Job 42:12
Ver. 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning,.... Which verified the words of Bildad, Job 8:6; though they were spoken by him only by way of supposition. All blessings are of the Lord, temporal and spiritual; and sometimes the last days of a good man are his best, as to temporal things, as were David's, and here Job's; though this is not always the case: however, if their last days are but the best in spiritual things, that is enough: if they have more faith, hope, love, patience, humility, and self-denial, and resignation of will to the will of God; are more holy, humble, spiritually and heavenly minded; have more light and knowledge in divine things; have more peace and joy, and are more fruitful in every good work, and more useful; and often they are in their very last moments most cheerful and comfortable: the best wine is reserved till last;for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses: just double the number of each of what he had before, Job 1:3. Job 42:13Ver. 13. He had also seven sons, and three daughters. The same number of children, and of the same sort he had before, Job 1:2; and according to Nachman the very same he had before, which the additional letter in the word "seven" is with him the notification of; so that the doubting of what he had before, Job 42:10; respects only his substance, and particularly his cattle; though the Targum says he had fourteen sons, and so Jarchi {t}; others think these may be said to be double to Job in their good qualities, external and internal, in their dispositions, virtues, and graces; and others, inasmuch as his former children were not lost, but lived with God, and would live for ever, they might now be said to be double; and so they consider this as a proof of the immortality of the soul, and of the resurrection of the body; but these senses are not to be trusted to; whether these children were by a former wife or another is uncertain.{t} Vid. Balmes. Gram. Strat. 26. Job 42:14Ver. 14. And he called the name of the first Jemima,.... That is, the name of the first and eldest daughter was called by Job Jemima; which either signifies "day", so the Targum interprets it, and most do, and so is the same with Diana; or, as Spanheim {u} observes, it may be the same with the Arabic word "jemama", which signifies a turtle or dove {w}; and who also observes that a country in Arabia is so called, and perhaps from her; and which seems to be confirmed by the Arabic geographer {x}, who speaks of a queen called Jamama, who dwelt in a city of the country he describes as being on the north of Arabia Felix, and also speaks of a way from thence to Bozrah in Edom;and the name of the second, Kezia; or Cassia; an aromatic herb of a very fragrant smell, as we render the word, Ps 45:8; and from this person the above learned writer conjectures Mount Casius in Arabia might have its name;and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch; which signifies an horn or vessel of paint, such as the eastern women used to paint their faces, particularly their eyes with, Jer 4:30; and as Jezebel did, 2Ki 9:30; or "the ray of a precious stone"; some say the carbuncle {y} or ruby; according to the Targum, the emerald; in 1Ch 29:2, the word is rendered "glittering stones". Now these names may have respect to Job's daughters themselves, to their external beauty, afterwards observed, so the Targum,"he called the one Jemima, because her beauty was as the day; the other he called Kezia, because she was precious like cassia; and another he called Kerenhappuch, because great was the brightness of the glory of her countenance, as the emerald.''The complexion of the first might be clear as a bright day, though like that but of a short duration; see So 6:10; the next might have her name from the fragrancy and sweetness of her temper; and the third, as being so beautiful that she needed no paint to set her off, but was beauty and paint herself; or her beauty was as bright and dazzling as a precious stone; see La 4:7. Or these may respect their internal qualities, virtues, and graces; being children of the day, and not of the night; having a good name, which is better than all spices; and possessed of such graces as were comparable to jewels and precious stones. Though it might be, that Job, in giving them these names, may have respect to the change of his state and condition; his first daughter he called Jemima, or "day", because it was now day, with him: he had been in the night and darkness of adversity, temporal and spiritual, but now he enjoyed a day of prosperity, and of spiritual light and joy; the justness of his cause appeared, his righteousness was brought forth as the light, and his judgment as noonday; and the dispensations of divine Providence appeared to him in a different light than he had seen them in: his second daughter he called Kezia, or Cassia, an herb of a sweet smell, in opposition to the stench of his ulcers and of his breath, which had been so very offensive, and from which he was now free; and may denote also the recovery of his good name, better than precious ointment, in which cassia was an ingredient: his youngest daughter he called Kerenhappuch, the horn of paint, in opposition to his horn being defiled in the dust, and his face foul with weeping, Job 16:15; or if Kerenhappuch signifies the horn turned, as Peritsol interprets it, it may have respect to the strange and sudden turn of Job's affairs: and it is easy to observe, that men have given names to their children on account of their present state and condition, or on account of the change of a former one; see Ge 41:51.{u} Hist. Jobi, c. 12. s. 7. {w} Golii Lexic. Arab. col. 2767, 2768. {x} Geograph. Nub. Climat. 2. par. 6. {y} Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 356. Job 42:15Ver. 15. And in all the land were no women found [so] fair as the daughters of Job,.... Either in the whole world, which is not improbable: or it may be rather in the land or country in which they dwelt; and which may be gathered from their names, as before observed. The people of God, and children of Christ, the antitype of Job, are all fair, and there is no spot in them; a perfection of beauty, perfectly comely, through the comeliness of Christ put upon them, and are without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing;and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren; which was done not on account of their beauty or virtue; nor is this observed so much to show the great riches of Job, that he could give his daughters as much as his sons, as his impartiality to his children, and his strict justice and equity in distributing his substance to them all alike, making no difference between male and female. And so in Christ, the antitype of Job, there is neither male nor female, no difference between them, Ga 3:28: but being all children, they are heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, and equally partake of the same inheritance with the saints in light, Ro 8:17. Job 42:16Ver. 16. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years,.... Not after he had arrived to the height of his prosperity; not after the birth of his children, and they were grown up, and had their portions given them, which must take in a considerable number of years; but after his afflictions were over, and his prosperity began: and if his years were doubled, as some think, though that is not certain, then he must be seventy years of age when he was so sorely afflicted and must live to the age of two hundred and ten; which is the common notion of the Jewish writers {z}: however, he must be fifty or sixty years of age at that time, since his former children were grown up and were for themselves; and it is said {a}, his afflictions continued seven years. So that it is not at all improbable that he lived to be about two hundred years of age; and which was a singular blessing of God to him, if you compare his age with that of Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Joshua, between the two former and the two latter he may be supposed to live;and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, [even] four generations; Joseph saw but the third, Job the fourth, he was a great-great-grandfather. This was no doubt a pleasant sight to him, to see such a numerous offspring descending from him; and especially if they were walking in the ways of God, as probably they were, since no doubt he would take all the care of their education that in him lay. This is the great blessing promised to the Messiah, the antitype of Job, Isa 53:10; see also Isa 59:21.{z} T. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 3. {a} Suidas in voce iwb. Job 42:17Ver. 17. So Job died,.... As every man does, though he lived so long, and as Methuselah the oldest man did, Ge 5:27; and though a good man, the best of men die as well as others: so Job died, as a good man, in the Lord, in faith and hope of eternal life and happiness; and so he died in all his outward prosperity and happiness, having great substance and a numerous offspring;[being] old; as he might be truly called, being two hundred years of age or thereabout:and full of days; lived out all his days, the full term of life in common, and longer than it was usual for men to live. He had a long life to satisfaction, as is promised, Ps 91:16. He lived as long as he desired to live, was quite satisfied with living; not that he loathed life, as he once did, and in that sense he did, and from such principles and with such views as he then had, Job 7:15. But he had enough of life, and was willing to die; and came to his grave, as Eliphaz said, "like a shock of corn in his season", Job 5:26. Adrichomius {b}, from certain travellers, speaks of the sepulchre of Job, in the form of a pyramid, in the plains of the land of Uz, to the east of the city Sueta, shown to this day, and had in great honour by Greeks and others; and which is more probable than what some say {c}, that his grave is in Constantinople, where there is a gate called Job's gate, from thence: but the Job there buried was a general of the Saracens, who died besieging that city with a numerous army, and was there buried, A. D. 675 {d}. There is a fragment at the end of the Septuagint and Arabic versions of this book, said to be translated from a Syriac copy, which gives a very particular account of Job's descent as,"that he dwelt in the land of Ausitis, on the borders of Idumaea and Arabia; that his name was first Jobab; that he married an Arabian woman, and begot a son, whose name was Ennon; that his father was Zare, a son of the sons of Esau; that his mother was Bosorra (or Bosra); and that he was the fifth from Abraham. And these are the kings that reigned in Edom, which country he reigned over; the first was Balac, the son of Beor, the name of whose city was Dennaba; after Balac, Jobab, called Job; after him Asom, who was governor in the country of Theman; after him Adad, the son of Barad, who cut off Midian in the field of Moab, the name of whose city was Gethaim. The friends that came to him (Job) were Eliphaz, of the sons of Esau, the king of the Themanites; Baldad, king of the Sauchseans; and Sophar, king of the Minaeans.''The substance of this is confirmed by Aristaeus, Philo, and Polyhistor {e}, ancient historians.{b} Theatrum Terrae S. p. 93. {c} Juchasin, fol. 9. 2. {d} Schindler. Lexic. Pentaglott. col. 64. {e} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 25.