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Job's Wealth and Piety
v. 1. There was a man in the land of Uz, in Northern Arabia, toward the Euphrates, whose name was Job, generally considered a descendant of Aram, Gen_22:21, and therefore related to the patriarchs, although very distantly; and that man was perfect and upright, his moral integrity and blamelessness resulting in the true righteousness of life, and one that feared God and eschewed evil, his heart being disposed in the right manner toward God and everything good, and therefore also filled with loving regard for all men. Job seems to have been an emir, or chief, of the country, both on account of his wealth and on account of his ability as leader.
v. 2. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters, a great blessing of God; for children, according to Scriptures, are special gifts of His kindness, Psalms 127, 128.
v. 3. His substance also, that is, his possessions, his wealth, was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household, very many servants, these being needed to maintain an establishment of such princely magnitude, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East, he outranked in wealth and power all the inhabitants of this section of Arabia.
v. 4. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, everyone his day, they observed the custom of celebrating the several birthdays in the family, or some other special holidays, with banquets connected with wine drinking; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them, for the sons had establishments of their own, while the unmarried sisters lived at home with their mother. These invitations were regularly issued and as regularly accepted.
v. 5. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, when the annual period of these festivals had come to a close, when everyone of the brothers had arranged and celebrated his feast, that Job sent and sanctified them, to atone for probable transgressions by sacrifices of purification, and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all, Job himself officiating as priest of the congregation of his family and making his offering at a time when the hearts would be most inclined to quiet contemplation; for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, forgetting the careful watch over every single word and act which quiet sobriety demands, and cursed God in their hearts, renouncing or forgetting Him and His fear, as they abandoned themselves to their pleasure. Thus did Job continually, he was wont to do that as often as occasion demanded, every year. Job is an example of a pious father, who fears God and brings up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, who also patiently corrects their faults and guides them in the paths of righteousness.