Job

I always struggle to read through the book of Job.  There is some great stuff in there, but if his three friends gave him such bad counsel then why should I bother reading those parts?  But I do and I am always encouraged when I get to the end of the story.

The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first... and gave him twice as much as before... Job 42:12,10

If you will compare the numbers in the first chapter and the numbers in the last chapter you will see that God doubled the number of sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys that Job had.  He gave back twice as much as before.  But he lost 10 children in the first chapter and God only gave him 10 children in the last chapter.  Why didn't he give him 20?  I think the answer is because although Job's children were dead to him, they were alive to God.  So in the end, Job had 20 children.  God did give him twice as much as before.