter XLII">
<h2 id="Job.xliii-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.xliii-p0.2">CHAP. XLII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.xliii-p1">Solomon says, "Better is the end of a thing than
the beginning thereof," <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.8" parsed="|Eccl|7|8|0|0" passage="Ec 7:8">Eccl. vii.
8</scripRef>. It was so here in the story of Job; at the
evening-time it was light. Three things we have met with in this
book which, I confess , have troubled me very much; but we find all
the three grievances redressed, thoroughly redressed, in this
chapter, everything set to-rights. I. It has been a great trouble
to us to see such a holy man as Job was so fretful, and peevish,
and uneasy to himself, and especially to hear him quarrel with God
and speak indecently to him; but, though he thus fall, he is not
utterly cast down, for here he recovers his temper, comes to
himself and to his right mind again by repentance, is sorry for
what he has said amiss, unsays it, and humbles himself before God,
<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.1-Job.42.6" parsed="|Job|42|1|42|6" passage="Job 42:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. It has been
likewise a great trouble to us to see Job and his friends so much
at variance, not only differing in their opinions, but giving one
another a great many hard words, and passing severe censures one
upon another, though they were all very wise and good men; but here
we have this grievance redressed likewise, the differences between
them happily adjusted, the quarrel taken up, all the peevish
reflections they had cast upon one another forgiven and forgotten,
and all joining in sacrifices and prayers, mutually accepted of
God, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.7-Job.42.9" parsed="|Job|42|7|42|9" passage="Job 42:7-9">ver. 7-9</scripRef>. III. It
has troubled us to see a man of such eminent piety and usefulness
as Job was so grievously afflicted, so pained, so sick, so poor, so
reproached, so slighted, and made the very centre of all the
calamities of human life; but here we have this grievance redressed
too, Job healed of all his ailments, more honoured and beloved than
ever, enriched with an estate double to what he had before,
surrounded with all the comforts of life, and as great an instance
of prosperity as ever he had been of affliction and patience,
<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.10-Job.42.17" parsed="|Job|42|10|42|17" passage="Job 42:10-17">ver. 10-17</scripRef>. All this is
written for our learning, that we, under these and the like
discouragements that we meet with, through patience and comfort of
this scripture may have hope.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.xliii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.42" parsed="|Job|42|0|0|0" passage="Job 42" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.xliii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.1-Job.42.6" parsed="|Job|42|1|42|6" passage="Job 42:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.42.1-Job.42.6">
<h4 id="Job.xliii-p1.7">Job's Humble Confession. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xliii-p2">1 Then Job answered the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p2.1">Lord</span>, and said,   2 I know that thou canst
do every <i>thing,</i> and <i>that</i> no thought can be withholden
from thee.   3 Who <i>is</i> he that hideth counsel without
knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things
too wonderful for me, which I knew not.   4 Hear, I beseech
thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou
unto me.   5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear:
but now mine eye seeth thee.   6 Wherefore I abhor
<i>myself,</i> and repent in dust and ashes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p3">The words of Job justifying himself were
ended, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.40" parsed="|Job|31|40|0|0" passage="Job 31:40"><i>ch.</i> xxxi.
40</scripRef>. After that he said no more to that purport. The
words of Job judging and condemning himself began, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.40.4-Job.40.5" parsed="|Job|40|4|40|5" passage="Job 40:4,5"><i>ch.</i> xl. 4, 5</scripRef>. Here he goes
on with words to the same purport. Though his patience had not its
perfect work, his repentance for his impatience had. He is here
thoroughly humbled for his folly and unadvised speaking, and it was
forgiven him. Good men will see and own their faults at last,
though it may be some difficulty to bring them to do this.
<i>Then,</i> when God had said all that to him concerning his own
greatness and power appearing in the creatures, <i>then Job
answered the Lord</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.1" parsed="|Job|42|1|0|0" passage="Job 42:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>), not by way of contradiction (he had promised not so
to answer again, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.40.5" parsed="|Job|40|5|0|0" passage="Job 40:5"><i>ch.</i> xl.
5</scripRef>), but by way of submission; and thus we must all
answer the calls of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p4">I. He subscribes to the truth of God's
unlimited power, knowledge, and dominion, to prove which was the
scope of God's discourse out of the whirlwind, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.2" parsed="|Job|42|2|0|0" passage="Job 42:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Corrupt passions and practices
arise either from some corrupt principles or from the neglect and
disbelief of the principles of truth; and therefore true repentance
begins in <i>the acknowledgement of the truth,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.25" parsed="|2Tim|2|25|0|0" passage="2Ti 2:25">2 Tim. ii. 25</scripRef>. Job here owns his
judgment convinced of the greatness, glory, and perfection of God,
from which would follow the conviction of his conscience concerning
his own folly in speaking irreverently to him. 1. He owns that God
can do every thing. What can be too hard for him that made behemoth
and leviathan, and manages both as he pleases? He knew this before,
and had himself discoursed very well upon the subject, but now he
knew it with application. <i>God had spoken</i> it once, and then
he heard it twice, that <i>power belongs to God;</i> and therefore
it is the greatest madness and presumption imaginable to contend
with him. <i>"Thou canst do every thing,</i> and therefore canst
raise me out of this low condition, which I have so often foolishly
despaired of as impossible: I now believe thou art able to do
this." 2. That <i>no thought can be withholden from him,</i> that
is, (1.) There is no thought of ours that he can be hindered from
the knowledge of. Not a fretful, discontented, unbelieving thought
is in our minds at any time but God is a witness to it. It is in
vain to contest with him; for we cannot hide our counsels and
projects from him, and, if he discover them, he can defeat them.
(2.) There is no thought of his that he can be hindered from the
execution of. <i>Whatever the Lord pleased, that did he.</i> Job
had said this passionately, complaining of it (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.23.13" parsed="|Job|23|13|0|0" passage="Job 23:13"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 13</scripRef>), <i>What his soul
desireth even that he doeth;</i> now he says, with pleasure and
satisfaction, that <i>God's counsels shall stand.</i> If God's
thoughts concerning us be <i>thoughts of good, to give us an
unexpected end,</i> he cannot be withheld from accomplishing his
gracious purposes, whatever difficulties may seem to lie in the
way.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p5">II. He owns himself to be guilty of that
which God had charged him with in the beginning of his discourse,
<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.3" parsed="|Job|42|3|0|0" passage="Job 42:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. "Lord, the
first word thou saidst was, <i>Who is this that darkens counsel by
words without knowledge?</i> There needed no more; that word
convinced me. I own <i>I am the man</i> that has been so foolish.
That word reached my conscience, and set my sin in order before me.
It is too plain to be denied, too bad to be excused. I have hidden
<i>counsel without knowledge.</i> I have ignorantly overlooked the
counsels and designs of God in afflicting me, and therefore have
quarrelled with God, and insisted too much upon my own
justification: <i>Therefore I uttered that which I understood
not,</i>" that is, "I have passed a judgment upon the dispensations
of Providence, though I was utterly a stranger to the reasons of
them." Here, 1. He owns himself ignorant of the divine counsels;
and so we are all. God's judgments are a great deep, which we
cannot fathom, much less find out the springs of. We see what God
does, but we neither know why he does it, what he is aiming at, nor
what he will bring it to. These are things too wonderful for us,
out of our sight to discover, out of our reach to alter, and out of
our jurisdiction to judge of. They are things which we know not; it
is quite above our capacity to pass a verdict upon them. The reason
why we quarrel with Providence is because we do not understand it;
and we must be content to be in the dark about it, until the
mystery of God shall be finished. 2. He owns himself imprudent and
presumptuous in undertaking to discourse of that which he did not
understand and to arraign that which he could not judge of. <i>He
that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame
to him.</i> We wrong ourselves, as well as the cause which we
undertake to determine, while we are no competent judges of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p6">III. He will not answer, but he will
<i>make supplication to his Judge,</i> as he had said, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.15" parsed="|Job|9|15|0|0" passage="Job 9:15"><i>ch.</i> ix. 15</scripRef>. "<i>Hear, I
beseech thee, and I will speak</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.4" parsed="|Job|42|4|0|0" passage="Job 42:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), not speak either as plaintiff
or defendant (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.13.22" parsed="|Job|13|22|0|0" passage="Job 13:22"><i>ch.</i> xiii.
22</scripRef>), but as a humble petitioner, not as one that will
undertake to teach and prescribe, but as one that desires to learn
and is willing to be prescribed to. Lord, put no more hard
questions to me, for I am not able to answer thee one of a thousand
of those which thou hast put; but give me leave to ask instruction
from thee, and do not deny it me, do not upbraid me with my folly
and self-sufficiency," <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.5" parsed="|Jas|1|5|0|0" passage="Jam 1:5">Jam. i.
5</scripRef>. Now he is brought to the prayer Elihu taught him,
<i>That which I see not teach thou me.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p7">IV. He puts himself into the posture of a
penitent, and therein goes upon a right principle. In true
repentance there must be not only conviction of sin, but contrition
and godly sorrow for it, sorrow <i>according to God,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.7.9" parsed="|2Cor|7|9|0|0" passage="2Co 7:9">2 Cor. vii. 9</scripRef>. Such was Job's sorrow
for his sins.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p8">1. Job had an eye to God in his repentance,
thought highly of him, and went upon that as the principle of it
(<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.5" parsed="|Job|42|5|0|0" passage="Job 42:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear</i> many a time from my
teachers when I was young, from my friends now of late. I have
known something of thy greatness, and power, and sovereign
dominion; and yet was not brought, by what I heard, to submit
myself to thee as I ought. The notions I had of these things served
me only to talk of, and had not a due influence upon my mind.
<i>But now</i> thou hast by immediate revelation discovered thyself
to me in thy glorious majesty; <i>now my eyes see thee;</i> now I
feel the power of those truths which before I had only the notion
of, and therefore now I repent, and unsay what I have foolishly
said." Note, (1.) It is a great mercy to have a good education, and
to know the things of God by the instructions of his word and
ministers. <i>Faith comes by hearing,</i> and then it is most
likely to come when we hear attentively and with the <i>hearing of
the ear.</i> (2.) When the understanding is enlightened by the
Spirit of grace our knowledge of divine things as far exceeds what
we had before as that by ocular demonstration exceeds that by
report and common fame. By the teachings of men God reveals his Son
to us; but by the teachings of his Spirit he reveals his Son in us
(<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Gal.1.16" parsed="|Gal|1|16|0|0" passage="Ga 1:16">Gal. i. 16</scripRef>), and so
<i>changes us into the same image,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.18" parsed="|2Cor|3|18|0|0" passage="2Co 3:18">2 Cor. iii. 18</scripRef>. (3.) God is pleased sometimes
to manifest himself most fully to his people by the rebukes of his
word and providence. "Now that I have been afflicted, now that I
have been told of my faults, now my eye sees thee." <i>The rod and
reproof give wisdom. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and
teachest.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p9">2. Job had an eye to himself in his
repentance, thought hardly of himself, and thereby expressed his
sorrow for his sins (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.6" parsed="|Job|42|6|0|0" passage="Job 42:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>): <i>Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and
ashes.</i> Observe, (1.) It concerns us to be deeply humbled for
the sins we are convinced of, and not to rest in a slight
superficial displeasure against ourselves for them. Even good
people, that have no gross enormities to repent of, must be greatly
afflicted in soul for the workings and breakings out of pride,
passion, peevishness, and discontent, and all their hasty unadvised
speeches; for these we must be pricked to the heart and be in
bitterness. Till the enemy be effectually humbled, the peace will
be insecure. (2.) Outward expressions of godly sorrow well become
penitents; Job repented in dust and ashes. These, without an inward
change, do but mock God; but, where they come from sincere
contrition of soul, the sinner by them gives glory to God, takes
shame to himself, and may be instrumental to bring others to
repentance. Job's afflictions had brought him to the ashes
(<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.8" parsed="|Job|2|8|0|0" passage="Job 2:8"><i>ch.</i> ii. 8</scripRef>, he <i>sat
down among the ashes</i>), but now his sins brought him thither.
True penitents mourn for their sins as heartily as ever they did
for any outward afflictions, and are in bitterness as for an only
son of a first-born, for they are brought to see more evils in
their sins than in their troubles. (3.) Self-loathing is evermore
the companion of true repentance. <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.9" parsed="|Ezek|6|9|0|0" passage="Eze 6:9">Ezek.
vi. 9</scripRef>, <i>They shall loathe themselves for the evils
which they have committed.</i> We must not only be angry at ourselves
for the wrong and damage we have by sin done to our own souls, but
must abhor ourselves, as having by sin made ourselves odious to the
pure and holy God, who cannot endure to look upon iniquity. If sin
be truly an abomination to us, sin in ourselves will especially be
so; the nearer it is to us the more loathsome it will be. (4.) The
more we see of the glory and majesty of God, and the more we see of
the vileness and odiousness of sin and of ourselves because of sin,
the more we shall abase and abhor ourselves for it. "Now my eye
sees what a God he is whom I have offended, the brightness of that
majesty which by wilful sin I have spit in the face of, the
tenderness of that mercy which I have spurned at the bowels of; now
I see what a just and holy God he is whose wrath I have incurred;
wherefore I abhor myself. <i>Woe is me, for I am undone,</i>"
<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.5" parsed="|Isa|6|5|0|0" passage="Isa 6:5">Isa. vi. 5</scripRef>. God had
challenged Job to <i>look upon proud men and abase them.</i> "I
cannot," says Job, "pretend to do it; I have enough to do to get my
own proud heart humbled, to abase that and bring that low." Let us
leave it to God to govern the world, and make it our care, in the
strength of his grace, to govern ourselves and our own hearts
well.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xliii-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.7-Job.42.9" parsed="|Job|42|7|42|9" passage="Job 42:7-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.42.7-Job.42.9">
<h4 id="Job.xliii-p9.6">God's Vindication of Job. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p9.7">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xliii-p10">7 And it was <i>so,</i> that after the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p10.1">Lord</span> had spoken these words unto Job, the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p10.2">Lord</span> said to Eliphaz the Temanite,
My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for
ye have not spoken of me <i>the thing that is</i> right, as my
servant Job <i>hath.</i>   8 Therefore take unto you now seven
bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for
yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you:
for him will I accept: lest I deal with you <i>after your</i>
folly, in that ye have not spoken of me <i>the thing which is</i>
right, like my servant <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.9" parsed="|Job|9|0|0|0" passage="Job. 9">Job.   9</scripRef> So Eliphaz the Temanite and
Bildad the Shuhite <i>and</i> Zophar the Naamathite went, and did
according as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p10.4">Lord</span> commanded
them: the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p10.5">Lord</span> also accepted
Job.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p11">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 <i>bring forth
their righteousness as the light and their judgment as the
noon-day,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.6" parsed="|Ps|37|6|0|0" passage="Ps 37:6">Ps. xxxvii. 6</scripRef>.
He cleared Job's righteousness here, because he, like an honest
man, held it fast and would not let it go. We have here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p12">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,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p13">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: <i>After the Lord had spoken
these words unto Job,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.7" parsed="|Job|42|7|0|0" passage="Job 42:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>. 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 <i>has torn will heal</i> us, he that <i>has smitten will bind
us.</i> The Comforter shall convince, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:John.16.8" parsed="|John|16|8|0|0" passage="John 16:8">John xvi. 8</scripRef>. 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 <i>his servant Job,</i>
four times in <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.7-Job.42.8" parsed="|Job|42|7|42|8" passage="Job 42:7,8">two verses</scripRef>,
and he seems to take a pleasure in calling him so, as before his
troubles (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.8" parsed="|Job|1|8|0|0" passage="Job 1:8"><i>ch.</i> i. 8</scripRef>),
"<i>Hast thou considered my servant Job?</i> 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, <i>Well done,
good and faithful servant,</i> it is of little consequence who says
otherwise. [2.] He owns that he had <i>spoken of him the thing that
was right,</i> 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,
<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.1" parsed="|Eccl|9|1|0|0" passage="Ec 9:1">Eccl. ix. 1</scripRef>. Observe,
<i>First,</i> 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. <i>Secondly,</i> 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. <i>Thirdly,</i> 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: "<i>My servant Job will
pray for you.</i> 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, <i>for him will I accept.</i>" 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, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.5" parsed="|Job|1|5|0|0" passage="Job 1:5"><i>ch.</i> i. 5</scripRef>.
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 <i>acceptable to God;</i>
see <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p13.7" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:5">1 Pet. ii. 5</scripRef>. "<i>Go to
my servant Job,</i> 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 <i>making intercession for the transgressors.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p14">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 <i>not spoken of him the thing that was right, like Job,</i>
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: <i>My wrath is kindled against thee and thy
two friends.</i> 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 <i>seven bullocks, and</i> each
of them <i>seven rams,</i> to be offered up to God for a
<i>burnt-offering;</i> 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 <i>made to know that God has loved them,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.9" parsed="|Rev|3|9|0|0" passage="Re 3:9">Rev. iii. 9</scripRef>. 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. <i>If thy brother has aught against thee</i> (as Job had a
great deal against them), <i>first be reconciled to thy brother and
then come and offer thy gift.</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p15">II. The acquiescence of Job's friends in
this judgment given, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.9" parsed="|Job|42|9|0|0" passage="Job 42:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>. 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: <i>The Lord
also accepted Job,</i> and his friends in answer to his prayer. It
is not said, He accepted <i>them</i> (though that is implied), but,
He accepted <i>Job</i> for them; so he has <i>made us accepted in
the beloved,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.6 Bible:Matt.3.17" parsed="|Eph|1|6|0|0;|Matt|3|17|0|0" passage="Eph 1:6,Mt 3:17">Eph. i. 6;
Matt. iii. 17</scripRef>. 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.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xliii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.10-Job.42.17" parsed="|Job|42|10|42|17" passage="Job 42:10-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.42.10-Job.42.17">
<h4 id="Job.xliii-p15.4">Job's Renewed Prosperity; The Death of
Job. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p15.5">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xliii-p16">10 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p16.1">Lord</span>
turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p16.2">Lord</span> gave Job twice as much as
he had before.   11 Then came there unto him all his brethren,
and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance
before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned
him, and comforted him over all the evil that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p16.3">Lord</span> had brought upon him: every man also gave
him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.   12
So the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xliii-p16.4">Lord</span> blessed the latter end
of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep,
and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a
thousand she asses.   13 He had also seven sons and three
daughters.   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.   15 And in all the land were no women found
<i>so</i> fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them
inheritance among their brethren.   16 After this lived Job a
hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons,
<i>even</i> four generations.   17 So Job died, <i>being</i>
old and full of days.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p17"><i>You have heard of the patience of
Job</i> (says the apostle, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.11" parsed="|Jas|5|11|0|0" passage="Jam 5:11">Jam. v.
11</scripRef>) <i>and have seen the end of the Lord,</i> that is,
what end the Lord, at length, put to his troubles. In the beginning
of this book we had Job's patience under his troubles, for an
example; here, in the close, for our encouragement to follow that
example, we have the happy issue of his troubles and the prosperous
condition to which he was restored after them, which confirms us in
counting those happy which endure. Perhaps, too, the extraordinary
prosperity which Job was crowned with after his afflictions was
intended to be to us Christians a type and figure of the glory and
happiness of heaven, which the afflictions of this present time are
working for us, and in which they will issue at last; this will be
more than double to all the delights and satisfactions we now
enjoy, as Job's after-prosperity was to his former, though then he
was the greatest of all the men of the east. He that rightly
endures temptation, when he is tried, shall receive a <i>crown of
life</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.12" parsed="|Jas|1|12|0|0" passage="Jam 1:12">Jam. i. 12</scripRef>), as
Job, when he was tried, received all the wealth, and honour, and
comfort, which here we have an account of.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p18">I. God returned in ways of mercy to him;
and his thoughts concerning him <i>were thoughts of good and not of
evil, to give the expected</i> (nay, the <i>unexpected</i>)
<i>end,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.29.11" parsed="|Jer|29|11|0|0" passage="Jer 29:11">Jer. xxix. 11</scripRef>.
His troubles began in Satan's malice, which God restrained; his
restoration began in God's mercy, which Satan could not oppose.
Job's sorest complaint, and indeed the sorrowful accent of all his
complaints, on which he laid the greatest emphasis, was that God
appeared against him. But now God plainly appeared for him, and
<i>watched over him to build and to plant, like as he had</i> (at
least in his apprehension) <i>watched over him to pluck up and to
throw down,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.28" parsed="|Jer|31|28|0|0" passage="Jer 31:28">Jer. xxxi.
28</scripRef>. This put a new face upon his affairs immediately,
and every thing now looked as pleasing and promising as before it
had looked gloomy and frightful. 1. God <i>turned his
captivity,</i> that is, he redressed his grievances and took away
all the causes of his complaints; he loosed him from the bond with
which Satan had now, for a great while, bound him, and delivered
him out of those cruel hands into which he had delivered him. We
may suppose that now all his bodily pains and distempers were
healed so suddenly and so thoroughly that the cure was next to
miraculous: <i>His flesh became fresher than a child's, and he
returned to the days of his youth;</i> and, what was more, he felt
a very great alteration in his mind; it was calm and easy, and the
tumult was all over, his disquieting thoughts had all vanished, his
fears were silenced, and the consolations of God were now as much
the delight of his soul as his terrors had been its burden. The
tide thus turned, his troubles began to ebb as fast as they had
flowed, just then <i>when he was praying for his friends,</i>
praying over his sacrifice which he offered for them. Mercy did not
return when he was disputing with his friends, no, not though he
had right on his side, but when he was praying for them; for God is
better served and pleased with our warm devotions than with our
warm disputations. When Job completed his repentance by this
instance of his <i>forgiving men their trespasses,</i> then God
completed his remission by turning his captivity. Note, We are
really doing our business when we are praying for our friends, if
we pray in a right manner, for in those prayers there is not only
faith, but love. Christ has taught us to pray with and for others
in teaching us to say, <i>Our Father;</i> and, in seeking mercy for
others, we may find mercy ourselves. Our Lord Jesus has his
exaltation and dominion there, where he <i>ever lives making
intercession.</i> Some, by the turning of Job's captivity,
understand the restitution which the Sabeans and Chaldeans made of
the cattle which they had taken from him, God wonderfully inclining
them to do it; and with these he began the world again. Probably it
was so; those spoilers had <i>swallowed down his riches,</i> but
they were forced to <i>vomit them up again,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.15" parsed="|Job|20|15|0|0" passage="Job 20:15"><i>ch.</i> xx. 15</scripRef>. But I rather understand
this more generally of the turn now given. 2. God doubled his
possessions: <i>Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had
before.</i> It is probable that he did at first, in some way or
other, intimate to him that it was his gracious purpose, by
degrees, in due time to bring him to such a height of prosperity
that he should have twice as much as ever he had, for the
encouraging of his hope and the quickening of his industry, and
that it might appear that this wonderful increase was a special
token of God's favour. And it may be considered as intended, (1.)
To balance his losses. He suffered for the glory of God, and
therefore God made it up to him with advantage, and allowed him
more than interest upon interest. God will take care that none
shall lose by him. (2.) To recompense his patience and his
confidence in God, which (notwithstanding the workings of
corruption) he did not cast away, but still held fast, and that is
it which has <i>a great recompence of reward,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.35" parsed="|Heb|10|35|0|0" passage="Heb 10:35">Heb. x. 35</scripRef>. Job's friends had often
put their severe censure of Job upon this issue, <i>If thou wert
pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.6" parsed="|Job|8|6|0|0" passage="Job 8:6"><i>ch.</i> viii. 6</scripRef>. But he does not
awake for thee; therefore thou art not upright. "Well," says God,
"though your argument be not conclusive, I will even by that
demonstrate the integrity of my servant Job; his latter end shall
greatly increase, and by that it shall appear, since you will have
it so, that it was not for any injustice in his hands that he
suffered the loss of all things." Now it appeared that Job had
reason to bless God for taking away (as he did, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p18.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.21" parsed="|Job|1|21|0|0" passage="Job 1:21"><i>ch.</i> i. 21</scripRef>), since it made so good a
return.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p19">II. His old acquaintance, neighbours, and
relations, were very kind to him, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.11" parsed="|Job|42|11|0|0" passage="Job 42:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. They had been estranged from
him, and this was not the least of the grievances of his afflicted
state; he bitterly complained of their unkindness, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.13-Job.19.22" parsed="|Job|19|13|19|22" passage="Job 19:13-22"><i>ch.</i> xix. 13</scripRef>, &amp;c. But
now they visited him with all possible expressions of affection and
respect. 1. They put honour upon him, in coming to dine with him as
formerly, but (we may suppose) privately bringing their
entertainment along with them, so that he had the reputation of
feasting them without the expense. 2. They sympathized with him,
and showed a tender concern for him, such as becomes brethren. They
bemoaned him when they talked over all the calamities of his
afflicted state, and comforted him when they took notice of God's
gracious returns to him. They wept for his griefs, and rejoiced in
his joys, and proved not such miserable comforters as his three
friends, that, at first, were so forward and officious to attend
him. These were not such great men nor such learned and eloquent
men as those, but they proved much more skilful and kind in
comforting Job. God sometimes chooses the foolish and weak things
of the world, as for conviction, so for comfort. 3. They made a
collection among them for the repair of his losses and the setting
of him up again. They did not think it enough to say, <i>Be warmed,
Be filled,</i> but gave him such things as would be of use to him,
<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.16" parsed="|Jas|2|16|0|0" passage="Jam 2:16">Jam. ii. 16</scripRef>. <i>Every one
gave him a piece of money</i> (some more, it is likely, and some
less, according to their ability) <i>and every one an ear-ring of
gold</i> (an ornament much used by the children of the east), which
would be as good as money to him: this was a superfluity which they
could well spare, and the rule is, That our abundance must be a
supply to our brethren's necessity. But why did Job's relations
now, at length, show this kindness to him? (1.) God put it in their
hearts to do so; and every creature is that to us which he makes it
to be. Job had acknowledged God in their estrangement from him, for
which he now rewarded him in turning them to him again. (2.)
Perhaps some of them withdrew from him because they thought him a
hypocrite, but, now that his integrity was made manifest, they
returned to him and to communion with him again. When God was
friendly to him they were all willing to be friendly too, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.74 Bible:Ps.119.79" parsed="|Ps|119|74|0|0;|Ps|119|79|0|0" passage="Ps 119:74,79">Ps. cxix. 74, 79</scripRef>. Others of them,
it may be, withdrew because he was poor, and sore, and a rueful
spectacle, but now that he began to recover they were willing to
renew their acquaintance with him. Swallow-friends, that are gone
in winter, will return in the spring, though their friendship is of
little value. (3.) Perhaps the rebuke which God had given to
Eliphaz and the other two for their unkindness to Job awakened the
rest of his friends to return to their duty. Reproofs to others we
should thus take as admonitions and instructions to us. 4. Job
<i>prayed for his friends,</i> and then they flocked about him,
overcome by his kindness, and every one desiring an interest in his
prayers. The more we pray for our friends and relations the more
comfort we may expect in them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p20">III. His estate strangely increased, by the
blessing of God upon the little that his friends gave him. He
thankfully received their courtesy, and did not think it below him
to have his estate repaired by contributions. He did not, on the
one hand, urge his friends to raise money for him; he acquits
himself from that (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.22" parsed="|Job|6|22|0|0" passage="Job 6:22"><i>ch.</i> vi.
22</scripRef>), <i>Did I say, Bring unto me or give me a reward of
your substance?</i> Yet what they brought he thankfully accepted,
and did not upbraid them with their former unkindnesses, nor ask
them why they did not do this sooner. He was neither so covetous
and griping as to ask their charity, nor so proud and ill-natured
as to refuse it when they offered it; and, being in so good a
temper, God gave him that which was far better than their money and
ear-rings, and that was his blessing, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.12" parsed="|Job|42|12|0|0" passage="Job 42:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. The Lord comforted him now
according to the days wherein he had afflicted him, and <i>blessed
his latter end more than his beginning.</i> Observe, 1. <i>The
blessing of the Lord makes rich;</i> it is he that gives us power
to get wealth and gives success in honest endeavours. Those
therefore that would thrive must have an eye to God's blessing, and
never go out of it, no, not into the warm sun; and those that have
thriven must not sacrifice to their own net, but acknowledge their
obligations to God for his blessing. 2. That blessing can make very
rich and sometimes makes good people so. Those that become rich by
getting think they can easily make themselves very rich by saving;
but, as those that have little must depend upon God to make it
much, so those that have much must depend upon God to make it more
and to double it; else <i>you have sown much and bring in
little,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.6" parsed="|Hag|1|6|0|0" passage="Hag 1:6">Hag. i. 6</scripRef>. 3.
The last days of a good man sometimes prove his best days, his last
works his best works, his last comforts his best comforts; for his
path, like that of the morning-light, shines more and more to the
perfect day. Of a wicked man it is said, <i>His last state is worse
than his first</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.26" parsed="|Luke|11|26|0|0" passage="Lu 11:26">Luke xi.
26</scripRef>), but of the upright man, <i>His end is peace;</i>
and sometimes the nearer it is the clearer are the views of it. In
respect of outward prosperity God is pleased sometimes to make the
latter end of a good man's life more comfortable than the former
part of it has been, and strangely to outdo the expectations of his
afflicted people, who thought they should never live to see better
days, that we may not despair even in the depths of adversity. We
know not what good times we may yet be reserved for in our latter
end. <i>Non, si male nunc, et olim sic erit—It may yet be well
with us, though now it is otherwise.</i> Job, in his affliction,
had wished to be <i>as in months past,</i> as rich as he had been
before, and quite despaired of that; but God is often better to us
than our own fears, nay, than our own wishes, for Job's possessions
were doubled to him; the number of his cattle, his sheep and
camels, his oxen and she-asses, is just double here to what it was,
<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.3" parsed="|Job|1|3|0|0" passage="Job 1:3"><i>ch.</i> i. 3</scripRef>. This is a
remarkable instance of the extent of the divine providence to
things that seem minute, as this of the exact number of a man's
cattle, as also of the harmony of providence, and the reference of
one event to another; for <i>known unto God are all his works, from
the beginning to the end.</i> Job's other possessions, no doubt,
were increased in proportion to his cattle, lands, money, servants,
&amp;c. So that if, before, he was the greatest of all the men of
the east, what was he now?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p21">IV. His family was built up again, and he
had great comfort in his children, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.13-Job.42.15" parsed="|Job|42|13|42|15" passage="Job 42:13-15"><i>v.</i> 13-15</scripRef>. The last of his
afflictions that are recorded (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.13-Job.1.19" parsed="|Job|1|13|1|19" passage="Job 1:13-19"><i>ch.</i> i.</scripRef>), and the most grievous, was
the death of all his children at once. His friends upbraided him
with it (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.4" parsed="|Job|8|4|0|0" passage="Job 8:4"><i>ch.</i> viii.
4</scripRef>), but God repaired even that breach in process of
time, either by the same wife, or, she being dead, by another. 1.
The number of his children was the same as before, <i>seven sons
and three daughters.</i> Some give this reason why they were not
doubled as his cattle were, because his children that were dead
were not lost, but gone before to a better world; and therefore, if
he have but the same number of them, they may be reckoned doubled,
for he has two fleeces of children (as I may say) <i>mahanaim—two
hosts,</i> one in heaven, the other on earth, and in both he is
rich. 2. The names of his daughters are here registered (<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.14" parsed="|Job|42|14|0|0" passage="Job 42:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), because, in the
significations of them, they seemed designed to perpetuate the
remembrance of God's great goodness to him in the surprising change
of his condition. He called the first <i>Jemima—The day</i>
(whence perhaps <i>Diana</i> had her name), because of the shining
forth of his prosperity after a dark night of affliction. The next
<i>Kezia,</i> a spice of a very fragrant smell, because (says
bishop Patrick) God had healed his ulcers, the smell of which was
offensive. The third <i>Keren-happuch</i> (that is <i>Plenty
restored,</i> or <i>A horn of paint</i>), because (says he) God had
wiped away the tears which fouled his face, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p21.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.16.16" parsed="|Job|16|16|0|0" passage="Job 16:16"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 16</scripRef>. Concerning these
daughters we are here told, (1.) That God adorned them with great
beauty, <i>no women so fair as the daughters of Job,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p21.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.15" parsed="|Job|42|15|0|0" passage="Job 42:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. In the Old Testament
we often find women praised for their beauty, as Sarah, Rebekah,
and many others; but we never find any women in the New Testament
whose beauty is in the least taken notice of, no, not the virgin
Mary herself, because the beauty of holiness is that which is
brought to a much clearer light by the gospel. (2.) That their
father (God enabling him to do it) supplied them with great
fortunes: <i>He gave them inheritance among their brethren,</i> and
did not turn them off with small portions, as most did. It is
probable that they had some extraordinary personal merit, which Job
had an eye to in the extraordinary favour he showed them. Perhaps
they excelled their brethren in wisdom and piety; and therefore,
that they might continue in his family, to be a stay and blessing
to it, he made them co-heirs with their brethren.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xliii-p22">V. His life was long. What age he was when
his troubles came we are nowhere told, but here we are told he
lived 140 years, whence some conjecture that he was 70 when he was
in his troubles, and that so his age was doubled, as his other
possessions. 1. He lived to have much of the comfort of this life,
for he saw his posterity to the fourth generation, <scripRef id="Job.xliii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.16" parsed="|Job|42|16|0|0" passage="Job 42:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Though his children
were not doubled to him, yet in his children's children (and those
are the crown of old men) they were more than doubled. As God
appointed to Adam another seed instead of that which was slain
(<scripRef id="Job.xliii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.25" parsed="|Gen|4|25|0|0" passage="Ge 4:25">Gen. iv. 25</scripRef>), so he did to
Job with advantage. God has ways to repair the losses and balance
the griefs of those who are written childless, as Job was when he
had buried all his children. 2. He lived till he was satisfied, for
he died full of days, satisfied with living in this world, and
willing to leave it; not peevishly so, as in the days of his
affliction, but piously so, and thus, as Eliphaz had encouraged him
to hope, he <i>came to his grave like a shock of corn in his
season.</i></p>
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