Render, 'Why are times not laid up' (i.e. set apart for doing justice) 'by the Almighty, and why do not those who know Him see His days?' The last clause means, Why do not the godly see signs of divine retribution? 2-12. Those who commit open violent crimes are left unpunished.... [ Continue Reading ]
JOB'S SEVENTH SPEECH (CONCLUDED) 1-25. Job continues to express his perplexity at the ways of Providence in the ordering of the world. The poor and the weak suffer; violence and wrong go unpunished.... [ Continue Reading ]
REMOVE THE LANDMARKS] cp. Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17. FEED _thereof_] RV 'feed them': as if they were their own.... [ Continue Reading ]
PLEDGE] i.e. security for debt: cp. Job 22:6; 1 Samuel 12:3. 5-12. This passage depicts the misery of the homeless outcasts from society, driven into the rocks and mountains, unsheltered from the pitiless storms and hard put to it to save themselves and their children from starvation. The outcasts,... [ Continue Reading ]
Merx reads, 'They reap by night in the field.' They are driven to theft to get food. 'Wicked' should perhaps be 'rich.'... [ Continue Reading ]
RV 'They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.' 9A. RV 'There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast.' The v. appears to introduce a new description. Since, however, Job 24:10 seem to continue Job 24:8, this v. is apparently out of place. 9B. Perhaps we sho... [ Continue Reading ]
EV 'So that they go about naked without clothing, And being an-hungered they carry the sheaves.' Probably the outcasts are described as stealing the corn, and making oil and wine at the expense of the farmer.... [ Continue Reading ]
LAYETH NOT FOLLY _to them_] render, 'regardeth not the wrong.' 13-17. Criminals who work at night. They hate (REBEL AGAINST) the light of day, preferring darkness for their crimes.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE OF THOSE] EV 'These are of them.'... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THE LIGHT] i.e. while it is still twilight. But with a very slight emendation we might read, 'when there is no light.'... [ Continue Reading ]
DIG THROUGH HOUSES] Walls of Eastern houses are often made of clay or sun-burnt bricks, which crumble easily: cp. Matthew 6:20; RM. The robbers do not break in by the door since the threshold is sacred.... [ Continue Reading ]
If _one_ KNOW, etc.] RV 'For they know (are familiar with) the terrors.' THE SHADOW OF DEATH] i.e. midnight. Light they shrink from, but midnight is their day. 18-21. These vv. cannot express the sentiments of Job, and we must either, with RM, prefix 'ye say,' to indicate that Job is giving the view... [ Continue Reading ]
TOPS OF THE EARS OF CORN] Egyptian wall-paintings show that the ripe corn was cut just below the ears instead of near the ground as with us. The straw was ploughed in.... [ Continue Reading ]
'Who can dispute my contention?'... [ Continue Reading ]