John Trapp on Job 42:10

Verſe 10. And the Lord turned again the Captivity of Job] He took him out of Satans clutches, who had hitherto held him priſoner, as it were in the bands of poverty, ſickneſs, ſorrow, contempt, diſtreſs, &c. Whether all at once, or by degrees, God did all this for him, it skills not. Upon his prayers for his friends (which was no ſmall evidence and effect of his Piety and Charity) it appears; that God did all this that followeth for him. So true is that of Solomon, The reward of humility, and of the fear of the Lord, is riches, and honour, and life, Prov. 22.4.

When he prayed for his friends] According to that of the Apoſtle Paul, Being defamed we pray. This is an high degree of Chriſtian perfection, which but few attain unto, as Merlin here bewaileth it; O raram & ſingularem virtutem, &c. And another well obſerveth, That God gives and forgives, according as man forgives his neighbour.

Alſo the Lord gave Job twice as much, &c.] Underſtand it both of Goods and Graces; which though he never parted with, yet by tryal and experience he found them much increaſed. As for outward things it is nothing unuſual for men to recover and recruit as far as God ſeeth fit. Multadies vari[illegible: 1 letter]ſquo Labor mutabilis avi Rettulit in melius: multos alterna reviſens Luſit, & in ſolido rurſus fortuna locavit.Virg. Aen. l. 11 The beſt way is to hang looſe to theſe things below, not truſting in uncertain riches, but in the living God, 1 Tim. 6.17. who will be our exceeding great reward, and give to his Sufferers an hundred fold here, and eternal life hereafter, Mat. 19.29. Optand[illegible: 1 letter] nimirùm eſt jactura quae lucro majore penſatur, ſaith Agricola. It is doubtleſſe a lovely loſſe that is made up with ſo much gaine. Well might Saint Paul ſay. Godlineſſe is profitable to all things, as having the Promiſe of both lives, 1 Tim. 4 6 Well might Saint Peter call it, The Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1.2 For as God brings light out of darkneſſe, comfort out of ſorrow, riches out of poverty, &c. ſo doth Godlineſſe. Let a man, with Job, bear his loſſes patiently and pray for his enemies that wrong and rob him, and he ſhall be ſure to have his own againe, and more, either in money or moneys worth, either in the ſame or a better thing: contented Godlineſſe ſhall be great gaine to him, 1 Tim. 6.6. Beſides heavens happineſſe, which ſhall make a plentiful amends for all. The Rabbins would perſwade us, That God miraculouſly brought back again to Job the ſelf-ſame cattle, that the Sabaeans and others had taken from him, and doubled them. Indeed his children, (ſay they) therefore were not doubled unto him, becauſe they periſhed by their ow[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 letter]ault and folly, as one of his friends alſo told him. But of all this nothing certain can be affirmed: and they do better who ſay, That his children being dead in Gods favour, periſhed not, but went to heaven; they were not loſt but laid up; ſo that, before God, Job had the number of his children doubled: for they are ours ſtill, whom we have ſent to heaven before us; and Chriſt at his coming ſhall reſtore them unto us, 1 Theſſal. 4.14. In confidence whereof faithful Abraham calleth his deceaſed Sarah, his dead; That I may bury my dead out of my ſight Gen. 23.4. and ſo ſhe is called eight ſeveral times in that one Chapter, as Paraeus hath obſerved.