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Job 29:18 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

18 Then I said, H559 I shall die H1478 in my nest, H7064 and I shall multiply H7235 my days H3117 as the sand. H2344

Cross Reference

Genesis 32:12 STRONG

And thou saidst, H559 I will surely H3190 do thee good, H3190 and make H7760 thy seed H2233 as the sand H2344 of the sea, H3220 which cannot be numbered H5608 for multitude. H7230

Job 5:26 STRONG

Thou shalt come H935 to thy grave H6913 in a full age, H3624 like as a shock of corn H1430 cometh in H5927 in his season. H6256

Job 42:16-17 STRONG

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 So Job H347 died, H4191 being old H2205 and full H7649 of days. H3117

Psalms 30:6-7 STRONG

And in my prosperity H7959 I said, H559 I shall never H5769 be moved. H4131 LORD, H3068 by thy favour H7522 thou hast made my mountain H2042 to stand H5975 strong: H5797 thou didst hide H5641 thy face, H6440 and I was troubled. H926

Psalms 91:16 STRONG

With long H753 life H3117 will I satisfy H7646 him, and shew H7200 him my salvation. H3444

Genesis 41:49 STRONG

And Joseph H3130 gathered H6651 corn H1250 as the sand H2344 of the sea, H3220 very H3966 much, H7235 until he left H2308 numbering; H5608 for it was without H369 number. H4557

Jeremiah 22:23 STRONG

O inhabitant H3427 of Lebanon, H3844 that makest thy nest H7077 in the cedars, H730 how gracious H2603 shalt thou be when pangs H2256 come H935 upon thee, the pain H2427 as of a woman in travail! H3205

Jeremiah 49:16 STRONG

Thy terribleness H8606 hath deceived H5377 thee, and the pride H2087 of thine heart, H3820 O thou that dwellest H7931 in the clefts H2288 of the rock, H5553 that holdest H8610 the height H4791 of the hill: H1389 though thou shouldest make thy nest H7064 as high H1361 as the eagle, H5404 I will bring thee down H3381 from thence, saith H5002 the LORD. H3068

Obadiah 1:4 STRONG

Though thou exalt H1361 thyself as the eagle, H5404 and though thou set H7760 thy nest H7064 among the stars, H3556 thence will I bring thee down, H3381 saith H5002 the LORD. H3068

Habakkuk 2:9 STRONG

Woe H1945 to him that coveteth H1214 an evil H7451 covetousness H1215 to his house, H1004 that he may set H7760 his nest H7064 on high, H4791 that he may be delivered H5337 from the power H3709 of evil! H7451

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).