Job 1:5

(5) Job sent and sanctified them . . . —The earnest records of society exhibit the father of the family acting as the priest. This is one of the passages that show Job was outside the pale and influence of the Mosaic law, whether this was owing to his age or his country. His life in this respect corresponds with that of the patriarchs in Genesis more nearly than any other in Scripture. Cursed God.—The word used here and in Job 1:11 and Job 2:5; Job 2:9, and also in 1Kings 21:10; 1Kings 21:13, of Naboth, is literally blessed; that in Job 3:1, e.g., &c., being quite different. The contrast in Job 1:22; Job 2:10 snows the Authorised Version to be substantially right, however this contradictory sense is obtained Many languages have words which are used in opposite senses. (Comp. e.g., our “cleave to” and “cleave.”) The use of bless in the sense of curse may be a euphemism, or it may arise from giving to it the meaning of saluting or bidding farewell to, and so dismissing. This use is not elsewhere found than in the passages cited above.

Job 1:5 . When the days of their feasting were gone about — When each of them had had his turn, and there was some considerable interval before their next feasting-time; or, as the Hebrew כי הקופו ימי , chi hikkipu jemee, may be rendered, As the days went about, Job sent and sanctified them — Exhorted and commanded them to sanctify themselves, not merely by changing or washing their clothes, ( Genesis 35:2 ; Exodus 19:14 ,) and performing other ablutions, and acts of ceremonial purification then in use; but by examining their own consciences, repenting of every thing that had been amiss in their feasting, and composing their minds for employments of a more solemn nature. And rose up early in the morning — Thereby showing his ardent zeal in God’s service. And offered burnt- offerings according to the number of them all — Well knowing himself, and hereby teaching them, that all sin, even secret unbelief, ingratitude, and vanity of mind, merited condemnation from God, and could only be expiated by the shedding of blood, and offering of sacrifice, in a spirit of true penitence, and humble, lively faith. It may be my sons have sinned — His zeal for God’s glory, and his love to his children, made him jealous; for which he had sufficient cause, from the corruption of human nature, the frailty and folly of youth, the many temptations which attend feasting, and men’s proneness to slide from lawful to forbidden delights.

And cursed God — Not in a gross manner, which it was not probable either that they should do, or that Job should suspect concerning them, but despised or dishonoured God; for both the Hebrew and Greek words which signify cursing, are sometimes used to denote only reviling, or setting light by a person. Thus, what is called cursing one’s father or mother, Exodus 21:17 , is elsewhere called setting light by them, as Deuteronomy 27:16 ; Ezekiel 22:7 . In their hearts — By slight and low thoughts of God, or by neglecting to give him the praise of the mercies which they enjoyed. It may be proper to observe, that the word ברךְ , barack, here rendered to curse, usually signifies to bless; but it is evident it is here to be understood in a bad sense, as it is 1 Kings 21:10 , where Naboth is accused of cursing or blaspheming God and the king, as it is also Job 2:5 ; Job 2:9 , of this book. It has been thought by some, that it was substituted instead of the word ארר , arar; קבב , ka-bab; or קלל , kalal, (one or other of which is usually put for cursing, or vilifying, ) out of reverence for God, when he is spoken of. But, “It is most certain,” says Selden, as quoted by Leigh, “that the verb barak signifies to execrate or to curse, as well as to bless; and this, as I think, not by antiphrasis, as some will have it; but almost from the very idiom of the sacred language it may signify either way, according to the connection in which it is used, as among the Latins sacrare and imprecari.

5 . sent and sanctified them ] that is, most likely, sent for them. The sanctification or purification consisted probably in washings and change of garments, Genesis 35:2 , and similar rites, and was preparatory to the sacrifice or religious service immediately to be engaged in, as Samuel said to the family of Jesse, “Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice,” 1 Samuel 16:5 . The act of worship was the sacrifice. As was customary in the Patriarchal age, to which Job belonged, and even far down in the history of Israel, the father was priest of the family, and the sacrifice offered was the burnt-offering. This offering contained in it the germs which afterwards expanded into the various distinct kinds of sacrifice, such as the sin-offering. Job used it as a sacrifice of atonement. number of them all ] Whether Job offered ten burnt-offerings, including his daughters in his atoning sacrifice, which would seem likely, or only seven, one corresponding to each feast day, is a point that cannot be settled with certainty. sinned, and cursed God in their hearts ] Rather, sinned and disowned God , that is, sinned by disowning or renouncing God in their hearts. Job himself was not present at the youthful festivities. He did not any longer care for such things, but he did not wish to impose his own gravity upon those whose years it did not suit. His desire was to see his children happy, provided their happiness was innocent.

What he feared in them was not any open excess, or outbreak into coarse vice, but a momentary turning away of the heart from God in the midst of social enjoyment, as if they felt that this enjoyment was better than religion or might fill its place in one’s life. The word translated “curse” means in usage to bless , hence to salute , 1 Samuel 25:14 , either at meeting or parting, as the Oriental wishes the peace (salâm) or blessing of God upon one whom he meets or parts from, Genesis 47:7 ; Genesis 47:10 . From this use of the word in taking leave it may have come to mean, to bid farewell to, and hence to disown or renounce. A similar secondary use is found in our own and the classical languages. Thus: Valeat res ludicra. Good bye the stage. Hor. Farewell faint-hearted and degenerate King, In whose cold blood no spark of honour bides. K. Henry VI . Si maxime talis est Deus, ut nulla gratia, nulla hominum caritate teneatur, valeat. Cic. Nat. Deor . 1. 44. See Aesch. Agam . 572; Plat. Phaedr . 58. These and other examples will be found in the commentaries. Others, assuming that the radical sense of the word is to kneel , Psalm 95:6 , have supposed that the sense of curse might arise from a person’s kneeling to imprecate evil. But this is a far-fetched idea. Besides, the sense of curse is unsuitable in this passage as well as in the other places where the word occurs.

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and {f} sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and {g} offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and {h} cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job {i} continually. (f) That is, commanded them to be sanctified: meaning, that they should consider the faults that they had committed, and reconcile themselves for the same. (g) That is, he offered for each of his children an offering of reconciliation, which declared his religion toward God, and the care that he had for his children. (h) In Hebrew it is, blessed God, which is sometimes taken for blaspheming and cursing, as it is here and in 1Ki 21:10,13. (i) While the feast lasted.

Verse 5. - And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about ; rather, when the days of the feasting had come round ; i.e. whenever one of the birthdays had arrived in due course, and the feasting had taken place. That Job sent and sanctified them. In the old world, outside the Mosaic Law, the father of the family was the priest, to whom alone it belonged to bless, purify, and offer sacrifice. Job, after each birthday-feast, sent, it would seem, for his sons, and purified them by the accustomed ablutions, or possibly by some other ceremonial process, regarding it as probable that, in the course of their feasting, they had contracted some defilement. It would seem by the next clause that the purification took place at the close of the day of festivity. And rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings . Burnt offerings were instituted soon after the Fall, as we learn from Genesis 4:4 , and were in common use long before the Mosaic Law was given (see Genesis 8:20 ; Genesis 22:8, 13 ; Genesis 31:54 ; Exodus 18:12 ; 'Records of the Past,' vol. 2. pp. 20, 21; vol. 12. pp. 49, 71, etc.). The practice was common, so far as appears, to all the nations of antiquity, except the Persians (Herod., 1:132). According to the number of them all One, apparently, for each child, since each might have sinned in the way suggested. The offerings were clearly it. tended as expiatory. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts .

Two wholly different meanings are assigned by good Hebraists to the expression בר אחים . According to some, בר has its usual sense, "to bless," and אלהים signifies "false gods," or "idols;" according to the others, who form the great majority, אלהים has its usual sense of "God," and בר has the unusual sense of "curse" (so Buxtorf, Rosenmuller, Schultens, (Cook, Stanley Leathes, among moderns, and among ancient authorities, the Septuagint and the Vulgate). How the same word comes to have the two wholly opposite senses of "to bless" and "to curse" has been differently explained. Some think that, as men blessed their friends both on receiving them and on bidding them adieu, the word בר got the sense of "bidding adieu to," "dismissing," "renouncing." Others regard the use of בר for "to curse" as a mere euphemism, and compare the use of sacer and sacrari in Latin, and such expressions as " Bless the stupid man!" "What a blessed nuisance!" in English. The maledictory sense seems to be established by Job 2:9 and 1 Kings 21:10 . By "cursing God in their hearts" Job probably means "forgetting him," "putting him out of sight," "not giving him the honour which is his due." Thus did Job continually ; literally, as in the margin, all the days ; i.e. whenever one of the festival-days occurred. Job 1:5

5. when the days of their feasting were gone about—that is, at the end of all the birthdays collectively, when the banquets had gone round through all the families. Job … sanctified—by offering up as many expiatory burnt offerings as he had sons (Le 1:4). This was done "in the morning" (Ge 22:3; Le 6:12). Jesus also began devotions early (Mr 1:35). The holocaust, or burnt offering, in patriarchal times, was offered (literally, "caused to ascend," referring to the smoke ascending to heaven) by each father of a family officiating as priest in behalf of his household. cursed God—The same Hebrew word means to "curse," and to "bless"; Gesenius says, the original sense is to "kneel," and thus it came to mean bending the knee in order to invoke either a blessing or a curse. Cursing is a perversion of blessing, as all sin is of goodness. Sin is a degeneracy, not a generation. It is not, however, likely that Job should fear the possibility of his sons cursing God. The sense "bid farewell to," derived from the blessing customary at parting, seems sufficient (Ge 47:10). Thus Umbreit translates "may have dismissed God from their hearts"; namely, amid the intoxication of pleasure (Pr 20:1). This act illustrates Job's "fear of God" (Job 1:1).

When the days of their feasting were gone about; when each of them had had his turn, which peradventure came speedily, though not immediately one after another; and there was some considerable interval before their next feasting time. Job sent and sanctified them, i.e. he exhorted and commanded them to sanctify themselves for the following work, to wit, by purifying themselves from all ceremonial and moral pollution, as the manner then was, Exodus 19:10 , and by preparing themselves by true repentance for all their sins, and particularly such as they had committed in their time of feasting and jollity, and by fervent prayers to make their peace with God by sacrifice. Rose up early in the morning; thereby showing his ardent zeal in God’s service, and his impatience till God was reconciled to him and to his children. It may be that my sons have sinned: his zeal for God’s glory, and his true love to his children, made him jealous; for which he had cause enough from the corruption of man’s nature, the frailty and folly of youth, the many temptations which attend upon feasting and jollity, and the easiness of sliding from lawful to forbidden delights.