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From: Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17

Job accepts that God has acted rightly

[1] Then Job answered the Lord:
[2] I know that thou canst do all things,
and that no purpose of thine can he thwarted.
[3] Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
[â€¦]
[5] I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees thee;
[6] therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”

God’s blessing on Job

[12] And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and
he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen,
and a thousand she-asses. [13] He had also seven sons and three daughters.
[14] And he called the name of the first Jemimah; and the name of the second
Keziah; and the name of the third Keren-happuch. [15] And in all the land there
were no women so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance
among their brothers. [16] And after this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and
saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. [17] And Job died, an old
man, and full of days.

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Commentary:

42:1-6. The last verses of the poetical section of the book are given to Job to
speak. In them he answers two challenges raised by the Lord. To the first (v. 3)
Job replies by confessing that he did speak without knowing all the facts, that is,
without appreciating the harmony with which creation is imbued, the awesome
fact that even seemingly useless and destructive things have their part to play.
This is a sort of “sapiential’ response. To God’s second appeal (v. 4), Job’s reply
is full of faith: he acknowledges that God has manifested himself in person: now
he has seen him with his eyes (v. 5), as Moses and the prophets saw him, Job
feels consoled, and he is moved to repentance now that he has actually met God.
This meeting, more than the words he has heard, is what brings about his conver-
sion: “It is one thing to hear your voice and another to see you before our eyes;
for just as all things are made clear in the light of the sun, and darkness and eve-
ry trace of shadow is banished, so the sight of your resplendent face, when it
dawns over the soul, dissipates all ignorance and error. When I see you before
me, I berate and reprove myself, and I suffer bitter pain for ever having offended
you” (Fray Luis de Leon, “Expositio libri lob”, 42, 6).

42:7-17. The prose epilogue describes Job’s remarkable rehabilitation. He is in-
deed appreciated as a wise man, for he spoke rightly, and as a good person,
who will successfully intercede on behalf of his opponents. This passage, almost
certainly, must (like the prologue) have been part of the original text; prologue and
epilogue are closely interconnected and have literary features in common. Some
commentators have suggested that this happy ending does not fit in well with the
message in the book, because it seems to confirm the idea that good people en-
joy success and wrongdoers do not. But that is not really the point. The epilogue
displays the mercy of God who, as supreme judge, desires that all should be
saved; Job, in his case, has found salvation through suffering.

A number of small details help us to see why the book is given this ending: it
contains no mention of Satan, perhaps because his presence was irrelevant to
the question posed in the book. Eliphaz and his friends, who thought that they
were speaking on God’s side, now have to admit they were wrong: they have not
“spoken what is right” (vs. 7-8); they must turn to the Lord; that is the only way
to discover the truth. Finally, Job is comforted and accepted by all his relatives
and friends (v. 10-11), and is blessed by God with children, wealth and a long
life (vv. 12-17). So, God does not conform to the way human beings see things;
they, rather, must respect what he does and conform to his wishes.

42:12-17. God’s blessing on Job brings with it many children and much wealth.
It is interesting to see the importance given to his daughters: they enjoy the
same inheritance as their brothers, they are the fairest in all the land (as their
names imply). Jemima (”Jamama”), according to Arabic etymology means Dove;
Keziah/Cassia is the name of a tree (which must he the acacia, which was con-
sidered in that region to be very beautiful); and Kerena-happuch or “Horn of Anti-
mony” referred to a container for very expensive perfume.

As we have pointed out a number of times, the Fathers see Job as prefiguring
Jesus; this applies also to the restoration of his fortunes: “Job recovered both
his health and his wealth. In the same way, the Lord, through his resurrection,
brings not only good health to those who believe in him, but immortality; and he
restores the whole kingdom of nature, as he himself assured us when he said:
Everything has been given to me by my Father. New children are born of Job to
replace those who died. Similarly, the holy apostles are sons of the Lord in the
same line as were the prophets of old. Job is filled with happiness and in the
end rests in peace. And the Lord is blessed forever, as he was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be” (St Zeno of Verona, “Tractatus”, 1, 15).

42:17. This is the same wording as is used in the accounts of the lives of the pa-
triarchs (Gen 25:8; 35:29). The Fathers of the Church usually interpreted these
words in a broad sense, as a sort of resume of the good things enjoyed by the
blessed in heaven. In line with this, St Thomas writes: “By ‘fullness of days’ is
meant not only the possession of many material goods but also an abundance
of spiritual graces, by whose power Job entered into the glory that lasts forever”
(”Expositio super Iob”, 42, 17).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.