We all know the story of Job. He was a righteous man who led his family in the Lord. Even though he was devout, he still lost everything and suffered greatly. After he endured his trials, God restored to him everything he had and more. God poured out His blessings upon Job’s life.
But how are we to understand God restoring Job’s children? We see in the beginning and end of Job that he had ten children. They were exactly seven sons and three daughters at the beginning and the end.
Were Job’s original children resurrected, or did Job have ten new children?
Dispensationalism will help us to unravel this mystery.
Job 42:10, 12-13: “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters.”
So here we see the evidence that when Job’s life was restored, so he had ten children. Now let’s look at the beginning of the story, before Job’s trials.
Job 1:2: “And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.”
Seven sons and three daughters, which matches with Job 42. So, did Job have ten new children, meaning he had 20 children in total, or were they resurrected?
Why would ten additional children create a problem in Job 42?
Job 42:16 “After this Job lived an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.”
After this, Job lived 140 years.
This is how Dr Ruckman puts it. The standard teaching is that Job had ten more children by an unknown woman after his restoration. But this adding of ten new children to Job would put him at 200 years old when he died, even if the kids were born two years apart.
Verse 16 says that Job lived a hundred forty more years after he had the children in verse 13 through 14. Job had to be at the very least 40 years old, for his sons were all grown up with houses of their homes.
Because if you look at Job 1, remember his original state, the Bible says he had ten children and they had their own houses and possessions, so they were already grown up.
Would ten more children have made Job around 200 years old?
So his solution was—as his solution, he keeps arguing right here—that if he had his ten new children two years apart, not many men have ten children after 40. That would place them at 60.
A hundred forty years after that would have made Job 200 years old at his death. Abraham did not even live that long. Genesis 25:7, and he was two generations before Job. Genesis 36:33.
This wouldn’t make sense.
Did Job have multiple wives?
Some will say that maybe he had multiple wives, which means he could have the children faster. This doesn’t make sense because people didn’t have multiple wives during that time (Abraham’s time). Lot, Adam, Noah, and Abraham only had one wife. It wasn’t as common a practice as during the time of Moses’ law. Job’s experience with his wife who told him to “curse God and die” wouldn’t make sense for him to take on more wives as well.
If you read Job 42, did you ever notice Job’s wife or marriage is never mentioned ever? It’s his children restored, not his marriage or his wife.
So were his dead children resurrected?
Let’s look back at the following verses for our answer.
Job 42:12-13: “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters.”
This passage tells us that Job had more than he did at the beginning and that he also had seven sons and three daughters, the keyword being also.
The word “also”
Genesis 36:6 will help us shed light on what may be going on in this passage.
Jacob went to Bethel previously in Genesis. Genesis 35 talks about him going to Bethel again. Jacob gave the place the name Bethel in the past. But then in Genesis 35, he gives the place the name Bethel again. Did he name it twice? Is there a contradiction here in the timeline when he named the place Bethel?
No, it’s simply repeating the story from Genesis 28:18-19. Did it happen again? No, the Bible is reminding us of something from the past. This happens often and is likely what is happening in Job 42: we are being reminded that Job originally had ten children.
It’s similar to Genesis 1 and 2 that goes back to the past to give you details after it explains everything that has happened. Job 42 is talking about what Job is blessed with, what he owns. That’s probably why it mentions his children again. In light of this, we have to take the numbers in Job 42 as a cumulative total of all God blessed Job with. It just makes sense that Job’s children were resurrected. It wouldn’t make sense for him to have 10 new children.
Job 42:13-15: “He had also seven sons and three daughters.He called the name of the first Jemima, and the name of the second Kezia, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job. And their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.”
In verse 15, when Job had these children, Job already gave them an inheritance. They were already grown up and matured.
Job 42:16: “After this Job lived an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. So Job died being old and full of days.”
So if we were to say that these were ten new children, and the Bible says Job had to wait till they were all grown up—so let’s say 30 years or 25 years—then Job gave them an inheritance, then after that he lived 140 years. That doesn’t make sense.
If we were to say in verse 16, 140 years, with already his children grown up, it makes sense. They were resurrected. But this is undoubtedly cumulative total, past and present.
“So Job died, being old and full of days.” It’s getting a cumulative everything about Job’s life here.
If you insist ten new children, it really does not make sense with the time gap and especially with what he experienced with his wife.
Cumulative total
Let’s say, five years ago the Lord blessed brother Tom with three children and $50,000. Today, the Lord blessed Tom with three children and $100,000. Does that mean that the children changed or the money changed? Money changed.
So in Job 42, God blessed Job with ten children and 14,000 sheep, while at the beginning, Job 1 was telling you God blessed Job with ten children and 7,000 sheep.
Turn the captivity
Job 42:10: “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
The phrase “turn the captivity” is critical here. When we see this phrase in other places in the Old Testament, it almost always refers to the nation of Israel and God’s restoration. Israel will get back its promised land, and all it had will be restored. This phrase makes it seem highly likely that God did the same for Job.
We also see this in the end times. God’s people go through all kinds of trials and tribulations. But what happens to the tribulation saints in Revelation 20?
God resurrects them! God is all about restoration. Job is the perfect type for a tribulation Jew. Ultimately, this so-called “contradiction” only serves to unveil more profound truth within God’s Word.
Is Job a type of the children of Israel going through the Tribulation?
Job is a type of the children of Israel going through the Tribulation. Because the nation of Israel, they will go through through Great Tribulation, like Job did. The devil attacked Job as he will attack Israel. They will go through hell on earth, Great Tribulation. God restores His nation of Israel. And then God restored Job.
But here’s an interesting thing.
What does God do in Tribulation saints at Revelation 20?
They’re resurrected. Job is a perfect type of tribulation Jew.
In the Books of Ezekiel, the Book of Isaiah, where God talks about restoring His nation of Israel, God mentions several times, “I’m going to resurrect your bodies.” The post-tribulation rapture is for tribulation saints (Jews), not for Christians.
So, how many children did Job have in total?
This so-called contradiction and problem right here is solved with the children. There’s no doubt they had to be resurrected:
- It doesn’t make sense for Job to have 10 new children. It’s too short of a time gap.
- If we were to target multiple wives, based on his past experiences, and especially if he only had one wife, the time taken would be too long.
- The Lord “turned the captivity of Job” and that refers to restoration, similar to resurrection.
As we can see in the above, Job had a total of 10 children, not 20 as some claim. God resurrected Job’s children.