5 When the Almighty H7706 was yet with me, when my children H5288 were about H5439 me;
Thy wife H802 shall be as a fruitful H6509 vine H1612 by the sides H3411 of thine house: H1004 thy children H1121 like olive H2132 plants H8363 round about H5439 thy table. H7979
Lo, children H1121 are an heritage H5159 of the LORD: H3068 and the fruit H6529 of the womb H990 is his reward. H7939 As arrows H2671 are in the hand H3027 of a mighty man; H1368 so are children H1121 of the youth. H5271 Happy H835 is the man H1397 that hath his quiver H827 full H4390 of them: they shall not be ashamed, H954 but they shall speak H1696 with the enemies H341 in the gate. H8179
By night H3915 on my bed H4904 I sought H1245 him whom my soul H5315 loveth: H157 I sought H1245 him, but I found H4672 him not. I will rise H6965 now, and go about H5437 the city H5892 in the streets, H7784 and in the broad ways H7339 I will seek H1245 him whom my soul H5315 loveth: H157 I sought H1245 him, but I found H4672 him not.
He brought H935 me to the banqueting H3196 house, H1004 and his banner H1714 over me was love. H160
The eternal H6924 God H430 is thy refuge, H4585 and underneath are the everlasting H5769 arms: H2220 and he shall thrust out H1644 the enemy H341 from before H6440 thee; and shall say, H559 Destroy H8045 them. Israel H3478 then shall dwell H7931 in safety H983 alone: H910 the fountain H5869 of Jacob H3290 shall be upon a land H776 of corn H1715 and wine; H8492 also his heavens H8064 shall drop down H6201 dew. H2919 Happy H835 art thou, O Israel: H3478 who is like unto thee, O people H5971 saved H3467 by the LORD, H3068 the shield H4043 of thy help, H5828 and who is the sword H2719 of thy excellency! H1346 and thine enemies H341 shall be found liars H3584 unto thee; and thou shalt tread H1869 upon their high places. H1116
O the hope H4723 of Israel, H3478 the saviour H3467 thereof in time H6256 of trouble, H6869 why shouldest thou be as a stranger H1616 in the land, H776 and as a wayfaring man H732 that turneth aside H5186 to tarry for a night? H3885
And G2532 Jesus G2424 said G2036 unto them, G846 Can G3361 G1410 the children G5207 of the bridechamber G3567 mourn, G3996 as long as G1909 G3745 the bridegroom G3566 is G2076 with G3326 them? G846 but G1161 the days G2250 will come, G2064 when G3752 the bridegroom G3566 shall be taken G522 from G575 them, G846 and G2532 then G5119 shall they fast. G3522
And the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 appeared H7200 unto him, and said H559 unto him, The LORD H3068 is with thee, thou mighty H1368 man of valour. H2428 And Gideon H1439 said H559 unto him, Oh H994 my Lord, H113 if H3426 the LORD H3068 be with us, why then is all this befallen H4672 us? and where be all his miracles H6381 which our fathers H1 told H5608 us of, saying, H559 Did not the LORD H3068 bring us up H5927 from Egypt? H4714 but now the LORD H3068 hath forsaken H5203 us, and delivered H5414 us into the hands H3709 of the Midianites. H4080
For thou art the God H430 of my strength: H4581 why dost thou cast me off? H2186 why go H1980 I mourning H6937 because of the oppression H3906 of the enemy? H341
He had also seven H7658 sons H1121 and three H7969 daughters. H1323 And he called H7121 the name H8034 of the first, H259 Jemima; H3224 and the name H8034 of the second, H8145 Kezia; H7103 and the name H8034 of the third, H7992 Kerenhappuch. H7163 And in all the land H776 were no women H802 found H4672 so fair H3303 as the daughters H1323 of Job: H347 and their father H1 gave H5414 them inheritance H5159 among H8432 their brethren. H251 After H310 this lived H2421 Job H347 an hundred H3967 and forty H705 years, H8141 and saw H7200 his sons, H1121 and his sons' H1121 sons, H1121 even four H702 generations. H1755
Behold, I go H1980 forward, H6924 but he is not there; and backward, H268 but I cannot perceive H995 him: On the left hand, H8040 where he doth work, H6213 but I cannot behold H2372 him: he hideth H5848 himself on the right hand, H3225 that I cannot see H7200 him: But he knoweth H3045 the way H1870 that I take: H5978 when he hath tried H974 me, I shall come forth H3318 as gold. H2091
Oh that H5414 I knew H3045 where I might find H4672 him! that I might come H935 even to his seat! H8499
And there were born H3205 unto him seven H7651 sons H1121 and three H7969 daughters. H1323 His substance H4735 also was seven H7651 thousand H505 sheep, H6629 and three H7969 thousand H505 camels, H1581 and five H2568 hundred H3967 yoke H6776 of oxen, H1241 and five H2568 hundred H3967 she asses, H860 and a very H3966 great H7227 household; H5657 so that this man H376 was the greatest H1419 of all the men H1121 of the east. H6924 And his sons H1121 went H1980 and feasted H4960 H6213 in their houses, H1004 every one H376 his day; H3117 and sent H7971 and called H7121 for their three H7969 sisters H269 to eat H398 and to drink H8354 with them. And it was so, when the days H3117 of their feasting H4960 were gone about, H5362 that Job H347 sent H7971 and sanctified H6942 them, and rose up early H7925 in the morning, H1242 and offered H5927 burnt offerings H5930 according to the number H4557 of them all: for Job H347 said, H559 It may be H194 that my sons H1121 have sinned, H2398 and cursed H1288 God H430 in their hearts. H3824 Thus did H6213 Job H347 continually. H3117
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Job 29
Commentary on Job 29 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 29
Job 29:1-25.
1. Job pauses for a reply. None being made, he proceeds to illustrate the mysteriousness of God's dealings, as set forth (Job 28:1-28) by his own case.
2. preserved me—from calamity.
3. candle—when His favor shone on me (see on Job 18:6 and Ps 18:28).
darkness—By His safeguard I passed secure through dangers. Perhaps alluding to the lights carried before caravans in nightly travels through deserts [Noyes].
4. youth—literally, "autumn"; the time of the ripe fruits of my prosperity. Applied to youth, as the Orientalists began their year with autumn, the most temperate season in the East.
secret—when the intimate friendship of God rested on my tent (Pr 3:32; Ps 31:20; Ge 18:17; Joh 15:15). The Hebrew often means a divan for deliberation.
6. butter—rather, "cream," literally, "thick milk." Wherever I turned my steps, the richest milk and oil flowed in to me abundantly. Image from pastoral life.
When I washed my steps—Literal washing of the feet in milk is not meant, as the second clause shows; Margin, "with me," that is, "near" my path, wherever I walked (De 32:13). Olives amidst rocks yield the best oil. Oil in the East is used for food, light, anointing, and medicine.
7-10. The great influence Job had over young and old, and noblemen.
through … street!—rather, When I went out of my house, in the country (see Job 1:1, prologue) to the gate (ascending), up to the city (which was on elevated ground), and when I prepared my (judicial) seat in the market place. The market place was the place of judgment, at the gate or propylæa of the city, such as is found in the remains of Nineveh and Persepolis (Isa 59:14; Ps 55:11; 127:5).
8. hid—not literally; rather, "stepped backwards," reverentially. The aged, who were already seated, arose and remained standing (Hebrew) until Job seated himself. Oriental manners.
9. (Job 4:2; see on Job 21:5).
Refrained talking—stopped in the middle of their speech.
10. Margin, "voice—hid," that is, "hushed" (Eze 3:26).
Tongue cleaved, &c.—that is, awed by my presence, the emirs or sheiks were silent.
11. blessed—extolled my virtues (Pr 31:28). Omit "me" after "heard"; whoever heard of me (in general, not in the market place, Job 29:7-10) praised me.
gave witness—to my honorable character. Image from a court of justice (Lu 4:22).
the eye—that is, "face to face"; antithesis to
ear—that is, report of me.
12-17. The grounds on which Job was praised (Job 29:11), his helping the afflicted (Ps 72:12) who cried to him for help, as a judge, or as one possessed of means of charity. Translate: "The fatherless who had none to help him."
13. So far was I from sending "widows" away empty (Job 22:9).
ready to perish—(Pr 31:6).
14. (Isa 61:10; 1Ch 12:18).
judgment—justice.
diadem—tiara. Rather, "turban," "head-dress." It and the full flowing outer mantle or "robe," are the prominent characteristics of an Oriental grandee's or high priest's dress (Zec 3:5). So Job's righteousness especially characterized him.
15. Literally, "the blind" (De 27:18); "lame" (2Sa 9:13); figuratively, also the spiritual support which the more enlightened gives to those less so (Job 4:3; Heb 12:13; Nu 10:31).
16. So far was I from "breaking the arms of the fatherless," as Eliphaz asserts (Job 22:9), I was a "father" to such.
the cause which I knew not—rather, "of him whom I knew not," the stranger (Pr 29:7 [Umbreit]; contrast Lu 18:1, &c.). Applicable to almsgiving (Ps 41:1); but here primarily, judicial conscientiousness (Job 31:13).
17. Image from combating with wild beasts (Job 4:11; Ps 3:7). So compassionate was Job to the oppressed, so terrible to the oppressor!
jaws—Job broke his power, so that he could do no more hurt, and tore from him the spoil, which he had torn from others.
18. I said—in my heart (Ps 30:6).
in—rather, "with my nest"; as the second clause refers to long life. Instead of my family dying before me, as now, I shall live so long as to die with them: proverbial for long life. Job did realize his hope (Job 42:16). However, in the bosom of my family, gives a good sense (Nu 24:21; Ob 4). Use "nest" for a secure dwelling.
sand—(Ge 22:17; Hab 1:9). But the Septuagint and Vulgate, and Jewish interpreters, favor the translation, "the phœnix bird." "Nest" in the parallel clause supports the reference to a bird. "Sand" for multitude, applies to men, rather than to years. The myth was, that the phœnix sprang from a nest of myrrh, made by his father before death, and that he then came from Arabia (Job's country) to Heliopolis (the city of the Sun) in Egypt, once in every five hundred years, and there burnt his father [Herodotus, 2:73]. Modern research has shown that this was the Egyptian mode of representing hieroglyphically a particular chronological era or cycle. The death and revival every five hundred years, and the reference to the sun, implies such a grand cycle commencing afresh from the same point in relation to the sun from which the previous one started. Job probably refers to this.
19. Literally, "opened to the waters." Opposed to Job 18:16. Vigorous health.
20. My renown, like my bodily health, was continually fresh.
bow—Metaphor from war, for, my strength, which gains me "renown," was ever renewed (Jer 49:35).
21. Job reverts with peculiar pleasure to his former dignity in assemblies (Job 29:7-10).
22. not again—did not contradict me.
dropped—affected their minds, as the genial rain does the soil on which it gently drops (Am 7:16; De 32:2; So 4:11).
23. Image of Job 29:22 continued. They waited for my salutary counsel, as the dry soil does for the refreshing rain.
opened … mouth—panted for; Oriental image (Ps 119:131). The "early rain" is in autumn and onwards, while the seed is being sown. The "latter rain" is in March, and brings forward the harvest, which ripens in May or June. Between the early and latter rains, some rain falls, but not in such quantities as those rains. Between March and October no rain falls (De 11:14; Jas 5:7).
24. When I relaxed from my wonted gravity (a virtue much esteemed in the East) and smiled, they could hardly credit it; and yet, notwithstanding my condescension, they did not cast aside reverence for my gravity. But the parallelism is better in Umbreit's translation, "I smiled kindly on those who trusted not," that is, in times of danger I cheered those in despondency. And they could not cast down (by their despondency) my serenity of countenance (flowing from trust in God) (Pr 16:15; Ps 104:15). The opposite phrase (Ge 4:5, 6). "Gravity" cannot well be meant by "light of countenance."
25. I chose out their way—that is, I willingly went up to their assembly (from my country residence, Job 29:7).
in the army—as a king supreme in the midst of his army.
comforteth the mourners—Here again Job unconsciously foreshadows Jesus Christ (Isa 61:2, 3). Job's afflictions, as those of Jesus Christ, were fitting him for the office hereafter (Isa 50:4; Heb 2:18).