The Bible Says
Job 42:10-17 Meaning

In Job 42:10-17, the LORD shows His great pleasure in Job by restoring Job’s fortunes, doubling the possessions he had previously, and blessing him with ten children.

In the last section, it was made clear that God completely rejects the notion that He can be manipulated or compelled to action by human behaviors. In spite of the fact that this is so clearly laid out in Job, the lesson does not seem to have been learned by biblical students in the first century, during the time of Jesus. We can see this in the following New Testament passage:

“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’”
(John 9:1-2)

Job has likely been in scripture from the earliest times it was committed to writing, but centuries of study apparently did not dispel people of the notion that human decisions determine God’s actions.

Of course, Jesus corrected the mistaken notion. He answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). We can see in this passage from John a greatly abbreviated version of the lesson from Job, that God decides what He decides for reasons of His own. It is true that regarding many things, He tells us His intentions. But His actions and timing are His to decide.

Likely in order to ensure that no one has a mistaken notion of what has transpired, The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold (v. 10).

We can note that the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends. God expected Job to pray for his friends. But He waited until Job did as God asked, then restored the fortunes of Job. It is noteworthy that Job’s blessing came after he not only forgave his friends, but interceded for their benefit.

God has made the point that His ways are higher than ours. Sometimes what looks to us like cursing is actually blessing. But God is not capricious. The reason people make the mistake of connecting all bad behavior with cursing is because God has built a basic cause-effect into the world. That is the way it tends to fall. Sin leads to death, and obedience leads to life.

But there is often a time lag between the spiritual blessing and the physical. We can look to Jesus as an example. He was rewarded as “Son” and given authority over the heavens and earth as His reward (Hebrews 1:5, Matthew 28:18, Philippians 2:8-10). But from then until now He is still in heaven and has not yet taken the throne of the world.

Job’s prayer relieves Eliphaz and his two friends of judgment and also inaugurates a new era for Job. Job’s prayer is a prayer of a righteous man, which is highly effective in God’s economy (James 5:16). And when Job prays for his friends, he himself is blessed.

In considering intercessory prayer, we can think of Moses interceding with God when He proposed to eliminate all of Israel save him, and start anew to fulfill His promises to Abraham. Moses successfully contended for the people by arguing that if God did as He proposed then people would see Israel’s destruction and conclude that God was not strong enough to lead them out of Egypt. So, for His name’s sake, Moses asked God to forgive, and He did (Exodus 32:11-12).

It seems likely God is doing something similar by restoring Job. Job understood that his greatest riches came from knowing God. So, given his wisdom, it is likely Job considered these restored riches as a stewardship of God’s resources, as is truly the case with all things we possess. Apparently, Job was healed physically. We can also infer that Job’s three friends spread the word of his restoration, because Job’s friends and family reengage with him:

Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold (v. 11).

Job has fellowship restored with his family, with all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before coming to dine with him (they ate bread with him in his house). This infers that Job was avoided before. This could be due to the boils on his skin, which no one would want to get infected by. It could also be due to people inferring he was under some sort of divine judgment, a fate they desired to avoid.

Job gets the benefit that they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And the LORD did bring the adversity upon Job, as He states in Job 2:3. Further, it seems they gave Job some capital to restart his business, as each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. With this small beginning, God prospered Job’s hand and he rebuilt his business empire to double its original size:

The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys (v. 12).

Job clearly had wisdom. But the prosperity came about because the LORD blessed the latter days of Job. God asks us to be good stewards. But the result of our stewardship is in His hands. The latter days of Job’s life turned out to be even more materially prosperous than prior to his ruin. We saw in Job 1:3 that Job was “the greatest of all the men of the east.” But now that is surpassed.

It is interesting that the numbers here—14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys—are exactly double Job’s assets listed in this story’s beginning, in Job 1:3. This is likely an intentional move by God to both honor and bring justice to Job. We can see this principle in Isaiah, where God says He will give a “double portion” as a means of honor:

“Instead of your shame you will have a double portion,
And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion.
Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land,
Everlasting joy will be theirs.”
(Isaiah 61:7)

Then in Isaiah 61:8, the LORD says, “For I, the LORD, love justice.”

The reader might refer to The Bible Says commentary on Job 1:1-3 for thoughts about Job’s assets. In summary, we might consider Job’s business empire to be like a large ranch management and farming/agribusiness enterprise, plus a banking/trading/trucking business, along with a domestic transportation company. We saw in Job 1:3 that Job also had a “very large household” inferring a large number of employees. That is not repeated here, but it is implied. In sum, Job became an even greater man of the east.

We can recall that Job lost his seven sons and three daughters in a series of Satanically orchestrated supernatural catastrophes (Job 1:13-20). These are all replaced as well: He had seven sons and three daughters (v. 13).

Why are these not doubled? Perhaps because his first ten children still exist and are in God’s presence. We saw in Job 19:25-26 that Job expressed confidence that he would be resurrected. We also saw his careful watch over his children’s spiritual condition (Job 1:5). It is reasonable to assume that he believed his first ten children still lived.

We are now told something exceptional about Job’s three daughters: He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers (vv. 14-15). 

That only the daughters are named and that they were given an inheritance among their brothers is unusual. In scripture, daughters only received an inheritance when there were no sons (Numbers 27:8).

It is unlikely that ancient custom for the pagan nations outside Israel was any more generous to women, as women were treated substantially better in Israel than in the pagan nations. These pagan nations honored the strong exploiting the weak and extracting from others (see commentary on Leviticus 18). Conversely, God’s covenant/treaty with Israel was for the strong to honor and protect the weak, to love one’s neighbor as themselves (Leviticus 19:18). Though he lived in the land of Uz, somewhere in the Fertile Crescent near the Chaldeans and Sabeans (Job 1:15, 17), Job was clearly a worshiper of God and a follower of His ways, not those of the pagan peoples surrounding him.

We can only surmise as to why the daughters are mentioned, together with a description of their unusual beauty. Perhaps it was because in addition to having to endure the severe test allowed by God, Job also had to endure a trial that came through his wife (Job 2:9). Perhaps God blessed Job by adding some amazing women to his life. Whatever the reason, it is clear this is intended to display a blessing of God’s favor upon Job. This illustrates that to God, women have equal standing as being valuable in His sight (Genesis 1:27, Galatians 3:28).

We can see in Isaiah 61:3 that God promises to give Israel a “garland instead of ashes”—other translations render “beauty from ashes” in the restoration of Israel. This is from the passage of scripture Jesus read from Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:18). Perhaps God gave Job beautiful daughters as a contrast to the ashes he sat in after his tragedy (Job 2:8).

God further blessed Job with an extended life: After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. And Job died, an old man and full of days (vv. 16-17).

That Job saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations during a span of 140 years indicates that each of his children began having children in their twenties. That would mean that by the time Job died, his great, great, great grandchildren would be the children of his adult great, great grandchildren. That Job lived another 140 years after the events of Job would infer that perhaps he lived to be roughly 250 years in total.

This was a typical age during the era just prior to Abraham.

The life span of Abraham’s fathers follow:

Abraham’s grandson Jacob lived 147 years and said of his lifespan 17 years prior to passing: “The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning” (Genesis 47:9).

Given Eber’s longevity, it might well be that Abraham’s great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather lived during a portion of Abraham’s life. Lifespans were long prior to the Flood, then deteriorated rapidly thereafter. By the time of King David, he wrote this psalm:

“As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.”
(Psalm 90:10)

Job’s lifespan seems to fit him into this general ancient era of humanity, the era just prior to Abraham.

The story of Job is inspiring. We should all learn the lesson from him that God uses trials to lead us to great benefit. There are no difficulties we encounter that God does not allow. James asserts that all circumstances are trials. We can have trials of plenty, want, or routine (James 1:9-10). God blesses those who persevere in doing good (Galatians 6:9). And those who overcome as Job overcame are fulfilling their design, and will gain immense rewards.

It would be natural to contemplate Job, and while acknowledging that Job’s trial gave him great benefit by coming to know God, asking the question, “If God thought so highly of Job, why did He not continue to give Job a comfortable life then let him come to know God once he got to heaven?”

The premise behind this question is that it is better to know by sight. This fits our experience, that when we see something firsthand we know it better. We cannot learn from a picture nearly as well as learning of something from visiting it in person.

However, in fitting with God’s mysterious and paradoxical ways, scripture indicates that the greatest blessings of life come through knowing by faith prior to knowing by sight. We can see this in Jesus’s engagement with His disciple Thomas, who refused to believe He had risen from the dead without first seeing Him. This was in spite of the testimony of the other disciples.  When Thomas did see Jesus, and touched the scars of His wounds, he believed. To this Jesus responded:

"Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."
(John 20:29)

We see here the principle that those who see by faith will gain a superior blessing as compared to those who see by sight. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “the conviction of things not seen.” When we do not see, yet believe, we exercise faith. And when we act on faith, we gain the greatest possible blessing.

Job believed, and endured a great trial. Then when he saw God, he came to know Him in a new way that was even greater. This is likely a picture for us. The extent to which we come to know God by faith will determine our capacity to know God by sight. Jesus tells us the greatest experience of life comes from knowing Him:

“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
(John 17:3)

The gift of eternal life comes through faith in Jesus on the cross (John 3:14-15). The fullest experience of eternal life comes through the exercise of a walk of faith.

The extent of blessing that comes through a walk of faith is indicated by Ephesians 3:10:

“so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”
(Ephesians 3:10)

We can note here that “the church” (all believers) is making known “the manifold [many-faceted] wisdom of God” to the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” We can reflect that the “rulers and authorities” of the “heavenly places” include the angelic beings, even Satan and those angels who fell with him. They are learning of the wisdom of God from watching us. We see also in 1 Peter 1:12 that angels “long to look” into the things of the gospel. This indicates that they are seeking to understand, but struggling to do so.

This at first seems baffling, given that angels are in God’s presence, and have been for eons of time. Yet, this seems to make the point. It is through faith that knowledge abounds. Job’s capacity to know God ballooned due to his trial. As scripture promises, so will ours.

After reflecting on Job, we can better appreciate the admonition of James to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” To “consider” is to decide. To make a reckoning. The testimony of Job gives us confidence that such a reckoning is true and reasonable. God’s blessing of Job was immense. And His promise of blessing expands to all who love Him, and, in doing so, seek to follow Him, as the Bible asserts:

“but just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not hear, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.’”
(1 Corinthians 2:9)

If we take to heart the lesson of Job, we can adopt a perspective that is both true and that transcends all the difficulties of this life.