to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
rent
וַיִּקְרַ֣עvai.yik.Ra'
H7167
to rend · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
mantle
מְעִל֔וֹme.'i.Lo
H4598
a robe (i.e. upper and outer garment) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
shaved
וַיָּ֖גָזvai.Ya.goz
H1494
to cut off · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
head
רֹאשׁ֑וֹro.Sho
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
down
וַיִּפֹּ֥לvai.yi.Pol
H5307
to fall · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
ground
אַ֖רְצָה'Ar.tzah
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute + directional suffix
worshipped
וַיִּשְׁתָּֽחוּvai.yish.Ta.chu
H7812
to depress · conjunction + verb, sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
2 Samuel 12:16-20 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
Genesis 37:34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Genesis 37:29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
Ezra 9:3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
Deuteronomy 9:18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your…
Matthew 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: neverthel…
2 Chronicles 7:3 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their f…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 1:20–end
The devil had done all he desired leave to do against Job, to provoke him to curse God. He had touched all he had, touched it with a witness; he whom the rising sun saw the richest of all the men in the east was before night poor to a proverb. If his riches had been, as Satan insinuated, the only principle of his religion now that he had lost his riches he would certainly have lost his religion; but the account we have, in these verses, of his pious deportment under his affliction, sufficiently proved the devil a liar and Job an honest man.
I. He conducted himself like a man under his afflictions, not stupid and senseless, like a stock or stone, not unnatural and unaffected at the death of h…
Job arose--not necessarily from sitting. Inward excitement is implied, and the beginning to do anything. He had heard the other messages calmly, but on hearing of the death of his children, then he arose; or, as EICHORN translates, he started up (Sa2 13:31). The rending of the mantle was the conventional mark of deep grief (Gen 37:34). Orientals wear a tunic or shirt, and loose pantaloons; and over these a flowing mantle (especially great persons and women). Shaving the head was also usual in grief (Jer 41:5; Mic 1:16).
John Gill on Job 1:20
Then Job arose,.... Either from table, being at dinner, as some think, in his own house; it being the time that his children were feasting in their eldest brother's house; or from the business in which he was employed, which he stopped on hearing this news; or from his seat, or chair of state in which he sat; or rather the phrase only signifies, that he at once, with strength of body, and rigour of mind, which were not lost, as often they are in such cases, went about the following things with great composure and sedateness. It is indeed generally observed, that there is an emphasis to be put on the word "then", which may be as well rendered "and", as if Job sat and heard very sedately, with…
The text means that Job was not covered with crimes and evil deeds and would have returned "naked," that is, pure and innocent to "his mother's womb." He was so firm in his holy frankness that you may easily imagine he had never turned aside from righteousness nor would have ever passed from virtue to vice in the future.
Do not believe, dear brothers, that Job's gesture indicates a defeat. It is, above all, a sign of victory. Indeed, if he had done nothing, he would have appeared to be insensitive. Job actually demonstrates himself to be altogether wise, fatherly and pious. What damage did he suffer? He grieves not only for the loss of his children and his cattle but also for the way they died. Who would have not been shattered by such events? Which man of steel would have not been affected? Paul himself often expressed his tearful reaction to events, "What are you doing weeping and breaking my heart?" We should admire Paul's response. In the same way, Job also deserves to be admired because, in spite of the emotion that pushed him to make that moving gesture, he does not speak a single inappropriate word.
Be perfectly assured of this, that though the reasons for what is ordained by God are beyond us, yet always what is arranged for us by him who is wise and who loves us is to be accepted, be it ever so grievous to endure. He himself knows how he is appointing what is best for each and why the terms of life that he fixes for us are unequal. There exists some reason incomprehensible to us why some are sooner carried far away from us, and some are left a longer while behind to bear the burdens of this painful life. So we should always adore his lovingkindness and not express discontent, remembering those great and famous words of the great athlete Job, when he had seen ten children at one table, in one short moment, crushed to death, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away." As the Lord thought good so it came to pass. Let us adopt those marvelous words. At the hands of the righteous Judge, those who demonstrate similar good deeds shall receive a similar reward. We have not lost the boy; we have restored him to the Lender. His life is not destroyed; it is changed for the better. He whom we love is not hidden in the ground; he is received into heaven. Let us wait a little while, and we shall be once more with him. The time of our separation is not long, for in this life we are all like travelers on a journey, hurrying on to the same shelter. While one has reached his rest, another arrives, another hurries on, but one and the same end awaits them all. He has outstripped us on the way, but we shall all travel the same road, and the same hostel awaits us all.
Dictionary and topics
Apparel — In Old Testament times the distinction between male and female attire was not very marked. The statute forbidding men to wear female apparel (Deut. 22:5) referred especially to ornaments and…
Cloak — An upper garment, “an exterior tunic, wide and long, reaching to the ankles, but without sleeves” (Isa. 59:17). The word so rendered is elsewhere rendered “robe” or “mantle.” It was worn by the high…
Mantle — (1.) Heb. ‘addereth, a large over-garment. This word is used of Elijah’s mantle (1 Kings 19:13, 19; 2 Kings 2:8, 13, etc.), which was probably a sheepskin. It appears to have been his only garment, a…
Mourn — Frequent references are found in Scripture to, (1.) Mourning for the dead. Abraham mourned for Sarah (Gen. 23:2); Jacob for Joseph (37:34, 35); the Egyptians for Jacob (50:3-10); Israel for Aaron…
Mourning — One marked feature of Oriental mourning is what may be called its studies publicity and the careful observance of the prescribed ceremonies. (Genesis 23:2; Job 1:20; 2:12)
Afflicted Saints · Examples of afflicted Saints:: Job — Examples of afflicted Saints:: Job
Bereavement · RESIGNATION IN — RESIGNATION IN
Children · Resignation manifested at loss of — Resignation manifested at loss of
Dress · .Mantle — .Mantle
Head · In grief: Shorn — In grief: Shorn
Job · .Fortitu — .Fortitu
Mantle · Ripped as a token of grief — Ripped as a token of grief
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 1:20-21
The Conduct of Job:
20, 21 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah.
The first three messengers Job has heard, sitting, and in silence; but at the news of the death of his children, brought by the fourth, he can no longer overcome his grief. The intensity of his feeling is indicated by rising up (cf. Jon 3:6); his torn heart, by the rending of his mantle; the conscious loss of his dearest ones, by cutting off the hair of his head. He does not, however, act like one in despair…
Job tore his robe and shaved his head; both were common Near East rituals that demonstrated grief. These actions sometimes substituted for self-mutilation as a physical response to shock, horror, or bad news (2:12; Gen 37:29, 34; Judg 11:35; Jer 16:6; Ezek 7:18; Amos 8:10). • He fell to the ground, not to wail in despair, but to worship in hope (1 Pet 5:6).
Rashi on Job 1:20
tore Heb. ויגז, tore out, as in (Jer. 7:29), “Tear out (גזי) your hair for your great men,” which Jonathan renders: תלישה tear out, and like (Ps. 71:6) “From my mother’s womb You pull me (גוזי),” pull me.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Rending · .Of garments, an outward sign of affliction — .Of garments, an outward sign of affliction
Resignation · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
