Job 42:16

42:10-17 In the beginning of this book we had Job's patience under his troubles, for an example; here, for our encouragement to follow that example, we have his happy end. His troubles began in Satan's malice, which God restrained; his restoration began in God's mercy, which Satan could not oppose. Mercy did not return when Job was disputing with his friends, but when he was praying for them. God is served and pleased with our warm devotions, not with our warm disputes. God doubled Job's possessions. We may lose much for the Lord, but we shall not lose any thing by him. Whether the Lord gives us health and temporal blessings or not, if we patiently suffer according to his will, in the end we shall be happy. Job's estate increased. The blessing of the Lord makes rich; it is he that gives us power to get wealth, and gives success in honest endeavours. The last days of a good man sometimes prove his best, his last works his best works, his last comforts his best comforts; for his path, like that of the morning light, shines more and more unto the perfect day.

After this lived Job an hundred and forty years,.... Not after he had arrived to the height of his prosperity; not after the birth of his children, and they were grown up, and had their portions given them, which must take in a considerable number of years; but after his afflictions were over, and his prosperity began: and if his years were doubled, as some think, though that is not certain, then he must be seventy years of age when he was so sorely afflicted and must live to the age of two hundred and ten; which is the common notion of the Jewish writers (z): however, he must be fifty or sixty years of age at that time, since his former children were grown up and were for themselves; and it is said (a), his afflictions continued seven years. So that it is not at all improbable that he lived to be about two hundred years of age; and which was a singular blessing of God to him, if you compare his age with that of Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Joshua, between the two former and the two latter he may be supposed to live; and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations; Joseph saw but the third, Job the fourth, he was a great-great-grandfather. This was no doubt a pleasant sight to him, to see such a numerous offspring descending from him; and especially if they were walking in the ways of God, as probably they were, since no doubt he would take all the care of their education that in him lay.

Job 42:16-17 . After this Job lived a hundred and forty years — Some conjecture that he was seventy when his troubles came upon him: if so, his age was double, as his other possessions. And saw his sons, and his sons’ sons — Though his children were not doubled to him, yet in his children’s children they were more than doubled. As God appointed to Adam another seed instead of that which was slain, Genesis 4:25 , so he did to Job with advantage. God has ways to repair the losses, and balance the griefs, of those who are deprived of their property, or are written childless, as Job was when he had buried all his children, and was robbed of all his sheep and cattle by the Chaldeans and Sabeans. So Job died, being old and full of days — He lived till he had enough of life, for he died שׂבע ימים , sebang jamim, satisfied with days; that is, satisfied with living in this world, and willing to leave it; not peevishly so, as in the days of his affliction, but piously so; and, as Eliphaz had encouraged him to hope, he came to his grave like a shock of ripe corn in its season. By the great length of Job’s days, namely, two hundred and ten years, it seems most probable that he lived before the time of Moses, for at and after that time the days of human life were much shortened, as that man of God complained, Psalm 90:10 .

Verse 16. - After this lived Job an hundred and forty years . It has been concluded from this statement, combined with that at the close of ver. 10, that Job was exactly seventy years of age when his calamities fell upon him ('Dict. of the Bible,' vol. 1. p. 1087, note); but this is really only a conjecture, since the statement that "God added to all that had been Job's to the double," does not naturally apply to anything but his property. We may, however, fairly allow that (as Professor Lee says) he "could scarcely have been less than seventy" when his afflictions came, having then a family of ten children, who were all grown up ( Job 1:4 ). In this case, the whole duration of his life would have been 210 years, or a little more, which cannot be regarded as incredible by those who accept the ages of the patriarchs, from Peleg to Jacob, as respectively 239, 230, 148, 205, 175, 180, and 147 years. And saw his sons, and his sons' sons ; i.e. his descendants - grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Even four gone-rations. According to the Hebrew inclusive practice of reckoning, we may regard his own generation as included. Job 42:16

16. The Septuagint makes Job live a hundred seventy years after his calamity, and two hundred forty in all. This would make him seventy at the time of his calamity, which added to a hundred forty in Hebrew text makes up two hundred ten; a little more than the age (two hundred five) of Terah, father of Abraham, perhaps his contemporary. Man's length of life gradually shortened, till it reached threescore and ten in Moses' time (Ps 90:10). sons' sons—a proof of divine favor (Ge 50:23; Ps 128:6; Pr 17:6).

After this Job 54 ed an hundred and forty years - As his age at the time his calamities commenced is not mentioned, it is of course impossible to determine how old he was when he died. The Septuagint, however, has undertaken to determine this, but on what authority is unknown. They render this verse, "And Job 54 ed after this affliction an hundred and seventy years: so that all the years that he lived were two hundred and forty." According to this, his age would have been seventy when his afflictions came upon him; but this is a mere conjecture. Why the authors of that version have added thirty years to the time which he lived after his calamities, making it an hundred and seventy instead of an hundred and forty as it is in the Hebrew text, is unknown. The supposition that he was about seventy years of age when his calamities came upon him, is not an unreasonable one. He had a family of ten children, and his sons were grown so as to have families of their own, Job 1:4. It should be remembered, also, that in the patriarchal times, when people lived to a great age, marriages did not occur at so early a period of life as they do now.

In this book, also, though the age of Job is not mentioned, yet the uniform representation of him is that of a man of mature years; of large experience and extended observation; of one who had enjoyed high honor and a wide reputation as a sage and a magistrate; and when these circumstances are taken into the account, the supposition of the translators of the Septuagint, that he was seventy years old when his afflictions commenced, is not improbable. If so, his age at his death was two hundred and ten years. The age to which he lived is mentioned as remarkable, and was evidently somewhat extraordinary. It is not proper, therefore, to assume that this was the ordinary length of human life at that time, though it would be equally improper to suppose that there was anything like miracle in the case. The fair interpretation is, that he reached the period of old age which was then deemed most honorable; that he was permitted to arrive at what was then regarded as the outer limit of human life; and if this be so, it is not difficult to determine "about" the time when he lived. The length of human life, after the flood, suffered a somewhat regular decline, until, in the time of Moses, it was fixed at about threescore years and ten, Psalm 90:10. The following instances will show the regularity of the decline, and enable us, with some degree of probability, to determine the period of the world in which Job 54ed.