5 When yet the Mighty One `is' with me. Round about me -- my young ones,
Thy wife `is' as a fruitful vine in the sides of thy house, Thy sons as olive plants around thy table.
Lo, an inheritance of Jehovah `are' sons, A reward `is' the fruit of the womb. As arrows in the hand of a mighty one, So `are' the sons of the young men. O the happiness of the man Who hath filled his quiver with them, They are not ashamed, For they speak with enemies in the gate!
On my couch by night, I sought him whom my soul hath loved; I sought him, and I found him not! -- Pray, let me rise, and go round the city, In the streets and in the broad places, I seek him whom my soul hath loved! -- I sought him, and I found him not.
He hath brought me in unto a house of wine, And his banner over me `is' love,
O Jehovah, in Thy good pleasure, Thou hast caused strength to remain for my mountain,' Thou hast hidden Thy face -- I have been troubled.
A habitation `is' the eternal God, And beneath `are' arms age-during. And He casteth out from thy presence the enemy, and saith, `Destroy!' And Israel doth tabernacle `in' confidence alone; The eye of Jacob `is' unto a land of corn and wine; Also His heavens drop down dew. O thy happiness, O Israel! who is like thee? A people saved by Jehovah, The shield of thy help, And He who `is' the sword of thine excellency: And thine enemies are subdued for thee, And thou on their high places dost tread.'
O Hope of Israel -- its saviour in time of trouble, Why art Thou as a sojourner in the land? And as a traveller turned aside to lodge?
and the messenger of Jehovah appeareth unto him, and saith unto him, `Jehovah `is' with thee, O mighty one of valour.' And Gideon saith unto him, `O, my lord -- and Jehovah is with us! -- and why hath all this found us? and where `are' all His wonders which our fathers recounted to us, saying, Hath not Jehovah brought us up out of Egypt? and now Jehovah hath left us, and doth give us into the hand of Midian.'
Sons' sons `are' the crown of old men, And the glory of sons `are' their fathers.
For thou `art' the God of my strength. Why hast Thou cast me off? Why mourning do I go up and down, In the oppression of an enemy?
And he hath seven sons and three daughters; and he calleth the name of the one Jemima, and the name of the second Kezia, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. And there have not been found women fair as the daughters of Job in all the land, and their father doth give to them an inheritance in the midst of their brethren. And Job liveth after this a hundred and forty years, and seeth his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations;
O that I had known -- and I find Him, I come in unto His seat,
And there are borne to him seven sons and three daughters, and his substance is seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred pairs of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a service very abundant; and that man is greater than any of the sons of the east. And his sons have gone and made a banquet -- the house of each `in' his day -- and have sent and called to their three sisters to eat and to drink with them; and it cometh to pass, when they have gone round the days of the banquet, that Job doth send and sanctify them, and hath risen early in the morning, and caused to ascend burnt-offerings -- the number of them all -- for Job said, `Perhaps my sons have sinned, yet blessed God in their heart.' Thus doth Job all the days.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 29
Commentary on Job 29 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 29
After that excellent discourse concerning wisdom in the foregoing chapter Job sat down and paused awhile, not because he had talked himself out of breath, but because he would not, without the leave of the company, engross the talk to himself, but would give room for his friends, if they pleased, to make their remarks on what he had said; but they had nothing to say, and therefore, after he had recollected himself a little, he went on with his discourse concerning his own affairs, as recorded in this and the two following chapters, in which,
All this he enlarges upon, to aggravate his present calamities; like Naomi, "I went out full,' but am brought "home again empty.'
Job 29:1-6
Losers may have leave to speak, and there is nothing they speak of more feelingly than of the comforts they are stripped of. Their former prosperity is one of the most pleasing subjects of their thoughts and talk. It was so to Job, who begins here with a wish (v. 2): O that I were as in months past! so he brings in this account of his prosperity. His wish is,
Job 29:7-17
We have here Job in a post of honour and power. Though he had comfort enough in his own house, yet he did not confine himself to that. We are not born for ourselves, but for the public. When any business was to be done in the gate, the place of judgment, Job went out to it through the city (v. 7), not in an affectation of pomp, but in an affection to justice. Observe, Judgment was administered in the gate, in the street, in the places of concourse, to which every man might have a free access, that every one who would might be a witness to all that was said and done, and that when judgment was given against the guilty others might hear and fear. Job being a prince, a judge, a magistrate, a man in authority, among the children of the east, we are here told,
Job 29:18-25
That which crowned Job's prosperity was the pleasing prospect he had of the continuance of it. Though he knew, in general, that he was liable to trouble, and therefore was not secure (ch. 3:26, I was not in safety, neither had I rest), yet he had no particular occasion for fear, but as much reason as ever any man had to count upon the lengthening out of his tranquility.
I know not but we may look upon Job as a type and figure of Christ in his power and prosperity. Our Lord Jesus is such a King as Job was, the poor man's King, who loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and upon whom the blessing of a world ready to perish comes; see Ps. 72:2, etc. To him therefore let us give ear, and let him sit chief in our hearts.