Psalms 35

Psalms 35:1

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:2

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:3

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:4

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:5

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:6

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:7

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:8

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:9

Leviathan (continued)

God continues to speak to Job about Leviathan, but He changes the form of address. He no longer speaks in questioning form, but in descriptive form. The previous section deals with the relationship of this beast to Job. In this section it is about the relationship of this beast to God. God gives an impressive description of the beast. He points Job to different parts of the body. The intention is to make it extra clear Who He is in comparison with this mighty, dangerous beast. He is the only One Who has complete control over it. After the inability of man in the face of this monster has been demonstrated, here follows the climax in the complete authority of God over him.

There is no one, neither Job nor any other man, who dares to come near Leviathan to awaken him (Job 41:10). The meaning is clear. God says here: If one of My creatures is so formidable that man does not dare to challenge him, how can man enter into battle with the great Creator? In this we can hear a rebuke to Job. After all, Job said that he wanted to submit his case to God so that God would justify him.

If the creature is so impressive, for whom no one can stand, who can stand before its Creator (cf. Psalms 76:7)? This is even more daring and dangerous than defying Leviathan. Can Job, who said he would come to meet God “as a prince” if he had the chance (Job 41:11; Job 31:37)? If man is unable to catch a creature of the Almighty by surprise and submit to serve him, how can he expect to force the Creator to grant him the favors he requests?

And would God repay him for what he has done, as if God were in his debt (cf. Romans 11:35)? With one mighty word God silences anyone who takes up the word against Him: “What is under all heaven is mine” (cf. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:10-12). God says here: ‘Everything belongs to Me, everything is subject to Me. I dispose of it according to My pleasure. No one can claim anything as his own. No one can deprive Me of anything.’ This claim to the ownership of all things created is made here to show Job that no one can exercise control over Someone Who is so exalted. It is therefore Job’s duty to submit to Him without any complaint and to receive with gratitude from Him what He chooses to give.

After this interlude about His exaltation, God continues with the description of Leviathan. It will be a more detailed description than in the previous chapter. There it is a general description and the beast is presented as a great power. God is now going to describe the various “limbs” of the beast that confirm the general impression (Job 41:12). As a result, the listener will be even more deeply impressed by it and, as a consequence, by its Creator. The description of the limbs includes in particular his beak, his teeth, his skin (“outer armor”), his eyelids, his nose, his neck, and his heart.

God does not remain silent about this. He wants to emphatically draw our attention to this. He does so by talking about it, through which we get His view, the right view, on this beast. He will speak “of his mighty strength”, and “his orderly frame”. God knows what He is talking about. Everything that characterizes this beast, He has given him. That is about his strength and his form, the right proportions of all the limbs. In it the creativity and skill of the Creator can be admired. It isn’t the admiration of the beast but the admiration of the Creator Who is capable of such a work of art.

What is visible first is “his outer armor”, that is his skin (Job 41:13). Is there anyone who would dare to “strip off” his garment, that is to say to strip him of his skin and make him defenseless? No one has the courage to do that. Nobody dares to approach him, because his skin is a “double mail”. The scales are so layered that they form a double armor. The beast is truly an unapproachable and impregnable walking fortress. With regard to satan, of whom this beast is a picture, only the Lord Jesus is the Stronger. He has taken away from this strong satan, invincible to man, “all his armor on which he had relied” (Luke 11:22) and completely “disarmed” him (Colossians 2:15).

And then his mouth, his mighty jaws, which here poetically are called “the doors of his face” (Job 41:14; cf. Psalms 141:3). Who can force the beast to open his huge beak, whose jaws look like gate doors? No one shall dare to do so; for whoever does it shall be devoured by him. When he opens his jaws, teeth appear which are an utter terror. What once is caught between those awfully big teeth is irreversibly grinded.

In Job 41:15-17, the strong scales with which the beast is covered are exposed. The scales are “[his] pride”. They look like strong shields. Each scale is attached to the skin as a tight seal. They are so tightly connected and are so close together, “that no air can come between them”. They lie on the beast like tiles on a house. It gives the impression of a solid whole in which there is not a single weak spot, not a single hole. It has been laid like an artistic mosaic by God on this beast. The scales are glued together and interlock in a way that makes separation between the scales impossible. There is no gap and no gap can be forced.

A sneeze from the beast is impressive. In Job 41:18-21, God describes in poetic language what becomes visible during a sneeze, whereby we can probably best think of a sneeze in the sunlight. A sneeze can be caused by a stimulation of the nose as a result of looking in the sun. When the beast sneezes (Job 41:18), numerous drops, moisture particles, come out of its nose and mouth. In this beast, this is an enormous bundle of water particles, which in sunlight looks like an enormous bundle of light spreading light. During the sneeze, the eyes light up, reflecting the glistening of the dawning day, and they become like “the eyelids of the morning”.

A similar effect can be seen in the moisture particles coming out of his mouth (Job 41:19). They look like torches in the sunlight from which fiery sparks leap forth. The vapor coming out of his nostrils is reminiscent of smoke, just as it comes from “a boiling pot and [burning] rushes” (Job 41:20). The breath coming out of his mouth seems to set the whole environment on fire as if it were coal (Job 41:21). The mass of water that comes out of his mouth when he sneezes, looks like the flame of a fire-breathing mountain in the sunlight.

In the book of Revelation, beasts, horses in that case, are described of which it is said, “and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). They are symbols of demonic powers connected to hell. The symbolic description of the manifestations of Leviathan as torches, fiery sparks, smoke, fire and flame indicates once again that this beast represents a demonic power with a relationship to hell. Incidentally, it may be that God really did make this monster spit fire. A sea dragon could have had an explosion-producing mechanism to make it a real fire breathing dragon. []

His enormous neck is the seat of his strength (Job 41:22). Wherever he goes, dismay leaps before him. Everything and everyone flees, for fear of being grabbed and devoured by him. The beast is one great mass of flesh (Job 41:23). But every softness and weakness are lacking. It is a solid, contiguous whole. There is no movement in it. If you try to push your finger into it, it feels like steel.

The beast is totally insensitive to what it does to others. God indicates this by saying of this beast that his heart is “hard as stone” (Job 41:24). He emphasizes the hardness of his heart by adding that his heart is as hard “as a stone, even as hard as a lower millstone”. The lower millstone is the hardest of the two millstones and is also immovable. Everything that needs to be grinded is placed on it.

Here again God speaks in human language about this beast, a beast that knows no fear. It again makes it clear that this monster has a symbolic meaning and that he represents satan. Satan also has a heart of stone. He is a ruthless and unparalleled monster who is only out to devour and destroy.

So is Leviathan. As the beast raises himself up and moves, it immediately becomes dangerous (Job 41:25). This terrifying monster inspires fear. The strong, those who are otherwise fearless, are overwhelmed by fear. When he crashes the protection behind which the strong believe they are safe, they are completely upset and do not know where to go from fear. They flee in all directions.

There is no fighting against him (Job 41:26). Any attempt by a man with any weapon to subdue this monstrous apparition is futile. Nothing bothers him. He considers sword, spear, lance or arrow as straw (Job 41:27). Whoever is given the chance to strike him with the sword, stands the next moment unarmed, for the sword has been smashed upon him. You might as well hit him with a straw, because the effect of both is the same, namely none. Using a weapon of bronze against him to defeat him is equivalent to using “rotten wood”. He doesn’t bother, he doesn’t care.

He is not impressed by distance weapons used as an arrow and slingstones (Job 41:28). For an arrow pointed at him, he does not flee. Stones thrown at him hit him as if they were stubble. The same goes for clubs that would be used against him (Job 41:29). The javelin that vibrates in the hand of the thrower to be thrown at him is a joke to him. That weapon can’t hurt him either, let alone kill him. This beast is afraid of nothing and no one. He is inviolable and cannot be intimidated.

The parallel with satan is obvious, because no one can stand up to satan. But the Lord Jesus can. He has come to him and conquered him (Luke 11:22). Just as satan cannot be conquered by a mortal, the flesh in the believer cannot be tamed by himself (Romans 8:7). Only through the Spirit of life is it possible to give the flesh no chance to assert itself (Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13b).

The underparts of Leviathan’s are sharp points that are compared to “sharp potsherds” (Job 41:30). When he lies in the mud and moves on his belly, the trace he leaves looks as if a threshing sledge has been pulled over it. In the depths of the sea he rages so wildly that he makes the sea “boil like a pot” (Job 41:31). It is a jar in which various ointments is brought to a boil.

In his course through the water, he draws a trail behind him that is, as it were, a shining path on the dark surface of the sea (Job 41:32). The white foam, which we also see behind the propeller of a boat, resembles silvery-white hair. The comparison with gray-haired also brings up the thought of enforcing respect (cf. Leviticus 19:32).

With this, God ends His description of this dreadful, frightening and awe-inspiring creature. He states that “nothing on earth is like him” (Job 41:33). This beast towers high above all His works of creation. At the same time, we are reminded that this beast was “made” by Him, though with the curious characteristic of being “without fear”. He is and remains only a creature. But also this creature was created by God with a purpose, as shown in the following verses.

It is a beast that is characterized by a special pride. He stands above all that is high and looks down upon it as subordinate (Job 41:34). It points both to the huge stature of the beast through which it stands above every other creature and to its proud, arrogant attitude toward every other creature. “He is king”, the most proud, the most important, of all the proud beasts. He is at the head of all God’s creative works.

Here, too, the parallel with satan is obvious. We see in this monstrous creature the power of God to create a covering cherub who becomes arrogant and therefore becomes satan, the adversary of God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). This is not to instill fear in us of satan, but of God Himself. The greatest hostile power in the universe is nothing but a creature of God, a creature that He dominates and controls and uses for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:17). He is God.

This takes nothing away from the responsibility of satan who, as the most important, privileged angel, has rebelled against God. God will judge him for that. God is always and in all things perfect Lord and Master. Nothing ever gets out of hand with Him. And not only that. He also never has to adjust anything, because otherwise things are in danger of going wrong. He has everything perfectly under control. Everything serves His purpose, even though we do not always understand the path He chooses to reach that goal.

God has spoken to Job severely, but never mocked him. By ‘meeting’ with the two most impressive beasts God has created, Job must learn that he is utterly powerless to judge an evildoer. God also wants to teach him that His actions sometimes go beyond human logic and that man cannot explain everything He does. If Job is so incapable of constructing, maintaining, or subjugating some of God’s works of creation, it is unthinkable that he can accuse the Creator of them of maladministration.

Psalms 35:11

Job Retracts and Repents

When the LORD has finished speaking, Job answers Him again (Job 42:1). His answer testifies of a profound work of God’s Spirit in him. He has understood the message that it is only about what God wants and that He carries out that will, without giving an account of it to man. Job submits to the government of God and comes to the confession which the psalmist will express centuries later: “I know, LORD, that your judgments are just” (Psalms 119:75a).

Job has acknowledged in his first answer that he is insignificant (Job 40:4); now in his second answer he acknowledges God’s omnipotence, that He can do whatever He purposes (Job 42:2). He acknowledges that God not only cares for all creation and controls the world, but also does so in his life. God has a plan for each of His own. He carries out that plan for their benefit. This is apparent from the life of Job. If He deems oppression necessary, He brings it into the life of His own. If His purpose is achieved by oppression, He takes it away.

In Job 42:3 Job repeats what God said to him in Job 38:2, who he is, that he darkens or hides His counsel. This repetition means that Job confesses his sin. Confessing sin means repeating God’s judgment of that sin and agreeing that His judgment on it is righteous. Job acknowledges that he has confessed more than he understood (cf. Psalms 131:1). He has made a judgment about things that are too wonderful for him and that he does not know (cf. Psalms 73:21-22).

He acknowledges that he has taken an inappropriate attitude toward God by commanding Him to listen to him, for he would tell Him something (Job 42:4; Job 13:22). He would interrogate God and then God would have to answer him. Job had called God to account and of course he was not allowed to do that.

Job comes to complete surrender to God. After hearing God speak in His first speech, he has come to the understanding that he should not contradict God (Job 40:5). That is all well and good, but it is not enough, because he has contradicted God and he has yet to confess that. He does so in response to God’s second speech. In it he has seen God in His works and how He controls everything (Job 42:5). That breaks him. He despises himself and repents “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), that is, sitting in literal dust and ashes which at the same time serve as symbols of mourning (Job 2:8; Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 25:34; Jona 3:6). What he says now, he did not say in the days of his prosperity.

Psalms 35:12

Job Retracts and Repents

When the LORD has finished speaking, Job answers Him again (Job 42:1). His answer testifies of a profound work of God’s Spirit in him. He has understood the message that it is only about what God wants and that He carries out that will, without giving an account of it to man. Job submits to the government of God and comes to the confession which the psalmist will express centuries later: “I know, LORD, that your judgments are just” (Psalms 119:75a).

Job has acknowledged in his first answer that he is insignificant (Job 40:4); now in his second answer he acknowledges God’s omnipotence, that He can do whatever He purposes (Job 42:2). He acknowledges that God not only cares for all creation and controls the world, but also does so in his life. God has a plan for each of His own. He carries out that plan for their benefit. This is apparent from the life of Job. If He deems oppression necessary, He brings it into the life of His own. If His purpose is achieved by oppression, He takes it away.

In Job 42:3 Job repeats what God said to him in Job 38:2, who he is, that he darkens or hides His counsel. This repetition means that Job confesses his sin. Confessing sin means repeating God’s judgment of that sin and agreeing that His judgment on it is righteous. Job acknowledges that he has confessed more than he understood (cf. Psalms 131:1). He has made a judgment about things that are too wonderful for him and that he does not know (cf. Psalms 73:21-22).

He acknowledges that he has taken an inappropriate attitude toward God by commanding Him to listen to him, for he would tell Him something (Job 42:4; Job 13:22). He would interrogate God and then God would have to answer him. Job had called God to account and of course he was not allowed to do that.

Job comes to complete surrender to God. After hearing God speak in His first speech, he has come to the understanding that he should not contradict God (Job 40:5). That is all well and good, but it is not enough, because he has contradicted God and he has yet to confess that. He does so in response to God’s second speech. In it he has seen God in His works and how He controls everything (Job 42:5). That breaks him. He despises himself and repents “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), that is, sitting in literal dust and ashes which at the same time serve as symbols of mourning (Job 2:8; Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 25:34; Jona 3:6). What he says now, he did not say in the days of his prosperity.

Psalms 35:13

Job Retracts and Repents

When the LORD has finished speaking, Job answers Him again (Job 42:1). His answer testifies of a profound work of God’s Spirit in him. He has understood the message that it is only about what God wants and that He carries out that will, without giving an account of it to man. Job submits to the government of God and comes to the confession which the psalmist will express centuries later: “I know, LORD, that your judgments are just” (Psalms 119:75a).

Job has acknowledged in his first answer that he is insignificant (Job 40:4); now in his second answer he acknowledges God’s omnipotence, that He can do whatever He purposes (Job 42:2). He acknowledges that God not only cares for all creation and controls the world, but also does so in his life. God has a plan for each of His own. He carries out that plan for their benefit. This is apparent from the life of Job. If He deems oppression necessary, He brings it into the life of His own. If His purpose is achieved by oppression, He takes it away.

In Job 42:3 Job repeats what God said to him in Job 38:2, who he is, that he darkens or hides His counsel. This repetition means that Job confesses his sin. Confessing sin means repeating God’s judgment of that sin and agreeing that His judgment on it is righteous. Job acknowledges that he has confessed more than he understood (cf. Psalms 131:1). He has made a judgment about things that are too wonderful for him and that he does not know (cf. Psalms 73:21-22).

He acknowledges that he has taken an inappropriate attitude toward God by commanding Him to listen to him, for he would tell Him something (Job 42:4; Job 13:22). He would interrogate God and then God would have to answer him. Job had called God to account and of course he was not allowed to do that.

Job comes to complete surrender to God. After hearing God speak in His first speech, he has come to the understanding that he should not contradict God (Job 40:5). That is all well and good, but it is not enough, because he has contradicted God and he has yet to confess that. He does so in response to God’s second speech. In it he has seen God in His works and how He controls everything (Job 42:5). That breaks him. He despises himself and repents “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), that is, sitting in literal dust and ashes which at the same time serve as symbols of mourning (Job 2:8; Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 25:34; Jona 3:6). What he says now, he did not say in the days of his prosperity.

Psalms 35:14

Job Retracts and Repents

When the LORD has finished speaking, Job answers Him again (Job 42:1). His answer testifies of a profound work of God’s Spirit in him. He has understood the message that it is only about what God wants and that He carries out that will, without giving an account of it to man. Job submits to the government of God and comes to the confession which the psalmist will express centuries later: “I know, LORD, that your judgments are just” (Psalms 119:75a).

Job has acknowledged in his first answer that he is insignificant (Job 40:4); now in his second answer he acknowledges God’s omnipotence, that He can do whatever He purposes (Job 42:2). He acknowledges that God not only cares for all creation and controls the world, but also does so in his life. God has a plan for each of His own. He carries out that plan for their benefit. This is apparent from the life of Job. If He deems oppression necessary, He brings it into the life of His own. If His purpose is achieved by oppression, He takes it away.

In Job 42:3 Job repeats what God said to him in Job 38:2, who he is, that he darkens or hides His counsel. This repetition means that Job confesses his sin. Confessing sin means repeating God’s judgment of that sin and agreeing that His judgment on it is righteous. Job acknowledges that he has confessed more than he understood (cf. Psalms 131:1). He has made a judgment about things that are too wonderful for him and that he does not know (cf. Psalms 73:21-22).

He acknowledges that he has taken an inappropriate attitude toward God by commanding Him to listen to him, for he would tell Him something (Job 42:4; Job 13:22). He would interrogate God and then God would have to answer him. Job had called God to account and of course he was not allowed to do that.

Job comes to complete surrender to God. After hearing God speak in His first speech, he has come to the understanding that he should not contradict God (Job 40:5). That is all well and good, but it is not enough, because he has contradicted God and he has yet to confess that. He does so in response to God’s second speech. In it he has seen God in His works and how He controls everything (Job 42:5). That breaks him. He despises himself and repents “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), that is, sitting in literal dust and ashes which at the same time serve as symbols of mourning (Job 2:8; Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 25:34; Jona 3:6). What he says now, he did not say in the days of his prosperity.

Psalms 35:15

Job Retracts and Repents

When the LORD has finished speaking, Job answers Him again (Job 42:1). His answer testifies of a profound work of God’s Spirit in him. He has understood the message that it is only about what God wants and that He carries out that will, without giving an account of it to man. Job submits to the government of God and comes to the confession which the psalmist will express centuries later: “I know, LORD, that your judgments are just” (Psalms 119:75a).

Job has acknowledged in his first answer that he is insignificant (Job 40:4); now in his second answer he acknowledges God’s omnipotence, that He can do whatever He purposes (Job 42:2). He acknowledges that God not only cares for all creation and controls the world, but also does so in his life. God has a plan for each of His own. He carries out that plan for their benefit. This is apparent from the life of Job. If He deems oppression necessary, He brings it into the life of His own. If His purpose is achieved by oppression, He takes it away.

In Job 42:3 Job repeats what God said to him in Job 38:2, who he is, that he darkens or hides His counsel. This repetition means that Job confesses his sin. Confessing sin means repeating God’s judgment of that sin and agreeing that His judgment on it is righteous. Job acknowledges that he has confessed more than he understood (cf. Psalms 131:1). He has made a judgment about things that are too wonderful for him and that he does not know (cf. Psalms 73:21-22).

He acknowledges that he has taken an inappropriate attitude toward God by commanding Him to listen to him, for he would tell Him something (Job 42:4; Job 13:22). He would interrogate God and then God would have to answer him. Job had called God to account and of course he was not allowed to do that.

Job comes to complete surrender to God. After hearing God speak in His first speech, he has come to the understanding that he should not contradict God (Job 40:5). That is all well and good, but it is not enough, because he has contradicted God and he has yet to confess that. He does so in response to God’s second speech. In it he has seen God in His works and how He controls everything (Job 42:5). That breaks him. He despises himself and repents “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), that is, sitting in literal dust and ashes which at the same time serve as symbols of mourning (Job 2:8; Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 25:34; Jona 3:6). What he says now, he did not say in the days of his prosperity.

Psalms 35:16

Job Retracts and Repents

When the LORD has finished speaking, Job answers Him again (Job 42:1). His answer testifies of a profound work of God’s Spirit in him. He has understood the message that it is only about what God wants and that He carries out that will, without giving an account of it to man. Job submits to the government of God and comes to the confession which the psalmist will express centuries later: “I know, LORD, that your judgments are just” (Psalms 119:75a).

Job has acknowledged in his first answer that he is insignificant (Job 40:4); now in his second answer he acknowledges God’s omnipotence, that He can do whatever He purposes (Job 42:2). He acknowledges that God not only cares for all creation and controls the world, but also does so in his life. God has a plan for each of His own. He carries out that plan for their benefit. This is apparent from the life of Job. If He deems oppression necessary, He brings it into the life of His own. If His purpose is achieved by oppression, He takes it away.

In Job 42:3 Job repeats what God said to him in Job 38:2, who he is, that he darkens or hides His counsel. This repetition means that Job confesses his sin. Confessing sin means repeating God’s judgment of that sin and agreeing that His judgment on it is righteous. Job acknowledges that he has confessed more than he understood (cf. Psalms 131:1). He has made a judgment about things that are too wonderful for him and that he does not know (cf. Psalms 73:21-22).

He acknowledges that he has taken an inappropriate attitude toward God by commanding Him to listen to him, for he would tell Him something (Job 42:4; Job 13:22). He would interrogate God and then God would have to answer him. Job had called God to account and of course he was not allowed to do that.

Job comes to complete surrender to God. After hearing God speak in His first speech, he has come to the understanding that he should not contradict God (Job 40:5). That is all well and good, but it is not enough, because he has contradicted God and he has yet to confess that. He does so in response to God’s second speech. In it he has seen God in His works and how He controls everything (Job 42:5). That breaks him. He despises himself and repents “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), that is, sitting in literal dust and ashes which at the same time serve as symbols of mourning (Job 2:8; Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 25:34; Jona 3:6). What he says now, he did not say in the days of his prosperity.

Psalms 35:17

The Prayer of Job for His Friends

When Job is where he should be, the LORD turns to Job’s friends in burning wrath (Job 42:7). He turns to Eliphaz, who is most likely the oldest of the friends, and first took up the word against Job. It says remarkably that this happens “after the LORD had spoken these words to Job” and not ‘after Job had retracted and repented in dust and ashes’. Job is where he should be, but God has brought him there by speaking to him and showing Himself to him. Now He also wants to bring His friends to confess their sins.

Toward them God justifies Job, whom He calls, as in the beginning of this book, “My servant” (Job 1:8; Job 2:3). Job has also been His servant during his suffering. God tells Eliphaz that Job has spoken of Him what is “right” and that he and his two friends have not done so. Surely Job has said things about God that are not right. But God protects Job against his friends. He sees that even during Job’s wrong statements about Him, his heart was focused on Him. This enables Him to pass by the sinful words Job spoke about Him.

This attitude of Job toward God was lacking with friends. Their hearts were not turned toward God, but toward Job. They presented to Job a God Who judges evil in strict righteousness and does so by bringing disasters upon people. Without having any proof of sins Job would have committed, they said to him that God was acting in this way because he had sinned. As a result, they have not spoken of God what is right and presented a completely wrong image of Him to Job and the bystanders. They did not do wrong in the first place to Job, but to God. That is why His wrath was kindled against them.

God also wants to be good to the friends and reconcile them with Himself and with Job. His wrath can only be appeased in the way He indicates and that is by bringing burnt offerings to Him and by intercession of Job for them (Job 42:8). The friends must go to Job with “seven bulls and seven rams”. That is a great sacrifice (Numbers 23:1; Ezekiel 45:22-23). It must be a great sacrifice because their sin is great and because they are distinguished men with an exemplary role.

In the presence of Job, they must sacrifice these burnt offerings for themselves to God. By doing so they acknowledge that they can only exist before God on the basis of the burnt offering. We know that God sees in it the sacrifice of His Son, Who offered Himself to God as a burnt offering. The Innocent died in the place of the guilty. That is how the friends came to terms with God.

Now between them and Job things has to be made right. Job is asked to pray for them. Their asking Job to do so is a confession of their sins to him. When Job prays for them, it means that he accepts their confession and forgives them. God adds that the prayer of Job is the condition for Him not to do with them according to their foolishness. He repeats that they have deserved His wrath because they did not speak of Him what is right, “as My servant Job has”. Bringing burnt offerings is therefore not enough if something also needs to be put right with another person. God does not forgive until things are made right with all concerned.

The three friends, who are now mentioned separately with their names, humble themselves (Job 42:9). Someone may be chiefly responsible, such as Eliphaz, whose name is only mentioned (Job 42:7), but he cannot offer an offering for the guilt others have brought upon themselves. Everyone has to do this personally. The three friends obey God’s command and bow under His judgment. By doing so they prove that they love God more than their own prestige and that is a great joy for God. That they have brought the offerings prescribed by God is not mentioned, but is enclosed in the words that they “did as the LORD told them”.

Nothing else is said about the acceptance of the offering by the LORD. That is not a question. Of course He accepted it. What is said, however, is that the LORD accepted the prayer of Job. That puts a special emphasis on the prayer of Job for his friends. When Job has prayed, everything is all right between the friends and God and between the friends and Job.

The fact that God accepts the prayer of Job also means that Job has been fully restored in his relationship with God, although in his outer circumstances nothing has changed yet. Job can be an intercessor. His sins have been forgiven him, allowing him to pray a powerful prayer as a righteous one (James 5:16). He is again fit to do a service for other believers. We also see this service of intercession for example with Abraham (Genesis 20:7; 17), Moses (Exodus 32:30-32; Numbers 11:2; Numbers 21:7) and Samuel (1 Samuel 12:19; 23). Above all, Job here is a type of the Lord Jesus as the intercessor (Romans 8:34).

Psalms 35:18

The Prayer of Job for His Friends

When Job is where he should be, the LORD turns to Job’s friends in burning wrath (Job 42:7). He turns to Eliphaz, who is most likely the oldest of the friends, and first took up the word against Job. It says remarkably that this happens “after the LORD had spoken these words to Job” and not ‘after Job had retracted and repented in dust and ashes’. Job is where he should be, but God has brought him there by speaking to him and showing Himself to him. Now He also wants to bring His friends to confess their sins.

Toward them God justifies Job, whom He calls, as in the beginning of this book, “My servant” (Job 1:8; Job 2:3). Job has also been His servant during his suffering. God tells Eliphaz that Job has spoken of Him what is “right” and that he and his two friends have not done so. Surely Job has said things about God that are not right. But God protects Job against his friends. He sees that even during Job’s wrong statements about Him, his heart was focused on Him. This enables Him to pass by the sinful words Job spoke about Him.

This attitude of Job toward God was lacking with friends. Their hearts were not turned toward God, but toward Job. They presented to Job a God Who judges evil in strict righteousness and does so by bringing disasters upon people. Without having any proof of sins Job would have committed, they said to him that God was acting in this way because he had sinned. As a result, they have not spoken of God what is right and presented a completely wrong image of Him to Job and the bystanders. They did not do wrong in the first place to Job, but to God. That is why His wrath was kindled against them.

God also wants to be good to the friends and reconcile them with Himself and with Job. His wrath can only be appeased in the way He indicates and that is by bringing burnt offerings to Him and by intercession of Job for them (Job 42:8). The friends must go to Job with “seven bulls and seven rams”. That is a great sacrifice (Numbers 23:1; Ezekiel 45:22-23). It must be a great sacrifice because their sin is great and because they are distinguished men with an exemplary role.

In the presence of Job, they must sacrifice these burnt offerings for themselves to God. By doing so they acknowledge that they can only exist before God on the basis of the burnt offering. We know that God sees in it the sacrifice of His Son, Who offered Himself to God as a burnt offering. The Innocent died in the place of the guilty. That is how the friends came to terms with God.

Now between them and Job things has to be made right. Job is asked to pray for them. Their asking Job to do so is a confession of their sins to him. When Job prays for them, it means that he accepts their confession and forgives them. God adds that the prayer of Job is the condition for Him not to do with them according to their foolishness. He repeats that they have deserved His wrath because they did not speak of Him what is right, “as My servant Job has”. Bringing burnt offerings is therefore not enough if something also needs to be put right with another person. God does not forgive until things are made right with all concerned.

The three friends, who are now mentioned separately with their names, humble themselves (Job 42:9). Someone may be chiefly responsible, such as Eliphaz, whose name is only mentioned (Job 42:7), but he cannot offer an offering for the guilt others have brought upon themselves. Everyone has to do this personally. The three friends obey God’s command and bow under His judgment. By doing so they prove that they love God more than their own prestige and that is a great joy for God. That they have brought the offerings prescribed by God is not mentioned, but is enclosed in the words that they “did as the LORD told them”.

Nothing else is said about the acceptance of the offering by the LORD. That is not a question. Of course He accepted it. What is said, however, is that the LORD accepted the prayer of Job. That puts a special emphasis on the prayer of Job for his friends. When Job has prayed, everything is all right between the friends and God and between the friends and Job.

The fact that God accepts the prayer of Job also means that Job has been fully restored in his relationship with God, although in his outer circumstances nothing has changed yet. Job can be an intercessor. His sins have been forgiven him, allowing him to pray a powerful prayer as a righteous one (James 5:16). He is again fit to do a service for other believers. We also see this service of intercession for example with Abraham (Genesis 20:7; 17), Moses (Exodus 32:30-32; Numbers 11:2; Numbers 21:7) and Samuel (1 Samuel 12:19; 23). Above all, Job here is a type of the Lord Jesus as the intercessor (Romans 8:34).

Psalms 35:19

The Prayer of Job for His Friends

When Job is where he should be, the LORD turns to Job’s friends in burning wrath (Job 42:7). He turns to Eliphaz, who is most likely the oldest of the friends, and first took up the word against Job. It says remarkably that this happens “after the LORD had spoken these words to Job” and not ‘after Job had retracted and repented in dust and ashes’. Job is where he should be, but God has brought him there by speaking to him and showing Himself to him. Now He also wants to bring His friends to confess their sins.

Toward them God justifies Job, whom He calls, as in the beginning of this book, “My servant” (Job 1:8; Job 2:3). Job has also been His servant during his suffering. God tells Eliphaz that Job has spoken of Him what is “right” and that he and his two friends have not done so. Surely Job has said things about God that are not right. But God protects Job against his friends. He sees that even during Job’s wrong statements about Him, his heart was focused on Him. This enables Him to pass by the sinful words Job spoke about Him.

This attitude of Job toward God was lacking with friends. Their hearts were not turned toward God, but toward Job. They presented to Job a God Who judges evil in strict righteousness and does so by bringing disasters upon people. Without having any proof of sins Job would have committed, they said to him that God was acting in this way because he had sinned. As a result, they have not spoken of God what is right and presented a completely wrong image of Him to Job and the bystanders. They did not do wrong in the first place to Job, but to God. That is why His wrath was kindled against them.

God also wants to be good to the friends and reconcile them with Himself and with Job. His wrath can only be appeased in the way He indicates and that is by bringing burnt offerings to Him and by intercession of Job for them (Job 42:8). The friends must go to Job with “seven bulls and seven rams”. That is a great sacrifice (Numbers 23:1; Ezekiel 45:22-23). It must be a great sacrifice because their sin is great and because they are distinguished men with an exemplary role.

In the presence of Job, they must sacrifice these burnt offerings for themselves to God. By doing so they acknowledge that they can only exist before God on the basis of the burnt offering. We know that God sees in it the sacrifice of His Son, Who offered Himself to God as a burnt offering. The Innocent died in the place of the guilty. That is how the friends came to terms with God.

Now between them and Job things has to be made right. Job is asked to pray for them. Their asking Job to do so is a confession of their sins to him. When Job prays for them, it means that he accepts their confession and forgives them. God adds that the prayer of Job is the condition for Him not to do with them according to their foolishness. He repeats that they have deserved His wrath because they did not speak of Him what is right, “as My servant Job has”. Bringing burnt offerings is therefore not enough if something also needs to be put right with another person. God does not forgive until things are made right with all concerned.

The three friends, who are now mentioned separately with their names, humble themselves (Job 42:9). Someone may be chiefly responsible, such as Eliphaz, whose name is only mentioned (Job 42:7), but he cannot offer an offering for the guilt others have brought upon themselves. Everyone has to do this personally. The three friends obey God’s command and bow under His judgment. By doing so they prove that they love God more than their own prestige and that is a great joy for God. That they have brought the offerings prescribed by God is not mentioned, but is enclosed in the words that they “did as the LORD told them”.

Nothing else is said about the acceptance of the offering by the LORD. That is not a question. Of course He accepted it. What is said, however, is that the LORD accepted the prayer of Job. That puts a special emphasis on the prayer of Job for his friends. When Job has prayed, everything is all right between the friends and God and between the friends and Job.

The fact that God accepts the prayer of Job also means that Job has been fully restored in his relationship with God, although in his outer circumstances nothing has changed yet. Job can be an intercessor. His sins have been forgiven him, allowing him to pray a powerful prayer as a righteous one (James 5:16). He is again fit to do a service for other believers. We also see this service of intercession for example with Abraham (Genesis 20:7; 17), Moses (Exodus 32:30-32; Numbers 11:2; Numbers 21:7) and Samuel (1 Samuel 12:19; 23). Above all, Job here is a type of the Lord Jesus as the intercessor (Romans 8:34).

Psalms 35:20

The Blessed End of Job

When Job is free in his heart from the accusations of his friends, and he has prayed for them and thereby proved his forgiveness to them, God starts to bless him (Job 42:10). God gives him twice as much as he has lost (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Are the friends then proven right that prosperity is the result of piety? Or even worse, is satan proven right in asserting that serving God is very rewarding? The answer to these questions is that none of them are proven right. Job did not expect this and certainly did not strive for it. He does not get his prosperity because of a God-fearing life, but because of an unexpected goodness from God. Satan is certainly not right, because Job did not say goodbye to God when He took away from him everything, which satan had suggested.

God is sovereign to take away blessing, but can give it again with the same sovereignty. James writes of the blessing that Job receives: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful” (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is the blessing He gives Job. God humbles us and puts us to the test in order “to do good for you at the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He wants us to say: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

When the LORD has brought a turn in Job’s life fate “all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before” come to him (Job 42:11). There appears to be no resentment with Job; there are no bitter feelings that they abandoned him during his trial (Job 19:14-19), for “they ate bread with him in his house”. When he suffered deeply, they gave him a wide berth, but now they are coming to see him again. And Job receives them with the same hospitality as before (Job 31:31-32).

As they sit with him at the table, they express their deepest sympathy to him and comfort him “for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him”. They also know that the adversities that had afflicted him had been brought on him by the LORD. The piece of money and the ring of gold that each of them brought may simply have been gifts as proofs of compassion. They may also have served as ‘starting capital’ for his new fortune.

Job receives from the LORD more abundance than he had before everything was taken away from him (Job 42:12; cf. Job 8:6-7). Thus God always works. If He takes something away from us, it is to give us more in return. Grace always gives us much more than we have lost through sin. We have lost paradise because of our sin. Grace gives us back the whole of creation over which we may reign together with the Lord Jesus. That is all because of His sacrifice. We have a part in it because by grace we were allowed to accept His sacrifice.

When we see in Job 1:3 what Job used to own in cattle, we see that he is now blessed by the LORD with the double. He also gets double in children (Job 42:13). He had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). They died, but he did not lose them. He lost his cattle, not his children. They went ahead of him. He gets seven more sons and three more daughters.

Of his children only the names of his three daughters are mentioned which Job has given them (Job 42:14). That means we can learn something from these names. The first daughter he gives the name “Jemimah”. It is a name with different meanings, such as ‘the [bright] day’, ‘dove’, ‘happy’. It speaks of the bright day after the dark days of trial, the new peace, the new happiness. He gives the second daughter the name “Keziah”. That name is derived from the fragrant spice cassia. A fragrant scent emanates from Job’s life. The third daughter he calls “Keren-happuch”, which means “horn of the beautiful colors”. That horn contained the colors with which the women dressed up. Not only did a good smell of Job go out through his daughters, but everything was pleasant to look at as well.

It is said of the daughters of Job that such fair women as they were, could not be found in all the land (Job 42:15). We see here that what emerges from the trial surpasses everything else in beauty and loveliness. Job can say that the old is over and everything has become new, and that the new completely outshines the old. This also applies to us in our new nature.

Job is a good father to his daughters. He not only gives them names, but also “inheritance among their brothers”. There is no question of women being disadvantaged compared to men. The very fact that only their names are mentioned, and only of them is mentioned that they also get inheritance among their brothers, shows the high place they have in the thoughts of Job and of God. Peter mentions in his first letter that women are “a fellow heir of the grace of life” with their husbands (1 Peter 3:7).

Job lives for 140 years after the turning point in his life’s fate (Job 42:16). If the same is true here as for his possessions, it means that he was 70 when the disasters struck him and that he lived to be 210 years old. He sees his offspring into the fourth generation. That is a great blessing and must have been a great pleasure for him.

Then follows the news of Job’s death (Job 42:17). He has grown old. He can look back on an eventful life in which he has seen the hand of the LORD both in his suffering and in his prosperity. He has become old and full of days. The fact that he is full of days does not mean that he is tired of life, but that he has enjoyed all that God had given him on earth. He can die in peace and go to the place of complete peace and happiness. But his history does not die …

Psalms 35:21

The Blessed End of Job

When Job is free in his heart from the accusations of his friends, and he has prayed for them and thereby proved his forgiveness to them, God starts to bless him (Job 42:10). God gives him twice as much as he has lost (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Are the friends then proven right that prosperity is the result of piety? Or even worse, is satan proven right in asserting that serving God is very rewarding? The answer to these questions is that none of them are proven right. Job did not expect this and certainly did not strive for it. He does not get his prosperity because of a God-fearing life, but because of an unexpected goodness from God. Satan is certainly not right, because Job did not say goodbye to God when He took away from him everything, which satan had suggested.

God is sovereign to take away blessing, but can give it again with the same sovereignty. James writes of the blessing that Job receives: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful” (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is the blessing He gives Job. God humbles us and puts us to the test in order “to do good for you at the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He wants us to say: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

When the LORD has brought a turn in Job’s life fate “all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before” come to him (Job 42:11). There appears to be no resentment with Job; there are no bitter feelings that they abandoned him during his trial (Job 19:14-19), for “they ate bread with him in his house”. When he suffered deeply, they gave him a wide berth, but now they are coming to see him again. And Job receives them with the same hospitality as before (Job 31:31-32).

As they sit with him at the table, they express their deepest sympathy to him and comfort him “for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him”. They also know that the adversities that had afflicted him had been brought on him by the LORD. The piece of money and the ring of gold that each of them brought may simply have been gifts as proofs of compassion. They may also have served as ‘starting capital’ for his new fortune.

Job receives from the LORD more abundance than he had before everything was taken away from him (Job 42:12; cf. Job 8:6-7). Thus God always works. If He takes something away from us, it is to give us more in return. Grace always gives us much more than we have lost through sin. We have lost paradise because of our sin. Grace gives us back the whole of creation over which we may reign together with the Lord Jesus. That is all because of His sacrifice. We have a part in it because by grace we were allowed to accept His sacrifice.

When we see in Job 1:3 what Job used to own in cattle, we see that he is now blessed by the LORD with the double. He also gets double in children (Job 42:13). He had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). They died, but he did not lose them. He lost his cattle, not his children. They went ahead of him. He gets seven more sons and three more daughters.

Of his children only the names of his three daughters are mentioned which Job has given them (Job 42:14). That means we can learn something from these names. The first daughter he gives the name “Jemimah”. It is a name with different meanings, such as ‘the [bright] day’, ‘dove’, ‘happy’. It speaks of the bright day after the dark days of trial, the new peace, the new happiness. He gives the second daughter the name “Keziah”. That name is derived from the fragrant spice cassia. A fragrant scent emanates from Job’s life. The third daughter he calls “Keren-happuch”, which means “horn of the beautiful colors”. That horn contained the colors with which the women dressed up. Not only did a good smell of Job go out through his daughters, but everything was pleasant to look at as well.

It is said of the daughters of Job that such fair women as they were, could not be found in all the land (Job 42:15). We see here that what emerges from the trial surpasses everything else in beauty and loveliness. Job can say that the old is over and everything has become new, and that the new completely outshines the old. This also applies to us in our new nature.

Job is a good father to his daughters. He not only gives them names, but also “inheritance among their brothers”. There is no question of women being disadvantaged compared to men. The very fact that only their names are mentioned, and only of them is mentioned that they also get inheritance among their brothers, shows the high place they have in the thoughts of Job and of God. Peter mentions in his first letter that women are “a fellow heir of the grace of life” with their husbands (1 Peter 3:7).

Job lives for 140 years after the turning point in his life’s fate (Job 42:16). If the same is true here as for his possessions, it means that he was 70 when the disasters struck him and that he lived to be 210 years old. He sees his offspring into the fourth generation. That is a great blessing and must have been a great pleasure for him.

Then follows the news of Job’s death (Job 42:17). He has grown old. He can look back on an eventful life in which he has seen the hand of the LORD both in his suffering and in his prosperity. He has become old and full of days. The fact that he is full of days does not mean that he is tired of life, but that he has enjoyed all that God had given him on earth. He can die in peace and go to the place of complete peace and happiness. But his history does not die …

Psalms 35:22

The Blessed End of Job

When Job is free in his heart from the accusations of his friends, and he has prayed for them and thereby proved his forgiveness to them, God starts to bless him (Job 42:10). God gives him twice as much as he has lost (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Are the friends then proven right that prosperity is the result of piety? Or even worse, is satan proven right in asserting that serving God is very rewarding? The answer to these questions is that none of them are proven right. Job did not expect this and certainly did not strive for it. He does not get his prosperity because of a God-fearing life, but because of an unexpected goodness from God. Satan is certainly not right, because Job did not say goodbye to God when He took away from him everything, which satan had suggested.

God is sovereign to take away blessing, but can give it again with the same sovereignty. James writes of the blessing that Job receives: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful” (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is the blessing He gives Job. God humbles us and puts us to the test in order “to do good for you at the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He wants us to say: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

When the LORD has brought a turn in Job’s life fate “all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before” come to him (Job 42:11). There appears to be no resentment with Job; there are no bitter feelings that they abandoned him during his trial (Job 19:14-19), for “they ate bread with him in his house”. When he suffered deeply, they gave him a wide berth, but now they are coming to see him again. And Job receives them with the same hospitality as before (Job 31:31-32).

As they sit with him at the table, they express their deepest sympathy to him and comfort him “for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him”. They also know that the adversities that had afflicted him had been brought on him by the LORD. The piece of money and the ring of gold that each of them brought may simply have been gifts as proofs of compassion. They may also have served as ‘starting capital’ for his new fortune.

Job receives from the LORD more abundance than he had before everything was taken away from him (Job 42:12; cf. Job 8:6-7). Thus God always works. If He takes something away from us, it is to give us more in return. Grace always gives us much more than we have lost through sin. We have lost paradise because of our sin. Grace gives us back the whole of creation over which we may reign together with the Lord Jesus. That is all because of His sacrifice. We have a part in it because by grace we were allowed to accept His sacrifice.

When we see in Job 1:3 what Job used to own in cattle, we see that he is now blessed by the LORD with the double. He also gets double in children (Job 42:13). He had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). They died, but he did not lose them. He lost his cattle, not his children. They went ahead of him. He gets seven more sons and three more daughters.

Of his children only the names of his three daughters are mentioned which Job has given them (Job 42:14). That means we can learn something from these names. The first daughter he gives the name “Jemimah”. It is a name with different meanings, such as ‘the [bright] day’, ‘dove’, ‘happy’. It speaks of the bright day after the dark days of trial, the new peace, the new happiness. He gives the second daughter the name “Keziah”. That name is derived from the fragrant spice cassia. A fragrant scent emanates from Job’s life. The third daughter he calls “Keren-happuch”, which means “horn of the beautiful colors”. That horn contained the colors with which the women dressed up. Not only did a good smell of Job go out through his daughters, but everything was pleasant to look at as well.

It is said of the daughters of Job that such fair women as they were, could not be found in all the land (Job 42:15). We see here that what emerges from the trial surpasses everything else in beauty and loveliness. Job can say that the old is over and everything has become new, and that the new completely outshines the old. This also applies to us in our new nature.

Job is a good father to his daughters. He not only gives them names, but also “inheritance among their brothers”. There is no question of women being disadvantaged compared to men. The very fact that only their names are mentioned, and only of them is mentioned that they also get inheritance among their brothers, shows the high place they have in the thoughts of Job and of God. Peter mentions in his first letter that women are “a fellow heir of the grace of life” with their husbands (1 Peter 3:7).

Job lives for 140 years after the turning point in his life’s fate (Job 42:16). If the same is true here as for his possessions, it means that he was 70 when the disasters struck him and that he lived to be 210 years old. He sees his offspring into the fourth generation. That is a great blessing and must have been a great pleasure for him.

Then follows the news of Job’s death (Job 42:17). He has grown old. He can look back on an eventful life in which he has seen the hand of the LORD both in his suffering and in his prosperity. He has become old and full of days. The fact that he is full of days does not mean that he is tired of life, but that he has enjoyed all that God had given him on earth. He can die in peace and go to the place of complete peace and happiness. But his history does not die …

Psalms 35:23

The Blessed End of Job

When Job is free in his heart from the accusations of his friends, and he has prayed for them and thereby proved his forgiveness to them, God starts to bless him (Job 42:10). God gives him twice as much as he has lost (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Are the friends then proven right that prosperity is the result of piety? Or even worse, is satan proven right in asserting that serving God is very rewarding? The answer to these questions is that none of them are proven right. Job did not expect this and certainly did not strive for it. He does not get his prosperity because of a God-fearing life, but because of an unexpected goodness from God. Satan is certainly not right, because Job did not say goodbye to God when He took away from him everything, which satan had suggested.

God is sovereign to take away blessing, but can give it again with the same sovereignty. James writes of the blessing that Job receives: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful” (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is the blessing He gives Job. God humbles us and puts us to the test in order “to do good for you at the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He wants us to say: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

When the LORD has brought a turn in Job’s life fate “all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before” come to him (Job 42:11). There appears to be no resentment with Job; there are no bitter feelings that they abandoned him during his trial (Job 19:14-19), for “they ate bread with him in his house”. When he suffered deeply, they gave him a wide berth, but now they are coming to see him again. And Job receives them with the same hospitality as before (Job 31:31-32).

As they sit with him at the table, they express their deepest sympathy to him and comfort him “for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him”. They also know that the adversities that had afflicted him had been brought on him by the LORD. The piece of money and the ring of gold that each of them brought may simply have been gifts as proofs of compassion. They may also have served as ‘starting capital’ for his new fortune.

Job receives from the LORD more abundance than he had before everything was taken away from him (Job 42:12; cf. Job 8:6-7). Thus God always works. If He takes something away from us, it is to give us more in return. Grace always gives us much more than we have lost through sin. We have lost paradise because of our sin. Grace gives us back the whole of creation over which we may reign together with the Lord Jesus. That is all because of His sacrifice. We have a part in it because by grace we were allowed to accept His sacrifice.

When we see in Job 1:3 what Job used to own in cattle, we see that he is now blessed by the LORD with the double. He also gets double in children (Job 42:13). He had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). They died, but he did not lose them. He lost his cattle, not his children. They went ahead of him. He gets seven more sons and three more daughters.

Of his children only the names of his three daughters are mentioned which Job has given them (Job 42:14). That means we can learn something from these names. The first daughter he gives the name “Jemimah”. It is a name with different meanings, such as ‘the [bright] day’, ‘dove’, ‘happy’. It speaks of the bright day after the dark days of trial, the new peace, the new happiness. He gives the second daughter the name “Keziah”. That name is derived from the fragrant spice cassia. A fragrant scent emanates from Job’s life. The third daughter he calls “Keren-happuch”, which means “horn of the beautiful colors”. That horn contained the colors with which the women dressed up. Not only did a good smell of Job go out through his daughters, but everything was pleasant to look at as well.

It is said of the daughters of Job that such fair women as they were, could not be found in all the land (Job 42:15). We see here that what emerges from the trial surpasses everything else in beauty and loveliness. Job can say that the old is over and everything has become new, and that the new completely outshines the old. This also applies to us in our new nature.

Job is a good father to his daughters. He not only gives them names, but also “inheritance among their brothers”. There is no question of women being disadvantaged compared to men. The very fact that only their names are mentioned, and only of them is mentioned that they also get inheritance among their brothers, shows the high place they have in the thoughts of Job and of God. Peter mentions in his first letter that women are “a fellow heir of the grace of life” with their husbands (1 Peter 3:7).

Job lives for 140 years after the turning point in his life’s fate (Job 42:16). If the same is true here as for his possessions, it means that he was 70 when the disasters struck him and that he lived to be 210 years old. He sees his offspring into the fourth generation. That is a great blessing and must have been a great pleasure for him.

Then follows the news of Job’s death (Job 42:17). He has grown old. He can look back on an eventful life in which he has seen the hand of the LORD both in his suffering and in his prosperity. He has become old and full of days. The fact that he is full of days does not mean that he is tired of life, but that he has enjoyed all that God had given him on earth. He can die in peace and go to the place of complete peace and happiness. But his history does not die …

Psalms 35:24

The Blessed End of Job

When Job is free in his heart from the accusations of his friends, and he has prayed for them and thereby proved his forgiveness to them, God starts to bless him (Job 42:10). God gives him twice as much as he has lost (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Are the friends then proven right that prosperity is the result of piety? Or even worse, is satan proven right in asserting that serving God is very rewarding? The answer to these questions is that none of them are proven right. Job did not expect this and certainly did not strive for it. He does not get his prosperity because of a God-fearing life, but because of an unexpected goodness from God. Satan is certainly not right, because Job did not say goodbye to God when He took away from him everything, which satan had suggested.

God is sovereign to take away blessing, but can give it again with the same sovereignty. James writes of the blessing that Job receives: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful” (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is the blessing He gives Job. God humbles us and puts us to the test in order “to do good for you at the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He wants us to say: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

When the LORD has brought a turn in Job’s life fate “all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before” come to him (Job 42:11). There appears to be no resentment with Job; there are no bitter feelings that they abandoned him during his trial (Job 19:14-19), for “they ate bread with him in his house”. When he suffered deeply, they gave him a wide berth, but now they are coming to see him again. And Job receives them with the same hospitality as before (Job 31:31-32).

As they sit with him at the table, they express their deepest sympathy to him and comfort him “for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him”. They also know that the adversities that had afflicted him had been brought on him by the LORD. The piece of money and the ring of gold that each of them brought may simply have been gifts as proofs of compassion. They may also have served as ‘starting capital’ for his new fortune.

Job receives from the LORD more abundance than he had before everything was taken away from him (Job 42:12; cf. Job 8:6-7). Thus God always works. If He takes something away from us, it is to give us more in return. Grace always gives us much more than we have lost through sin. We have lost paradise because of our sin. Grace gives us back the whole of creation over which we may reign together with the Lord Jesus. That is all because of His sacrifice. We have a part in it because by grace we were allowed to accept His sacrifice.

When we see in Job 1:3 what Job used to own in cattle, we see that he is now blessed by the LORD with the double. He also gets double in children (Job 42:13). He had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). They died, but he did not lose them. He lost his cattle, not his children. They went ahead of him. He gets seven more sons and three more daughters.

Of his children only the names of his three daughters are mentioned which Job has given them (Job 42:14). That means we can learn something from these names. The first daughter he gives the name “Jemimah”. It is a name with different meanings, such as ‘the [bright] day’, ‘dove’, ‘happy’. It speaks of the bright day after the dark days of trial, the new peace, the new happiness. He gives the second daughter the name “Keziah”. That name is derived from the fragrant spice cassia. A fragrant scent emanates from Job’s life. The third daughter he calls “Keren-happuch”, which means “horn of the beautiful colors”. That horn contained the colors with which the women dressed up. Not only did a good smell of Job go out through his daughters, but everything was pleasant to look at as well.

It is said of the daughters of Job that such fair women as they were, could not be found in all the land (Job 42:15). We see here that what emerges from the trial surpasses everything else in beauty and loveliness. Job can say that the old is over and everything has become new, and that the new completely outshines the old. This also applies to us in our new nature.

Job is a good father to his daughters. He not only gives them names, but also “inheritance among their brothers”. There is no question of women being disadvantaged compared to men. The very fact that only their names are mentioned, and only of them is mentioned that they also get inheritance among their brothers, shows the high place they have in the thoughts of Job and of God. Peter mentions in his first letter that women are “a fellow heir of the grace of life” with their husbands (1 Peter 3:7).

Job lives for 140 years after the turning point in his life’s fate (Job 42:16). If the same is true here as for his possessions, it means that he was 70 when the disasters struck him and that he lived to be 210 years old. He sees his offspring into the fourth generation. That is a great blessing and must have been a great pleasure for him.

Then follows the news of Job’s death (Job 42:17). He has grown old. He can look back on an eventful life in which he has seen the hand of the LORD both in his suffering and in his prosperity. He has become old and full of days. The fact that he is full of days does not mean that he is tired of life, but that he has enjoyed all that God had given him on earth. He can die in peace and go to the place of complete peace and happiness. But his history does not die …

Psalms 35:25

The Blessed End of Job

When Job is free in his heart from the accusations of his friends, and he has prayed for them and thereby proved his forgiveness to them, God starts to bless him (Job 42:10). God gives him twice as much as he has lost (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Are the friends then proven right that prosperity is the result of piety? Or even worse, is satan proven right in asserting that serving God is very rewarding? The answer to these questions is that none of them are proven right. Job did not expect this and certainly did not strive for it. He does not get his prosperity because of a God-fearing life, but because of an unexpected goodness from God. Satan is certainly not right, because Job did not say goodbye to God when He took away from him everything, which satan had suggested.

God is sovereign to take away blessing, but can give it again with the same sovereignty. James writes of the blessing that Job receives: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful” (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is the blessing He gives Job. God humbles us and puts us to the test in order “to do good for you at the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He wants us to say: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

When the LORD has brought a turn in Job’s life fate “all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before” come to him (Job 42:11). There appears to be no resentment with Job; there are no bitter feelings that they abandoned him during his trial (Job 19:14-19), for “they ate bread with him in his house”. When he suffered deeply, they gave him a wide berth, but now they are coming to see him again. And Job receives them with the same hospitality as before (Job 31:31-32).

As they sit with him at the table, they express their deepest sympathy to him and comfort him “for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him”. They also know that the adversities that had afflicted him had been brought on him by the LORD. The piece of money and the ring of gold that each of them brought may simply have been gifts as proofs of compassion. They may also have served as ‘starting capital’ for his new fortune.

Job receives from the LORD more abundance than he had before everything was taken away from him (Job 42:12; cf. Job 8:6-7). Thus God always works. If He takes something away from us, it is to give us more in return. Grace always gives us much more than we have lost through sin. We have lost paradise because of our sin. Grace gives us back the whole of creation over which we may reign together with the Lord Jesus. That is all because of His sacrifice. We have a part in it because by grace we were allowed to accept His sacrifice.

When we see in Job 1:3 what Job used to own in cattle, we see that he is now blessed by the LORD with the double. He also gets double in children (Job 42:13). He had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). They died, but he did not lose them. He lost his cattle, not his children. They went ahead of him. He gets seven more sons and three more daughters.

Of his children only the names of his three daughters are mentioned which Job has given them (Job 42:14). That means we can learn something from these names. The first daughter he gives the name “Jemimah”. It is a name with different meanings, such as ‘the [bright] day’, ‘dove’, ‘happy’. It speaks of the bright day after the dark days of trial, the new peace, the new happiness. He gives the second daughter the name “Keziah”. That name is derived from the fragrant spice cassia. A fragrant scent emanates from Job’s life. The third daughter he calls “Keren-happuch”, which means “horn of the beautiful colors”. That horn contained the colors with which the women dressed up. Not only did a good smell of Job go out through his daughters, but everything was pleasant to look at as well.

It is said of the daughters of Job that such fair women as they were, could not be found in all the land (Job 42:15). We see here that what emerges from the trial surpasses everything else in beauty and loveliness. Job can say that the old is over and everything has become new, and that the new completely outshines the old. This also applies to us in our new nature.

Job is a good father to his daughters. He not only gives them names, but also “inheritance among their brothers”. There is no question of women being disadvantaged compared to men. The very fact that only their names are mentioned, and only of them is mentioned that they also get inheritance among their brothers, shows the high place they have in the thoughts of Job and of God. Peter mentions in his first letter that women are “a fellow heir of the grace of life” with their husbands (1 Peter 3:7).

Job lives for 140 years after the turning point in his life’s fate (Job 42:16). If the same is true here as for his possessions, it means that he was 70 when the disasters struck him and that he lived to be 210 years old. He sees his offspring into the fourth generation. That is a great blessing and must have been a great pleasure for him.

Then follows the news of Job’s death (Job 42:17). He has grown old. He can look back on an eventful life in which he has seen the hand of the LORD both in his suffering and in his prosperity. He has become old and full of days. The fact that he is full of days does not mean that he is tired of life, but that he has enjoyed all that God had given him on earth. He can die in peace and go to the place of complete peace and happiness. But his history does not die …

Psalms 35:26

The Blessed End of Job

When Job is free in his heart from the accusations of his friends, and he has prayed for them and thereby proved his forgiveness to them, God starts to bless him (Job 42:10). God gives him twice as much as he has lost (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Are the friends then proven right that prosperity is the result of piety? Or even worse, is satan proven right in asserting that serving God is very rewarding? The answer to these questions is that none of them are proven right. Job did not expect this and certainly did not strive for it. He does not get his prosperity because of a God-fearing life, but because of an unexpected goodness from God. Satan is certainly not right, because Job did not say goodbye to God when He took away from him everything, which satan had suggested.

God is sovereign to take away blessing, but can give it again with the same sovereignty. James writes of the blessing that Job receives: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful” (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is the blessing He gives Job. God humbles us and puts us to the test in order “to do good for you at the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He wants us to say: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

When the LORD has brought a turn in Job’s life fate “all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before” come to him (Job 42:11). There appears to be no resentment with Job; there are no bitter feelings that they abandoned him during his trial (Job 19:14-19), for “they ate bread with him in his house”. When he suffered deeply, they gave him a wide berth, but now they are coming to see him again. And Job receives them with the same hospitality as before (Job 31:31-32).

As they sit with him at the table, they express their deepest sympathy to him and comfort him “for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him”. They also know that the adversities that had afflicted him had been brought on him by the LORD. The piece of money and the ring of gold that each of them brought may simply have been gifts as proofs of compassion. They may also have served as ‘starting capital’ for his new fortune.

Job receives from the LORD more abundance than he had before everything was taken away from him (Job 42:12; cf. Job 8:6-7). Thus God always works. If He takes something away from us, it is to give us more in return. Grace always gives us much more than we have lost through sin. We have lost paradise because of our sin. Grace gives us back the whole of creation over which we may reign together with the Lord Jesus. That is all because of His sacrifice. We have a part in it because by grace we were allowed to accept His sacrifice.

When we see in Job 1:3 what Job used to own in cattle, we see that he is now blessed by the LORD with the double. He also gets double in children (Job 42:13). He had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). They died, but he did not lose them. He lost his cattle, not his children. They went ahead of him. He gets seven more sons and three more daughters.

Of his children only the names of his three daughters are mentioned which Job has given them (Job 42:14). That means we can learn something from these names. The first daughter he gives the name “Jemimah”. It is a name with different meanings, such as ‘the [bright] day’, ‘dove’, ‘happy’. It speaks of the bright day after the dark days of trial, the new peace, the new happiness. He gives the second daughter the name “Keziah”. That name is derived from the fragrant spice cassia. A fragrant scent emanates from Job’s life. The third daughter he calls “Keren-happuch”, which means “horn of the beautiful colors”. That horn contained the colors with which the women dressed up. Not only did a good smell of Job go out through his daughters, but everything was pleasant to look at as well.

It is said of the daughters of Job that such fair women as they were, could not be found in all the land (Job 42:15). We see here that what emerges from the trial surpasses everything else in beauty and loveliness. Job can say that the old is over and everything has become new, and that the new completely outshines the old. This also applies to us in our new nature.

Job is a good father to his daughters. He not only gives them names, but also “inheritance among their brothers”. There is no question of women being disadvantaged compared to men. The very fact that only their names are mentioned, and only of them is mentioned that they also get inheritance among their brothers, shows the high place they have in the thoughts of Job and of God. Peter mentions in his first letter that women are “a fellow heir of the grace of life” with their husbands (1 Peter 3:7).

Job lives for 140 years after the turning point in his life’s fate (Job 42:16). If the same is true here as for his possessions, it means that he was 70 when the disasters struck him and that he lived to be 210 years old. He sees his offspring into the fourth generation. That is a great blessing and must have been a great pleasure for him.

Then follows the news of Job’s death (Job 42:17). He has grown old. He can look back on an eventful life in which he has seen the hand of the LORD both in his suffering and in his prosperity. He has become old and full of days. The fact that he is full of days does not mean that he is tired of life, but that he has enjoyed all that God had given him on earth. He can die in peace and go to the place of complete peace and happiness. But his history does not die …

Psalms 35:27

The Blessed End of Job

When Job is free in his heart from the accusations of his friends, and he has prayed for them and thereby proved his forgiveness to them, God starts to bless him (Job 42:10). God gives him twice as much as he has lost (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Are the friends then proven right that prosperity is the result of piety? Or even worse, is satan proven right in asserting that serving God is very rewarding? The answer to these questions is that none of them are proven right. Job did not expect this and certainly did not strive for it. He does not get his prosperity because of a God-fearing life, but because of an unexpected goodness from God. Satan is certainly not right, because Job did not say goodbye to God when He took away from him everything, which satan had suggested.

God is sovereign to take away blessing, but can give it again with the same sovereignty. James writes of the blessing that Job receives: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful” (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is the blessing He gives Job. God humbles us and puts us to the test in order “to do good for you at the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He wants us to say: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

When the LORD has brought a turn in Job’s life fate “all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before” come to him (Job 42:11). There appears to be no resentment with Job; there are no bitter feelings that they abandoned him during his trial (Job 19:14-19), for “they ate bread with him in his house”. When he suffered deeply, they gave him a wide berth, but now they are coming to see him again. And Job receives them with the same hospitality as before (Job 31:31-32).

As they sit with him at the table, they express their deepest sympathy to him and comfort him “for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him”. They also know that the adversities that had afflicted him had been brought on him by the LORD. The piece of money and the ring of gold that each of them brought may simply have been gifts as proofs of compassion. They may also have served as ‘starting capital’ for his new fortune.

Job receives from the LORD more abundance than he had before everything was taken away from him (Job 42:12; cf. Job 8:6-7). Thus God always works. If He takes something away from us, it is to give us more in return. Grace always gives us much more than we have lost through sin. We have lost paradise because of our sin. Grace gives us back the whole of creation over which we may reign together with the Lord Jesus. That is all because of His sacrifice. We have a part in it because by grace we were allowed to accept His sacrifice.

When we see in Job 1:3 what Job used to own in cattle, we see that he is now blessed by the LORD with the double. He also gets double in children (Job 42:13). He had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). They died, but he did not lose them. He lost his cattle, not his children. They went ahead of him. He gets seven more sons and three more daughters.

Of his children only the names of his three daughters are mentioned which Job has given them (Job 42:14). That means we can learn something from these names. The first daughter he gives the name “Jemimah”. It is a name with different meanings, such as ‘the [bright] day’, ‘dove’, ‘happy’. It speaks of the bright day after the dark days of trial, the new peace, the new happiness. He gives the second daughter the name “Keziah”. That name is derived from the fragrant spice cassia. A fragrant scent emanates from Job’s life. The third daughter he calls “Keren-happuch”, which means “horn of the beautiful colors”. That horn contained the colors with which the women dressed up. Not only did a good smell of Job go out through his daughters, but everything was pleasant to look at as well.

It is said of the daughters of Job that such fair women as they were, could not be found in all the land (Job 42:15). We see here that what emerges from the trial surpasses everything else in beauty and loveliness. Job can say that the old is over and everything has become new, and that the new completely outshines the old. This also applies to us in our new nature.

Job is a good father to his daughters. He not only gives them names, but also “inheritance among their brothers”. There is no question of women being disadvantaged compared to men. The very fact that only their names are mentioned, and only of them is mentioned that they also get inheritance among their brothers, shows the high place they have in the thoughts of Job and of God. Peter mentions in his first letter that women are “a fellow heir of the grace of life” with their husbands (1 Peter 3:7).

Job lives for 140 years after the turning point in his life’s fate (Job 42:16). If the same is true here as for his possessions, it means that he was 70 when the disasters struck him and that he lived to be 210 years old. He sees his offspring into the fourth generation. That is a great blessing and must have been a great pleasure for him.

Then follows the news of Job’s death (Job 42:17). He has grown old. He can look back on an eventful life in which he has seen the hand of the LORD both in his suffering and in his prosperity. He has become old and full of days. The fact that he is full of days does not mean that he is tired of life, but that he has enjoyed all that God had given him on earth. He can die in peace and go to the place of complete peace and happiness. But his history does not die …