Chapter Twenty-Nine

Job’s first speech to his friends. 1–25. Description of former happiness.

Job 29:1. And Job continued his lofty speech and said: The silence of his friends gives Job the opportunity to continue and finish his begun speech. Reviewing all that has been said before, the sufferer again affirms that he did not deserve misfortune and does not know its cause.

Job 29:2. Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, Godliness (Job 28:28) is not able to destroy in the sufferer the feeling of bitterness arising from the recollection of past days of former happiness, the foundation of which was God and His protection. Oh, if only – he cries – someone would give me the chance to relive the past, to return former happiness!

Job 29:3. when His lamp shone upon my head, and by His light I walked through darkness; In this irrecoverable time, divine help and blessings poured upon Job like light from a lamp, and protected him from dangers.

Job 29:4. as I was in the days of my youth, when the favor of God was upon my tent, Job 29:5. when the Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me, Job 29:6. when my paths were washed with milk, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me! “In the days of his youth” (Hebrew “choref” – “winter” – Gen 8:22; Prov 20:4; Jer 36:22; Amos 3:15; time opposite to summer; a period of enjoying gathered fruit – autumn) more precisely in his time of maturity (v. 5) Job was in communion with God (Hebrew “sod” – the shortest acquaintance – Job 19:9; Ps 24:14; Ps 54:15; Prov 3:22), enjoyed, as a righteous man, family happiness (“my children were around me”, cf. Ps 126:3, etc.) and abundance of earthly blessings (v. 6; cf. Job 20:17; Gen 49:11-12; Exod 3:8; Deut 32:13).

Job 29:7. when I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the square – Job 29:8. young men, seeing me, hid themselves, and the elders stood and remained standing; Job 29:9. the princes refrained from speaking and laid a finger on their mouth; Job 29:10. the voice of the nobles ceased, and their tongue clung to the roof of their mouth. Apart from this, Job enjoyed universal respect, particularly evident at times when he participated in public, especially judicial affairs decided in the square before the city gate: “took his seat in the square” (cf. Job 5:4; Prov 31:23; Nehem 8:1). When Job appeared there, young men did not dare show themselves out of respect for him, elders stood, waiting for him to sit (cf. 1 Sam 2:19), princes – the city leaders, for the same reasons refrained from speaking, leaving him the first word (cf. Job 32:4, etc.), and the nobles fell silent, not knowing what to add to what he had said.

Job 29:11. The ear that heard me blessed me; the eye that saw me approved me, The impression produced by Job’s personality, his public and private activity was such that those who heard of him considered him worthy of all good things and called them down upon him, and those who saw him could not refrain from his praise (cf. Prov 31:28). Job 29:12-17. The reasons for such treatment of Job lay in his virtue, and especially his compassion and righteousness.

Job 29:12. because I saved the suffering one who cried out and the helpless orphan. Job 29:13. The blessing of the one perishing came upon me, and I brought joy to the heart of the widow. He not only did not oppress the helpless, widows, and orphans, as Eliphaz claimed (Job 22:9), but rendered them support and help, was not deaf to their cries (cf. Ps 71:12). Therefore he was blessed by those on the brink of ruin (“the perishing ones,” Hebrew “oved”, cf. Job 31:19-20; Prov 31:6), whom he saved (cf. Ps 71:12-15).

Job 29:14. I clothed myself in righteousness, and my judgment clothed me like a mantle and a turban. Another virtue of Job was righteousness, strict adherence to the will of God, and judgment (“mishpat”) – the determination to stand for righteousness against unrighteousness. He covered himself with the first (Hebrew “labash”) like with clothing (cf. Ps 131:9; Isa 11:5), the second formed his head covering, a turban, that is, Job was the bearer, the instrument of these virtues (cf. Judg 6:34: “The Spirit of the Lord clothed (Hebrew “labasha”) Gideon” – He made him its instrument).

Job 29:15. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame; Job 29:16. I was a father to the poor and carefully examined cases I did not know. Job 29:17. I broke the jaws of the evildoer and snatched the prey from his teeth. The obvious manifestation of righteousness, giving each his due, was help adapted to the needs of the unfortunate. It made up for their shortcomings, as if restoring lost organs: “I was eyes to the blind” (cf. Num 10:31). “Judgment” manifested itself in strict and impartial justice: Job carefully examined the cases of unknown persons, freed the suffering from unjust oppressors (“snatched the prey from his teeth” – v. 17) and deprived the latter of the ability to harm (“broke the jaws of the evildoer”, cf. Ps 3:8).

Job 29:18. And I said: I will die in my nest, and I will multiply my days like the sand; According to the doctrine of earthly retribution, the righteous Job expected a peaceful death surrounded by family (“I will die in my nest” – I will die like a bird surrounded by chicks; cf. Ps 83:4) after a long life: “I will multiply my days like the sand” (Hebrew “chol” – sand – a symbol of multitude: Job 6:3; Gen 22:17; Isa 10:22; Jer 33:22). Instead of “like the sand,” the LXX read: “ ὡς στέλεχος φοίνικος “ – “like the trunk of a palm” (“the stem of a palm” – Slavonic), the ancient Italian translation: “sicut arbor palmae”, the Vulgate: “sicut palma”; my life will be like the existence of a palm tree, a long-lived plant, often renewing itself in its roots. The Hebrew tradition, reproduced by the Talmud (Sanhedrin fol. 108), midrashim, and the rabbis Kimchi, Yarchi, and adopted by some of the newer exegetes – Delitzsch, Hitzig, and others – understands by “chol” the legendary bird phoenix, reborn after death to a new life. Indirect confirmation of such a view is served by the Egyptian name of this bird “chol” or “chul” and the coincidence of Job’s wish: “I will die in my nest,” with that detail reported by legends of the phoenix, that the phoenix brings the remains of its dead father to Heliopolis in the temple of the sun and there gives him final honors. Some even suppose that the original recension of the LXX had only: “ ὥσπερ φοῖνιξ “ (“like the phoenix”), and the modern reading: “ ὥσπερ στέλεχος “ ... is a later phenomenon. The LXX could not connect with the Hebrew “chol” the meaning “palm,” since the palm is in Hebrew “tamar,” and the LXX knew the meaning of this word well (Ps 91:13; Song 7:8-9; Joel 1:12).

Job 29:19. my root was opened to water, and dew lodged on my branches; Job hoped for the same freshness of strength and vigor which falls to the lot of a plant, the moisture necessary for whose growth is supplied both from below (“my root was opened to water”; cf. Job 14:8-9) and from above (“dew lodged on my branches”; cf. Job 18:16; Gen 27:39; Prov 19:12),

Job 29:20. my glory did not grow old, and my bow remained strong in my hand. At the same time, Job expected constant respect from those around him (“my glory did not grow old”) and his own strength to maintain it (“my bow remained strong”; cf. 1 Sam 2:4; Ps 45:10, etc.). Job 29:21-25. The mention of former glory will give Job an opportunity to dwell on this subject again, to relive the past once more.

Job 29:21. Men listened to me and waited, and fell silent at my counsel. Job 29:22. After my words they spoke no more; my speech dropped upon them. Job 29:23. They waited for me as for the rain, and opened their mouth as for the late rain. No one listening to Job dared interrupt him; all awaited the end of his speech, and after it ended they fell silent (“spoke no more”), having no ability to add anything to what he said: Job’s thoughts completely exhausted the question being discussed. His speech satisfied, saturated all, as rain satisfies dry land (cf. Deut 32:2; Ps 71:6). Therefore they waited for it with the same passionate eagerness (“opened their mouth”; cf. Ps 118:131), with which they wait for the spring rain (“late rain”; cf. Deut 11:14; Jer 3:3; Hos 6:3; Joel 2:23), which falls before the sowing of summer crops.

Job 29:24. I smiled at them – they did not believe it; and they did not darken the light of my face. In his wisdom Job seemed so unattainably great that his smile was considered an honor; not everyone believed in such favor, condescension toward him from his side, and no one dared to grieve him (“did not darken the light of my face”; cf. Prov 16:15).

Job 29:25. I determined the way for them and sat as chief and dwelt like a king among his army, like a comforter of those who mourn. Universally respected for his wisdom, Job was the guide of his fellow citizens in life and was their leader.