1Moreover Job continued on with his discourse, and said: 2Oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me; 3when His lamp shone upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness; 4just as I was in my productive days, when the counsel of God was over my tent; 5when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were around me; 6when my steps were bathed in butter, and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me; 7when I went out to the gate through the city, when I set up my seat in the open square. 8The young men saw me and hid, and the aged arose and stood up; 9the rulers refrained from talking, and put their hand on their mouth; 10the leaders hid their voice, and their tongue clung to the roof of their mouth. 11When the ear heard, it blessed me, and when the eye saw, it bore witness to me; 12because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no one to help him. 13The blessing of the dying man came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. 15I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. 16I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the case that I did not know. 17I broke the fangs of the perverse, and flung out the prey from his teeth. 18Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand. 19My root was open to the waters, and the dew lay all night on my branch. 20My glory was fresh within me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. 21Men listened to me and waited, and kept silent for my counsel. 22After my speech they did not change anything, and my words dropped upon them. 23They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain. 24I laughed at them when they did not believe it, and did not allow the light of my countenance to fall. 25I chose the way for them, and sat as chief; so I dwelt as a king among the troops, as one who comforts mourners.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Job 29:1-25)
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 (
Pro 3:32;
Ps 31:20;
Gen 18:17;
John 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 (
Deut 32:13). Olives amidst rocks yield the best oil. Oil in the East is used for food, light, anointing, and medicine.
7 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 propylća of the city, such as is found in the remains of Nineveh and Persepolis (
Isa 59:14;
Ps 55:11;
Ps 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" (
Ezek 3:26).
Tongue cleaved, &c.--that is, awed by my presence, the emirs or sheiks were silent.
11 blessed--extolled my virtues (
Pro 31:28). Omit "me" after "heard"; whoever heard of me (in general, not in the market place,
Job 29:7-
Job 29:10) praised me.
gave witness--to my honorable character. Image from a court of justice (
Luke 4:22).
the eye--that is, "face to face"; antithesis to
ear--that is, report of me.
12 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-- (
Pro 31:6).
14 (
Isa 61:10;
1Chr 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 (
Zech 3:5). So Job's righteousness especially characterized him.
15 Literally, "the blind" (
Deut 27:18); "lame" (
2Sam 9:13); figuratively, also the spiritual support which the more enlightened gives to those less so (
Job 4:3;
Heb 12:13;
Num 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 (
Pro 29:7 [UMBREIT]; contrast
Luke 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 (
Num 24:21;
Obad 1:4). Use "nest" for a secure dwelling.
sand-- (
Gen 22:17;
Hab 1:9). But the Septuagint and Vulgate, and Jewish interpreters, favor the translation, "the phśnix 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 phśnix 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-
Job 29:10).
22 not again--did not contradict me.
dropped--affected their minds, as the genial rain does the soil on which it gently drops (
Amos 7:16;
Deut 32:2;
Song 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 (
Deut 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) (
Pro 16:15;
Ps 104:15). The opposite phrase (
Gen 4:5-
Gen 4:6). "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-
Isa 61:3). Job's afflictions, as those of Jesus Christ, were fitting him for the office hereafter (
Isa 50:4;
Heb 2:18).
