Job 29:16

_BECAUSE I DELIVERED THE POOR THAT CRIED, AND THE FATHERLESS, AND HIM THAT HAD NONE TO HELP HIM._ The grounds on which Job was praised (Job 29:11) - his helping the afflicted (Psalms 72:12), who cried to him for help, as a judge, or as one possessed of means of charity; Translate, The fatherless, who had none to help him. Verse 13. So far was I from sending "widows" away empty (Job 22:9), "I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." READY TO PERISH - (Proverbs 31:6). Verse 14. (Isaiah 61:10;...

7-17 All sorts of people paid respect to Job, not only for the dignity of his rank, but for his personal merit, his prudence, integrity, and good management. Happy the men who are blessed with such gifts as these! They have great opportunities of honouring God and doing good, but have great need to watch against pride. Happy the people who are blessed with such men! it is a token for good to them. Here we see what Job valued himself by, in the day of his prosperity. It was by his usefulness. He valued himself by the check he gave to the violence of proud and evil men. Good magistrates must thus be a restraint to evil-doers, and protect the innocent; in order to this, they should arm themselves with zeal and resolution. Such men are public blessings, and resemble Him who rescues poor sinners from Satan. How many who were ready to perish, now are blessing Him! But who can show forth His pr...

Verse Job 29:16. _THE CAUSE_ WHICH _I KNEW NOT I SEARCHED OUT._] When any thing difficult occurred, I did not give it a _slight_ consideration; I examined it to the bottom, whatever pain, time, and trouble it cost me, that I might not pronounce a hasty judgment....

I WAS A FATHER TO THE POOR - I took them under my protection, and treated them as if they were my own children. AND THE CAUSE WHICH I KNEW NOT I SEARCHED OUT - This is according to the interpretation of Jerome. But the more probable meaning is, “the cause of him who was unknown to me, that is, of the stranger, I searched out.” So Rosenmuller, Herder, Umbreit, and Good. According to this, the sense is, that, as a magistrate, he gave particular attention to the cause of the stranger, and investigated it with care. It is possible that Job here designs specifically to reply to the charge brought against him by Eliphaz in Job 22:6 ff. The duty of showing particular attention to the stranger is often inculcated in the Bible, and was regarded as essential to a character of uprightness and piety among the Orientals....

EXPOSITION JOB 29:1 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; Job 30:1.)—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 graphic description of the life led, in Job's time and country, by a great chieftain, the head of a tribe, not of mere nomads, but of perseus who had attained to a considerable amount of civilization. The picture i

I [WAS] A FATHER TO THE POOR,.... Not in a literal sense; for his children were rich as well as himself, while he had them; but in a civil sense, he was the patron of the poor; he was an advocate for them, he took their part, he pleaded their cause, defended their persons, and secured the little property they had; he had the pity and compassion of a father for them, and supplied their wants; he fed them and clothed them; he did not eat his morsel alone, but gave them part of it, and warmed them with the fleece of his flock: AND THE CAUSE [WHICH] I KNEW NOT I SEARCHED OUT; any cause that was brought before him, he knew thing of before, and which, upon the opening of it, did not appear plain and easy, but had its difficulties; this he closely examined, and searched thoroughly into the merits of, till it appeared plain to him on which side the truth and justice of it lay; he did not hurry...

CHAPTER 29 _ 1. His past prosperity and honors (Job 29:1)_ 2. The good works he did (Job 29:11) Job 29:1. The words spoken by Job were wholesome words, showing that his mind was moving in another channel, but now he reverts to the old complaint in self-occupation, self-pity and self-vindication. What a horrible thing this old self? And before the sun can scatter his dark night, that self must be laid into the dust of self-abhorrence. And so we hear him review the past. Some 20 times he says “I” in this chapter. It reminds one of the man in Romans 7:1 with his “I.” Retrospect is good if it is done with praise and in humility. Not onc

JOB 29. JOB'S FORMER HAPPY DAYS. Job 29:1. Job longs that he might once again live as of old under God's favour. In Job 29:4 secret means intimacy (_cf._ Psalms 25:14). JOB 29:7. Job describes the reverence done to him by not only the young, but even the aged and the honourable. The gate of the city is the place of assembly, the counsel-house. Job lives on his country estate, but goes into the city to give counsel. JOB 29:21 should probably now follow (Budde, Peake). These verses continue the subject of...

POOR. helpless. Hebrew. _'ebyon._ See note on Proverbs 6:11....

The ground of this universal reverence Job's benevolent care of the poor and his strict justice to their cause....