I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down.
Job looks back on the days when his word settled every matter, and adds one last detail: what his face did to people. The verse raises two questions — what the picture means, and whether a good man should be telling it.
The effect of his smile
Job is describing men who came to him in trouble and went away steadied. One writer describes both the weight of his words and the light of his smile.
Samuel RidoutHis decisions were for them the final word, and called for no response. Yet his words were not like the withering sentence of an unbending judge. They were like the gentle dew or the rain. His smile was as a ray of light to them. The thought here is a little unclear. Does Job mean that his smile was a blessing to them, or that it was a token of his lasting self-satisfaction? The usual thought, though, is plain. If they were in doubt and trouble, his smile reassured them. No grief of theirs could alter his steady cheerfulness. He was as a king among them, regarded with a reverence close to worship.
The disputed half of the verse
Commentators differ over the second line. One writer lists the readings that others have offered.
William KellyMost take it this way. If Job laid aside his dignified gravity and smiled on them, they could hardly believe he would pay them such notice... Others have suggested a different sense. They would not believe that Job would laugh at them, or that he would let the light of his face — his dignified cheerfulness — fall. Mr. Carey takes the word to mean "they presume." The sense is that, despite his graciousness, they do not lightly provoke him or take advantage.
He prefers a reading where Job dispels gloom instead of catching it:
William KellyHis laugh was suited to drive away distrust; their low spirits did not darken the light of his face.
The chapter of "I"
The trouble is not that the memory is false. It is that Job is the one telling it, at length, about himself.
F. B. HoleJob 29 has become one of the great "I" chapters of the Bible. Ecclesiastes 2 is Solomon's "I" chapter: that personal pronoun occurs sixteen times in the first nine verses. It is a true chapter of the self-gratified "I." Job 29 is the chapter of the self-satisfied "I." Romans 7 is of course the chapter of the self-condemned "I." And to be self-condemned is far better than to be self-gratified or self-satisfied. Best of all is to be self-eclipsed, as we find Paul to be in Philippians 3, where he mentions "I" a good many times.
Real grace that he noticed
Job's kindness was real. The flaw lies elsewhere — in his awareness of it.
The Christian's FriendIn truth, Job was a man full of grace; but, sadly, he perceived it, and his heart needed to be better taught about what he was before God.
Why he is living in the past
One writer treats the backward look itself as a symptom. Under pressure, Job turned back to his own history.
The Bible TreasuryUnder pressure a person sometimes sees more of the wisdom of God and His way. The more I see of it, the more depressed I will become, if I cannot rightly connect myself with God. So I turn back on my own history and become occupied with myself. In Job 29, then, Job dwells on the past. This is always evidence that the soul is not right with God. A soul going on with Him would have greater things than the past to recount.
Where God was taking him
The chapter is not the end of the story. God was at work to change how Job saw himself.
J. N. DarbyIn Job 29 we find that his heart had dwelt on his upright and kind walk with satisfaction. He commended himself and fed his self-love with it... God was bringing him to say, "Now my eye sees You and I abhor myself." Job ends his discourse with these chapters — 29, 30, 31 — which express his good opinion of himself. He had told his whole heart out. He was self-satisfied. The grace of God had worked in him, and in a lovely way. But the human heart is treacherous, and he was not in God's presence, which detects this. So the present effect was to make him lovely in his own eyes.
Summary
- Grace given. The kindness Job describes was real. Commentators call him a man full of grace, and his smile steadied people in trouble.
- Grace noticed. The damage began when he perceived it — his own goodness became lovely in his own eyes.
- Grace recited. Job 29 turns that into speech, the chapter of the self-satisfied "I," where he tells his whole heart out.
- Grace disputed. Even the wording is uncertain: did they doubt he would notice them, or was nothing able to darken his face? Commentators offer more than one reading.
- Grace corrected. Dwelling on the past shows a soul not going on with God — and God was leading Job to say, "now my eye sees You, and I abhor myself."