Job 29:3

_WHEN HIS CANDLE SHINED UPON MY HEAD, AND WHEN BY HIS LIGHT I WALKED THROUGH DARKNESS;_ Candle - when His favour shone on me (note, 18:6; Psalms 18:28). DARKNESS - by His safeguard I passed secure through dangers. Perhaps alluding to the lights carried before caravans in nightly travels through deserts (Noyes)....

1-6 Job proceeds to contrast his former prosperity with his present misery, through God's withdrawing from him. A gracious soul delights in God's smiles, not in the smiles of this world. Four things were then very pleasant to holy Job 1. The confidence he had in the Divine protection. 2. The enjoyment he had of the Divine favour. 3. The communion he had with the Divine word. 4. The assurance he had of the Divine presence. God's presence with a man in his house, though it be but a cottage, makes it a castle and a palace. Then also he had comfort in his family. Riches and flourishing families, like a candle, may be soon extinguished. But when the mind is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, when a man walks in the light of God's countenance, every outward comfort is doubled, every trouble is diminished, and he may pass cheerfully by this light through life and through death. Yet the sensible c...

Verse 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 heads, which not only signified the honour they had, but was also an emblem of the inspiration of the Almighty....

WHEN HIS CANDLE SHINED UPON MY HEAD - Margin, or, “lamp;” compare notes Job 18:6. It was remarked in the note on that place, that it was common to have lamps or lights always burning in a house or tent. When Job speaks of the lamps shining “on his head,” the allusion is probably to the custom of suspending a lamp from the ceiling - a custom which prevails among the wealthy Arabs. “Scott.” Virgil speaks of a similar thing in the palace of Dido: - _Dependent lychni laquearibus aureis Incensi_. _Aeneid i. 726._ “From gilded roofs depending lamps display Nocturnal beams that imitate the day.”...

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

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 the firmament, and especially when in its meridian, and shines clearest right over our heads, and casts no shadow: or else it may be understood of light in a figurative sense, not of the light of nature in men, which, though called the candle of the Lord, Proverbs 20:27; yet, in man's fallen state, shines not clearly; and with resp

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...

CANDLE. lamp....

This verse expands "preserved" or "watched over" in Job 29:2. _his candle shined upon_ Or, HIS LAMP SHINED OVER. God's lamp shone above him, and lighted his path, so that the darkness before him was made to be light, Isaiah 42:16. God's "lamp" is a figure for His favour and enlightenment and prospering of him....