If you haven’t done the reading for today, Job 38-42, please do! These passages in Job, words from God are some of the most riveting in all of Scripture!

The young friend, Elihu, tells of God’s greatness and power and sets the stage for God to speak to Job.

God responds to Job's earlier statements from Chapter 31 when Job refutes all the charges brought against him from his "friends".  It's as if Job states his case as a lawyer in a courtroom and then makes his closing statements to the judge.

Job 31:35
"...I sign now my defense - let the Almighty answer me;..."

And so the Almighty responds and answers Job's closing arguments. God asks Job such things as:

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?…Have you given   orders to the morning?…Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?…Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens?…Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?…Do you give the horse his strength?…Does the eagle soar at your command?…”

In answer to God’s questions, Job says that he is unworthy to even reply. It is very remarkable that the Hebrew word picture for the word miracle is “shuts the mouth because it is so great”. Job is answering God that he is so unworthy in the face of the awesomeness of God that he covers his mouth. Amazing! 

Then God speaks again and tells Job about some remarkable animals that He has created. Read about the behemoth and the leviathan and see what you think they are.  The description in Job 41 sounds an awfully lot like a dragon.

Job 42:5
My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.

Job was allowed to see God the Son. 

Job 42:10
After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.

God gave Job twice as much as he had in the beginning. Let’s review what Job had at the beginning.

Job 1:2-3
He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

Job 42:12-13
The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters.

Why didn’t God double his sons and daughters and give him double the children like He did the animals – and give him fourteen sons and six daughters? Or did He???

Remember what Job regularly did for his children?

Job 1:5
When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.

Did we tell you that the book of Job is filled with “jewels”? This is one of them. It is a key statement concerning eternal life for Job’s children. One day when Job is reunited with his children, he will have fourteen sons and six daughters. 

Job 42:16-17
After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their  children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.

Was Job given double the lifespan too? In light of all the things that happened in Job’s life, the phrase “full of years” seems a bit of an understatement!

Every time we read the book of Job, we are always reluctant to say good-bye. This time is no different.  And so we say farewell to Job, until we meet again.