VII. The Epilogue (42:7-17)
42:7 After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he 8 said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up 9 against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, 10 as my servant Job has. 42:8 So now take 11 seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede 12 for you, and I will respect him, 13 so that I do not deal with you 14 according to your folly, 15 because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.” 16
1 tn The apodosis is not expressed; it would be understood as “good.” It is not stated because of the intensity of the expression (the figure is aposiopesis, a sudden silence). It is also possible to take this first clause as a desire and not a conditional clause, rendering it “Oh that you would forgive!”
2 tn The word “wipe” is a figure of speech indicating “remove me” (meaning he wants to die). The translation “blot” is traditional, but not very satisfactory, since it does not convey complete removal.
3 sn The book that is referred to here should not be interpreted as the NT “book of life” which is portrayed (figuratively) as a register of all the names of the saints who are redeemed and will inherit eternal life. Here it refers to the names of those who are living and serving in this life, whose names, it was imagined, were on the roster in the heavenly courts as belonging to the chosen. Moses would rather die than live if these people are not forgiven (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 356).
4 tn Heb “took.”
5 tn Or “had spoken” (NASB); NRSV “had ordered.”
6 tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.
7 sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.
8 tn Heb “the
9 tn Heb “is kindled.”
10 tn The form נְכוֹנָה (nÿkhonah) is from כּוּן (kun, “to be firm; to be fixed; to be established”). Here it means “the right thing” or “truth.” The Akkadian word kenu (from כּוּן, kun) connotes justice and truth.
11 tn The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.
12 tn The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל (palal). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”
13 tn Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”
14 tn This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.
15 tn The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.
16 sn The difference between what they said and what Job said, therefore, has to do with truth. Job was honest, spoke the truth, poured out his complaints, but never blasphemed God. For his words God said he told the truth. He did so with incomplete understanding, and with all the impatience and frustration one might expect. Now the friends, however, did not tell what was right about God. They were not honest; rather, they were self-righteous and condescending. They were saying what they thought should be said, but it was wrong.
17 tn Or “For I would pray.” The implied condition is “if this could save my fellow Jews.”
18 tn Grk “brothers.” See BDAG 18-19 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.b.
19 tn Grk “my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
20 tn Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.
21 sn A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.
22 tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”