And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
Ver. 14. And there came a messenger] A sad relater, not a devil in the shape of a man, as the Rabbis would have it (let that pass for a Jewish fable), but one of Job's own servants, or some other eye witness, to make Job believe, belike, that, as an evil man, he only sought rebellion, since such cruel messengers were sent against him, Proverbs 17:11 .
The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding, &c.] i.e. We were none of us either idle, or ill-occupied; but taking pains, and tending our cattle, when this disaster befell us. "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted," Psalms 107:17; they create themselves crosses, such as must therefore needs come with a sting in them, see Genesis 42:21. But Job's servants were honestly employed when plundered and assassinated; which showeth that his losses were not penal, but probational.
And the asses feeding beside them] Peter Martyr, upon the First of Samuel, wittily applieth this text to prelates and non-residents; who, when put in mind of their duty, would usually answer, that they had substitutes and curates to do their business for them, Ita labor aliorum est, et proventus ipsorum; so that others took the pains, and they the profit, saith he, and as it is in the Book of Job, The oxen plow, and the asses feed beside them.