Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 1:14
And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
14, 15. The first stroke, the loss of the oxen and she-asses, with the slaughter of the servants. Job’s servants were probably armed, as is usual in the East, and offered resistance, for the Bedawin do not usually shed blood unless opposed. The Sabeans were an Arab tribe, or possibly different tribes bore the name (Gen 10:7; Gen 10:28; Gen 25:3). In Job 6:19 they are represented as trading with caravans. They are mentioned in connexion with Dedan, and probably detachments of them encamped on the borders of Edom, and these would be the assailants of Job’s servants. The raid came from the direction of the South, and the fact that the oxen were plowing indicates that the disaster befell in winter.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And there came a messenger unto Job – Hebrew mal’ak; the word usually rendered angel, appropriately rendered messenger here. The word properly means one who is sent.
The oxen were plowing – Hebrew the cattle ( baqar) including not merely oxen, but probably also cows; see the notes at Job 1:3.
And the asses – Hebrew ‘athon she-asses. The sex is here expressly mentioned and Dr. Good maintains that it should be in the translation. So it is in the Septuagint hai theleiai onoi. So Jerome, asinoe. The reason why the sex is specified is, that female asses, on account of their milk, were much more valuable than males. On this account they were preferred also for traveling; see the notes at Job 1:3.
Beside them – Hebrew By their hands, that is, by their sides, for the Hebrew yad is often used in this sense; compare the notes at Isa 33:21.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. The asses feeding beside them] athonoth, the she-asses, which appear to have been more domesticated, as of more worth and use than the others, both for their milk and their work.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Beside the oxen, therefore both were taken away together.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. the asses feeding besidethemHebrew, “she asses.” A graphic picture ofrural repose and peace; the more dreadful, therefore, by contrast isthe sudden attack of the plundering Arabs.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And there came a messenger unto Job,…. Not a messenger of Satan, as Jarchi, or one of his angels, or evil spirits; though this is a sense which is embraced not only by some Jewish Rabbins, but by several of the ancient Christian writers, as Sanctius on the place observes; and such they suppose the other messengers after mentioned were; but both this and they were servants of Job, who escaped the calamity that came upon the rest of their fellow servants:
and said, the oxen were ploughing: the five hundred yoke of oxen Job had, Job 1:3, which were all out in the fields, and employed in ploughing them; and to plough with such was usual in those times and countries, as it now is in some places; see 1Ki 19:19
and the asses feeding beside them; beside the oxen, where they were ploughing, in pasture ground, adjoining to the arable land; and beside the servants that were ploughing with the oxen: “at their hands” b; as it may be literally rendered, just by them, under their eye and care; or “in their places” c; where they should be, and where they used to feed d; these were the five hundred asses, male and female, reckoned among Job’s substance, Job 1:3, which were brought hither to feed, and some for the servants to ride on; this ploughed land being at some distance from Job’s house; and others to carry the seed that was was to be sown here: now the situation and employment of these creatures are particularly mentioned, to show that they were in their proper places, and at their proper work; and that what befell them was not owing to the want of care of them, or to the indolence and negligence of the servants.
b “ad manus eorum”, Mercerus. c “Suis locis”, Vatablus, Schmidt; so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Bar Tzemach. d “More solito”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
FIRST MESSENGER.
14. A messenger In each of the four cases the messenger was, Chrysostom thinks, (though without authority from the text,) Satan himself, who brought the tidings to Job that he might feed on his misery.
The oxen were ploughing A single touch of the pencil sets forth the quietude and peace that reigned around. The scientist speaks of a like hush of nature before an earthquake. “The ancient plough was entirely of wood, and of as simple a form as that of modern Egypt. It consisted of a share, two handles, and the pole or beam, which last was inserted into the lower end of the stilt on the base of the handles, and was strengthened by a rope connecting it with the heel. It had no coulter, nor were wheels applied to any Egyptian plough; but it is probable that the point was shod with a metal sock of bronze or iron. It was drawn by two oxen, and the ploughman guided and drove them with a long goad, without the assistance of reins, which are used by the modern Egyptians.” Wilkinson.
Job 1:14. Feeding beside them Feeding near them. Houbigant. Feeding as usual. Heath and Schultens. Job 1:15. The Sabeans fell upon them] Hebrew, . Sheba fell upon them; Sheba was the general name of the nation; so the two kingdoms of the posterity of Jacob were called Judah and Israel. These spoilers seem to have been Job’s near neighbours; for the Sabeans lay at the north-west of his country. The Chaldee says, he was plundered by Lilith, queen of Zamargad and Barthinnon; this last is undoubtedly the Barathena of Ptolemy, and Zamargad was probably the name of the city of the Sabeans, called by Ptolemy . The name Lilith is supposed to be a name of dignity, as Pharaoh was among the Egyptians. The Sabeans were the descendants of Abraham by Keturah, whose son Jokshan begat Sheba. The sons of Keturah were by Abraham sent into the east, Gen 25:6 inhabited Arabia the desart, and were notorious plunderers, as the Arabs are to this day. The Chaldeans, mentioned in the 17th verse, lay on the east and south-east of the Regio Ausitis, and were descended from Chesed, another son of Nahor; whence they are called Chesdim. Heath.
The fire of God i.e. The lightning. It has been thought scarcely reconcileable with the truth of history, that lightning should have destroyed seven thousand sheep at once: but let it be remembered, that we do not pretend to account for this or the other particulars here mentioned in a natural and ordinary way. It is evident from the history, that there was something supernatural in it. It was the prince of the power of the air who raised this storm of thunder, and caused perhaps an extraordinary hail-shower with it; such as that recorded Exodus 9 which destroyed both man and beast that were left without shelter in the field; or that which destroyed the army of the confederate kings, Jos 10:11 or who shall say how far the power of this evil spirit may extend, when he is suffered to exert it? Peters.
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“And there came a messenger unto Job” Job 1:14
As a matter of literal interpretation this was simple enough; but regarded suggestively the thought admits of large and useful expansion. Messengers are always coming to men; if not living messengers, living messages impulses, words of exhortation, encouragement, warning, the whole ministry of truth and light. A voice came to Samuel in the darkness; we have seen already in earlier studies how many anonymous ministries there are in life, men coming in the darkness, figures appearing in visions, voices heard in dreams, events forcing themselves upon religious attention. There are many practical messengers coming to the cry of the heart every day: messengers of poverty, pain, bereavement; men requiring intellectual help, spiritual comfort, commercial direction: children needing to be trained, nurtured, directed, stimulated in right paths, protected from diabolical assaults. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Providence itself is a great messenger and a great message. If we choose to play the fool we can deafen ourselves to every voice and blind ourselves to every token: we can go up and down the earth saying that we hear nothing, see nothing; that we are practical, and that we pay no attention to the emotions of the soul, the peculiar actions that stir the inner being. That certainly is one way of living; it is the poorest, meanest way of all; it is the way of the flower that has but a small root, and because there is no deepness of earth it will soon wither away. He who dwells in daily communion with God fears no messenger who can come to him, even with evil news. The fear of God takes away all other fear. The surprise of the saintly soul is but a superficial or transient wonder; it does not affect the fountain and reality of his faith. “If thou forbear to deliver him that is drawn unto death, God will judge thee; if thou sayest, Behold, I knew it not, he that searcheth the heart will bring thee to the judgment seat.” To the man who listens there is many an appeal; to the man who is wakeful there is many a passing vision from which he can learn abiding truths. A messenger has come to every one of us to declare the everlasting gospel. He flies abroad in the midst of heaven; he proclaims his truth regardless of age, condition, or estate; his message is to every creature under heaven: it is a message charged with good news, meant to redeem and save and bless the heart. Happy is the man who sees this messenger, and hears him, and provides for him a guest-chamber in his heart.
Job 1:14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
Ver. 14. And there came a messenger ] A sad relater, not a devil in the shape of a man, as the Rabbis would have it (let that pass for a Jewish fable), but one of Job’s own servants, or some other eye witness, to make Job believe, belike, that, as an evil man, he only sought rebellion, since such cruel messengers were sent against him, Pro 17:11 .
The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding, &c.
And the asses feeding beside them and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6), to emphasize the details in all these reports of the calamities.
messenger: 1Sa 4:17, 2Sa 15:13, Jer 51:31
Reciprocal: Deu 28:31 – ox Job 9:17 – multiplieth Job 39:10 – General Psa 42:7 – Deep calleth Pro 23:5 – riches
Job 1:14-15. And the asses feeding beside them That is, beside the oxen. And the Sabeans fell upon them A people of Arabia, who led a wandering life, and lived by robbery and plunder, as Strabo and other heathen writers observe. They were the descendants of Abraham by Keturah, whose son Jokshan begat Sheba, their progenitor. Indeed, the Hebrew here is, Sheba fell upon them; and took them away The whole five hundred yoke of oxen, and the five hundred asses which he had. Yea, they have slain the servants, &c. Who faithfully and bravely did their best to defend them. And I only am escaped to tell thee Him Satan spared no less maliciously than he destroyed the rest, that Job might have speedy and certain intelligence of his calamity.
Job 1:14-15. The First Stroke.The asses were feeding, a touch reflecting an absolute peace. The Sabeans are the Bedouin, Saba (1 Kings 10*) being S. Arabia.
Job 1:16. The second stroke.The fire of God is the lightning, to be sure lightning on the scale of a saga, since it destroys in a moment 7000 sheep and their shepherds (Duhm).
Job 1:17. The third stroke.The Chaldeans are the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf, who are not yet a great world-power. The division of the force, so as to attack on three sides at once, marks an organised raid. The camels might otherwise have escaped by their swiftness.
Job 1:18. The fourth stroke.The wind was a whirlwind of the south (Isa 21:1), or from the desert. The young men includes of course Jobs daughters, and the servants, all but the one who brings the tale.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible