And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
Job's story does not end in ashes. He judges himself, prays for the friends who had wounded him, and then God gives back flocks and herds at twice their old size.
Blessing That Waited
The order matters. One writer marks it: Job himself was changed first, and the outward change followed.
F. B. HoleGod blessed Job abundantly, turning his captivity and giving him twice as much as he had before. He did this when Job had prayed for his friends — and not till then. The blessings of those days were earthly and material. The Christian's distinctive portion is different: "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Yet God did not let that tide roll in upon Job again until Job had changed deeply in spirit and character. When at last he came near to God and acted as a priest, reflecting the goodness and kindness of God, everything outward changed.
The increase was not the reward of shrewd recovery. Another writer asks how it came, and points to the man himself.
C. H. MackintoshBut how? By what means? Was it by his own independent hard work and clever management? No; everything is changed. Job is on new moral ground. He has new thoughts of God, new thoughts of himself, new thoughts of his friends, new thoughts of his circumstances; all things have become new.
The Arithmetic of Double
The verse invites you to compare it with chapter one, and the sums come out precisely.
Charles StanleyWhat a change this was for Job, when the lesson was learned that there was nothing in himself but vileness... If he had lost seven thousand sheep, now he has fourteen thousand; and so with the camels, the oxen, and the donkeys.
Not Forgotten
Why record livestock counts at all? The answer lies in what the ending had to show about God.
William KellyBut the Lord also gave Job twice as much as he had before, for the book could not end without a witness to God's goodness even outwardly. It is not yet the time for setting right all that is crooked, or for remembering every good and righteous deed. Even so, the Lord does not let His saint go without a proof of His interest and His blessing... But Job only held fast to God because God held fast to Job. That was the real root of the matter. It is grace, after all, that gives and keeps integrity. But God was not unrighteous to forget Job.
The Children Not Doubled
God doubled everything except the family: ten children lost, ten given. Commentators differ on what that means. Some read it as a quiet hint about the first ten.
Samuel RidoutIs this an exception to the double gift? Or is it a hint that those other children, seven sons and three daughters, are not lost? Will he one day have them restored, and in resurrection find that everything has been doubled?
Others reject that reading and take the new family simply as new, finding the meaning instead in the daughters' names.
Arno C. GaebeleinThis does not mean, as some suppose, that they were not new sons and daughters, but that the restoration is one of resurrection. Such a view cannot be held. The sons and daughters were born to him. The names of the three daughters are given: Jemimah (a dove), Keziah (cassia), Keren-happuch (flashes of glory). Such were the blessed results of Job's experience, expressed by these names: purified and humble like the dove; cassia, which means fragrance, worship and adoration; and the flashes and splendour of glory.
A Picture of the Coming Kingdom
The closing chapter reaches beyond one man's fortunes. One writer sees in it the world God will yet make.
J. G. BellettBut at the close of the action, the scene is set in "the world to come." It is God's world and not man's, the world which His power is to form and His principles are to fill. It is the time of refreshing and restoring. In Job 42 we are, in spirit, in the Millennium... The farmer works in hope and gets his fruit at harvest, or in resurrection. And so Job endured, until at last the one who sowed reaped. This chapter is the farmer's harvest.
For Those Whose Flocks Never Return
Not every sufferer gets sheep back. The blessing given now is of another kind, and it can still double.
F. B. HoleThis too is one great purpose God always has in all His discipline. Today the blessings given are spiritual and not material, as we have seen. But many an aged believer would testify that God used their very trials and sorrows to lead them into an enjoyment of His spiritual gifts twice as great as the one they started with.
Summary
- Order — First Job judged himself and prayed for his friends. Only then came the doubling — "and not till then."
- Source — The increase came from God's hand, not from clever management. Job stood on new moral ground, with new thoughts of God and of himself.
- Measure — Seven thousand sheep became fourteen thousand. The book ends with proof that God "was not unrighteous to forget Job."
- Exception — The children alone were not doubled. Some writers hear a hint that the first ten will be restored in resurrection. Others see a new family, with the daughters' names carrying the fruit of Job's trial.
- Reach — The restored scene pictures the coming kingdom. For believers now the same principle holds: trials can end in an enjoyment of God twice as great as before.