Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
All Commentaries on Job 29:2 Go To Job 29
John Chrysostom
AD 407
What do the words “he adds at the beginning of his speech” mean? It is not that he completes his speeches, but he comes back to his starting point, without allowing his adversaries to interrupt him or to begin new arguments. What does he say? I would like to live one month of my old happiness in order to shut your mouth and to show you who I was.
“One month comparable to a month of my past days.” He calls for nothing extraordinary, only to live his past happiness for thirty days and to enjoy that prosperity with which nobody can provide him anymore. Then he describes it through his words. In fact, since it was impossible now [to live his past happiness], he shows it through his words and says what he did and how he lived before. See the piety of the man: he attributes everything to God. In fact, it is impossible that a person deprived of divine help may ever stand.
