The last eleven verses of Job describe God’s work of restoring first Job’s friends (vv. 7–9) and then Job (vv. 10–17). But these two restorations are different. The restoration of the three friends is to the favor of God through the forgiveness of their sins. The restoration of Job is to the prosperity he had enjoyed before Satan tempted him.
The Restoration of Job’s Friends
There are three things to talk about in the restoration of the three friends.
First, God spoke to Eliphaz only, not to the three friends together. Eliphaz was probably the oldest, and he had taken the lead in the attack on Job’s integrity. Therefore, he became God’s representative to Zophar and Bildad.
Secondly, the chief thing here is the sacrifice that God required of them. They had sinned against Job by false accusation, but the Lord spoke to Eliphaz only about the sin they had committed against himself: they had not spoken of him what was right. He said it two times. The question, of course, is in what way had the three spoken wrongly of God? They had talked about God as if he were a factor in a mathematical equation for the calculation of justice. Job was under judgment; therefore, Job had sinned. But in thinking there could be such a straight line between sin and judgment, they failed to recognize the incomprehensibility of God and of his ways. Thus, they put God in a box and transgressed the commandment against making carved images. Their image was not one they carved with their hands in wood or metal or stone, but one they carved with their minds by means of their theology.
This is a warning to us not to think that our theology can fully describe God and his ways, or even comprehend all that the Scriptures reveal of him. Systematic theology is useful and even necessary, but in our theologizing we must recognize that we will always fall short of the glory and greatness of God himself. The object of theology is to understand him as well as we can and then to glorify and adore him for the depth of the riches of his knowledge. “Who has known the mind of the Lord?”
To obtain forgiveness for their sin God required that the friends offer a sacrifice. This was standard practice in the Old Testament, from the time of Abel (Gen. 4) to the coming of Christ. Because the true blood of atonement had not yet been shed, God required sinners to shed the blood of animals as a reminder that the penalty of sin is death, and the only escape from that penalty is a substitute who can bear it to the end.
Another question arises here. God required that they offer seven bulls and seven rams. Why seven? Why not three, one bull and one ram for each? Or why not one for all of them together? One possibility is that seven is the number of the covenant and the number of rest from sin in God’s redemption (Deut. 5:15). The number seven taught them that atonement was the way back to the fellowship of the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God.
God required that they bring their sacrifice to Job and ask him to pray for them. It is a striking irony that Eliphaz when he urged Job to repent of his sin said to him, “[God] will even deliver one who is not innocent; yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.” Eliphaz had not for a moment imagined that he would be the beneficiary of this blessing promised to Job. Perhaps part of the reason was that they had also sinned against Job. By asking Job to pray for them they would were also confessing their sin to him. But the Lord explained that they must do this because he had accepted Job (v. 9). Job was in a position to act as their priest or mediator, and perhaps we may even say that God was teaching them and us that no man can approach him without a mediator. In the Old Testament there were many mediators who could not continue in their office because of death, but even in the New Testament we have need of the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
This was the means the Lord used to give forgiveness to Job’s three friends. He was gracious to them as he had been gracious to Job.
The third thing to talk about in these verses is what the Lord said to Eliphaz about Job. Four times in verses 7 and 8 he referred to Job as “my servant.” That is a title of honor. The Lord approved of Job, and the Lord would accept the prayer Job made on behalf of his friends.
But the Lord also told Eliphaz that Job had spoken of him what was right. That’s a little difficult to understand, isn’t it? Job had justified himself rather than God. Job had said, “God has taken away my justice.” How then can God say that Job had spoken of him what was right. 1) Job had spoken not only about God, but to him. When the friends talked to Job, they talked about God but not to God. God became an abstraction to them, a stick with which to beat Job. But to Job God was always there, living and active, and, of course, in the context of his suffering, hostile. But Job talked to him, prayed to him, complained to him. The Bible Commentary edited by F.F. Bruce makes this point. 2) Job passionately wanted God. Through all the bitter affliction God had given him, though convinced that God was his enemy, Job wanted to know him. His greatest affliction was not the loss of his goods, nor even the loss of his children, but the loss of God’s love. 3) Job had understood all through his suffering the greatness and incomprehensibility of God and had never wholly abandoned the fear of his name. 4) Job had already repented (42:6), and God had buried his sin in the depths of the sea (Mic. 7:18–19). It would not again be remembered against him.
The Restoration of Job
The Lord connected the restoration of Job’s prosperity to his prayer for his friends. Verse 10 tells us, “And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.” Again, we must ask why? Matthew 6:14–15 may provide the answer. Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” And he told us that if we will not forgive those who trespass against us, God will not forgive us. Job must forgive them before God will restore to him everything that he lost.
Part of Job’s restoration came through his family and friends (v.11). There is a hint here that not all was right between them. The verse says, “Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him.” That word “before” suggests that they had abandoned him in his affliction. It was of this treatment that Job had complained in chapter 19:13–17. They too had believed that Job was a sinner. They had done worse even than Eliphaz, Zophar and Bildad; they had brought no comfort during his affliction. We can imagine, then, that they came now somewhat apologetically to eat with him (that is, to restore fellowship), to console him, and to give gifts. But God used this to restore at least a part of what Job had lost.
The Lord gave Job more than full restoration of all that he had lost; he doubled his cattle (v. 10). You can compare the numbers given in verse 12 with the numbers of chapter 1 and see that in each kind of animal the number here is double what it was there. Again, why? Some have suggested that the Lord was giving Job the double portion that belonged to the firstborn son. While that’s possible I prefer the explanation that takes this as fulfillment of Exodus 22:4. There God commanded that the thief restore double to the man from whom he had stolen. In Job 1:15 and 17, Scripture tells us that enemies had stolen Job’s cattle. The Lord takes it upon himself to restore what had been stolen from him. At least it is clear that the Lord was giving to Job a full recompense.
The Lord also gave Job ten children. He had lost ten, and the Lord gave him ten more. Ten is the number of completeness. “Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward… Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them” (Ps. 127:3–5).
The Scriptures pay special attention to Job’s three daughters. He had seven sons, but the Scriptures tell us no more about them. But they tell us the names of the daughters (Jemimah, Kezia and Keren Happuch) and that they were the most beautiful women in the land. Job gave them an inheritance with their brothers. This was not usual in Old Testament times; daughters normally married and participated in the inheritance of their husbands. Perhaps the reason the Scriptures tell us more about the daughters is that they were a very special part of Job’s consolation.
Finally, the Lord added one hundred forty years to Job’s life so that he must have lived at least to the age of 175 to 200. He saw his great great grandchildren and died old and full of days. That phrase suggests the same thing as the phrase used of Abraham in Genesis, that he died in a good old age. Job died blessed.
There are some who object to this conclusion of Job as a fairy tale ending, and even point out that many suffering saints do not receive such restoration in this life. That is true. Many have lost goods, children or health and have not lived to see them restored. But the Lord is teaching us here. First, he is showing us that he will vindicate those who suffer for righteousness’ sake. All those around Job thought him a great sinner, but God here publicly declares that Job is his righteous servant, justified in the blood of atonement. He will do the same for us in the great day of judgment. Then every mouth that accuses us will be stopped forever. Secondly, the Lord is teaching us that he will recompense us for our suffering for righteousness’ sake. The people of God prayed in Psalm 90:15, “Make us glad according to the days in which you have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil.” God answers that prayer. Jesus said in Matthew 19:29, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundred-fold and inherit eternal life.” And the apostle Paul said, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).
Conclusion
James 5:10–11 teaches us two things about Job. He is an example to strengthen suffering saints. Satan mounted a strong attack on Job, as strong an attack as he could think of, but he did not conquer. Job never cursed God, as Satan wanted. He did not utterly despair, nor did he turn away from God. Grace sustained him. Christopher Ash in his commentary on Job cites Luke 22:31–32. Jesus predicted that Peter would betray him, but he added, “Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.” Satan also tried to sift Job, but he failed. Faith overcame him.
James also uses Job as an example of the mercy and compassion of the Lord. We see in the last chapter of Job the Lord’s merciful purpose in all of Job’s suffering. This is our comfort in our affliction, that the Lord’s purposes are invariably merciful toward those who fear his name, no matter how difficult they may be in the moment.
Finally, we should not forget that the book of Job is also the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We see it in Job’s unconquerable faith and his mighty confession, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” We see it in the Lord’s gracious forgiveness of both Job and his friends. We see it in Job’s suffering for righteousness’ sake, because that was a fellowship in the suffering of Christ. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:8–11). The book of Job is about the grace that sustains, restores and, in the end, gives abundant joy.