25 I chose their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth mourners.
And Abram heard that his brother was taken captive; and he led out his trained [servants], born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued [them] as far as Dan. And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is to the left of Damascus. And he brought back all the property, and brought again his brother Lot and his property, and the women also, and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after he had returned from smiting Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, into the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's valley.
Thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy commandment shall all my people regulate themselves; only concerning the throne will I be greater than thou.
Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the tottering knees. Say to them that are of a timid heart, Be strong, fear not; behold your God: vengeance cometh, the recompense of God! He will come himself, and save you.
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah hath anointed me to announce glad tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, that beauty should be given unto them instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness: that they might be called terebinths of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.
Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions, and God of all encouragement; who encourages us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to encourage those who are in any tribulation whatever, through the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged of God.
and sent Timotheus, our brother and fellow-workman under God in the glad tidings of Christ, to confirm you and encourage [you] concerning your faith, that no one might be moved by these afflictions. (For yourselves know that we are set for this;
And he was king in Jeshurun, When the heads of the people And the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, with every prince. And David said to all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good to you, and it be of Jehovah our God, let us send abroad to our brethren everywhere, that are left in all the lands of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves to us; and let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we inquired not of it in the days of Saul. And all the congregation said that they should do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
And his substance was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants; and this man was greater than all the children of the east.
I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him.
For indeed, when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but [we were] afflicted in every way; without combats, within fears. But he who encourages those that are [brought] low, [even] God, encouraged us by the coming of Titus; and not by his coming only, but also through the encouragement with which he was encouraged as to you; relating to us your ardent desire, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I the more rejoiced.
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).