Matthew Henry on Job 1:13-19
We have here a particular account of Job's troubles.
I. Satan brought them upon him on the very day that his children began their course of feasting, at their eldest brother's house (Job 1:13), where, he having (we may suppose) the double portion, the entertainment was the richest and most plentiful. The whole family, no doubt, was in perfect repose, and all were easy and under no apprehension of the trouble, now when they revived this custom; and this time Satan chose, that the trouble, coming now, might be the more grievous. The night of my pleasure has he turned into fear, Isa 21:4.
II. They all come upon him at once; while one messenger of evil tidings was speaking another came, and, bef…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 1:19
a great wind from the wilderness--south of Job's house. The tornado came the more violently over the desert, being uninterrupted (Isa 21:1; Hos 13:15).
the young men--rather, "the young people"; including the daughters (so in Rut 2:21).
John Gill on Job 1:19
And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness,.... Most probably from the wilderness of Arabia, winds from such places being generally very strong, Jeremiah 4:11 as this was, and is called a "great one", a very strong and blustering one; and being so, and because of the effects of it, and being an uncommon and extraordinary one, as what follows shows, a "behold" is prefixed to the account, exciting attention and wonder:
and smote the four corners of the house; which shows it to be an unusual wind, it blowing from all parts and on all sides; and was either a whirlwind, which whirled about this house; or Satan, with his posse of devils with him, took the advantage of the sweep of i…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Job 1:18-19
The Fourth Messenger:
18 While he was yet speaking, another also came, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: and, behold, a great wind came across from the desert, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Instead of עוד, we have עד here: the former denotes continuity in time, the latter continuity in space, and they may be interchanged. עד in the signif. "while" is here construed with the participle, as Neh 7:3; comp. other constructions, Job 8:21; Sa1 14:19; Jon 4:2. "From the other side of the desert" is equivalent to, from its farthe…
