Job 29:8

_WHEN I WENT OUT TO THE GATE THROUGH THE CITY, WHEN I PREPARED MY SEAT IN THE STREET!_ The great influence Job had over young and old, and noblemen. THROUGH ... STREET - rather, 'when I went out of my house in the country (see Job 1:1, prologue) to the gate, (ascending) up to х_ `ªLEEY_ (H5921)] (not through, as the English version) the city (which was on elevated ground), and when I prepared my (judicial) seat in the market-place' х_ RªCHOWB_ (H7339)]. The market-place was the place of judgment, at the gate or propyloea of the city, such as is found in the remains of Nineveh and Persepolis (Isaiah 59:14; Psalm

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 29:8. _THE YOUNG MEN SAW ME, AND HID THEMSELVES_] From all classes of persons I had the most marked respect. The YOUNG, through modesty and bashfulness, shrunk back, and were afraid to meet the eye of their prince; and the AGED _rose from their seats_ when I entered the place of judgment. These were the _elders_ of the people, who also sat with the judge, and assisted in all legal cases....

THE YOUNG MEN SAW ME, AND HID THEMSELVES - That is, they retired as if awed at my presence. They gave place to me, or reverently withdrew as I passed along. AND THE AGED AROSE, AND STOOD UP - They not merely rose, but they continued to stand still until I had passed by. “This is a most elegant description, and exhibits most correctly the great reverence and respect which was paid, even by the old and the decrepit, to the holy man, in passing along the streets, or when he sat in public. They not only rose, which in men so old was a great mark of distinction, but they stood; and they continued to do it, though the attempt was so difficult.” Lowth. The whole image presents a beautiful illustration of Oriental manners, and of the respect paid to a man of known excellence of character and distinction....

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

THE YOUNG MEN SAW ME, AND HID THEMSELVES,.... Through a veneration of him; which was much, since young men, through a vain conceit and opinion of themselves, are apt to treat their superiors in age with slight, neglect, and contempt; or through fear, lest he should spy them, and call them to him, and examine them closely concerning their conduct and behaviour, and reprove them for their youthful follies he might have knowledge of: AND THE AGED AROSE [AND] STOOD UP; as he passed by them, to show their respect unto him; or when he came into court, they rose up, and continued standing until he had took his seat; and even then kept the same posture, attending to his counsel and instruction, to his definitive sentence and decision of matters in debate; though they were venerable persons themselves, and such as before whom young men were to arise, Leviticus 19:32; and were

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...

_hid themselves_ The young men withdrew out of reverence, not knowing perhaps how to meet and rightly salute one so great as Job was. _arose, and stood up_ The aged are supposed already met in the gate and seated; on Job's approach they rise and remain standing till he has sat down....

THE YOUNG MEN SAW ME, AND HID THEMSELVES— Among the honours paid to Job in the time of his prosperity, though he was the greatest of all the men of the east, his cotemporaries, we do not find that prostration was ever used towards him, or so much as thought of. _The young men_ when they saw him, through a rustical bashfulness, _hid themselves; the aged stood up; the nobles held their peace;_ they were all attention when he spoke. Their tokens of respect, in short, were natural and manly; and one of the most convincing proofs of the high antiquity of the book, is this simplicity of manners, which is every where observable. Peters....