Job 42 · The Lantern

And Job answered Jehovah and said,

I know that thou canst do everything, and that thou canst be hindered in no thought of thine.

Who is he that obscureth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered what I did not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and inform me.

I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee:

Wherefore I abhor [myself], and repent in dust and ashes.

God clearly said to him, "Do you think that I have dealt with you in any other way than that you might appear to be righteous?" That was in order, he says, to make you speak as you are speaking now, and not in order to condemn you. This is a justification for all that happened before.

Wherefore I reproach myself. 6. For the less a person sees himself, the less is he displeased with himself; and the more he discerns the light of greater grace, the more blameworthy does he acknowledge himself to be. For when he is elevated within, by all that he is, he endeavours to agree with that standard which he beholds above him.

The more one considers the justice of God, the more he sees his own fault, and so he says, "Therefore I reproach myself," when I consider my own fault. Since it does not suffice to confess one's own fault unless one makes satisfaction, he continues, "I do penance in dust and ashes," as a sign of the frailty of corporeal nature.

And it came to pass after Jehovah had spoken these words to Job, that Jehovah said to Eliphaz the Temanite, Mine anger is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends; for ye have not spoken rightly of me, like my servant Job.

And now, take for yourselves seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept: lest I deal with you [after your] folly, for ye have not spoken of me rightly, like my servant Job.

He would have not ordered that if there had been the law, but now he becomes priest, while they bring offerings. Job had made sacrifices for his children; now he makes them for his friends. See how the text shows that Job is devoid of resentment.

Take unto you seven bulls, and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a whole burnt offering. But My servant Job shall pray for you; his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you. 11. Behold the just and merciful God neither passes over their faults without reproof, nor yet leaves their guilt without conversion.

To expiate grave sins the ancients used to offer sacrifice, and so he says, "Therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams," because they were elders of the people. Seven is the number of totality and so seven sacrifices can expiate for grave sins.

Then Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did according as Jehovah had said unto them; and Jehovah accepted Job.

And Jehovah turned the captivity of Job, when he had prayed for his friends; and Jehovah gave Job twice as much as he had before.

And all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house, and they condoled with him, and comforted him concerning all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him; and every one gave him a piece of money, and every one a golden ring.

But there came to him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all that knew him before, and did eat bread with him in his house, and moved the head over him. 23. What is designated by the eating of bread but charity, and what by the moving of the head but admiration? But it is well subjoined, And comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.

The principal adversity of Job was being deserted by his friends, (19:13) and therefore he places the remedy for this adversity first when he says, "Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him," which indicates the remembrance of his past friendship, "and they ate bread with him in his house," which describes the return to the old familiarity,…

And Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.

And he had seven sons and three daughters.

"He also had," the text says, "seven sons and three daughters." Later he gives them names that seem to be inspired by the circumstances. He calls them "Day, Cinnamon and Amalthea's horn."

And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses; and he had seven sons, and three daughters. 36. That he had had seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, before the trial of his scourging, the preface of this same history points out to us.

Now Job had lost not only his possessions, but also his children who are restored to him, but not double what he had before, for the text says, "He had seven sons and three daughters." There can be two reasons for this. One pertains to the future life, because the sons which he had were not completely lost to him but were saved in the future life to live with him.

And he called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.

And in all the land were no women found [so] fair as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

And Job lived after this a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.

Scripture reports God increased by half all of Job's things, except for the children. It is evident, therefore, that the length of his life was also increased by a half. If he had lived 170 years when he was delivered from that calamity, it appears that he lived for 85 years more to the end of his life, that is, for the number of years that is the half of 170.

If it is true that Moses knew Job, why did he never mention him in any of his works? It is evident that [Job] lived before the law, because we know that in every time, in every place and in every person, the knowledge of God exists without the need of a human instruction, as is attested by [Job's] friends, who composed a high doctrine on God.

Since Job also had been scourged in his own body, he is given length of days to increase his prosperity, and so the text goes on, "But Job lived after his trials one hundred and forty years." So that we may understand that he lived the whole time in prosperity the text says, "and he saw his children and his children's children up to the fourth generation."

And Job died, old and full of days.

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