Job 2:12

_AND WHEN THEY LIFTED UP THEIR EYES AFAR OFF, AND KNEW HIM NOT, THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE, AND WEPT; AND THEY RENT EVERY ONE HIS MANTLE, AND SPRINKLED DUST UPON THEIR HEADS TOWARD HEAVEN._ Toward heaven. They threw violent ashes upwards, that they might fall on their heads and cover them. Indication of the deepest mourning (Joshua 7:6; Acts 22:23)....

11-13 The friends of Job seem noted for their rank, as well as for wisdom and piety. Much of the comfort of this life lies in friendship with the prudent and virtuous. Coming to mourn with him, they vented grief which they really felt. Coming to comfort him, they sat down with him. It would appear that they suspected his unexampled troubles were judgments for some crimes, which he had vailed under his professions of godliness. Many look upon it only as a compliment to visit their friends in sorrow; we must look life. And if the example of Job's friends is not enough to lead us to pity the afflicted, let us seek the mind that was in Christ....

Verse Job 2:12. _THEY RENT EVERY ONE HIS MANTLE_] I have already had frequent occasions to point out and illustrate, by quotations from the ancients, the actions that were used in order to express profound grief; such as wrapping themselves in sackcloth, covering the face, strewing dust or ashes upon the head, sitting upon the bare ground, c., c. significant actions which were in use among all nations....

AND WHEN THEY LIFTED UP THEIR EYES AFAR OFF - “When they saw him at the distance at which they could formerly recognize him without difficulty, disease had so altered his appearance that at first sight they knew him not” - Noyes. THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE - This is a common expression in the Scriptures, to denote grief; Genesis 27:38; Genesis 29:11; Judges 2:4; Rth 1:9; 1 Samuel 24:16, “_et soepe al_.” We learn to suppress the expressions of grief. The ancients gave vent to their sorrows aloud. - They even hired persons to aid

EXPOSITION JOB 2:1 This chapter concludes the "Introductory section." It consists of three parts. Job 2:1 contain an account of Satan's second appearance in the courts of heaven, and of a second colloquy between him and the Almighty. Job 2:7 contain the sequel to this colloquy, viz. Satan's further affliction of Job, and his conduct under it. Verses 11-13 contain an account of the arrival of Job's three special friends to mourn with him and to comfort him; and of their behavior during the first seven days after their arrival JOB 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God same to present themselves

AND WHEN THEY LIFTED UP THEIR EYES AFAR OFF,.... Either when at some distance from Job's house, and he being without in the open air, as some think; or as they entered his house, he being at the further part of the room, or in another further on, which they could see into: AND KNEW HIM NOT; at first sight; until they came nearer to him, his garments being rent, and his head shaved, and his body covered all over with boils; so that he was so deformed and disfigured that they could not know him at first, and could scarcely believe him to be the same person: THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE AND WEPT: they wept and cried aloud, being greatly affected with the sight of him, and their hearts sympathizing with him under his afflictions, being his cordial friends, and of that disposition, to weep with those that weep: AND THEY RENT EVERYONE HIS MANTLE, or "cloak"; in token of mourning, as Job had d...

III. THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JOB AND HIS FRIENDS 1. First Series of Controversies CHAPTER 2:11-13 The Friends' Arrival Job 2:11. We now enter upon the main section of the book. The dark shadow of the accuser of the brethren has disappeared and in his place Job's three friends appear upon the scene. The news of the awful misfortunes had reached them; they made an appointment together to mourn with him and to comfort him. As they are now taking a prominent part in this drama we must examine their names and get some knowledge as to their personality. The first friend is Eliphaz the Temanite. Teman is in Idumea. He may have been the son of Esau (Genesis 36:10). His name means “my God is fine gold.” Teman was noted for its wisdom. “is wisdom no more in Teman?” ...

JOB'S THREE FRIENDS COME TO CONDOLE WITH HIM. The friends are Eastern princes like himself (LXX kings), hence live at a distance. They knew him not, because he was so disfigured. They threw dust upon their heads, symbolising that Job s fortune and they themselves along with it are ruined by heaven-sent calamities, as a fertile land might be by dust-showers. They are so overwhelmed, that they sit seven days and seven nights, mourning for Job as if he were dead. Seven days are the days of mourning for the dead (Sir_22:12). Thus we come to the end of the prologue, between which and the epilogue (Job 42:7) in the old Volksbuch must have been an account of the debate between Job and his friends, very different from the poem which we now possess. The friends evidently tried to comfort him, but what they said, we can now only infer. They certainly did not speak to him like his wife, but yet the...

Job's three friends, having heard of his misfortunes, come to condole with him How long time intervened between Job's second affliction and the arrival of his friends cannot be accurately ascertained. From the allusions in chaps. 7, 19, and 30, it is probable that a considerable time elapsed. A man of Job's rank would not choose his friends from the men of inferior station around him; they would be, like himself, Eastern princes, all but his equals in rank and influence. Their abodes would therefore be distant from one another, and more distant from his, and travelling in the East is slow. The tone of Job's mind, too, as reflected in ch. 3, has undergone a change, the effect, no doubt, of protracted sufferings. Eliphaz is an old Idumean name (Genesis 36:4), and Teman, the place of his abode, is frequently mentioned in connexion with Edom. The place was famed for the wisdom of its inhab...

DISCOURSE: 452 FRIENDLY SYMPATHY ILLUSTRATED Job 2:11. _Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great_. JOB in a second conflict had gained the victory: yea, though his wife acted as a confederate with Satan, and urged him to “curse God and die,” yet did he retain his integrity, and prove himself worthy of the character whi