When we experience calamity in our life, it is a natural human instinct to focus on ourselves, our needs, and our recovery. However, Job didn’t recover from his calamity until he focused on his friends and their needs, so perhaps we should follow Job’s example and help others when we are suffering, and trust God to bring us through whatever pain we are experiencing.
Job 42
Job 42:7 It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.
The bulk of the book of Job is a dialogue between Job and his three friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar argued that God always rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. In other words, they argued that any human can bribe God and get what they want. Yahweh stated very clearly in verse 7 that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were wrong. Yahweh does not exist to serve humans; instead, humans exist to serve Yahweh.
Job 42:8 “Now therefore, take for yourselves[Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar] seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I[Yahweh] will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”
Notice Yahweh extended grace and did not give the three men what they deserved.
Job 42:9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job.
Notice the text says Yahweh accepted Job, not the three friends. Also note that Job prayed for his friends while he was still in the depths of his calamity.
Job 42:10 The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends[Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar], and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold.
It was Job’s generosity and love that caused Yahweh to restore Job’s fortunes.
Job 42:11 Then all his[Job] brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold.
Verse 11 mentions Job’s brothers and sisters. This means that Job’s family observed his suffering, meaning that Job suffered shame and humiliation as well as grief, poverty, and ill health.
Job 42:12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys.
Job 42:13 He[Job] had seven sons and three daughters.
Job 42:14 He[Job] named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch.
Job 42:15 In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.
Job 42:16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.
Job 42:17 And Job died, an old man and full of days.
The last two verses help us date the book of Job. Job lived 140 years after his calamity, so his total lifespan was probably over 200 years. Before the flood around 2500 BC, humans lived over 600 years. After the flood, human longevity declined to 400 years, then 200 years, then 100 years. By the time of Moses in 1500 BC, there is no record of any human living more than 120 years; therefore, Job probably lived before that, putting Job somewhere around 2000 BC which is when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived.
“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.”