Job 1:21 - Exposition

And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither . There is some difficulty in the word "thither," since no man returns to his mother's womb ( John 3:4 ), at death or otherwise. The expression must not be pressed. It arises out of the analogy, constantly felt and acknowledged, between "mother" earth and a man's actual mother (setup. Psalms 129:1-8 :15). The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away . Job is here represented as knowing God by his name "Jehovah," though elsewhere the "great Name" appears once only in the words of Job ( Job 12:9 ), and never in the words of his friends. The natural conclusion is that the name was known in the land of Uz at the time, but was very rarely used—scarcely, except in moments of excitement. Blessed be the Name of the Lord ; literally, may the Name of Jehovah be blessed! The ermphatic word is kept for the last. According to Satan, Job was to have" cursed God to his face" (verse 11). The event is that he openly and resolutely blesses God. That the same word is used in its two opposite senses rather accentuates the antithesis.