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The Lord blessed the latter end of Job - Was it not in consequence of his friends bringing him a lamb, sheep, or other kind of cattle, and the quantity of gold mentioned, that his stock of sheep was increased so speedily to 14,000, his camels to 6000, his oxen to 2000, and his she-asses to 1000? Mr. Heath takes the story of the conduct of Job's friends by the worst handle; see Job 42:11. Is it not likely that they themselves were the cause of his sudden accumulation of property? and that they did not visit him, nor seek his familiarity because he was now prosperous; but because they saw that God had turned his captivity, and miraculously healed him? This gave them full proof of his innocence, and they no longer considered him an anathema, or devoted person, whom they should avoid and detest, but one who had been suffering under a strange dispensation of Divine Providence, and who was now no longer a suspicious character, but a favourite of heaven, to whom they should show every possible kindness. They therefore joined hands with God to make the poor man live and their presents were the cause, under God of his restoration to affluence. This takes the subject by the other handle; and I think, as far as the text is concerned, by the right one.
He had fourteen thousand sheep - The reader, by referring to Job 1:3, will perceive that the whole of Job's property was exactly doubled.
So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job - To wit, by giving him double what he had possessed before his calamities came upon him; see Job 42:10.
For he had fourteen thousand sheep … - The possessions which are here enumerated are in each instance just twice as much as he possessed in the early part of his life. In regard to their value, and the rank in society which they indicated, see the notes at Job 1:3. The only thing which is omitted here, and which it is not said was doubled, was his “household,” or “husbandry” (Job 1:3, “margin”), but it is evident that this must have been increased in a corresponding manner to have enabled him to keep and maintain such flocks and herds. We are not to suppose that these were granted to him at once, but as he lived an hundred and forty years after his afflictions, he had ample time to accumulate this property.
“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard:
I cry for help, but there is no judgment....
He hath stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head....
My kinsfolk have failed,
And my familiar friends have forgotten me....
They whom I loved are turned against me....
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends;
For the hand of God hath touched me.”
Ed 156.1
“Oh that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come even to His seat!...
Behold, I go forward, but He is not there;
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him:
On the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot
behold Him:
He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see
Him.
But He knoweth the way that I take;
When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Ed 156.2
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Ed 156.3
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“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him: ...
He also shall be my salvation.”
“I know that my Redeemer liveth,
And that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
Yet in my flesh shall I see God:
Whom I shall see for myself,
And mine eyes shall behold, and not another.”
PK 164.1
Job 13:15, 16; 19:25-27. PK 164
“The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1), and revealed to His servant the might of His power. When Job caught a glimpse of his Creator, he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes. Then the Lord was able to bless him abundantly and to make his last years the best of his life. PK 164.2
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