The Divine Rectitude which Job misses in his own instance he equally misses on the broad field of the World The same thought of the absence of any righteous rule of the world is carried through this chapter and illustrated by many examples. Job turns from his own history and surveys that of the peo... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse reads, Why are not times appointed by the Almighty? And why do they that know him not see his days? By "times" and "days" Job means diets of assize for sitting in judgment and dispensing right among men. The speaker complains that such times and days are not appointed by the ruler and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Some remove_ Or, THERE ARE WHO REMOVE. In the absence of hedgerows or walls, the landmark defined the boundary of a man's field or estate. Its removal was equivalent to violent appropriation of the property of another; see Deuteronomy 19:14; Hosea 5:10. _and feed thereof_ Rather, and FEED THEM. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
Job now proceeds to illustrate his complaint of the absence of righteousness in God's rule of the world. The instances are in the first place general.... [ Continue Reading ]
By "the ass" and "the ox" is meant the single ass and ox which the fatherless and widow possess, needful for working their small field or affording them scanty nourishment. When deprived of these they are brought to complete destitution, and removed from the land.... [ Continue Reading ]
"Turning the needy out of the way" is a general expression for doing them wrong, hindering them of their just rights; comp. Amos 5:12. The last clause "the poor hide themselves together" seems to sum up the general effect of the preceding wrongs. The poor, violently dispossessed of what belonged to... [ Continue Reading ]
The comparison to wild asses expresses their herding together, their flight far from the dwellings of men, and that they find their home and sustenance in the wilderness. _go forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey_ Rather, THEY GO FORTH TO THEIR WORK, SEEKING DILIGENTLY FOR FOOD. Their "wor... [ Continue Reading ]
Job now directs his attention to a particular class of outcasts, giving a pathetic description of their flight from the abodes of men and their herding together like wild asses in the wilderness; their destitution, and the miseries they endure from cold and want, having only the rocks and caves to c... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse reads, They reap their fodder in the field, And glean the vineyard of the wicked. The coarse food which they can possess themselves of is called by the poet "their fodder"; it is scarcely grain; and for fruit they have only the forgotten or neglected late gleanings of the vineyard of th... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse means, They lie all night naked, without clothing, They have no covering in the cold.... [ Continue Reading ]
The mountain rains, more violent than even those in the plain, drench these thinly-clad outcasts; and they "embrace the rock," i. e. huddle in closely under its ledge.... [ Continue Reading ]
_They pluck_ Or, THERE ARE WHO PLUCK. The reference is to the ruling class who, for some debt perhaps of the dependent, seize the infant of the debtor, in order by selling it or bringing it up as a slave to repay themselves. _take a pledge of the poor_ The words might mean "take in pledge that whic... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses describe the miseries of another class, those who have allowed themselves to be subjected, and become serfs and bondmen attached to the estates of the rich. Probably they are but a portion of the same aboriginal tribes mentioned in Job 24:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse carries on the idea expressed by "the poor" (Job 24:9) the poor Which go naked without clothing; And hungry they carry sheaves. The point lies in the antithesis between "hungry" and "carry sheaves"; though labouring amidst the abundant harvest of their masters they are faint with hunger... [ Continue Reading ]
A similar contrast between "tread the winepresses" and "suffer thirst." The expression "within their walls" refers to the walled, well-protected vineyards of the rich nobility, within which these miserable serfs tread out abundant wine all the while that they themselves pant with thirst.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Men groan from out of the city_ Rather, according to the pointing, _from out of the populous city they groan_. In this, however, there is no parallelism to the "soul of the wounded" in next clause. By a slight change of pointing, and as read by the Syriac, the sense is obtained: FROM OUT THE CITY T... [ Continue Reading ]
_They are of those_ Rather, THESE ARE OF THEM THAT REBEL. The speaker introduces a new class of malefactors. The "light" here is of course the light of day, with the implication, however, that he that is righteous "cometh to the light.... [ Continue Reading ]
The outrages perpetrated by a different class of wrongdoers, the murderer (Job 24:14), the adulterer (Job 24:15), and the robber (Job 24:16). Those described in former verses pursued their violent course openly, they had law or at least custom on their side, and their cruelties did no more than illu... [ Continue Reading ]
_with the light_ i. e. toward day-break, while it is still partially dark. At such an hour the murderer waylays the solitary traveller. _is as a thief_ i. e. acts the thief, becomes a thief.... [ Continue Reading ]
The adulterer waits for the "twilight," i. e. of even. Then he disguises himself, or puts a cover on his face, that he may enter undetected the house of his neighbour.... [ Continue Reading ]
_which they had marked_ Rather, THEY SHUT (lit. _seal_) THEMSELVES UP IN THE DAYTIME. In the dark the housebreaker digs through the wall, which in many Eastern houses is of clay or soft brick; in the daytime he abides close in his own retreat; he is unacquainted with the light.... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse expands the last clause of Job 24:16: For the morning is to them as the shadow of death, For they know the terrors of the shadow of death. The "shadow of death" is equivalent almost to "midnight;" see note ch. Job 3:5. These malefactors know not the light (Job 24:16), the morning seems... [ Continue Reading ]
_He is swift as the waters_ Rather, HE IS SWIFT UPON THE FACE OF the waters. The person spoken of is the wicked man, especially such a tyrannical, proud oppressor as is alluded to in Job 24:2; and what is said of him is, that he is like a waif or spray on the surface of the water, swept rapidly away... [ Continue Reading ]
The popular creed regarding the fate of the wicked in God's government of the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
This detailed and graphic picture of the enormities of wicked men (Job 24:2) suggests the question, What then is the fate of such men? Are they seized by the sudden judgments of God and delivered into the hand of their own transgression (ch. Job 8:4)? or, are they prolonged in the possession of thei... [ Continue Reading ]
As the fierce heat and drought evaporate the abundant waters of the dissolving winter snow, leaving no trace of them, so doth Sheol engulf the sinners, that they disappear without a remnant from the world; comp. ch. Job 6:15 _seq_., Job 14:11; Isaiah 5:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
Even she whose womb bore the sinner shall forget him; none shall find pleasure in him but the worm, to whose taste he shall be sweet.... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse is closely connected with the last clause of the preceding. And wickedness shall be broken like a tree Even he that devoureth the barren that beareth not, And doeth not good unto the widow. The "tree" is a frequent object of comparison, e.g. ch. Job 19:10, "removed or plucked up like... [ Continue Reading ]
_he draweth also the mighty_ Rather as above, HE CONTINUETH THE MIGHTY, i. e. He (God) prolongeth their life and continueth them in their place. The "mighty" are the oppressive lords of the soil, Job 24:2 _seq_. And it is God that upholds them by His power; comp. ch. Job 9:24. _he riseth up, and no... [ Continue Reading ]
The other picture drawn by Job's own hand to exhibit the actual truth. Such (Job 24:18), according to the popular imagination, is the fate and history of the wicked; the following (Job 24:22) is their history according to facts: 22. Nay, he continueth the mighty by his power, They rise up, though... [ Continue Reading ]
_though it be given_ Rather, HE GIVETH THEM TO BE IN SAFETY. God makes the tents of the violent men to be secure, ch. Job 12:6; He watches over them, His eyes being upon their ways; comp. ch. Job 10:3, "He shines upon the counsel of the wicked.... [ Continue Reading ]
To be translated as above. The wicked are exalted, rise high in life, and suddenly, with no pain, they die; comp. ch. Job 21:13; Psalms 73:4. And when they are brought low at last in death, it is a natural death that overtakes them, like that of all others, men in general; and they are cut off (or,... [ Continue Reading ]
Job alas! is only too sure of his facts, and conscious that he has history and experience at his back he victoriously exclaims, Who will make me a liar? Job has gained his victory over his friends, but he has received, or rather inflicted on himself, an almost mortal wound in achieving it. He has s... [ Continue Reading ]