Job 5:25

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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?

Benson Commentary

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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:17-27 Eliphaz gives to Job a word of caution and exhortation: Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the Father's love, and is for the child's good; and notice it as a messenger from Heaven. Eliphaz also encourages Job to submit to his condition. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for he has not lost his enjoyment of God, nor his title to heaven; nay, he is happy because he is afflicted. Correction mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees. Though God wounds, yet he supports his people under afflictions, and in due time delivers them. Making a wound is sometimes part of a cure. Eliphaz gives Job precious promises of what God would do for him, if he humbled himself. Whatever troubles good men may be in, they shall do them no real harm. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of trouble. And if the servants of Christ are not delivered from outward troubles, they are delivered by them, and while overcome by one trouble, they conquer all. Whatever is maliciously said against them shall not hurt them. They shall have wisdom and grace to manage their concerns. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin. They shall finish their course with joy and honour. That man lives long enough who has done his work, and is fit for another world. It is a mercy to die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand any longer. Our times are in God's hands; it is well they are so. Believers are not to expect great wealth, long life, or to be free from trials. But all will be ordered for the best. And remark from Job's history, that steadiness of mind and heart under trial, is one of the highest attainments of faith. There is little exercise for faith when all things go well. But if God raises a storm, permits the enemy to send wave after wave, and seemingly stands aloof from our prayers, then, still to hang on and trust God, when we cannot trace him, this is the patience of the saints. Blessed Saviour! how sweet it is to look unto thee, the Author and Finisher of faith, in such moments!

Barnes' Notes on the 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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. as the grass—(Ps 72:16). Properly, "herb-bearing seed" (Ge 1:11, 12).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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" (n), 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.

(n) "multum", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Mercerus, Piscator, Schmidt, Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. Another much-desired joy he shall feel that God has given him, a numerous offspring.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great. Little by little Eliphaz passes from a general description of the blessedness of those faithful ones who "despise not the chastening of the Almighty" (ver. 17) to a series of allusions which seem specially to touch Job's case. Without claiming prophetical inspiration, he ventures to promise him in the future "the exact reverse of all that he had experienced" in the past - "a safe home, flocks untouched, a happy and prosperous family, a peaceful old age" (Cook). The promises may have sounded in Job's ears as "a mockery" (ibid.); but it is creditable to the sagacity of Eliphaz that he ventured to make them. And thine offspring as the grass of the earth. The ordinary symbols for multitudinous-ness - the sand of the sea, and the stars of heaven - are here superseded by an entirely new one, "the grass of the earth." Undoubtedly it is equally appropriate, and perhaps more natural in a pastoral community. Job 5:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh,

And from the beasts of the earth thou hast nothing to fear.

23 For thou art in league with the stones of the field,

And the beasts of the field are at peace with thee.

24 And thou knowest that peace is thy pavilion;

And thou searchest thy household, and findest nothing wanting.

25 Thou knowest also that thy seed shall be numerous,

And thy offspring as the herb of the ground.

26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a ripe age,

As shocks of corn are brought in in their season.

27 Lo! this we have searched out, so it is:

Hear it, and give thou heed to it.

The verb שׂחק is construed (Job 5:22) with ל of that which is despised, as Job 39:7, Job 39:18; Job 41:21 [Hebr.]. על־תּירא is the form of subjective negation [vid. Ges. 152, 1: Tr.]: only fear thou not equals thou hast no occasion. In Job 5:23, בּריתך is the shortest substantive form for לך בּרית. The whole of nature will be at peace with thee: the stones of the field, that they do not injure the fertility of thy fields; the wild beasts of the field, that they do not hurt thee and thy herds. The same promise that Hosea (Hosea 2:20) utters in reference to the last days is here used individually. From this we see how deeply the Chokma had searched into the history of Paradise and the Fall. Since man, the appointed lord of the earth, has been tempted by a reptile, and has fallen by a tree, his relation to nature, and its relation to him, has been reversed: it is an incongruity, which is again as a whole put right (שׁלום), as the false relation of man to God is put right. In Job 5:24, שׁלום (which might also be adj.) is predicate: thou wilt learn (וידעתּ, praet. consec. with accented ultima, as e.g., Deuteronomy 4:39, here with Tiphcha initiale s. anterius, which does not indicate the grammatical tone-syllable) that thy tent is peace, i.e., in a condition of contentment and peace on all sides. Job 5:24 is to be arranged: And when thou examinest thy household, then thou lackest nothing, goest not astray, i.e., thou findest everything, without missing anything, in the place where thou seekest it.

Job 5:25 reminds one of the Salomonic Psalm 72:16. צאצאים in the Old Testament is found only in Isaiah and the book of Job. The meaning of the noun כּלח, which occurs only here and Job 30:2, is clear. Referring to the verb כּלח, Arabic qahila (qalhama), to be shrivelled up, very aged, it signifies the maturity of old age, - an idea which may be gained more easily if we connect כּלח with כּלה (to be completed), like קשׁח with קשׁה (to be hard).

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