Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Thine offspring as the grass - Thou shalt have a numerous and permanent issue.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great - Margin, “much.” That is, thy posterity shall be numerous. This was one of the blessings supposed to be connected with the favor of God; see the notes at Isaiah 53:10.

And thine offspring as the grass of the earth - On the meaning of the word here rendered offspring, see the notes at Isaiah 48:19. Nothing is more common in the Scriptures, than to compare a prosperous and a happy man to a green and flourishing tree; see Psalm 1:3; Psalm 92:12-14. The idea here is, that the righteous would have a numerous and a happy posterity, and that the divine favor to them would bc shown by the blessing of God on their children; compare Psalm 128:1, Psalm 128:3.

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord,

That walketh in his ways.

Thy wife shall be a fruitful vine by the side of thine house;

Thy children like olive-plants round about thy table.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great,.... Not his seed sown in the earth, and the increase of that, but his children, as the next clause explains it, as Bar Tzemach well observes; and designs either their greatness in worldly things, in wealth and riches, in honour and dignity, in power and authority, or else their numbers; for the word may be rendered "much" or "many"^F14רב "multum", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Mercerus, Piscator, Schmidt, Michaelis. , a multitude of children being reckoned a great temporal blessing; but this seems rather intended in the following words:

and thine offspring as the grass of the earth; as numerous as the spires of grass, which can no more be told than the stars of the heavens, or the sand of the sea, by which the same thing, a numerous progeny, is sometimes illustrated: this is to be understood not of his immediate offspring, but his descendants in successive ages and generations, and which should be as beautiful as the grass of the earth when in its verdure; pointing at the comeliness of their persons, their honour and dignity raised unto, the largeness of their substance, the greatness of their prosperity, and flourishing circumstances they should be in; though it may also denote the original of them, amidst all, being of the earth and earthy, and their frailty and fading condition; for which reason all flesh is said to be as grass, and men are frequently compared unto it, see Psalm 90:5.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

as the grass — (Psalm 72:16). Properly, “herb-bearing seed” (Genesis 1:11, Genesis 1:12).

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

Know — By assurance from God's promises, and the impressions of his Spirit; and by experience in due time.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Job 5:25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed [shall be] great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

Ver. 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great] Thou shalt live to see thy children (whereof thou art now bereft) not only restored, but increased. Children are the seed, parents are but the husk, as it were: to have these multiplied is no small mercy, Psalms 128:3, especially when the wife is as the vine, and the children like olive plants, two of the best fruits, the one for sweetness, the other for fatness, 9:13; when they prove to be as arrows of a strong man, such as whose natural knottiness is reformed and smoothed by grace, such as for the workmanship of grace and holiness in their hearts and lives are become like the graving of a king’s palace, Psalms 144:12. What can better preserve Jacob (Job) from confusion, or his face from waxing pale, than if he might see his children, the work of God’s hands, framed and fitted by the word in regeneration, and the duties of new obedience? this would make religious parents to sanctify God’s name, even to sanctify the Holy One, and with singular encouragement from the God of Israel, Isaiah 29:22-23.

And thine offspring as the grass of the earth] Thy nephews shall be not only numerous, but innumerable, they shall also flourish, as grass in its prime.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Thou shalt know; partly by assurance from God’s promises, and the impressions of his Spirit; and partly by experience in due time.

Thy seed shall be great; thy posterity, which God will give thee instead of those which thou hast lost, shall be high, and honourable, and powerful. Or, shall be many.

Thine offspring; which shall come out of thy own loins as branches out of a tree, as the word signifies. And this word seems added to the former to restrain and explain it, by showing that he did not speak of his spiritual seed, as Abraham’s seed is in part understood, but of the fruit of his own body. As the grass of the earth; both for its plentiful increase, and for its flourishing greenness.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

Job 5:25. Thou shalt know — By assurance from God’s promises, the impressions of his Spirit, and by experience, in due time, that thy seed shall be great — Thy posterity, which God shall give thee, instead of those whom thou hast lost, shall be high, and honourable, and powerful: or, shall be many, as רב, rab, often signifies. And thine offspring — The fruit of thy body; (for he speaks of his natural, not of his spiritual seed, as Abraham’s seed is in part to be understood;) as the grass of the earth —

Both for its plentiful increase, and for its flourishing greenness.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

great = many.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

As the grass. "They of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth" (Psalms 72:16). Properly, herb-bearing seed (Genesis 1:11-12).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) Great.—The word means also numerous, which seems to suit the parallelism better here. The whole description is a very beautiful and poetical one of the perfect security of faith, though it is to a certain extent vitiated by its want of strict correspondence with facts, of which the very case of Job was a crucial instance. This was the special problem with which his friends had to deal, and which proved too hard for them. May we not learn that the problem is one that can only be solved in practice and not in theory?

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

thy seed

42:13-16; Genesis 15:5; Leviticus 26:9; Deuteronomy 28:4; Psalms 112:2; 127:3-5; 128:3-6

great

or, much. as the grass.

Psalms 72:16