Job 29:21 Commentary and Bible Study

Job vividly recalls the way that he was respected in the past; he almost savours the experience of it. He can just see the way in which his fellow men treated him with such reverence that they kept silent before him when he gave his counsel and none would dare to interrupt him, or even add to what he had said. They considered it their privilege to have him focus on their affairs, and they valued his advice so highly that they knew he would get to the heart of the issue and give advice that was safe and wise and consistent with God’s truth. He could see more clearly than they could see, and although he had perhaps only recently considered their case for the first time, such was his great experience that he would have deeper insight into the right course of action in that brief time than in all the hours and days of fretting that they had spent. No one added to what he said or corrected anything. If they did not understand all that he said, they went away and thought about it, certain that his wisdom exceeded their own. His words had done them good so that they were refreshed like a plant living beside a river and gently refreshed by the rising dew. His fellow men had an expectation that his words would restore them and as a farmer waits for the rains knowing how vital they are for the growth of his crops, so men valued Job’s speech. They were not slow to acknowledge the benefit they derived from him because no one could deny that it was real.Verse 24 is translated in various ways which result in very different meanings. Some understand Job to say that his smile restored cheerfulness and confidence to those who lacked it, and he did nothing to cast them down into despondency. Others see this as a further description of the awe in which he was held and make him to say that if he did smile on any, they could scarcely believe that the great Job had looked on them and taken personal notice of them. Others (KJV) understand this as mocking laughter and believe Job to say that such was his reputation that if he had mockingly laughed on them, they would not have believed that he had done it. The issue is that the word for laugh can mean to laugh in derision and mockery, or in a friendly way. But the idea of Job mocking anyone is so out of place and the context so strongly demands honourable behaviour from Job that the best meaning seems to be the middle of the three above: Job would smile on them and they could scarcely believe that he should pay any attention to them. This was then further evidence of the great esteem in which he was held, which is the subject under discussion.