Charles Ellicott Commentary Job 1
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Job 1
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Job 1
"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and turned away from evil." — Job 1:1 (ASV)
There was a man in the land of Uz. — The first mention of this name is in Genesis 10:23, where Uz is said to have been one of the sons of Aram, who was one of the sons of Shem. (Compare to 1 Chronicles 1:17.) Another Uz (in the Authorised Version spelt Huz) is mentioned in Genesis 22:21 as the firstborn of Nahor, the brother of Abraham. A third form of this name is mentioned in Genesis 36:28 among the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land of Edom. (Compare to 1 Chronicles 1:42.)
It is probable that each of these is to be associated with a different district: the first perhaps with that of the Lebanon—a district near Damascus is still called El-Ghutha; the second with that of Mesopotamia or Chaldea; and the third with the Edomite district south of Palestine. From the mention of the land of Uz (Lamentations 4:21) and the kings of the land of Uz (Jeremiah 25:20), where in each case the association seems to be with Edom, it is probable that the land of Job is to be identified rather with the district south and southeast of Palestine.
Whose name was Job. — The name is really Iyyov, and is carefully to be distinguished from the Job (Yov) who was the son of Issachar (Genesis 46:13), and from the Jobab (Yovav) who was one of the kings of Edom (Genesis 36:33), with both of which it has been confused. The form of the name may suggest the meaning of “the assaulted one,” as the root from which it appears to be derived means “was an enemy.”
Perfect and upright ... — Noah similarly is said to have been perfect (Genesis 6:9). Abram was required to be so (Genesis 17:1), and Israel generally (Deuteronomy 18:13), though the adjective in these places is not quite the same as that used here. Our Lord required the same high standard of his disciples (Matthew 5:48), and he also, through the gift of the Spirit, made it possible. The character here given to Job is that in which wisdom is declared to consist. (Compare to Job 28:28.) It has the twofold aspect of refusing the evil and choosing the good, of aiming at a lofty ideal of excellence and of shunning that which is fatal or opposed to it.
"His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east." — Job 1:3 (ASV)
The men of the east. —This term is indefinite with regard to the three districts above mentioned, and might include them all. The Arabs still call the Hauran, or the district east of Jordan, the land of Job. It is said to be a lovely and fertile region, fulfilling the conditions of the poem.
"And his sons went and held a feast in the house of each one upon his day; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them." — Job 1:4 (ASV)
Every one his day. — that is, probably his birthday. (Genesis 21:8; and in the New Testament Matthew 14:6, Mark 6:21.)
"And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually." — Job 1:5 (ASV)
Job sent and sanctified them ... —The early records of society show the father of the family acting as the priest. This is one of the passages that indicate Job was outside the sphere and influence of the Mosaic law, whether this was due to his age or his country. His life in this respect corresponds more closely with that of the patriarchs in Genesis than any other in Scripture.
Cursed God. —The word used here, and in Job 1:11, Job 2:5, 9, and also in 1 Kings 21:10, 13, concerning Naboth, is literally blessed; while the word in Job 3:1, for example, is quite different. The contrast in Job 1:22 and Job 2:10 shows the Authorised Version to be substantially right, no matter how this contradictory sense is obtained.
Many languages have words that are used in opposite senses (compare, for example, our “cleave to” and “cleave”). The use of bless in the sense of curse may be a euphemism, or it may arise from giving it the meaning of saluting or bidding farewell to, and so dismissing. This use is found only in the passages cited above.
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