JOB CHAPTER 24 The practice and prosperity of the wicked, JOB 24:1. Their punishment and curse in the end, JOB 24:17. The sense of the words according to this translation is this, WHY, (how comes it to pass,) SEEING TIMES (i.e. the several times of every man's life, how long he shall live, or the fi... [ Continue Reading ]
SOME REMOVE THE LANDMARKS; or, _they_ (i.e. the wicked, of whom he here treats) _touch_ (to wit, in an unlawful manner, and with evil design, as this word is oft used, as GENESIS 26:11,29 RUTH 2:9, so as to invade, or possess, or remove) THE LANDMARKS, by which men's lands are discerned, and their p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ASS, either _the asses_, the singular number being used collectively. Or he saith _the ass_, to aggravate their sin, that they robbed him who had but one ass. Compare 1 SAMUEL 12:2. THE FATHERLESS; whose helpless condition required their pity and mercy. THE WIDOW'S OX; thereby depriving her not... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF THE WAY; either, 1. Out of the way of piety and justice. They engage them to take evil courses by their examples, or promises, or threatenings. Or, 2. Out of their right. Or, 3. Out of their course and way of living. Or rather, (as the word properly signifies, and as the next clause explai... [ Continue Reading ]
AS WILD ASSES; which are wild, and lawless, and unteachable, and fierce, and greedy of prey, or food, which they snatch out of the goods or labours of the husbandman; in all which they are fit emblems of these men. Or, _these wild men_; for so this word signifies, GENESIS 16:12, as elsewhere _wild a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY; either, 1. The poor, who are forced to gather in the corn and grapes of their wicked oppressors; or rather, 2. The oppressors, of whom he speaks JOB 4:4,5,7. HIS CORN, i.e. the corn of the wicked, as it is in the next clause. Or, _that which_ IS NOT THEIR OWN; as the LXX., and Chaldee, and Vu... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NAKED, i.e. those whom they have made naked, whom they stripped of their garments and coverings; so far were they from exercising justice or charity towards them. TO LODGE; to sleep in the night, which is the coldest season. WITHOUT CLOTHING; without bed-clothes to cover them: compare DEUTERONOM... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY, i.e. the poor, being stripped of their raiment, and forced away from their houses. WITH THE SHOWERS OF THE MOUNTAINS; with the rain water, which in great showers run down from the rocks or mountains into the caves or holes in the sides of them, to which they fled for shelter. EMBRACE THE ROCK,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY; the wicked oppressors, as is manifest from the following words. FROM THE BREAST; either out of cruelty, not sparing poor infants, but killing them; or out of covetousness, and with design either to sell the mother, or to employ her in their work, to which they so strictly confine her, that the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAUSE HIM, the poor oppressed person, _to go naked without clothing_; leaving him nothing, or next to nothing, to cover him in the day-time, when he should go abroad to his labour to get his living, but cannot for want of clothes to cover his nakedness. THE SHEAF FROM THE HUNGRY; that single sh... [ Continue Reading ]
To wit, the poor man last mentioned. WITHIN THEIR WALLS; either, 1. Within their own walls, i.e. in private and secret places, for fear of the oppressors. Or rather, 2. Within the walls of the rich oppressors, for their use and benefit; for the poor, alas! had no walls, nor houses, nor oliveyards,... [ Continue Reading ]
MEN GROAN under the burden of injuries and grievous oppressions. FROM OUT OF THE CITY; not only in deserts or less inhabited places, where these tyrants have the greater opportunity and advantage to practise their villanies; but even in cities, where there is a face of order and government, and cour... [ Continue Reading ]
This is added as the general character of the persons before mentioned, and as a great aggravation of their wickedness, that they were not modest sinners, which were ashamed of their evil ways, and therefore sinned in the dark, and in secret, as some who here follow; but sinned impudently in the fac... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THE LIGHT; as soon as the light appears, using no less diligence in his wicked practices, than labourers do in their honest and daily employments. KILLETH THE POOR AND NEEDY; where he finds nothing to satisfy his covetousness, he exerciseth his cruelty. IS AS A THIEF, i.e. he is really a thief;... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EYE OF THE ADULTERER, i.e. the adulterer; but he mentions his eye, because the eye discerns the difference between light and darkness. THE TWILIGHT, to wit, for the evening twilight, which is his opportunity. SAYING in his heart, comforting himself with the thoughts of secretness and impunity. D... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DIG; either, 1. The adulterer last mentioned; although such persons do not use nor need these violent courses to get into the house of the adulteress, but are commonly admitted upon milder and easier terms. Or, 2. The thief or robber, whose common practice this is, of whom he spoke JOB 24:14;... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE SHADOW OF DEATH, i.e. terrible and hateful, because it both discovers them and hinders their practices. If they are brought to light or discovered, they are overwhelmed with deadly horrors and terrors. Or, as the words are, and may very agreeably to the Hebrew be rendered thus: _but_ (as the... [ Continue Reading ]
In these words he describes either, 1. The wicked man's disposition and deportment, that such persons are _light_ and frothy in their spirits, or _swift_ or _hasty_ to do evil, or _unstable_ in their ways as the waters, or _upon the face of the waters_, i.e. like the foam, or froth, or any other li... [ Continue Reading ]
As the snow, though it doth for a time lie upon the ground, yet at last is dissolved into water by the heat of the season, and that water quickly swallowed up by the earth when it is dry and thirsty; so ungodly sinners, though they live and prosper for a season, yet at last they shall go into the gr... [ Continue Reading ]
His mother that bare him in her womb, and much more the rest of his friends, shall seldom or never remember or mention him, to wit, with honour and comfort, but shall rather be afraid and ashamed to own their relation to one that lived such a vile and wretched life, and died such an accursed death.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE; either, 1. God, who is oft understood, who having cut off his person, and brought him to his grave, continues his judgments upon his wife or widow, and family. Or rather, 2. The oppressor, who is the principal subject of almost all that is said in this chapter; whose great and manifold wickedne... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DRAWETH, either into his net, as PSALMS 10:9, or to his party, to assist and serve him in his enterprises. THE MIGHTY; who are mighty in place, or wealth, or power; he practiseth upon these as well as upon the poor. WITH HIS POWER; which being greater than theirs, he soon forceth them to comply w... [ Continue Reading ]
Heb. _He giveth to him to be in safety_, or all things necessary for his safety, &c. This verse is understood either, 1. Of the oppressor; if the oppressor give a man his hand or promise that he shall live in safety by him, or if the oppressed give gifts to the oppressor to purchase his quiet and s... [ Continue Reading ]
They live in honour and happiness, but not for ever, but only at best during this short and mortal life, which lasteth but for a very little time, and therefore their present happiness is not to be envied; nor is it any reproach to God's providence, which hath time enough to reckon with them hereaft... [ Continue Reading ]
IF IT BE NOT SO NOW, to wit, as I have discoursed; if God doth not suffer wicked men to live long and prosperously in the world before he punisheth them; and if good men be not sometimes sorely afflicted there, if all things do not fall alike to all men in these matters.... [ Continue Reading ]