Job 42

Job 42:1-6

Ch. Job 42:1-6. Job’s reply to the Lord’s Second Address from the Storm The Lord’s words make Job feel more deeply than before that greatness which belongs to God alone, and with deep compunction he retracts his past words and repents in dust and ashes.

Job 42:2

2. do every thing] Or, canst do all. no thought can be withholden] That is, no purpose. The meaning is that there is no purpose which the Almighty cannot carry out. Though literally the words seem merely an acknowledgement of power, they are also an admission of wisdom, the plans or purposes of which may be beyond the understanding of man (Job 42:3). Job does not, as might have been expected, acknowledge the Divine righteousness. His confession corresponds to the Almighty’s address to him. That address did not insist on any one Divine attribute, but rather presented God in the whole circle of His attributes, power and wisdom but also goodness, for He refreshes the thirsty ground where no man is.

He feeds the ravens, and presides over the birth-pangs of the goats of the rock; and His omnipotence goes hand in hand with His moral rule (ch. Job 40:9 seq.). The Divine nature is not a segment but a circle. Any one Divine attribute implies all others. Omnipotence cannot exist apart from righteousness. Similarly Job’s reply reflects the great, general impression of God now made on him.

The exhibition of the Divine wisdom as it operates in nature has led him to feel that within his own history also there is a divine “thought” or “counsel,” though he is unable to understand it. It can hardly, however, be the Author’s purpose to teach the general principle that the “counsel” of God is incomprehensible, because he gives an explanation of it in the Prologue. He is not teaching general principles here, but shewing the position which just thoughts of God will induce a man to take, even when God’s dealings may be beyond his understanding.

Job 42:3

3. who is he that hideth] That is, that obscures counsel. The words of the Almighty (ch. Job 38:2) echo through Job’s mind, and he repeats them, speaking of himself. The rest of the verse expands the idea of “obscuring counsel,” or states its consequence. As one that obscured counsel Job had uttered that which he understood not. The reference is to his former judgments regarding God’s operations in the world, and the rashness of his own language.

Job 42:4

4. hear, I beseech thee] Or, hear now, and I will speak. The words are not an entreaty on the part of Job that the Almighty would further instruct him; they are a repetition of the words of the Lord (ch. Job 38:3, Job 40:7). The verse is closely connected with Job 42:5, which suggests under what feeling Job repeats the words of God to him. He recites the divine challenge and puts it away from him—“Declare unto thee! (Job 42:4) that be far from me; I had heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee” (Job 42:5). This is more natural than to suppose Job 42:4 uttered with a kind of self-irony, as if Job, in repeating the words of the divine challenge, also entered into the ironical spirit of it. In either case Job 42:5 has a half-apologetic meaning, accounting for Job’s former rashness.

Job 42:5

5. I have heard] Rather perhaps, I had heard. Job’s former knowledge of God, though he had prided himself upon it (ch. 12–13), seems to him now only such a knowledge as one gets by hearsay, confused and defective. His present knowledge is that of eyesight, immediate and full (Isaiah 52:8).

Job 42:6

6. The effect of this deeper knowledge of God upon Job’s heart. I abhor myself] The word myself is not expressed; what has to be supplied as the object of “abhor” is rather it, that is, my former language and demeanour. The word means, I retract, or repudiate.

Job 42:7-9

Ch. Job 42:7-17. Job, having humbled himself before God, is restored to a prosperity two-fold that which he enjoyed before 7–9. Job is commanded to intercede for his three friends lest Jehovah should visit their folly upon them, because they spoke not that which was right concerning Him.

Job 42:10-16

10–16. Job is restored to a prosperity double that which he formerly enjoyed; his former friends gather around him; he is again blessed with children; and dies, old and full of days.

Job 42:11

11. Comp. Job’s sorrowful lamentations over the alienation of all his friends and acquaintances, ch. Job 19:13 seq. piece of money] The Heb. is Kesita, probably an uncoined piece of silver, of a certain weight, Genesis 33:19; Joshua 24:32.

Job 42:12

12. The exact doubling of Job’s former possessions shews that we are not reading literal history here.

Job 42:13-15

13–15. The former number of Job’s children is restored to him. The name Jemima probably means dove, comp. Son 6:9; Son 5:2; Kezia is cassia, the aromatic spice, Psalms 45:8, Son 1:3; and Kerenhappúch means horn (or box) of eye-paint, puch being the paint or powder used by Oriental women to add lustre to the eye. The Sept. curiously renders horn of Amalthea, cornu copiœ, horn of plenty. A French commentator considers it important to remark that “les trois noms sont destinés à relever les grâces de ces filles, et pas le moins du monde leur coquetterie” (Reuss).

Job 42:15

15. inheritance among their brethren] The Hebrew practice was that the daughters inherited only when there was no son, Numbers 27:1 seq. The disposition of his property made by Job would retain the sisters in the midst of their brethren even after marriage, and allow the affectionate relations existing among Job’s children to continue.

Job 42:17

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).