Job 42:17

So Job died,.... As every man does, though he lived so long, and as Methuselah the oldest man did, Genesis 5:27; and though a good man, the best of men die as well as others: so Job died, as a good

Full of days - fully sated and contented with all the happiness that life could give him; realizing what Eliphaz had painted as the lot of the godly (Job 5:26, "Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full

After God had turned his captivity, as is said . 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 human life were much shortened, as he complains. END OF VOL. I.

Job 42:17 So Job died, [being] old and full of days.Ver. 17. So Job died, being old and full of days] How long he lived we know not. The Rabbis say, about two hundred years, which was longer than either Abraham or Isaac lived; of both whom it is likewise said, that they were saturi dierum, sated with this earthly life, and desirous of life eternal. To those old men that would yet live longer, we may say, Cur non ut satur vitae conviva recedis? (Lucret.) It is enough, Lord, said Elijah. I desire to be dissolved, said Paul. Go forth, my soul, go forth to God, said Hilarion. What make I here? said Monica. Job is now as willing to die as ever he was to dine; he is satisfied with days, saith the text, not as a meat loathed, but as a dish, though well liked, that he had fed his full of. Laus Deo in Aeternum.

(17) So Job died, being old and full of days.—Such is the close of this mysterious book, which deals with the greatest problems that can engage the human mind, and shows us the way in which the ancients solved them, and the help which God vouchsafed them, apart from His covenant revelation and before the dawning of the Gospel light. And the great lesson of the history is the way in which the malice of Satan is foiled. He had insinuated that all service of God was interested and done for advantage. Job had clearly shown that he was capable of loving God even under the most severe afflictions; and the issue which was eventually brought about was no contradiction of this fact, inasmuch as it was entirely hidden from Job till long after his probation was ended, and therefore could have no influence upon his patience and faith. It is remarkable that Job is only twice mentioned in Scripture, once in the Old Testament and once in the New. Ezekiel was acquainted with Job’s history (Job 14:14; Job 14:20), and St. James (Job 5:11) refers to him as a familiar standard of patience. It is evident, however, that the Book of Job was well known, from the many instances in the Psalms and elsewhere in which we find traces of the influence produced by familiarity with the language of the book.

Verse 17. Job died, being old and full of days.] He had seen life in all its varieties; he had risen higher than all the men of the East, and sunk lower in affliction, poverty, and distress, than any other human being that had existed before, or has lived since. He died when he was satisfied with this life; this the word שבע seba implies. He knew the worst and the best of human life; and in himself the whole history of Providence was exemplified and illustrated, and many of its mysteries unfolded. We have now seen the end of the life of Job, and the end or design which God had in view by his afflictions and trials, in which he has shown us that he is very pitiful, and of tender mercy, James 5:11; and to discern this end of the Lord should be the object of every person who reads or studies it. Laus in excelsis Deo! Both in the Arabic and Septuagint there is a considerable and important addition at the end of the seventeenth verse, which extends to many lines; of this, with its variations, I have given a translation in the PREFACE. At the end of the Syriac version we have the following subscription: - "The Book of the righteous and renowned Job is finished, and contains 2553 verses." At the end of the Arabic is the following: - "It is completed by the assistance of the Most High God. The author of this copy would record that this book has been translated into Arabic from the Syriac language." "Glory be to God, the giver of understanding!" "The Book of Job is completed; and his age was two hundred and forty years." "Praise be to God for ever!" So closely does the Arabic translator copy the Syriac, that in the Polyglots one Latin version serves for both, with the exception of a few marginal readings at the bottom of the column to show where the Syriac varies. MASORETIC NOTES Number of verses, one thousand and seventy. Middle verse, Job 22:16. Sections, eight. AT the close of a book I have usually endeavoured to give some account of the author, or of him who was its chief subject. But the Book of Job is so unique in its subject and circumstances, that it is almost impossible to say any thing satisfactorily upon it, except in the way of notes on the text. There has been so much controversy on the person and era of Job, that he has almost been reduced to an ideal being, and the book itself considered rather as a splendid poem on an ethic subject than a real history of the man whose name it bears. The author, as we have already seen in the preface, is not known. It has been attributed to Job himself; to Elihu, one of his friends; to Moses; to some ancient Hebrew, whose name is unknown; to Solomon; to Isaiah the prophet; and to Ezra the scribe.

17. Job dies, old and full of days. “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:11).

So Job died, being old and full of days - Having filled up the ordinary term of human life at that period of the world. He reached an honored old age, and when he died was not prematurely cut down.

17. Job died, being old and full of days — The Septuagint adds: “And it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.”Also, “This man is described in [Gr.