Job 29:2-5

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 29:1-6

Losers may have leave to speak, and there is nothing they speak of more feelingly than of the comforts they are stripped of. Their former prosperity is one of the most pleasing subjects of their thoughts and talk. It was so to Job, who begins here with a wish (Job 29:2): O that I were as in months past! so he brings in this account of his prosperity. His wish is, 1. ?O that I were in as good a state as I was in then, that I had as much wealth, honour, and pleasure, as I had then!? This he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 29:2

Oh that I were as in months past ,.... Which is either an earnest wish for restoration to his former state of outward prosperity; which he might desire, not through impatience and discontent under his present circumstances, or from a carnal and worldly spirit; but either that the present reproach he lay under from his friends might be taken off, he observing that they accounted him a wicked man and an hypocrite, because of his afflictions; wherefore he judged, if these were removed, and he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 29:3

When his candle shined upon my head ,.... Which may be understood either of outward prosperity, sometimes signified by a candle, Job 18:5 ; and may be called the candle of the Lord, because it is from him, it is of his lighting and setting up; and its shining on his head may denote the large measure and degree of it possessed by him, in allusion to torches carried on high to light with; or lamps, or candles, set up in the higher part of the house to give the more light; or to the sun in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 29:4

As I was in the days of my youth ,.... Either taken literally, he being one like Obadiah, that feared God from his youth upward, 1 Kings 18:3 ; or figuratively, for his former state of prosperity, when he was like a tree in autumn laden with ripe and rich fruit, and in great abundance; and so some render the words "in the days of my autumn", or "autumnity" F18 בימי חרפי "in autumno dierum mearum", Hottinger. Thesaur. Phiolog. p. 507. "in diebus autumnitatis meae", Schultens; so the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 29:5

When the Almighty was yet with me ,.... Not merely by his powerful and providential presence, as he is with all men; but in a special manner by his gracious presence, which is a wonderful and distinguishing favour; but sometimes the people of God are without it, at least they think so, and which was now Job's case, see Job 23:2 ; and therefore he desires he would return to him, and show him his face and favour: when my children were about me ; as olive plants about his table, in... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 29:2

O that I were as in months past - Job seems here to make an apology for his complaints, by taking a view of his former prosperity, which was very great, but was now entirely at an end. He shows that it was not removed because of any bad use he had made of it; and describes how he behaved himself before God and man, and how much, for justice, benevolence, and mercy, he was esteemed and honored by the wise and good. Preserved me - Kept, guarded, and watched over me. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 29:3

When his candle shined upon my head - Alluding most probably to the custom of illuminating festival or assembly rooms by lamps pendant from the ceiling. These shone literally on the heads of the guests. By his light I walked through darkness - His light - prosperity and peace - continued to illuminate my way. If adversity came, I had always the light of God to direct me. Almost all the nations of the world have represented their great men as having a nimbus or Divine glory about their... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 29:4

The days of my youth - The original word rather means in the days of my winter, חרפי charpi , from חרף charaph , "to strip or make bare." Mr. Harmer supposes the rainy season is intended, when the fields, etc., parched up by long drought, are revived by the plentiful showers. Mr. Good thinks the word as found in the Arabic, which means top or summit, and which he translates perfection, is that which should be preferred. Others think the autumnal state is meant, when he was loaded... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 29:1-25

From these deep musings upon the nature of true wisdom, and the contrast between the ingenuity and cleverness of man and the infinite knowledge of God, Job turns to another contrast, which he pursues through two chapters ( Job 29:1-25 ; Job 30:1-31 .)—the contrast between what he was and what he is—between his condition in the period of his prosperity and that to which he has been reduced by his afflictions. The present chapter is concerned only with the former period; and gives a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 29:1-25

Job's second parable: 1. Regretful memories of bygone days. I. DAYS OF RELIGIOUS HAPPINESS . In tender elegiActs strains Job resumes his monologue of sorrow, casting a pathetic glance upon "the times of yore," already faded in the far past and gone beyond recall; not the days of his youth (Authorized Version), hut the autumn season of his mature manhood, when, like a field that the Lord had blessed ( Genesis 27:27 ), groaning beneath the exuberance of its harvest fruits, he was... read more

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