Job Forty Two

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

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Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,

Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

Job 42:3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

Job 42:4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

abhor myself. Job was the most godly and righteous man in the world at that time, as testified by God Himself (Job 1:8; 2:3). Yet in the presence of the God who had made him, he could only abhor himself and repent of his self-righteousness. Daniel, greatly beloved of God, and John, the beloved disciple, had similar reactions when they came into the presence of God (Daniel 10:8, 11; Revelation 1:17).

Job 42:7 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

thing that is right. God rebuked Eliphaz, as the chief spokesman of the three friends. Elihu had already been indirectly rebuked and was evidently ignored here, since he had merely restated the Eliphaz arguments. What Job had said about God was right; what the others said was wrong. Job had endured the worst tests Satan could devise, yet retained his faith in God; that was the real issue. But even Job had to confess his sin of failing to submit fully to God as Creator. God has every right to do whatever He wills with respect to those He has created, and we do not have to know why! In the scale of eternity, whatever He does is for our ultimate good. “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19).

Job 42:8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

Job 42:9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.

Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

turned the captivity. Job had actually been captive under Satan's control, just as the Lord later allowed Satan to have Peter (Luke 22:31-32), and no doubt others as well. But “through death” Christ has destroyed “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

twice as much. Job only acquired the same number of children as before, but his earlier family still belonged to him, safe in the Lord, awaiting a reunion with their new siblings when all later would be together with the Lord.

Job 42:11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.

Job 42:12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

Job 42:13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

Job 42:14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.

Job 42:15 And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

Job 42:16 After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.

Job 42:17 So Job died, being old and full of days.