Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 1:19

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 1:19. A great wind from the wilderness — Here was another proof of the influence of the prince of the power of the air. What mischief might he not do with this tremendous agent, were he not constantly under the control of the Almighty! He seems to have directed four different currents, which, blowing against the four corners or sides of the house, crushed it together, and involved all within in one common ruin.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

1:1-2:13 SATAN TESTS JOB

From prosperity to ruin (1:1-22)

A popular belief in ancient times was that prosperity and well-being were proofs of godliness, but poverty and suffering were proofs of ungodliness. They were signs that God was either rewarding or punishing a person, according to whether that person’s life was good or bad. The book of Job contradicts this belief. Yet the prosperous and contented Job was indeed a godly person who was blameless in all that he did. He was concerned also for purity in the lives of all his children (1:1-5).
Meanwhile in heaven, God’s court of angelic beings had assembled before him. Among them was one, Satan, whose chief concern was to move around the world looking for human failings (6-7). (In Hebrew satan was a common word that meant ‘adversary’ or ‘opponent’.) Satan made the accusation to God that Job’s faith was not sincere. If Job suddenly lost his family and possessions, argued Satan, his apparent devotion to God would soon disappear (8-11). God allowed Satan to test Job by removing anything that belonged to him, but he was not to harm Job’s body (12).

In a series of calamities, Job lost first his working animals (13-15), then his sheep and shepherds (16), then his camels (17), and finally all his children (18-19). In spite of his overwhelming distress, Job’s devotion to God did not alter (20-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

RECORD OF THE CALAMITIES THAT BEFELL JOB IN ONE DAY

“And it fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, that there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them; and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain thy servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have taken them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house; and behold there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped to tell thee.”

The malignant nature of Satan appears vividly in this passage; and it is fully harmonious with all that is written elsewhere in the Holy Scriptures concerning the evil one. (1) His deception of Eve was designed to accomplish her utter destruction, and to drown all of her posterity for ages to come in oceans of blood and tears. (2) Look what happened to the herd of swine (Matthew 8:32). (3) Look what happened to Judas Iscariot. John 13:27 states that, “After the sop, Satan entered into Judas”; and before the night ended Judas was dead by his own hand. This passage in Job probably was given unto God’s people as an accurate portrayal of the deadly purpose of Satan in his activities among the sons of Adam.

THE DISASTERS THAT FELL UPON JOB

A dramatic summary of these is as follows:

• The Sabeans have fallen upon your oxen and asses, killed your servants, and carried away the herds.

• A stroke of lightning has killed all your sheep and the servants that guarded them.

• The Chaldeans have raided your camels, taken them, and murdered your servants.

• A tornado has struck the house where your children were feasting and killed them all.

“What power there is in this passage! If Shakespeare had dramatized it, what a play he would have had.”The Bible Speaks Today (Downer’s Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1976), p. 23. This outdoes the old proverb that, “When it rains, it pours.”

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

There came a great wind - Such tornadoes are not less common in Oriental countries than in the United States. Indeed they abound more in regions near the equator than they do in those which are more remote; in hot countries than in those of higher latitude.

From the wilderness - Margin, “From aside.” That is, from aside the wilderness. The word here rendered “from aside” in the margin (מדבר mı̂dbâr ) means properly “from across,” and is so rendered by Dr. Good. The word עבר ‛âbar means literally a region or country beyond, or on the other side, sc. of a river or a sea, which one must “pass;” Judges 11:18; Genesis 2:10-11; Deuteronomy 1:1, Deuteronomy 1:5. Then it means on the other side, or beyond; see the notes at Isaiah 18:1. Here it means that the tornado came sweeping across the desert. On the ample plains of Arabia it would have the opportunity of accumulating its desolating power, and would sweep everything before it. The Hebrew word here rendered “wilderness,” מדבר mı̂dbâr, does not express exactly what is denoted by our word. We mean by it usually, a region wholly uncultivated, covered with forests, and the habitation of wild beasts. The Hebrew word more properly denotes a “desert;” an uninhabited region, a sterile, sandy country, though sometimes adapted to pasture. In many places the word would be well translated by the phrases “open fields,” or “open plains;” compare Joel 2:22; Psalms 65:13; Jeremiah 23:10; Isaiah 42:11; Genesis 14:6; Genesis 16:7; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 13:18; Deuteronomy 11:24; compare Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 35:1-2.

And smote the four corners of the house - Came as a tornado usually does, or like a whirlwind. It seemed to come from all points of the compass, and prostrated everything before it.

And it fell upon the young men - The word here rendered” young men” is the same which is rendered in Job 1:15, Job 1:17, servants הנערים hana‛arı̂ym. There can be no reasonable doubt, however, that the messenger by the word here refers to the children of Job. It is remarkable that his daughters are not particularly specified, but they may be included in the word used here נערים na‛arı̂ym, which may be the same in signification as our phrase “young people,” including both sexes. So it is rendered by Etchhorn: Es sturtzo tiber den jungen Leuten zusammen.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Shall we turn now to the book of Job, chapter 1.

As we come to the book of Job, we actually enter into a new section of the Old Testament. As you know, the Old Testament is divided into different divisions. The first five books comprising what is often called the Pentateuch, the books of the law. The next several books are historic as they deal with the history of the nation of Israel from the time that they have come out of Egypt and they begin as a nation in the land. And it covers that period of history while they are in the land of Israel through the Babylonian captivity and through the repatriation and the regathering again to Israel. And the books of history take us up to about 400 B.C.

Now we are entering into a third part of the Old Testament, the books that are known as the books of poetry. And these include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. And they are Hebrew poetry. And in Hebrew poetry, it is unlike our English poetry in that Hebrew poetry does not rhyme words, but actually gives sort of parallel thoughts or contrasting thoughts. And their sense of literature and poetry is found not in the rhyming of a word or not in a meter, but in the thoughts themselves. The paralleling thoughts are the rhyming thoughts. The words don't necessarily rhyme, but there is a rhyme or parallelism within the thoughts or a contrast: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. For the righteous shall flourish, but the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous, the wicked. And so you have the contrast between the thoughts, or you have the parallel thoughts where they are building: the way of the Lord is right; the way of the Lord is true; the way of the Lord is just. And so you are giving parallel thought concepts.

So Job is the first of the books of poetry. It has been considered perhaps older than the book of Genesis. Though Genesis, of course, deals with history that predates Job, yet there is a Jobab mentioned in Genesis that is very possibly the Job of this book who lived contemporarily with Abraham. So it is possible that Job dates back as far as does Abraham, just a couple of generations away from Noah and the flood. Thus, in the book of Job, which is one of the oldest books of man's literature, the expression of the thoughts of some of the earliest men, once writing was developed and thoughts could be recorded. We find that men from the beginning have been pretty much the same. Though our cultures have changed and times have changed from Job, yet basically the same things that were a problem to Job are the same things that become a problem to us. The same needs that Job expressed are the same needs that still exists in man today.

In Job we have the picture of a man who was reduced perhaps more than any other man has ever been reduced, to just the bare essence of existence. With Job it's just raw existence. Everything that we think as necessary for life, everything that we consider to be important for our lives was stripped away from Job. His possessions, his family, his friends, his health, lost everything. He even lost the consciousness of the sense of his own worth as he began to curse the day that he was born and cry out for death.

Now, when you have lost everything, then is when is exposed the deepest longings and quest of man. You see, you're not worried about, "Where shall we go to eat after church tonight?" And this doesn't become a real major issue, a point of argument and debate. Or, "What are we going to do tomorrow on the holiday?" You see, we crowd and fill our minds with a lot of things that really aren't essential to life, because we have friends and we have many interests. And these things can become very important to us. And unfortunately, people can spend their whole lives in things that really don't matter. A whole life can be wasted in non-essentials. It isn't, "What shall we eat?" or, "Shall we eat or not?" or, "Can we eat or not?" but it becomes then the argument is, "What is the choice of what we are going to eat?" "Well, I have a taste for Mexican food." "Well, I have a taste for Italian food." "Well, I want Mexican food. I want the chips with the sauce." "Well, I want lasagna." And you call the attorney to get a divorce. Oh, how tragic that man can spend his life majoring in minors and never, never come to the real issues of life.

Now with Job, man, it was just existence. Everything was stripped away. Now just the raw person. What are the things that are expressed? What are the cries? What are the needs? They are the basic needs of man and the basic needs of life that are expressed at this point. And thus, Job becomes a very interesting book to us as we listen to the cries of Job as they deal with the deepest issues of life.

The story of Job is an interesting story, and it is one that surely does confirm what God has declared in Isaiah and Job expressed himself, and that is that the ways of God are beyond our finding out. God said through Isaiah the prophet, "My ways are not your ways, saith the Lord, My ways are beyond your finding out" ( Isaiah 55:8 ). I do not pretend to understand everything about God. In fact, I must confess that I understand very little about God. That's why I worship Him. If I could understand Him completely then He would be on my level and what would I have to worship? But because He is so much greater, vaster in wisdom and understanding and knowledge than I am, I stand in awe and reverence and I worship Him.

Now, He doesn't always do things my way. Nor does He always stop to explain to me why He did it His way. Though I sometimes demand that He does. He doesn't always even pay attention to my demands. He just seems to go ahead and do what He wants to anyhow, in spite of my objections. But I appreciate that, because I have found a long time ago that I don't know very much. I fit in the category of which Shakespeare wrote when he said, "Man, poor man, so ignorant in that which he knows best." And I find I'm so ignorant in the things I know best. And thus, I am glad to submit my life, my will to God and to His wisdom. And I am thankful that I can pray, "Lord, I don't understand what You're doing. I don't like what You're doing, but I know that what You're doing is best so just keep doing it. Not my will, Your will, Lord, be done."

The beginning of Job. It tells us a little background of him.

Job lived in the land of Uz ( Job 1:1 );

Wherever that is. But then concerning him, it said he was,

a perfect [man] and upright, and one that feared God [or reverenced God], and hated evil ( Job 1:1 ).

Job was a good man. Loving, reverencing God, hating evil.

Now he had seven sons and three daughters. Plus seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east ( Job 1:2-3 ).

A good man. A wealthy man. A man who loved God and hated evil.

And his sons ( Job 1:4 )

Seem to be partiers. So in his concern for his sons, daily he would offer sacrifices for them and say, "Lord, forgive them if in their partying they say something that is contrary or against Thee, Lord, grant them forgiveness." And he was constantly praying for his children. The background of the man.

Now we turn from this man and now we are ushered into the heavenly scenes. We are now at the throne of God and the angels are coming and presenting themselves to God. And along with the angels, here comes Satan. Now, even after Satan's fall, it seems that he had access, and thus have access to the throne of God. Why does God allow him access there? I told you I don't know everything about God and I don't know. It's a question in my mind. The Bible says he's the accuser of the brethren and he accuses them before God day and night. Now we find him in that position right here. He is accusing Job after God brings up the subject of Job. But first of all, when Satan comes in to present himself before God, God says, "Oh, where have you been?" He says, "I've been cruising around the world. Going to and fro throughout it, walking up and down." God said, "Oh?"

Have you considered my servant Job ( Job 1:8 ),

God's doing a little bragging now. He's got one down there who really loves Him. He's a perfect man. He hates evil. Praying for his children.

The word considered is the word that I'm interested in, though, because it is actually a military term. It is the term that is used of a general who is studying a city before he attacks it in order that he might develop his strategy whereby he can destroy the city. So he's watching when they open the gates, the method of which they open the gates. How do the people come out? What gates are the most easily attacked? And he's developing his whole strategy in order that he might attack and destroy the city. That's the Hebrew word, the background of the word. It's a military term. "Have you been studying Job? Seeking to develop the strategy whereby you might destroy him? Have you considered my servant Job?"

Now God's witness of Job, perfect man and upright. He loves Me; he hates evil. And Satan frighteningly declares, "Yes, I have seen that fellow. I've studied him." And not only had Satan been studying Job, but he had developed a whole philosophy concerning Job. He said, "Job has been blessed of You. Look, he's the wealthiest man in the east. He has everything anybody could ever desire or want. Job is just serving You because You've blessed him so much. Who wouldn't serve You if You blessed them like that? And You've put a hedge around him and I can't get to him." This interests me, the hedge that God puts around His children. "He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. To bear thee up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone" ( Psalms 91:11-12 ). And God has a hedge around us. Satan is complaining about that hedge. "Let me get at it. Let me at it. Let me take away his wealth and he's going to curse you to your face. Job only serves You because it pays such big dividends." So God said to Satan, "All right, I will let you at him. Only don't touch him. You can touch his possessions; don't touch him."

So it came to pass in a certain day while his children were feasting and drinking in his oldest son's house: there came a messenger to Job, and he said, Your oxen were plowing, and the asses were feeding beside them: and the Sabaeans fell upon them, and took them away; and they killed all of your servants; and I'm the only one that is left and I have come to tell you. And before he could finish his message of despair, a second servant came, and he said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and it has consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And while he was still talking, there came another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, they fell upon your camels, and have carried them away, and they've killed all of your servants with the edge of the sword; and I'm the only one that has escaped and I've come to tell you. While he was yet speaking, another came and said, Your sons and daughters while they were having this big banquet, a wind came out to the east, and it blew down the house, and they were all of them crushed to death; and their servants with them ( Job 1:13-18 ).

Wipe out. In a moment's time your wealth, your possessions, and even all of your children are taken away. What do you do? Job fell on his face there in the dirt and he blessed God.

He said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I'm going to return: the LORD has given, the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all of these things Job did not curse God, neither did he charge God foolishly ( Job 1:21-22 ).

I would like to say that I have heard many people charge God foolishly. Maybe they didn't curse God, but they've made foolish charges against God. I've heard people say, "I don't think God cares about me at all. I don't think God loves me." Those are foolish charges against God. Sometimes because of our circumstances we are prone to make foolish charges against God. But Job didn't do that. He passed test one.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. The first test 1:6-22

These verses reveal that angels ("sons of God," Job 1:6), including Satan, periodically report to God on their activities. Satan was doing then what he did in the Garden of Eden and still does today, namely, "seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). [Note: For a summary of what the Book of Job teaches about angels, see ibid., p. 232. See too Sydney H. T. Page, "Satan: God’s Servant," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:3 (September 2007):449-65.] In Eden, Satan disparaged God to Eve. Here he disparaged Job to God. [Note: Kline, p. 462.]

Satan accused God of bribing Job so he would act piously (Job 1:9-11). This charge articulates one of the main questions of this book: Why do righteous people such as Job live upright lives? Satan said Job did so because Job had learned that there is an inevitable connection between deed and state of being (i.e., godliness results in prosperity). This idea, that the relationship between God and man rests on retribution-we always reap in kind during our lifetime what we sow-is one that Job held. However, his fear (reverential trust) of God ran deeper than Satan realized.

Satan determined to prove that Job would not obey God if he got no blessing in return. He believed selfishness prompted Job’s obedience rather than love. Satan also believed that God would not get worship from Job if He stopped blessing him.

"Cynicism is the essence of the satanic. The Satan believes nothing to be genuinely good-neither Job in his disinterested piety nor God in His disinterested generosity." [Note: Andersen, p. 84. ]

Since the English word "satan" is a transliteration of the Hebrew satan, meaning adversary, it is not uncommon for writers to refer to Satan as "the Satan," namely, the ultimate adversary. Why does God allow Satan to test believers? He allowed Satan to test Job to silence Satan and to strengthen Job’s character (cf. James 1:2-18).

"The primary purpose of Job’s suffering, unknown to him, was that he should stand before men and angels as a trophy of the saving might of God . . ." [Note: Kline, p. 461.]

"From the outset, the writer reminds us that, no matter what happens in this world and in our lives, God is on the throne and has everything under control." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, "Job," in The Bible Exposition Commentary/Wisdom and Poetry, p. 11.]

The fact that the oxen were plowing (Job 1:14) indicates that these events probably happened in the winter. The Sabeans (Job 1:15) may have come from a region in southwest Arabia called Sheba or from the town of Sheba located in upper Arabia (cf. Genesis 10:7; Genesis 25:3). The Chaldeans (Job 1:17) came from Mesopotamia to the north and were at this time nomadic marauders, assuming a patriarchal period setting of the events. [Note: Kline, p. 462.]

Tearing one’s robe (Job 1:20) typically expressed great grief in the ancient Near East. It symbolized the rending of one’s heart (cf. Joel 2:13). Shaving the head (Job 1:20) evidently symbolized the loss of personal glory. When a person mourned, he or she put off all personal adornments, including what nature provided (cf. Jeremiah 7:29; Micah 1:16). Hair in the ancient world was a symbol of one’s glory (cf. 2 Samuel 14:26). Job apparently fell to the ground to worship God (Job 1:20). A mother’s womb is a figure used elsewhere to describe the earth (Job 1:21; cf. Psalms 139:15; Ecclesiastes 5:15; Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Job’s recognition of Yahweh’s sovereignty (Job 1:21) was a key to his passing his test (cf. 1 Timothy 6:7). In some respects he regarded God as an equal (cf. Job 9:33), but underneath he knew God was his sovereign. This conception of God is one that Job never lost, though many people who go through trials do.

"Job’s exclamation is the noblest expression to be found anywhere of a man’s joyful acceptance of the will of God as his only good. A man may stand before God stripped of everything that life has given him, and still lack nothing." [Note: Andersen, p. 88.]

"Anybody can say, ’The Lord gave’ or ’The Lord hath taken away’; but it takes real faith to say in the midst of sorrow and suffering, ’Blessed be the name of the Lord.’" [Note: Wiersbe, p. 12.]

Job grieved but worshipped. These two activities are not incompatible. He saw God’s hand in the events of his life. Moreover he had a proper perspective on his possessions. His faith did not relieve his agony; it caused it. Many people believe that if one has enough faith, he or she will always be happy. Job’s experience does not bear this out. We should have a deep-seated joy no matter what happens to us, knowing that we are in the Lord’s hands and that He has permitted whatever happens to us (Philippians 4:4). But we may not always be happy, namely, enjoying our circumstances.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness,.... Most probably from the wilderness of Arabia, winds from such places being generally very strong, Jeremiah 4:11 as this was, and is called a "great one", a very strong and blustering one; and being so, and because of the effects of it, and being an uncommon and extraordinary one, as what follows shows, a "behold" is prefixed to the account, exciting attention and wonder:

and smote the four corners of the house; which shows it to be an unusual wind, it blowing from all parts and on all sides; and was either a whirlwind, which whirled about this house; or Satan, with his posse of devils with him, took the advantage of the sweep of it, as it came by this house, and with all their force and strength, might and main, whirled it about it; otherwise Satan has no power to raise winds, and allay them at pleasure; God only creates them, holds them in his fists, and brings them out of his treasures; and this wind blowing from the desert, the devil and his angels took the opportunity, and with such violence whirled it about the house that it fell, as follows:

and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; not upon Job's sons only, but upon his daughters also, the word used takes in both; and Mr. Broughton renders it, "and it fell upon the young folk"; this was the sorest affliction of all, and which Satan reserved to the last, that if the others did not succeed to his wish, this might; and a very trying, grievous one it was, to lose all his children at once in such a manner, and at such a time; his children, which were parts of himself, whom he had taken so much care of in their education, who had been as olive plants about his table, and now brought up to men's and women's estates, comfortably settled in the world, and living in great peace and harmony among themselves, and not one of them left to comfort him under his other afflictions; and these taken away not by any distemper of body, which would have prepared him for the stroke, but by a violent death; and which had the appearance of the hand and judgment, wrath and vengeance of God; and while they were feasting together in mirth and gaiety, however innocent, and not in a serious frame of spirit, or having any serious turn upon their minds for death and eternity, of which they had no thought; had they been in the house of God attending religious worship, or though in their own houses, yet either in their closets praying, or else conversing about spiritual things, with one another, it would have greatly taken off of the affliction; but to be snatched into eternity at once, and in this manner, must be cutting to Job; though there is no reason to think that this was for any sin of theirs, or through any displeasure of God to them, but was permitted purely on Job's account, for the trial of his faith, patience, sincerity, and integrity; and here, as in the former instances, only one servant was spared to bring the sad tidings:

and I only am escaped alone to tell thee; so that all the servants in the house, excepting this, perished in the ruins of it, as well as Job's sons and daughters, Jeremiah 4:11- :. It is a notion of some Jewish writers, as Simeon bar Tzemach observes, that each of these messengers, as soon as they had delivered their message, died, and so all that Job had was delivered into the hands of Satan, and nothing left; but this seems contrary to Job 19:16. It may be observed that Aristeas, an Heathen writer, as quoted by Alexander Polyhistor i, another Heathen writer, gives an account of each of these calamities of Job, just in the same order in which they are here. It may be observed from all this, that no character ever so great and high can secure persons from afflictions, even grievous ones; Job had an high and honourable character given and confirmed by God himself, yet so sorely afflicted; and let men be the beloved of God, his chosen and precious, his covenant people, the redeemed of the Lamb, righteous and godly persons, the sons and heirs of God, yet neither nor all of these exempt them from afflictions; and those that befall them are many, frequent, and continued, and come from different quarters, from men good and bad, and from devils, and all by the permission and according to the will of God. And this shows us the uncertainty of all outward enjoyments, gold, silver, cattle, houses, lands, children, friends and relations, all perishing, and sometimes suddenly taken away: and it may be observed, among all Job's losses, he did not lose anything of a spiritual nature, not one spiritual blessing; though he lost all his outward mercies, yet not the God of his mercies; not his covenant interest in him, nor his share in his love, favour, and acceptance, which all still continued; he did not lose his interest in a living Redeemer; his children were all dead, but his Redeemer lived, and he knew it; he did not lose the principle of grace in him, the root of the matter was still with him; nor anyone particular grace, not his faith and confidence in God, nor his hope of eternal life, nor his love and affection to God, and desire after him; nor his patience and humility; nor his integrity, faithfulness, and honesty, which he retained and held fast; nor any of his spiritual riches, which are durable; he had riches in heaven, where thieves cannot break through and steal, a better and a more enduring substance there, an inheritance incorruptible, reserved in the heavens his conduct under all this follows.

i Apud. Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 25. p. 431.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:   14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:   15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.   16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.   17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.   18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:   19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

      We have here a particular account of Job's troubles.

      I. Satan brought them upon him on the very day that his children began their course of feasting, at their eldest brother's house (Job 1:13; Job 1:13), where, he having (we may suppose) the double portion, the entertainment was the richest and most plentiful. The whole family, no doubt, was in perfect repose, and all were easy and under no apprehension of the trouble, now when they revived this custom; and this time Satan chose, that the trouble, coming now, might be the more grievous. The night of my pleasure has he turned into fear,Isaiah 21:4.

      II. They all come upon him at once; while one messenger of evil tidings was speaking another came, and, before he had told his story, a third, and a fourth, followed immediately. Thus Satan, by the divine permission, ordered it, 1. That there might appear a more than ordinary displeasure of God against him in his troubles, and by that he might be exasperated against divine Providence, as if it were resolved, right or wrong, to ruin him, and not give him time to speak for himself. 2. That he might not have leisure to consider and recollect himself, and reason himself into a gracious submission, but might be overwhelmed and overpowered by a complication of calamities. If he have not room to pause a little, he will be apt to speak in haste, and then, if ever, he will curse his God. Note, The children of God are often in heaviness through manifold temptations; deep calls to deep; waves and billows come one upon the neck of another. Let one affliction therefore quicken and help us to prepare for another; for, how deep soever we have drunk of the bitter cup, as long as we are in this world we cannot be sure that we have drunk our share and that it will finally pass from us.

      III. They took from him all that he had, and made a full end of his enjoyments. The detail of his losses answers to the foregoing inventory of his possessions.

      1. He had 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she-asses, and a competent number of servants to attend them; and all these he lost at once, Job 1:14; Job 1:15. The account he has of this lets him know, (1.) That it was not through any carelessness of his servants; for then his resentment might have spent itself upon them: The oxen were ploughing, not playing, and the asses not suffered to stray and so taken up as waifs, but feeding beside them, under the servant's eye, each in their place; and those that passed by, we may suppose, blessed them, and said, God speed the plough. Note, All our prudence, care, and diligence, cannot secure us from affliction, no, not from those afflictions which are commonly owing to imprudence and negligence. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman, though ever so wakeful, wakes but in vain. Yet it is some comfort under a trouble if it found us in the way of our duty, and not in any by-path. (2.) That is was through the wickedness of his neighbours the Sabeans, probably a sort of robbers that lived by spoil and plunder. They carried off the oxen and asses, and slew the servants that faithfully and bravely did their best to defend them, and one only escaped, not in kindness to him or his master, but that Job might have the certain intelligence of it by an eye-witness before he heard it by a flying report, which would have brought it upon him gradually. We have no reason to suspect that either Job or his servants had given any provocation to the Sabeans to make this inroad, but Satan put it into their hearts to do it, to do it now, and so gained a double point, for he made both Job to suffer and them to sin. Note, When Satan has God's permission to do mischief he will not want mischievous men to be his instruments in doing it, for he is a spirit that works in the children of disobedience.

      2. He had 7000 sheep, and shepherds that kept them; and all those he lost at the same time by lightning, Job 1:16; Job 1:16. Job was perhaps, in his own mind, ready to reproach the Sabeans, and fly out against them for their injustice and cruelty, when the next news immediately directs him to look upwards: The fire of God has fallen from heaven. As thunder is his voice, so lightning is his fire: but this was such an extraordinary lightning, and levelled so directly against Job, that all his sheep and shepherds were not only killed, but consumed by it at once, and one shepherd only was left alive to carry the news to poor Job. The devil, aiming to make him curse God and renounce his religion, managed this part of the trial very artfully, in order thereto. (1.) His sheep, with which especially he used to honour God in sacrifice, were all taken from him, as if God were angry at his offerings and would punish him in those very things which he had employed in his service. Having misrepresented Job to God as a false servant, in pursuance of his old design to set Heaven and earth at variance, he here misrepresented God to Jacob as a hard Master, who would not protect those flocks out of which he had so many burnt-offerings. This would tempt Job to say, It is in vain to serve God. (2.) The messenger called the lightning the fire of God (and innocently enough), but perhaps Satan thereby designed to strike into his mind this thought, that God had turned to be his enemy and fought against him, which was much more grievous to him than all the insults of the Sabeans. He owned (Job 31:23; Job 31:23) that destruction from God was a terror to him. How terrible then were the tidings of this destruction, which came immediately from the hand of God! Had the fire from heaven consumed the sheep upon the altar, he might have construed it into a token of God's favour; but, the fire consuming them in the pasture, he could not but look upon it as a token of God's displeasure. There have not been the like since Sodom was burned.

      3. He had 3000 camels, and servants tending them; and he lost them all at the same time by the Chaldeans, who came in three bands, and drove them away, and slew the servants, Job 1:17; Job 1:17. If the fire of God, which fell upon Job's honest servants, who were in the way of their duty, had fallen upon the Sabean and Chaldean robbers who were doing mischief, God's judgments therein would have been like the great mountains, evident and conspicuous; but when the way of the wicked prospers, and they carry off their booty, while just and good men are suddenly cut off, God's righteousness is like the great deep, the bottom of which we cannot find, Psalms 36:6.

      4. His dearest and most valuable possessions were his ten children; and, to conclude the tragedy, news if brought him, at the same time, that they were killed and buried in the ruins of the house in which they were feasting, and all the servants that waited on them, except one that came express with the tidings of it, Job 1:18; Job 1:19. This was the greatest of Job's losses, and which could not but go nearest him; and therefore the devil reserved it for the last, that, if the other provocations failed, this might make him curse God. Our children are pieces of ourselves; it is very hard to part with them, and touches a good man in as tender a part as any. But to part with them all at once, and for them to be all cut off in a moment, who had been so many years his cares and hopes, went to the quick indeed. (1.) They all died together, and not one of them was left alive. David, though a wise and good man, was very much discomposed by the death of one son. How hard then did it bear upon poor Job who lost them all, and, in one moment, was written childless! (2.) They died suddenly. Had they been taken away by some lingering disease, he would have had notice to expect their death, and prepare for the breach; but this came upon him without giving him any warning. (3.) They died when they were feasting and making merry. Had they died suddenly when they were praying, he might the better have borne it. He would have hoped that death had found them in a good frame if their blood had been mingled with their feast, where he himself used to be jealous of them that they had sinned, and cursed God in their hearts--to have that day come upon them unawares, like a thief in the night, when perhaps their heads were overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness--this could not but add much to his grief, considering what a tender concern he always had for his children's souls, and that they were now out of the reach of the sacrifices he used to offer according to the number of them all. See how all things come alike to all. Job's children were constantly prayed for by their father, and lived in love one with another, and yet came to this untimely end. (4.) They died by a wind of the devil's raising, who is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), but it was looked upon to be an immediate hand of God, and a token of his wrath. So Bildad construed it (Job 8:4; Job 8:4): Thy children have sinned against him, and he has cast them away in their transgression. (5.) They were taken away when he had most need of them to comfort him under all his other losses. Such miserable comforters are all creatures. In God only we have a present help at all times.