The numbers used in
the narrative obviously present the notion of completeness seven sons and three
daughters, 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 600 female
donkeys (1:2-3); seven days and seven nights (2:13); seven uses of the Hebrew
verb “bless” (in the prose frame); and seven bulls and seven rams (42:8). These
numbers are telling the reader that Job’s blessing is a perfect blessing.
Notice also the four disasters (1:14-19) which correspond to the four reports
(1:15, 16, 17, 19). (Varunaj Churnai, Beyond Justice: Death and the
Retribution Principle in the Book of Job [Langham Monographs; Carlisle, UK:
Langham Publishing, 2018], 44 n. 6)
