Job 29:6

29:1-6 Job proceeds to contrast his former prosperity with his present misery, through God's withdrawing from him. A gracious soul delights in God's smiles, not in the smiles of this world. Four things were then very pleasant to holy Job. 1. The confidence he had in the Divine protection. 2. The enjoyment he had of the Divine favour. 3. The communion he had with the Divine word. 4. The assurance he had of the Divine presence. God's presence with a man in his house, though it be but a cottage, makes it a castle and a palace. Then also he had comfort in his family. Riches and flourishing families, like a candle, may be soon extinguished. But when the mind is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, when a man walks in the light of God's countenance, every outward comfort is doubled, every trouble is diminished, and he may pass cheerfully by this light through life and through death. Yet the sensible comfort of this state is often withdrawn for a season; and commonly this arises from sinful neglect, and grieving the Holy Spirit: sometimes it may be a trial of a man's faith and grace. But it is needful to examine ourselves, to seek for the cause of such a change by fervent prayer, and to increase our watchfulness.

When I washed my steps with butter,.... Not the steps of his house or palace; for to have done this, or his servants by his orders, as it would have been a very great impropriety, so a piece of great prodigality, which Job could never have been guilty of; but either his footsteps, the prints of his feet; and the sense be, that his cattle produced such a vast quantity of milk, that when his servants brought it from the fields to the dairy, their milk pails ran over in such abundance, that Job could not step out of his house, and take a walk in his fields, but he stepped into puddles of milk, of which butter was made: this is an exaggerated phrase, like that by which the land of Canaan is described as "flowing with milk and honey"; or rather this is to be understood of the washing of his feet, which are the instruments of stepping or walking.

It was usual in those times, in the eastern countries, to wash their feet upon travelling, or at festivals; but then this was commonly done with water, not with butter, see Genesis 18:4 ; and the meaning can only be, that Job had such abundance of milk, or butter made of it, that he could, if he would, have washed his feet in it; indeed, they had used to anoint the feet with ointment; but whether cream or butter was any ingredient in it, and so the part is put for the whole, is not certain, see Luke 7:38 , Job 12:3 ; besides, that would have been more properly expressed by anointing than washing; it seems to be an hyperbole, an expression like that of Zophar, in Job 20:17 ; signifying the vast abundance of the increase and produce of Job's kine; who is said to wash his feet in milk or butter, as Asher is said to dip his feet in oil, because of the great plenty of it, Deuteronomy 33:24 ; the spiritual meditation upon the words may be this; the feet of the best of saints need washing, there being many failings and infirmities in their walk and conversation; in which they gather much pollution and faith daily; the proper wash for this is the blood of Christ, of which the layer in the tabernacle and temple was a type, at which the priests washed their hands and feet; but the word of God, called the sincere milk of the word, is the instrument or means of washing, or of directing souls to the fountain opened to wash in; so that with respect to that, the feet of saints, as the eyes

6 . The second, though a less, element of his happiness was his overflowing abundance. when I washed my steps ] Or, when my steps were washed in butter, i. e. bathed—a figure for the overflowing abundance amidst which he walked. the rock poured me out ] As marg., poured out with me or beside me . The unfruitful rock poured out rivers of oil beside him; his blessings were so abundant that they came unsought and seemed above nature.

Verse 6. - When I washed my steps with butter . Trod, as it were, upon fatness, moved amid all that was gladsome, joyful, and delicious. And the rock poured me out rivers of oil . "The rock" is probably the ground, rugged and stony, on which his olives grew. "Olives," says Dr. Cunningham Geikie, "flourish best on sandy or stony soil" ('The Holy Land and the Bible' vol. 1. p. 138) They brought him in so great a quantity of oil that the rock seemed to him to flow with rivers of it. Job 29:6

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 (De 32:13). Olives amidst rocks yield the best oil. Oil in the East is used for food, light, anointing, and medicine.

i.e. When I abounded in all sorts of blessings; which is oft signified by this or the like phrases, as Genesis 49:11 Deu 33:24 Job 20:17 Psalm 81:16 ; when I had such numerous herds of cattle, and consequently such plenty of butter, that if I had needed it, or been pleased so to use it, I might have washed my feet with it; when not only fruitful fields, but even barren and rocky places, (such as that part of Arabia was where Job lived,) yielded me olive trees and oil in great plenty. See Poole "Deu 32:13" .

When I washed my steps with butter - On the word rendered "butter," see the notes at Isaiah 7:15 . It properly means curdled milk. Umbreit renders it, Sahne; cream. Noyes, milk, and so Wemyss. The Septuagint, "When my ways flowed with butter" - βουτύρῳ bouturō. So Coverdale, "When my ways ran over with butter." Herder, "And where I went a stream of milk flowed on." The sense may be, that cream or butter was so plenty that he was able to make use of it for the most common purposes - even for that of washing his feet. That butter was sometimes used for the purpose of anointing the feet - probably for comfort and health - as oil was for the head, is mentioned by Oriental travelers. Hassilquist (Travels in Palestine, p. 58), speaking of the ceremonies of the priests at Magnesia on holy Thursday, says, "The priest washed and dried the feet, and afterward besmeared them with butter, which it was alleged was made from the first milk of a young cow." Bruce says that the king of Abyssinia daily anointed his head with butter. Burder in Rosenmuller's alte u. neue Morgenland, in loc. It is possible that this use of butter was as ancient as the time of Job, and that he here alludes to it, but it seems more probable that the image is designed to denote superfluity or abundance; and that where he trod, streams of milk or cream flowed - so abundant was it round him.

The word rendered "steps" הליכם hâlı̂ykam) does not properly denote "the feet" but "the tread, the going, the stepping." This sense corresponds with that of the other member of the parallelism. And the rock poured me out rivers of oil - Margin, "with me." The idea is, that the very rock near which he stood, seemed to pour forth oil. Instead of water gushing out, such seemed to be the abundance with which he was blessed, that the very rock poured out a running stream of oil. Oil was of great value among the Orientals. It was used as an article of food, for light, for anointing the body, and as a valuable medicine. To say, then, that one had abundance of oil, was the same as to say that he had ample means of comfort and of luxury. Perhaps by the word "rock" here, there is an allusion to file places where olives grew. It is said that those which produced the best oil grew upon rocky mountains. There may be, also, an allusion to this in Deuteronomy 32:13 : "He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock." Prof. Lee, and some others, however, understand here by the rock, the press where oil was extracted from olives, and which it is supposed was sometimes made of stone.