Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 1:2
And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
2, 3. Job’s family and wealth. A first principle in the Oriental Wisdom, which corresponds in part to our Ethics, was, that it is well with the righteous and ill with the wicked, Isa 3:10-11. This principle is set at the head of the Psalter in Psalms 1, and is reiterated in many shapes as an unalterable law in the Book of Proverbs. According to this principle Job and all acquainted with him would see his piety reflected in his worldly prosperity, and regard this as God’s blessing upon him on account of it. It is not the intention of the writer of the Book to break with this principle absolutely. On the contrary when he lets Job at the end of his trials be restored to a prosperity double that which he enjoyed before, he gives in his adhesion to the principle in general. If he had not done so his position would have been more false than that of Job’s friends, who asserted that the principle prevailed in the world without exceptions. The Author’s design goes no further than to teach that the principle is subject to great modifications, and that sufferings may arise from causes more general than any connected with the sufferer’s own life. His object, however, in teaching this doctrine cannot have been the limited one of correcting a false theory of Providence, he must have had before him the wider purpose of sustaining individuals or most probably his nation under severe and inexplicable trials and encouraging them with brilliant hopes of the future.
The round Numbers 7, 3, 5, by which Job’s children and his flocks are described, express, according to the ideas connected with such numbers in the East, their perfection and complete sufficiency. They teach at the same time that what we have before us here is not actual history, but history idealized by the Poet and Teacher, that he may convey by it more vividly the moral lessons which he desires to inculcate. Job’s sons were seven and his daughters three, for sons were more esteemed in the East than daughters, partly for reasons connected with the state of society, one of which is alluded to in the Psalm: “They shall not be ashamed, they shall speak with the enemies in the gate,” Psa 127:5. Mohammed expresses the feelings of the Arabs when he says: For when any one of them is informed of the birth of a daughter a black shadow falls upon his face and he is wroth, and with-draweth himself from men because of the evil tidings, uncertain whether he shall keep it with disgrace or bury it (alive) in the dust, Kor. 16:60; and even the modern Jew in his prayers gives thanks in this way: Blessed art thou, O king of the universe, who hast not made me a woman.
As a great Eastern Emeer, Job was rich in camels. These were used for riding when the journey was long, and for transporting produce and merchandise to the distant cities. They were also eaten by the Arabs. She-asses, the price of one of which is said to be three times that of a male, were esteemed not on account of their milk, but for the sake of their foals. In a country where wheeled carriages are unknown, they were used not only for riding, but for all purposes of home and agricultural carriage. Oxen were used for labouring the fields, for which the horse is not employed in the East. The amount of arable land was measured by the number of yoke, that is, pairs, of oxen required to cultivate it. Job’s rich and extensive fields were plowed by a thousand oxen, Job 1:14. Such wide possessions implied a very great “household,” that is, body of servants. And the writer finishes his picture of Job by saying that he “was the greatest of all the men (lit. children) of the East.” His “greatness” did not lie in his wealth alone, but in the respect in which he was held and in his influence. See the pathetic picture which he draws of his own former estate, ch. 29. On the general phrase “children of the East” see Gen 29:1; Jdg 6:3; Jdg 7:12; Jdg 8:10; 1Ki 4:30; Jer 49:28; Eze 25:4; Eze 25:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters – The same number was given to him again after these were lost, and his severe trials had been endured; see Job 42:13. Of his second family the names of the daughters are mentioned, Job 42:14. Of his first, it is remarkable that neither the names of his wife, his sons nor his daughters are recorded. The Chaldee, however, on what authority is unknown, says that the name of his wife was dynah, Job 2:9.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
And there were born unto him,…. By his wife, in lawful wedlock, who was now living, and after mentioned:
seven sons and three daughters; next to his religious character, his graces, and spiritual blessings, and as the chief of his outward mercies and enjoyments, his children are mentioned; and which are indeed blessings from the Lord, and such as good men, and those that fear the Lord, are sometimes blessed with, see Ps 127:3 and to have a numerous offspring was always esteemed a very great favour and blessing, and as such was reckoned by Job; who, having so many sons, might hope to have his name perpetuated by them, as well as his substance shared among them; and having so many daughters, he might please himself with the thought of marrying them into families, which would strengthen his friendship and alliance with them; just the same number of sons and daughters had Bacchaeus, the third king of Corinth y.
y Heraclides de Politiis ad calcem Aelian. Var. Hist. p. 439.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2, 3 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and servants in great number; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
It is a large, princely household. The numbers are large, but must not on that account be considered an invention. The four animals named include both kinds. With the doubled corresponds the also constructive , the Tsere of which is never shortened, though in the singular one says , from . The aorists, especially of the verb ( ), which, according to its root, signifies not so much esse as fieri, existere , are intended to place us at once in the midst of his prosperity. Ex iis , says Leo Africanus in reference to flocks, Arabes suas divitias ac possessiones aestimant . In fine, Job was without his equal among the . So the tribes are called which extend from Arabia Deserta, lying to the east of Palestine, northwards to the countries on the Euphrates, and south over Arabia Petraea and Felix. The wisdom of these tribes, treasured up in proverbs, songs, and traditions, is mentioned in 1Ki 5:10, side by side with the wisdom of the Egyptians. The writer now takes a very characteristic feature from the life of Job, to show that, even in the height of prosperity, he preserved and manifested the piety affirmed of him.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 2-4:
Verse 2 recounts that he was blessed with seven sons and three daughters. Sons were considered to be greater blessings than daughters in the east, in primitive times, as related, Psa 127:3-5; Psa 128:3-6.
Verse 3 describes Job as the “greatest of all the men of the east,” sons or heirs of the east, meaning east of Palestine, Jdg 6:3; Eze 25:4 His wealth was: a) 7,000 sheep for food and clothing from their wool, b) 3,000 camels, called “ships of the desert,” for transporting cargo over land and desert, for they could store water for their long, hot journeys and eat the roughest of desert thistles for food, c) 500 yoke of oxen, indicating that Job engaged in agricultural production there in the fertile crescent, d) 500 hundred she asses, prized for their milk and for riding, Jdg 5:10, and e) a “very great household or husbandry,” meaning a large number of servants and employees who looked to him for livelihood guidance, Gen 26:14.
Verse 4 relates that his seven sons, on their birthdays, each sent and called or invited his sisters to a feast in his house. This implies close family ties and harmony in Job’s family, in contrast with the stark ruin that soon broke up their traditional scene of happiness. That these sisters were invited to the feast indicates that it was for family joy, not for licentious revelry. The sisters stayed in the homes of the mother until their marriage, according to eastern custom, Gen 24:67.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(2) Seven sons and three daughters.The like number was restored to him after his probation (Job. 42:13).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Seven sons The head of a large family has always been regarded in the East as pre-eminently happy. In the patriarchal age especially a large progeny was a source of military strength, each son, as well as each bondman, being a possible soldier. Elements of power, they, more than any other worldly gifts, entitled their possessor to distinction and honour. “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.” “They shall speak with the enemy in the gate.” Hence “the young men” appear first in the enumeration of the blessings of Providence, even as in the series of terrible calamities their destruction is the last climactic stroke. The number ten, as Hitzig and others have remarked, is here divided into seven and three, as well as in the following verse, where the seven and three also appear together with the halves of ten. In other portions of the Bible, however, similar numerical relationships appear. (Comp. 1Ki 17:21 with 2Ki 4:35; 1Sa 20:41 with Gen 33:3. See note on sacred numbers, Luk 6:13.) The exact round numbers, seven and three, and their symbolic selection, so frequent in the Book of Job, in the opinion of some indicate the poetical overlying the historical.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
(2) And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. (3) His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
Here follows an account of the blessings of the Lord upon Job: so that what with his children, substance, and servants, Job classed very high indeed. The introduction of this man’s history in this matter is beautifully chosen, in order to prepare the mind for the several most interesting pages in his life, which are to follow.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 1:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
Ver. 2. And there were born unto him seven sons ] This was a main part of his prosperity, to have such a numerous issue to build up his house and to heir his estate, though it proved to be luctuosa fecunditas, mournful fertility, as Jerome said Laeta’s was, who lived to see her children buried before her. Job’s children are spoken of before his wealth, because better valued; and yet after this fearing God and eschewing evil, to show (saith Fetus) that he was not like the men of these times, who, if they have many children, will take any evil course to get something for them, and think it a sufficient plea against works of piety or charity that they have many children to provide for. But such should know that not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive; neither can men better lay up for their children than by laying it out upon the backs and bellies of God’s poor, to whom he that giveth shall not lack, Pro 28:27 , that is a bargain of God’s own making; this the righteous knowing, “is merciful, and lendeth, and his seed is blessed,” Psa 37:26 , when the wicked wretch’s riches “perish by evil travail, and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand,” Ecc 5:14 . I read of a graceless son who, after his father’s death, finding his hoard of money and evil gotten wealth, cried out, O faithful drudge! and he soon made a hand of it.
And three daughters
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 1:2-5
Job 1:2-5
THE GREAT PROSPERITY OF JOB
“And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. And his sons went and held a feast in the house of each one upon his day; and they went and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so that when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”
“Each one upon his day” (Job 1:4). It is not known if this means each one upon his birthday, or if it means that they took turn-about in hosting the feasts according to some other assignment of the days.
“Job … offered burnt offerings” (Job 1:5). The revelation of this verse is extensive. (1) It places the scene in the patriarchal age before the giving of the Law, during which the patriarch was the priest for his family. (2) Job recognized that the seat of human sin is in the heart, as Jesus said (Mat 15:19). (3) It shows that Job recognized that, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins” (Heb 9:22), and (4) that, “Job was mindful of God upon good days as well as evil, and that he faithfully discharged his duty as God’s priest within his family.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 1:2. The story will come back to this verse in the outcome. Let the reader take note of the number and sex of Job’s children at this place.
Job 1:3. The narrative will come back also to this verse, so it will be well to mark it. Substance is from a word that Strong says means “live stock.” Household is from ABUDDAH and Strong defines it, “something wrought, i. e. (concretely) service.” It is the word for “store of servants” in Gen 26:14. So Job was blessed with a family of sons and daughters, a possession much prized in Biblical times; an abundance of various animals, and many servants to wait upon him in the enjoyment of his property.
Job 1:4. The sons would hold feasts in their houses, each taking his turn to act as host to the others. To these feasts the sisters were invited. All of this indicates a united and thus a happy family. That was a condition to be considered as a great blessing, for not all families are thus congenial. While a parent would regret to lose a child, however unworthy or unpleasant in disposition, yet the loss of so agreeable a group of children would be felt the more keenly.
Job 1:5. It would be no surprise if the sons should commit some trespass in the course of the festivities, for- getting themselves in the enjoyment of the occasion. On the mere possibility of their doing so, Job would go through with a service of sacrifices in their behalf at the conclusion of each feast. The question naturally arising is, what good would it do for one man to offer sacrifice for another? The answer is in the fact that Job was a father in the Patriarchal Dispensation, in which the head of a house or family group was priest for the group. His acts, therefore, would be a benefit for the members of the group. We are told that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen 6:8). Nothing is said about the lives of the sons, because they were all in the Patriarchal Dispensation. Hence the action of Job would benefit his sons. But we should note the devotional spirit of Job in that he did not wait until he was directly called upon to atone for the sins of his sons. It may be was all the motive he needed for making the sacrifice. And nothing would be lost even if no irregular conduct of his sons had been committed. Sacrifices were always in order, whether definitely needed or not, and if no act of the sons had called for the service, the exercise would be accepted as a freewill offering.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
seven sons: Job 13:13, Est 5:11, Psa 107:38, Psa 127:3-5, Psa 128:3
Reciprocal: Job 16:12 – at ease Job 29:5 – my children Job 42:13 – General Psa 127:5 – Happy Amo 6:9 – if Mat 5:48 – ye