7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil1 that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money2 and a ring of gold.
12 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. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.
Section Overview
Like the prologue, the epilogue to Job is prose, not poetry. It offers a happy surprise ending. We might have expected after God’s barrage of questions and Job’s own admittance of shortsightedness and irreverence that the Lord would “declare that Job was a blasphemous and wicked man deserving of everything that happened.”205 This is not what happens. Instead, Job is publicly vindicated (42:7–9). His three friends are judged as speaking wrongly and he rightly. Then his former blessings are restored twofold (vv. 10–17). These blessings are not bestowed on Job out of some obligation of God to prosper the righteous. They are a gift, one that can be given or taken away. In fact, Job had no idea that his repentance would bring vindication and restoration. Once again, he demonstrates that he fears God not because of God’s blessings (cf. 1:9–11) but because God is God and worthy to be worshiped.
With this ending we are left with questions. Why are Elihu and Satan unmentioned? Where did they go? Will they be judged too? Job’s fortune and happiness are restored, but is his health? Did the boils heal that day? Ever? Did Job ever get an explanation from God as to the cause or reason for his sufferings? What is God’s relationship to evil (e.g., the “evil that the Lord had brought upon him”; 42:11)? These important unanswered questions are likely part of the author’s intention. We must learn, as Job did, that submission to God’s wise sovereignty allows us to live with inexplicabilities and unsolved mysteries.
Section Outline
Response
The three words (one word in Hebrew: wayyamat) that do not fit with the motif of a happy ending are the words “and Job died” (v. 17a). Job does not live happily ever, or forever, after.
In one of the church’s ancient hymns, Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306–373) sings of Job’s conquering Satan, but not death, and of “Christ conquer[ing] Death where Job could not.”212 Ephrem also writes of Job’s suffering being only on his own behalf, and of Christ’s being on behalf of all his people.213 These are two important insights. As Christians, thanks to Christ’s suffering and conquering of the grave, we can be glad that the end of our stories will not end with merely a final “and he/she died.” We can hope for heaven. We can hope for the resurrection and the return of Christ.
In James 5:11, the Lord’s brother writes, “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” The example of Job is set within the context of the admonition, to “be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7). On these texts—James 5:7, 11 and Job 42:7–17—Christopher Ash writes these beautiful words and offers a moving charge to the church:
The purpose of the Lord to show mercy and compassion will be seen finally only when the Lord Jesus returns in glory. Job 42 anticipates the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like all the Old Testament types of Christ, Job dies at the end of his story (v. 17); and his death proves he is not the one to come, but merely one in whose sufferings are foreshadowed that one whose sandals neither Job nor any Old Testament prophet nor even John the Baptist will be worthy to untie.
The end comes at the end. The normal Christian life is warfare and waiting and being loved and humbled by God and being justified by God, all in the here and now. But it is the expectation of blessing at the end. Often we do get blessed now. God graciously pours out all manner of blessings here and now. But the blessings we get now are just a tiny foretaste of the blessings to be poured out at the end.
And the blessings God will pour out on the believer at the end will be every bit as real as the blessings of Job. Job knew real prosperity, real joy and celebration, real fruitfulness and real beauty (his dazzling daughters). The blessings of the new heavens and new earth will be rock-solid real. We look forward to beauty that makes the most beautiful woman in the world seem dull. We look forward to fruitfulness that will make the most abundant family in the world seem barren. We look forward to prosperity that will make the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires seem poor. And we look forward to celebration that will make the best party in the world seem like a quiet glass of apple juice.214
Above every other passage in Job, 42:7–17 offers the most clear and valuable connections with Christ. For how this text can be viewed typologically, cf. Introduction: Preaching from Job: Preaching Christ. Moreover, as Ash points out above, this text can also serve as a great impetus for Job-like perseverance in view of the coming of Christ. As we look for vindication, the marriage supper of the Lamb, the defeat of Satan, and the new heaven and new earth wherein eternal righteousness, happiness, and prosperity dwell (Revelation 19–22), we should model patient endurance (Rev. 2:2) and holding fast to Jesus’ name (Rev. 2:13).
What a book! And what a Savior! Job’s journey and Jesus’ life show us that God can and does triumph over evil ultimately, and thus we can trust him. We can trust him as we look at creation. We can trust him as we look at the history of salvation. We can trust him as we look at his written revelation. We can trust that he will glorify what is stronger than hate and evil and suffering and death, and that he will do so through his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all glory and honor and praise and adoration is forever due.