Job 1:18

Job 1:18 While he [was] yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters [were] eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:

Ver. 18. While he was yet speaking] See Job 1:16.

Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine] This was the last, but not the least, of Satan’s assaults, reserved purposely to the last, to crush him quite, when he was now spent and spiritless, as he hoped. Let us look for like dealing, for a tough bout, at death howsoever; and be always ready prepared for another and a worse encounter. It is said of Caesar, that he sometimes put up, but seldom or never put off, his sword (Seneca). It is said of Queen Elizabeth, that, in the greatest calm, she provided for a storm. It is said of the bird onocrotalus, that she is so well practised to expect the hawk to grapple with her, that even when she shutteth her eyes she sleepeth with her beak exalted, as if she would contend with her adversary. Should not we stand constantly upon our guard, who have so restless and pitiless an enemy?

Thy sons and thy daughters, &c.] Men may die, then, with the meat in their mouths, and in the midst of their mirth and jollity; as did Amnon, Elah, Belshazzar. Whether, therefore, we eat or drink, &c., do all to the glory of God, 1Co 10:31. Let there be "holiness to the Lord" written upon our pots, Zec 14:21. Let us eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life, as a reverend Scotch divine was said to do. Job’s good heart ached and quaked, likely, at the hearing of this sad news, of so sudden a death of his children, amidst their merriments; for he used to say, when there was no such danger, It may be my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Methinks I hear him saying, or rather sighing, out those sorrowful words of Cratisilea, in Plutarch, when she saw her dear children slain before her, Quo pueri estis profecti? Poor souls, what is become of you? {See Trapp on "Job 1:13"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 1:18. While he was yet speaking there came also another — Bringing tidings the most distressing of all. One messenger immediately followed another in this manner, through the contrivance of Satan, by God’s permission, that there might seem to be more than ordinary displeasure of God against Job in his troubles, and that he might not have leisure to recollect himself, but be overwhelmed by a complication of calamities Thus the children of God are often in heaviness, λυπηθεντες, distressed, burdened with grief, through manifold trials; deep calls to deep; waves and billows, one after another, go over them. Let one affliction, therefore, quicken and excite us to prepare for another; for, how deep soever we may have drunk of the bitter cup, as long as we are in the world, we cannot be sure that we have drunk our share. Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking, &c. — That is, feasting after their manner, and, as Job had generally feared and suspected, perhaps sinning against God, Job 1:5.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This last plague declareth, that when one plague is past which seemeth hard to be borne, God can send us another far more grievous, to try his, and teach them obedience.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(18) Thy sons and thy daughters.—See Job_1:13. The marvellous accumulation of disasters points us to the conclusion that it was the distinct work of Satan, according to the permission given him (Job_1:12), and consequently supernatural.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18, 19. The fourth stroke, the death of Job’s children. The wind struck the four corners of the house, being a whirlwind. It came from the side or region of the desert.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

While he was yet speaking, there came another,.... A servant of one of Job's sons, who was in waiting at the feast before mentioned, and here again repeated:

and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating, and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house; See Gill on Job 1:13.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Eating and drinking wine - ; the notes at Job 1:4, Job 1:13.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

i.e. Feasting after their manner, and, as Job generally feared and suspected, sinning against God, Job 1:5, which was a dreadful aggravation of the judgment.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Drinking wine — The mention of wine-drinking in so painful an association, suggests that in the mind of the messenger there may have been the thought, how ill-prepared these young people were for death’s surprise.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said (see the comment on ver. 16), Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother"s house (comp. ver. 13). It is a common proverb that "misfortunes never come singly." Shakespeare says they "come not single foes, but in battalions." Still, so overwhelming a series of calamities falling upon a single individual all in one day could not but strike those who heard of them as abnormal, and almost certainly supernatural. So Job"s friends concluded. (Job_5:17)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 farthest end. הנּערים are the youthful sons and daughters of Job, according to the epicene use of נער in the Pentateuch (youths and maidens). In one day Job is now bereft of everything which he accounted the gift of Jehovah, - his herds, and with these his servants, which he not only prizes as property, but for whom he has also a tender heart (Job 31); last of all, even his dearest ones, his children. Satan has summoned the elements and men for the destruction of Job's possessions by repeated strokes. That men and nations can be excited by Satan to hostile enterprises, is nothing surprising (cf. Rev 20:8); but here, even the fire of God and the hurricane are attributed to him. Is this poetry or truth? Luther, in the Larger Catechism, question 4, says the same: "The devil causes strife, murder, rebellion, and war, also thunder and lightning, and hail, to destroy corn and cattle, to poison the atmosphere," etc., - a passage of our creed often ridiculed by rationalism; but it is correct if understood in accordance with Scripture, and not superstitiously. As among men, so in nature, since the Fall two different powers of divine anger and divine love are in operation: the mingling of these is the essence of the present Kosmos. Everything destructive to nature, and everything arising therefrom which is dangerous and fatal to the life of man, is the outward manifestation of the power of anger. In this power Satan has fortified himself; and this, which underlies the whole course of nature, he is able to make use of, so far as God may permit it as being subservient to His chief design (comp. Rev 13:13 with Th2 2:9). He has no creative power. Fire and storm, by means of which he works, are of God; but he is allowed to excite these forces to hostility against man, just as he himself is become an instrument of evil. It is similar with human demonocracy, whose very being consists in placing itself en rapport with the hidden powers of nature. Satan is the great juggler, and has already manifested himself as such, even in paradise and in the temptation of Jesus Christ. There is in nature, as among men, an entanglement of contrary forces which he knows how to unloose, because it is the sphere of his special dominion; for the whole course of nature, in the change of its phenomena, is subject not only to abstract laws, but also to concrete supernatural powers, both bad and good.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house

See how you translated this in Job 01:13.

A strong wind

"A tornado" or "A desert storm"

the four corners of the house

"the structural supports of the house"

It fell on the young people

"The house fell on your sons and daughters"

I alone have escaped to tell you

See how you translated this in Job 01:15.

translationWords

son

wine

brother

desert

die

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.