8 And now, take seven oxen and seven sheep, and go to my servant Job, and give a burned offering for yourselves, and my servant Job will make prayer for you, that I may not send punishment on you; because you have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has.
And Balaam said to Balak, Make me here seven altars and get ready seven oxen and seven male sheep.
And when God gave help to the Levites who were lifting up the ark of the agreement of the Lord, they made an offering of seven oxen and seven sheep.
And at the end of their days of feasting, Job sent and made them clean, getting up early in the morning and offering burned offerings for them all. For, Job said, It may be that my sons have done wrong and said evil of God in their hearts. And Job did this whenever the feasts came round.
If a man sees his brother doing a sin which is not bad enough for death, let him make a prayer to God, and God will give life to him whose sin was not bad enough for death. There is a sin whose punishment is death: I do not say that he may make such a request then.
So then, make a statement of your sins to one another, and say prayers for one another so that you may be made well. The prayer of a good man is full of power in its working.
And Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the Lord had said. And the Lord gave ear to Job.
He makes safe the man who is free from sin, and if your hands are clean, salvation will be yours.
Then Abraham made prayer to God, and God made Abimelech well again, and his wife and his women-servants, so that they had children.
Because it is not possible for the blood of oxen and goats to take away sins.
This is he who came by water and by blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only but by water and by blood.
Is anyone among you ill? let him send for the rulers of the church; and let them say prayers over him, putting oil on him in the name of the Lord.
By that pleasure we have been made holy, by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for ever. And every priest takes his place at the altar day by day, doing what is necessary, and making again and again the same offerings which are never able to take away sins. But when Jesus had made one offering for sins for ever, he took his place at the right hand of God; And has been waiting there from that time, till all who are against him are made a foot-rest for his feet. Because by one offering he has made complete for ever those who are made holy.
Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, made a burned offering to God: and Aaron came, with the chiefs of Israel, and had a meal with Moses' father-in-law, before God.
So that he is fully able to be the saviour of all who come to God through him, because he is ever living to make prayer to God for them.
To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely gave to us in the Loved One:
If then you are making an offering at the altar and there it comes to your mind that your brother has something against you, While your offering is still before the altar, first go and make peace with your brother, then come and make your offering.
And when you give what is blind for an offering, it is no evil! and when you give what is damaged and ill, it is no evil! Give it now to your ruler; will he be pleased with you, or will you have his approval? says the Lord of armies. And now, make request for the grace of God so that he may have mercy on us: this has been your doing: will he give his approval to any of you? says the Lord of armies.
And on the seven days of the feast he is to give a burned offering to the Lord, seven oxen and seven sheep without any mark on them, every day for seven days; and a he-goat every day for a sin-offering.
And the Lord said to me, Make no prayer for this people for their good.
And the sons of those who were cruel to you will come before you with bent heads; and those who made sport of you will go down on their faces at your feet; and you will be named, The Town of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
And they took with them seven oxen and seven male sheep and seven lambs and seven he-goats as a sin-offering for the kingdom and for the holy house and for Judah. And he gave orders to the sons of Aaron, the priests, that these were to be offered on the altar of the Lord.
Then David took from her hands her offering: and he said to her, Go back to your house in peace; see, I have given ear to your voice, and taken your offering with respect.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 42
Commentary on Job 42 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 42
Solomon says, "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof,' Eccl. 7:8. It was so here in the story of Job; at the evening-time it was light. Three things we have met with in this book which, I confess, have troubled me very much; but we find all the three grievances redressed, thoroughly redressed, in this chapter, everything set to-rights.
All this is written for our learning, that we, under these and the like discouragements that we meet with, through patience and comfort of this scripture may have hope.
Job 42:1-6
The words of Job justifying himself were ended, ch. 31:40. After that he said no more to that purport. The words of Job judging and condemning himself began, ch. 40:4, 5. Here he goes on with words to the same purport. Though his patience had not its perfect work, his repentance for his impatience had. He is here thoroughly humbled for his folly and unadvised speaking, and it was forgiven him. Good men will see and own their faults at last, though it may be some difficulty to bring them to do this. Then, when God had said all that to him concerning his own greatness and power appearing in the creatures, then Job answered the Lord (v. 1), not by way of contradiction (he had promised not so to answer again, ch. 40:5), but by way of submission; and thus we must all answer the calls of God.
Job 42:7-9
Job, in his discourses, had complained very much of the censures of his friends and their hard usage of him, and had appealed to God as Judge between him and them, and thought it hard that judgment was not immediately given upon the appeal. While God was catechising Job out of the whirlwind one would have thought that he only was in the wrong, and that the cause would certainly go against him; but here, to our great surprise, we find it quite otherwise, and the definitive sentence given in Job's favour. Wherefore judge nothing before the time. Those who are truly righteous before God may have their righteousness clouded and eclipsed by great and uncommon afflictions, by the severe censures of men, by their own frailties and foolish passions, by the sharp reproofs of the word and conscience, and the deep humiliation of their own spirits under the sense of God's terrors; and yet, in due time, these clouds shall all blow over, and God will bring forth their righteousness as the light and their judgment as the noon-day, Ps. 37:6. He cleared Job's righteousness here, because he, like an honest man, held it fast and would not let it go. We have here,
Job 42:10-17
You have heard of the patience of Job (says the apostle, Jam. 5:11) and have seen the end of the Lord, that is, what end the Lord, at length, put to his troubles. In the beginning of this book we had Job's patience under his troubles, for an example; here, in the close, for our encouragement to follow that example, we have the happy issue of his troubles and the prosperous condition to which he was restored after them, which confirms us in counting those happy which endure. Perhaps, too, the extraordinary prosperity which Job was crowned with after his afflictions was intended to be to us Christians a type and figure of the glory and happiness of heaven, which the afflictions of this present time are working for us, and in which they will issue at last; this will be more than double to all the delights and satisfactions we now enjoy, as Job's after-prosperity was to his former, though then he was the greatest of all the men of the east. He that rightly endures temptation, when he is tried, shall receive a crown of life (Jam. 1:12), as Job, when he was tried, received all the wealth, and honour, and comfort, which here we have an account of.