Job 20 - Introduction
_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Zophar, after a short preface, asserts, that the prosperity of the wicked is short, and his ruin sure, Job 20:1. He describes his misery in many particulars, Job 20:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Zophar, after a short preface, asserts, that the prosperity of the wicked is short, and his ruin sure, Job 20:1. He describes his misery in many particulars, Job 20:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then answered Zophar_ Here Zophar, although he had nothing new to advance, hastily interrupts Job, being extremely provoked by his threatening them with the judgments of God, and in his speech appears to be hurried by his passion beyond all bounds. He tells him it is in vain to tax their suspicions... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore_ For this thy severe sentence; _do my thoughts cause me to answer_ I thought to have troubled myself and thee with no further discourses, but these words of thine make my former thoughts to return again, and so provoke me, that I am not able any longer to forbear speaking.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have heard_ Or, _Shall I hear?_ Namely, with patience, and without a reply? Who can endure it? _The check of my reproach_ That is, thy shameful and opprobrious reproofs of us, as if we, and all thy friends, were void of all humanity and natural affection toward thee, and were haters and persecuto... [ Continue Reading ]
_Knowest thou not this_ Which I am now about to say; _of old _ From the experience of all former ages; _since man was placed upon the earth_ Since the world was made, and there were any men to observe God's government of it; _that the triumphing of the wicked is short_ Hebrew, מקרוב, _mikarob_, is _... [ Continue Reading ]
_Though his excellency mount up to the heavens_ Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority in the world. _He shall perish like his own dung_ Which men cast away with contempt and abhorrence. _They who have seen him_ With admiration at his felicity; _shall say_, _Where is he?_ He is nowhere... [ Continue Reading ]
_His children shall seek to please the poor_ Either, 1st, To get some small relief from them in their extreme necessity. Or, rather, 2d, Lest they should revenge themselves on them for the great and many injuries which their father did them, or should seek to the magistrate for reparation. _His hand... [ Continue Reading ]
_His bones_ That is, his whole body, even the strongest parts of it; _are full of the sin of his youth_ Of the punishment of it. He shall feel the sad effects of his youthful sins in his riper years, as riotous sinners commonly do. _Which shall lie down with him in the dust_ He shall carry his disea... [ Continue Reading ]
_Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth_ Though it greatly please him while he is committing it; _though he hide it under his tongue_ As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Though he be highly pleased with the gratif... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath swallowed down riches_ He hath got possession of them, and thought them to be as much his own as the meat he had eaten. But he is deceived. _He shall vomit them up again_ Shall be compelled to restore them: his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gott... [ Continue Reading ]
_He shall not see the rivers, the floods_, &c. “He shall not see them with any pleasure. The most delightful things of this world, and the greatest affluence and plenty of them, shall afford him no enjoyment.” Dodd. Or, rather, he speaks metaphorically, and means, he shall not enjoy that abundant sa... [ Continue Reading ]
_That which he laboured for shall he restore_ Expressed in Hebrew by only two words, משׁיב יגע, _meshib jagang_, literally, _restituens laborem, restoring labor:_ that is, the goods which were gotten with labour, that of others, or his own. It may refer either to the goods of others, of which he had... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor_ By his oppression he brought men to utter poverty, and then forsook them in that destitute state, affording them no mercy nor help. Or, the meaning is, He made some poor by his oppressions, and others, that were poor, he suffered to perish for want o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely he shall not feel quietness_, &c. He shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his mind, in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty conscience assures him he deserves, and partly because they shall be speedily taken aw... [ Continue Reading ]
_There shall none of his meat be left_, &c. For his future use; but he shall be stripped of all, which being publicly known, none of his kindred or friends shall trouble themselves to seek for any relics of his estate. But the Hebrew, אין שׁריד לאכלו, _een shorid leachlo_, rather means, _There shall... [ Continue Reading ]
_When he is about to fill his belly_ That is, when he has enough to satisfy all his appetites, and shall design to indulge them in the pleasurable enjoyment of all his gains, and to spend his days in sensuality; _God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him_ Some dreadful and destructive judgment.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He shall flee from the iron weapon_ That is, from the sword or spear; and so shall think himself out of danger. _The bow of steel _ Which is of great strength, and therefore sendeth forth the arrow with greater force; _shall strike him through_ Shall mortally wound him. He shall flee from one dange... [ Continue Reading ]
_All darkness_ All sorts of miseries, of soul, and body, and estate; _shall be hid_ Or laid up by God for him. They are reserved and treasured up for him, and kept as in a sure place, and shall infallibly overtake him: _in his secret places_ In those places where he confidently hoped to hide and sec... [ Continue Reading ]
_The heaven shall reveal his iniquity_ God shall be a swift witness against him by extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job's case, and the fire from heaven. _And the earth shall rise up against him_ All creatures upon earth shall conspire to destroy him. If the God of heaven and earth be... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is the portion of the wicked man from God_ Allotted to him, designed for him, as his portion: and he will have it for a perpetuity; it is what he must abide by. _And the heritage appointed unto him by God_ Hebrew, נחלת אמרו, _nachalath imro, the heritage of his word;_ that is, appointed by the... [ Continue Reading ]