There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Ver. 1. There was a man] A notable man, a man by an excellency, and with an accent (as it were), a man of high degree (Animo virili praeditus), as the word Ish signifieth, Psalms 49:2; Psalms 62:9 (where it is opposed to Adam, utpote quem ex meliore luto finxit Titan), a manly man, every way excellent and eximious: Magnus et admirabilis vir, &c. A great and marvellous man, if it be fit to call him by the name of a man, as Chrysostom speaketh of Babylas the martyr. Basil, in his sermon of the forty martyrs, calleth them the stars of the world, and the flowers of the Churches, αστερας της οικουμενης, ανθη των εκκλησιων. Chrysostom, speaking of those that were praying for Peter, Acts 12:12, saith that Puriores caelo afflictione facti sunt, by their afflictions they were become clearer than the azured sky; and elsewhere, falling into speech of some religious men of his time, he doubteth not, for their holy and heavenly conversation, to style them Aγγελους, angels. That Job deserved this high title, as well as the best of them, we have here, and otherwise, God's own testimony of him, and this whole Book, whereof he is the principal object, doth abundantly prove him a hero, Daemonium hominis et miraculum naturae, ut de Scaligero non nemo dixit, a supernatural man and of miraculous nature so that anyone said concerning Scaliger. τρισμακαρες τε κασιγνητοι τε, κασιγνηται τε (Hem. Odys.).
In the land of Uz] Which, what it was, and where situated, though our maps show us not, yet, by the consent of all, it was a country bordering upon Idumea in part, and part upon Arabia. See Lam 4:21 Jeremiah 25:20. Chrysostom testifieth that Job's sepulchre hath been showed in Arabia; which might well have been called happy, if but for having such an inhabitant. Ptolemy placeth the Hussites in Arabia.
Whose name was Job] It is, then, a true and real history that we here have of him, and not a fiction or a moral parable, as some have believed. See a double testimony for this, the one prophetical, Ezekiel 14:14, the other apostolical, James 5:11, and such a well twined cord is not easily broken. What if Josephus make no mention in his history of such a man? it was beside his purpose to write anything but what concerned the Jews. Aristeus in his History of the Jews maketh Job to be descended of Esau, and to dwell in Idumea. The Jewish doctors and some of the fathers of the Church make him to be that Jobab mentioned Genesis 36:33. True it is that the words differ much in the Hebrew writing; but for that, while he prospered, he might be called Jobab; when in distress (which lasted twelve months, say the Hebrews, seven years, saith Suidas) contracted into Job. See the like Rth 1:20 Genesis 17:5. Some make him to be much more ancient, viz. the same with that Jobab who was the son of Joktan, the nephew of Eber, 1 Chronicles 1:25,26, and that himself was penman of this Book. He doth indeed wish that his words were written in a book; and haply he and his friends, laying their heads together, might write this history; and that in hexameters for most part, as Jerome thinketh. But that it was by inspiration of God is testified not only by the divine grandeur and majesty of the style, together with the intrinsical excellency and efficacy of the matter, but also by the concurrent testimony of not a few other Scriptures, sufficiently asserting the authenticity and authority of this Book. The common opinion is that it was written by Moses, while he abode as a stranger among the Midianites, for the comfort of his poor countrymen, groaning under the Egyptian servitude; or else, that this history, written at first by Job and his friends in prose, was afterwards by Moses put into verse, and embellished with the most rich ornaments, and the most glittering figures of poetry. Sure it is, saith Senault (Preface to his Paraphrase), that there is no book in the world where the manner of speaking is more noble, the conceits more generous, the descriptions more rich, and the comparisons more natural. Sometimes the author reasoneth like an excellent philosopher, oftentimes like a profound divine; but always like an orator, and his eloquence never leaveth him.
And that man was perfect] That is, upright (as it followeth next) and sincere, without guile or gall, a pattern of patience, a standing rule to all ages; and therefore (in God's acceptation and account) "perfect and entire, wanting nothing," James 1:4, because in him patience had her perfect work, as much as mortality would afford, Tamim de victimis perfectis et immaculatis dicitur. The upright, it is said concerning perfect and spotless victim. It was but an unsavoury speech of him, who when he was persuaded to be patient as Job was, replied, What tell you me of Job? Job never had any suits in Chancery. No, but he had far sharper trials; and if he had been judge in that court (as he was in his own country, Job 29:12; Job 29:17) he would have made as good despatch there as ever Sir Thomas More did, who calling once for the next cause, was answered, that there Was none.
And upright] More resembling Jacob, that plain hearted man, than Esau, his great grandfather. Of the word here used (Jesher) Israel was called Jeshurun, Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 33:5; Deu 33:26 Isaiah 44:2, because God requireth uprightness (which he calleth perfection, Deuteronomy 18:13, and there is a great Tau in the word Tamim, Hebrew Text Note to show that an upright man keepeth the whole law from the first to the last letter thereof), and where he findeth it, reckoneth Jether, an Ishmaelite, 1 Chronicles 7:38, to be a very good Israelite, 2 Samuel 17:25, and Job, the Idumean, a very good Christian; such a one as Apelles was, Romans 16:10, approved in Christ (Buxtorf).
And one that feared God] With an amicable, not servile, fear, such as was that of those mongrels who feared him for his lions, and are therefore said not to have feared him, 2 Kings 17:32,34. Job so lived with men as if God saw him, and so spake with God as if men overheard him Sic vive cum hominibus, tanquam Deus videat. Sic loquere cum Deo, &c. So live with men just as to see God. so to speak with God … (Sen.). Thence it was that seldom or never did any man see him doing or hear him speaking but what was good and godly, as Xenophon saith of Socrates; thence it was that be never did well that he might appear to do so, sed quia aliter facere non potuit (as Velleius saith of Cato), but because, acting by this principle of God's fear, he could not do otherwise: for the fear of the Lord is pure, Psalms 19:9, and men do perfect holiness in the fear of God, 2 Corinthians 7:1 .
And eschewed evil] He must needs do so that feareth God, the greatest good, since sin is the greatest evil, and stands in full opposition to him. Job, therefore, stands in awe, and sins not, he studiously declines evil, as he would do a serpent in his way, or poison in his food. And this he did, not in a land of uprightness, where the fear of God was in fashion; but among profane Esauites, in the midst of a crooked and corrupt generation, as Noah in the old world, Lot in Sodom, Joseph in Egypt, Elijah amidst the Baalites, or as an orient star shining with fulness of heavenly light, and fixed in the region of happiness, though seen sometimes in a well, in a puddle, in a stinking ditch.