Job 42:17

17. Job died, being old and full of days The Septuagint adds: “And it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.”

Also, “This man is described in [Gr. interpreted out of ] the Syriac book as living in the land of Ausis, on the borders of Idumaea and Arabia; and his name before was Jobab; and, having taken an Arabian wife, he begot a son whose name was Ennon. And he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha, so that he was the fifth from Abraham. And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he also ruled over: first, Balac, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba; but after Balac, Jobab, who is called Job; and after him Asom, who was governor out of the country of Thaeman; and after him Adad, the son of Barad, who destroyed Madiam in the plain of Moab, and the name of his city was Gethaim. And his friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Thaemanites; Baldad, sovereign of the Sauchaeans; Sophar, king of the Minaeans.” For Mohammedan views, see KORAN, Sura 21 and 38. Old and full of days The formula is patriarchal, for the same Hebrew expression is used of the death of Isaac. Genesis 35:29. Compare Genesis 25:8. The word full, שׂבע , signifies also sated. The entire good which life can give, Job lived long enough to fully reap. Length of life, as a temporal blessing, is not so essential for us who enjoy the undimmed prospect of immortality. The man of God no longer counts upon years as a reward of virtue, nor upon the so-called enjoyment of life as the true fruition of well-doing. The ministration of sorrow, now unclouded, is recognised as a kind and wise agent of the Most High. Faith localizes the true harvest field in the life beyond. If life be for us but a handbreadth, it is long enough to answer its divine end that of a gray, ever-dissolving, short lived dawn to usher in an immortal day.