Job 24:13-17

The lovers of darkness (Job 24:13-17)

TEXT 24:13-17

13 These are of them that rebel against the light;

They know not the ways thereof,
Nor abide in the paths thereof.

14 The murderer riseth with the light;

He killeth the poor and needy;
And in the night he is as a thief.

15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,

Saying, No eye shall see me:
And he disguiseth his face.

16 In the dark they dig through houses:

They shut themselves up in the day-time;
They know not the light.

17 For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness;

For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

COMMENT 24:13-17

Job 24:13Why do these wicked people escape divine retribution? Earlier he describes those who steal because of the circumstances of their poverty; but here Job describes those who are dominated by a wicked heart. The sin described here is more than an act of unrighteousness; it is that the sinner does not abide in the light of God's moral universe.

Job 24:14The first violator of the light is the murderer. The destitute condition of the social structure in which one finds this kind of rebel is clear from the type of persons they prey on. Why the needy and poor; why not more profitable prey? Job is not describing the affluent part of society. The same type of person kills in the daylight and steals in the darkness of the nightJob 24:16.

Job 24:15As the prostitute seeks the double protection of disguise and darknessProverbs 7:9here the adulterer also seeks the hiding power of darkness. These violators of light seek only to perform transgressions in secretRuth 3:14.

Job 24:16Generally a thief would gain entrance by digging through the wall of the house (Exodus 22:1), not an adultererMatthew 6:19. The first verb he digs is in the singular; but the second verb is in the plural, they shut themselves up. The reference in the plural refers to all three groups who commit their dark deeds hiding from the day. The verb here means to set a seal upon night and suggests that the thief had marked the house that he would enter come nightfall. But more probably, the seal identifies the person. The purpose of the seal is to keep unauthorized persons from opening or identifying something. The image conveys a search for security. Perhaps Job is saying that these criminals are as secure as if they were sealed. God does nothing about their malignant evil deeds. None (they) of the groups discussed know the light. All wicked people hide from the light because it terrorizes themEzekiel 8:8; Ezekiel 12:5; Ezekiel 12:7. In the Code of Hammurabi, digging is the thief's mode of entry (No. 21).

Job 24:17Just as ordinary people fear the darkness of the night, the wicked dread the day light. This is every man's long day's journey into night.