Job 42 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Job 42 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

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King James Version

SAB comment

My comment


1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,

2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

"I know that thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be withholden from thee."
Can God do anything?
Does God know everything?
The author of the SAB makes a false comparison. There are things that God cannot do, for example God cannot lie (Heb. 6:18). What Job means here is that God is almighty: all that is good, all that is necessary, God can do.
On the issue if God knows every thought, yes. As we read in Rev. 20:12, all our thoughts and deeds are recorded and will be brought before God's judgment seat. See the comments on the verses where the author of the SAB reads something else such as chapter 1:7 and 2 Chr. 32:31.

3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

"Now mine eye seeth thee." Can God be seen?
God can indeed be seen in Christ, John 1:18. But Job does not mean here he has seen Christ, but has had such a revelation of God's sovereignty, wisdom, goodness and justice that it was akin to seeing him. This was a seeing of understanding, a seeing Him with the mind.

6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

7 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.

10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.

"all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him."
Did God or Satan bring evil to Job?
As Satan can do not a thing to touch God's people without God's consent, Job's trials are ascribed to God. Job clearly saw God's hand in this. It was the hand of Satan that tried to destroy him, but even Satan is bound by what God allows him to do.

12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

(42:13-15) After God (or Satan) kills Job's first set of kids (1:19), he is given a better set -- with even prettier daughters!
(This is where Job's Daughters International comes from.)
God did not kill Job's children, they were killed because Satan used the freedom God gave him in trying Job's faith by killing his children.

14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.

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.

16 After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.

Job lived to be 140 years old.
It is unclear why the author of the SAB laughs at someone who is 140 years old. The oldest human in recent times has lived to be 122. 140 is not that far off, about 15% older. But the Bible here states something very different: after his trials Job lived for 140 more years. So Job's age was actually 200 or more years. And that is significantly older than any human of recent times. But it fits the biblical record quite well: after the flood the average life span rapidly decreased. Job probably lived not to far after the flood, according to Dr. Owen about 350 years after the dispersion at Babel, around A.M. 2100

17 So Job died, being old and full of days.

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