Job 1:22

In all this Job sinned not,.... Not that he was without sin, he was conscious to himself of it, and owns it, Job 9:20; but in all the above things he did or said he sinned not; not in his rending his

In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Nor charged God foolishly - rather, allowed himself to commit no folly against God (Umbreit). Job 2:10 proves that this is the meaning.

i.e. Under all these pressures; or, in all that he said or did upon these sad occasions; Job sinned not, to wit, in such manner as the devil presaged that he would, and as is expressed in the following words. As Christ saith, , Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, to wit, so as you imagine, in an eminent or extraordinary degree. But both here and there human infirmities are excepted, of which Job oft acknowledgeth himself to be guilty. Nor was the question between God and Satan, whether Job had any sin in him, but whether he was a hypocrite, or would blaspheme God; which is here denied and disproved. Nor charged God foolishly, Heb. nor imputed folly to God, i.e. so far was he from blaspheming God, that he did not entertain any dishonourable thought of God, as if he had done any thing unworthy of his infinite wisdom, or justice, or goodness, but heartily approved of and acquiesced in his good pleasure, and in his righteous, though sharp, proceedings against him.

Job 1:22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.Ver. 22. In all this Job sinned not] The Greek and Latin versions add here, with his lips; but I could rather be of Mercer’ s judgment, who referreth the former part of this verse to the mind, and the latter to the mouth (Beza.); showing that Job neither thought in his heart, nor uttered with his mouth, anything unsuitable and unworthy of God, insomuch, that both within and without he carried away the victory and conquest over Satan, and so better deserved to be sainted than our Henry VI, of whom the chronicler writeth thus: The king in both estates so demeaned himself, that he modestly carried the one, and moderately underwent the other; yea, such was his deportment, that the inconstancy of his state could not alter the constancy of his mind; insomuch that one of his successors, King Henry VII, laboured for that only virtue, to have him canonized for a saint; and had obtained to have done it, had not the charges thereof so far exceeded mediocrity, as to cause him to leave it undone (Dan. Hist. contin. by Trussel). God himself hath here canonized, crowned, and chronicled holy Job, for his many good properties before, and here for his humility and patience. The trial of his faith, being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, is found to praise and honour and glory, 1 Peter 1:7. It was a saying of Philostratus, that one Jupiter set out by Homer, the poet, was worth ten set out by Phydias, the carver; because the former flew abroad through all the world; whereas the other never stirred from his pedestal at Athens: so one Job, thus renowned by God’ s own pen, is far beyond all that have been memorized in human histories for their equanimity and constancy. In all this that Job suffered, acted, and uttered, he sinned not, sc. sinningly; he was not transformed into sin’ s image; he sinned not by cursing God, as Satan hoped, and would have had it; or charged God foolishly, or with folly; with anything insolent, insulse, unsavoury; he charged him not in the least, to have dealt unwisely or unworthily with him; and this is here mentioned, as grace, almost to a miracle, as patience having her perfect work, and proving Job to be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, James 1:4.

(22) Foolishly.—The same word as at Job 24:12, signifying reproach or guilt. It is a noun derived from the adjective rendered “unsavoury” in Job 6:6.

Verse 22. In all this Job sinned not] He did not give way to any action, passion, or expression, offensive to his Maker. He did not charge God with acting unkindly towards him, but felt as perfectly satisfied with the privation which the hand of God had occasioned, as he was with the affluence and health which that hand had bestowed. This is the transaction that gave the strong and vivid colouring to the character of Job; in this, and in this alone, he was a pattern of patience and resignation. In this Satan was utterly disappointed; he found a man who loved his God more than his earthly portion. This was a rare case, even in the experience of the devil. He had seen multitudes who bartered their God for money, and their hopes of blessedness in the world to come for secular possessions in the present. He had been so often successful in this kind of temptation, that he made no doubt he should succeed again. He saw many who, when riches increased, set their hearts on them, and forgot God. He saw many also who, when deprived of earthly comforts, blasphemed their Maker. He therefore inferred that Job, in similar circumstances, would act like the others; he was disappointed. Reader, has he, by riches or poverty, succeeded with thee? Art thou pious when affluent, and patient and contented when in poverty? THAT Job lived after the giving of the law, seems to me clear from many references to the rites and ceremonies instituted by Moses. In Job 1:5, we are informed that he sanctified his children, and offered burnt-offerings daily to the morning for each of them. This was a general ordinance of the law, as we may see, Leviticus 9:7: "Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and offer thy sin-offering and thy burnt-offering, and make an atonement for thyself and for the people." Leviticus 9:22: "And Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering the burnt-offering." This sort of offering, we are told above, Job offered continually; and this also was according to the law, Exodus 29:42: "This shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations." See also Numbers 28:3; Numbers 28:6; Numbers 28:10; Numbers 28:15; Numbers 28:24; Numbers 28:31. This custom was observed after the captivity, Ezra 3:5: "They offered the continual burnt-offering: and of every one that offered a freewill-offering." See also Ne 10:33. Ezekiel, who prophesied during the captivity, enjoins this positively, Ezekiel 46:13-15: "Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt-offering unto the Lord; thou shalt prepare it every morning." Job appears to have thought that his children might have sinned through ignorance, or sinned privately; and it was consequently necessary to make the due sacrifices to God in order to prevent his wrath and their punishment; he therefore offered the burnt-offering, which was prescribed by the law in cases of sins committed through ignorance. See the ordinances Leviticus 4:1-35; Leviticus 5:15-19, and particularly Numbers 15:24-29.

22. The Writer’s judgment on Job’s demeanour. In all this] Both in what he suffered and in what he said and did. Job’s expressions of grief were no sin. charged God foolishly] Rather as margin, attributed folly to God. The word “folly” hardly expresses the idea, though a better word is not easy to find. The adj. signifies insipid, without savour, Job 6:6 (unsavoury), and the term here means moral impropriety; Job attributed no want of right moral savour to God’s actions in His dealing with him. Others prefer the meaning: Gave God no cause of displeasure; a sense less suitable to the meaning of the word and to the connexion, for the action of the poem turns immediately on the estimate which Job will form of God, and whether in consequence he will renounce Him, and only indirectly on what God shall find in Job. But comp. Job 2:10. The confident predictions of the Satan are wholly falsified.

In all this - In all his feelings and expressions on this occasion. Job sinned not - He expressed just the feelings and manifested just the submission which he ought to do.

22. Nor charged God foolishly-“In all that had befallen him” (Septuagint) he had neither sinned nor uttered folly against God.