He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
Job 1:3 ends the opening picture of Job with a list of what he owned: thousands of sheep and camels, hundreds of oxen and donkeys, many servants, and a rank above everyone around him. Why does Scripture record the inventory of a man who is about to lose every item on it?
The measure of a prince
Some writers read the figures themselves as part of the picture, matching Job's household to his character.
Samuel RidoutJob's prosperity matched his moral character. By Old Testament standards he was a rich man, in his family and in his possessions. He had seven sons — their number suggests completeness; and three daughters — a sign of his character and excellence. The same numbers appear in what he owned — seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels. The five hundred yoke of oxen and donkeys show full ability for all work. Great numbers of servants complete the picture of this noble chief, "the greatest of all the people of the east."
A rich man outside Israel
The man with all this wealth was not an Israelite. One writer finds it remarkable that his book was kept at all.
F. B. HoleJob may have lived at the same time as Abraham, but he was certainly not from Abraham's family line. He was a Gentile, not a Jew. Yet the book introduces him with words of praise such as we hardly find given to any son of Israel. There is also no mention in it of the law, which the Jew boasted in. So there was nothing in the book to appeal to the Jew, but instead things that might offend him. Yet it has stood through the centuries, and has come down to us.
What he was, and what he had
Verse 1 described the man; verse 3 adds up his estate. Taken together, the picture is of someone with nothing left to want.
C. H. MackintoshHere, then, we have a very rare kind of man. He was perfect, upright, God-fearing, and he turned away from evil. More than that, the hand of God had put a hedge around him on every side, and had scattered the richest mercies along his path. He had all that the heart could wish — children and wealth in plenty — honour and standing among everyone around him. In short, we may almost say his cup of earthly happiness was full.
Riches that did not own him
The wealth was not the product of greed, and later chapters show where it went.
Leslie M. GrantIt often happens that a man seeking to honour God by living honourably will grow richer, even though he is not making wealth his aim. There is no reason to doubt what Job said in chapter 29:11-17 about his real care for the poor, the fatherless, those who were dying, the widow and the lame. So he was not greedy for gain at all. He used his wealth in kindness toward those in need.
The nest
Yet the same wealth carried a risk. Job's own later words show it.
George DavisonWe do not have to look far to discover something. Job was the most righteous man on earth at that time, yet he was in danger of becoming proud as a result. He said himself, "I shall die in my nest" (Job 29:18); and it is written again, "he was righteous in his own eyes" (Job 32:1). In the first statement, Job was in danger of putting his confidence in the wealth God had blessed him with. In the second, he was sure he deserved it. But it was God and not the nest who was his safeguard.
Counted again at the end
The list in verse 3 becomes the yardstick for the book's final chapter, and one line in the total refuses to balance.
If we want to check the arithmetic of God's "two-times table," we only have to look back at Job 1:3. It is correct for sheep, fourteen thousand against seven thousand; for camels, six thousand against three thousand; for oxen, a thousand yoke against five hundred; for donkeys, a thousand against five hundred. But with the children we find a serious difference: only seven sons and three daughters, the same number as before. Why is this?
Hole answers his own question by pointing to what a doubled family would have implied.
F. B. HoleSuppose God had given him fourteen sons and six daughters. The message would have been that his first children were lost to him for good, just like his first sheep and camels and oxen and donkeys. By giving him only seven sons and three daughters again, God was in effect telling him that the first family was not lost for ever.
Summary
- Given — the flocks, herds and servants of verse 3 are mercies God strewed along Job's path, not trophies he collected.
- Given away — Job's own later words show him caring for the poor, the fatherless, the widow and the lame. His wealth passed through his hands to others.
- Given to a stranger — Job was not an Israelite, yet he is praised in words hardly given to any son of Israel, and his book has come down to us anyway.
- Gripped — the danger sat inside the blessing: he expected to die in his nest, and God, not the nest, was his real security.
- Given back — at the end God doubled every animal in this verse, but not his children. That uneven total was itself the sign that they were not lost for ever.