Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 42:15
And in all the land were no women found [so] fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
15. inheritance among their brethren ] The Hebrew practice was that the daughters inherited only when there was no son, Num 27:1 seq. The disposition of his property made by Job would retain the sisters in the midst of their brethren even after marriage, and allow the affectionate relations existing among Job’s children to continue.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And their father gave them inheritance among their brethren – This is mentioned as a proof of his special regard, and is also recorded because it was not common. Among the Hebrews the daughter inherited only in the case where there was no son, Num 27:8. The property was divided equally among the sons, with the exception that the oldest received a double portion; see Jahns Bib. Arch. section 168. This custom, prevailing still extensively in the East, it seems existed in the time of Job, and it is mentioned as a remarkable circumstance that he made his daughters heirs to his property with their brothers. It would also be rather implied in the passage before us that they were equal heirs.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 42:15
Were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job.
Jobs daughters
It is a long lane that has no turning. Jobs captivity was turned at last. It is a true saying that godliness is profitable for the life that now is. Jobs family was again built up. He had buried all his children, but God had repaired the breach.
I. These daughters of Job were remarkable for their beauty. Whether beauty is a good gift or not depends upon the use made of it. Beauty is a Divine talent, and may be gloriously used for God. The secret of beauty is the shining through of a consecrated spirit.
II. They were remarkable for their character. This appears in their several names.
1. Jemima, or Light of the morning. Let it stand for the influence of young womanhood at home. No one can estimate the influence of a gentle sister among a group of boisterous lads.
2. Kezia or Cassia, Breath of the garden. Let her stand for the influence of young womanhood in social life.
3. Keren-happuch, or All plenteousness. Let her stand for the influence of young womanhood in the Church of God.
III. These daughters were remarkable for their inheritance. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brethren. This was a rare thing in those days. This inheritance means, to begin with, life at the Cross. All sons and daughters are equal here. What else? The joy of service. What else? Participation in the heavenly glory. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. Gave them inheritance among their brethren.] This seems to refer to the history of the daughters of Zelophehad, given Nu 27:1-8, who appear to have been the first who were allowed an inheritance among their brethren.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Gave his daughters a share, and possibly an equal share, with his sons in his inheritance; which in so plentiful an estate he might easily do, especially to such amiable sisters, without the envy of their brethren; and which peradventure he did to oblige them to settle themselves amongst their brethren, and to marry into their own religious kindred, not to strangers, who in those times were generally swallowed up in the gulf of idolatry.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. inheritance among . . .brethrenAn unusual favor in the East to daughters, who, in theJewish law, only inherited, if there were no sons (Nu27:8), a proof of wealth and unanimity.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And in all the land were no women found [so] fair as the daughters of Job,…. Either in the whole world, which is not improbable: or it may be rather in the land or country in which they dwelt; and which may be gathered from their names, as before observed. The people of God, and children of Christ, the antitype of Job, are all fair, and there is no spot in them; a perfection of beauty, perfectly comely, through the comeliness of Christ put upon them, and are without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing;
and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren; which was done not on account of their beauty or virtue; nor is this observed so much to show the great riches of Job, that he could give his daughters as much as his sons, as his impartiality to his children, and his strict justice and equity in distributing his substance to them all alike, making no difference between male and female. And so in Christ, the antitype of Job, there is neither male nor female, no difference between them, Ga 3:28: but being all children, they are heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, and equally partake of the same inheritance with the saints in light, Ro 8:17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
15 And in all the land there were not found women so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.
On , followed by the acc., vid., Ges. 143, 1, b. , etc., referring to the daughters, is explained from the deficiency in Hebrew in the distinction of the genders. Job 42:15 sounds more Arabian than Israelitish, for the Thora only recognises a daughter as heiress where there are no sons, Num 27:8 The writer is conscious that he is writing an extra-Israelitish pre-Mosaic history. The equal distribution of the property again places before our eyes the pleasing picture of family concord in the commencement of the history; at the same time it implies that Job will not have been wanting in son-in-law for his fair, richly-dowried daughters, – a fact which Job 42:16 establishes:
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
15. Inheritance among their brethren According to Mosaic usage daughters inherited only when there were no sons in the family. The remonstrance of the five daughters of Zelophehad against the alienation of their father’s estate, gave rise to legislation through which property descended to daughters. Num 27:1-12. In case there were several sons the whole inheritance was divided equally among the sons, with the exception of the oldest, who received twice as much as either of his brothers. Deu 21:17. “Daughters, in case they were unmarried, were considered as making a part of the estate, and were sold by their brothers into matrimony.” JAHN, Biblical Archaeology, sec. 168. The Athenian and the early Roman laws resembled the Mosaic in excluding females from inheritance when there were brothers; but in the case of the Greek a moral obligation devolved upon the brother to assign his sister a fortune corresponding to her rank. (See authorities cited in SMITH’S Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, s.v., Heres, p. 594. Eng. Edit.)
The indications are, that in patriarchal times daughters usually obtained a share in the paternal inheritance. This seems to be implied in the statement of Leah and Rachel, that there, was for them no portion nor inheritance in their father’s house. (Gen 31:14.) Job, with princely magnanimity, includes his daughters among the sharers of the inheritance, not in a manner, as Kitto says, “showing that this power was rarely exercised,” but rather in keeping with ancient Arabian customs, which are perpetuated to the present day by Mohammedans. SALE’S Prelim. Disc., sec. vi, and the Koran, Sura 4. An inscription of Esarhaddon, found at Kuyunjik, gives the names of eight Arabian sovereigns whom he put to death. Among them are two queens, Tapaa and Bailu. “This was a frequent custom,” says H.F. Talbot, speaking of the sovereignty of queens in the land of Arabia, ( Records of the Past, vol. iii, page 107,) “according to the cuneiform inscriptions, but as far as I have observed: it was confined to that country.” Compare the account of the queen of Sheba, 1Ki 10:1-13. In the French National Library is an ovoid bowlder of black basalt, known by the name Caillou Michaux, on which is an Assyrian inscription containing the law concerning landed property as a dowry for a woman on her marriage, and giving the whole measurement of the land to which the stone served as a boundary. LENORMANT, Chaldaean Magic, 68. For a more detailed description, see Records of the Past, 9:92-95. An old Accadian incantation (see note, Job 1:17) says of the seven evil spirits, “Female they are not, male they are not;” on which Birch remarks, this order is in accordance with the position held by the woman in Accad; in the Accadian Table of Laws (see Records of the Past, Job 3:23) the denial of the father by the son is punished very leniently in comparison with the denial of the mother. (Compare Records of the Past, 9:148.) To account for the distinction made by Job between the sons and daughters, by which the names of the latter only are mentioned, Forster, ( Geog. of Arabia, 2:66,) suggests “that the daughters of Job should not only become the mothers of nations, but that they should call the lands after their own names.” More probable than his speculations as to the other daughters, is the one that the name of Jemima is perpetuated in Jemima or Jemama, the name of the central province of the Arabian peninsula. “An Arab tradition, of immemorial standing,” says Forster, “has preserved and handed down the fact that the province of Jemama received its name from Queen Jemama, the first sovereign of the land, who could be no other than Jemima, the daughter of Job.” Consult art. “Inheritance” in FAIRBAIRN, Bib. Dic.; MICHAELIS, Laws of Moses, art. lxxviii; WINER, Rwb., art. “Erbschaft;” MAINE, Anc. Laws, 144-154; SPANHEIM, Hist. Jobi, cap. xv, sec. 18.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 42:15. In all the land were no women found so fair Bishop Warburton, upon his allegorical plan, supposes, that as Job’s wife was to represent the idolatrous wives, so the daughters in the allegory are to stand for the daughters of Israel; and to this end are described as beauties; nay, and fortunes too, for their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. “In short, the writer’s desire was to recommend them as the most desirable parties; that so the men for the future might be induced to match at home, and not wander abroad for strange wives.” This is the learned writer’s notion. “Now,” says Mr. Peters, “I would here desire to be allowed only one reasonable postulatum; namely, that the sons of Job may be supposed to represent the sons of Israel, as well as the daughters their sex; and then let him tell us why there is so wide a disproportion between them; for the sons of Israel seven, and the daughters three, does not amount to half a wife a-piece; and, I doubt, their beauty and their fortunes would scarcely be thought consideration enough, to make amends for that deficiency. The men would still have but too good an excuse to look out for strange wives.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 42:15 And in all the land were no women found [so] fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
Ver. 15. And in all the land there were no women found so fair, &c. ] Beauty, though but a bonum fragile, and one of the gifts of God’s left hand, Pro 3:16 , yet is it the flower of virtue, as Chrysippus called it; one of the greatest excellencies of nature, and singular degree of God’s image in man, as another (Plato). And although virtue is Proprio contenta theatro, yet to others
Gratior est pulchro veniens in corpore virtus.
That virtue hath a better grace
That shineth from a beauteous face.
Such probably were Job’s daughters, not fair and foolish, as those daughters of Jerusalem, Isa 3:16 , but adorned with all variety of moral virtues, as a clear sky is with stars, as a princely diadem with jewels. Hence their good father so affected them, that he
Gave them inheritance among their brethren
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
no: Psa 144:12, Act 7:20
gave: Num 27:7, Jos 15:18, Jos 15:19, Jos 18:4
Reciprocal: Num 36:2 – to give
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 42:15. In all the land were no women found so fair, &c. In the Old Testament we often find women praised for their beauty, but never in the New, because the beauty of holiness is brought to a much clearer light by the gospel. Their father gave them inheritance. &c. Gave his daughters a share, and, possibly, an equal share with his sons in his inheritance, which, in so plentiful an estate, he might easily do, especially to such amiable sisters, without the envy of their brethren; and which, per- adventure, he did, to oblige them to settle themselves among their brethren, and to marry into their own religious kindred, not to strangers, who, in those times, were generally swallowed up in the gulf of idolatry.