Job 42 Wycliffe Bible (1395) Meaning & Chapter Analysis

The Sight of the Eye and the Restoration of the Son

Job responds to the Lord’s final speech with a "important surrender of the intellect," admitting that God can do all things and no purpose of His can be thwarted. He confesses that he has spoken of "things too wonderful" for him to know and that he had previously only "heard of God by the hearing of the ear," but now his "eye has seen Him." Therefore, Job "despises his own presumption" and "repents in dust and ashes." This is the "climax of the inner journey": the "vision of the Person" has "dissolved the problem of the pain." Job is not "answered with a reason," but he is "satisfied by a Presence."

The Lord then turns His wrath toward Eliphaz and his two friends, declaring that they have "not spoken the truth about Him" as Job has. In a "final, ironic restoration of the dignity," God commands the "wise men" to bring sacrifices to Job, so that "Job might pray for them." The "outcast" becomes the "priest" for those who "condemned him." After Job "prays for his friends," the Lord "restores his fortunes" and gives him "twice as much as he had before." His brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances return to eat with him, and he is blessed with new children and a "life that dies full of years."

This chapter traces the "triumph of the honest faith," where Job’s "protest" is "vindicated as truth" because it was "addressed to the Throne" rather than "spoken about the Throne." It reveals that "Repentance" is the "natural response to the Glory," a "letting go of the demand for the explanation" in favor of the "Joy of the Relationship." The "Praying for the Friends" is the "final proof of the transformation," showing that the "Healed Sufferer" is the one who "holds the keys to the mercy" for the "Accuser." Job’s "Twice as Much" is not a "payment for his service," but a "sign of the King’s abundance."

The "Sight of the God" that silenced Job was fully and finaly granted to us in Jesus Christ, the "image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). While Job "repented in dust," Christ "entered into our dust" to "raise us to the Seat of the Glory" (Ephesians 2:6). This chapter teaches us that "our end" is "not the ash heap," but the "Restoration of all things" in the "New Creation" (Revelation 21:5). We are invited to "pray for those who have misunderstood our trial," trusting that the "God of the Whirlwind" is also the "God of the Peace." Our "Twice as Much" is the "Fullness of the Spirit" and the "certainty of the Eternal Home." We are people who "see the Face" and "live for the Praise."