INTRODUCTION TO JOB 24 This chapter contains the second part of Job's answer to the last discourse of Eliphaz, in which he shows that wicked men, those of the worst characters, prosper in the world, and go through it with impunity; he lays down this as a certain truth, that though no time is hid fr... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY, SEEING TIMES ARE NOT HIDDEN FROM THE ALMIGHTY,.... Which seems to be an inference deduced from what he had said in Job 23:14; that since all things are appointed by God, and his appointments are punctually performed by him, the times of his carrying his purposes and decrees into execution canno... [ Continue Reading ]
[SOME] REMOVE THE LANDMARKS,.... Anciently set to distinguish one man's land from another, to secure property, and preserve from encroachments; but some were so wicked as either secretly in the night to remove them, or openly to do it, having power on their side, pretending they were wrongly located... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DRIVE AWAY THE ASS OF THE FATHERLESS,.... Who are left destitute of friends, and have none to take care of them, and provide for them; and who having one ass to carry their goods for them from place to place, or to ride upon, which though a creature of no great worth, yet of some usefulness, th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TURN THE NEEDY OUT OF THE WAY,.... Either, in a moral sense, out of the right way, the way of righteousness and truth, by their bad examples, or by their threatenings or flatteries; or, in a civil sense, out of the way of their livelihood, by taking that from them by which they got it; or, in a... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, [AS] WILD ASSES IN THE DESERT,.... The word "as" is a supplement, and may be omitted, and the words be interpreted literally of wild asses, as they are by Sephorno, whose proper place is in the wilderness, to which they are used, and where their food is provided for them, and which they dili... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY REAP [EVERYONE] HIS CORN IN THE FIELD,.... Not the poor, who are obliged to reap the corn of the wicked for them without any wages, as some; but rather the wicked reap the corn of the poor; they are so insolent and impudent, that they do not take the corn out of their barns by stealth, but whil... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAUSE THE NAKED TO LODGE WITHOUT CLOTHING,.... That is, such as are poorly clothed, thinly arrayed, have scarce anything but rags, and yet so cruel the wicked men above described, that they take these away from the poor, and even their bed clothes, which seem chiefly designed; so that they are... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE WET WITH THE SHOWERS OF THE MOUNTAINS,.... They that are without any clothes to cover them, lying down at the bottom of a hill or mountain, where the clouds often gather, and there break, or the snow at the top of them melts through the heat of the day; and whether by the one or by the othe... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY PLUCK THE FATHERLESS FROM THE BREAST,.... Either on purpose to starve it, which must be extremely barbarous; or to sell it to be brought up a slave; or by obliging the mother to wean it before the due time, that she might be the better able to do work for them they obliged her to. Mr. Broughton... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAUSE [HIM] TO GO NAKED WITHOUT CLOTHING,.... Having taken his raiment from him for a pledge, or refusing to give him his wages for his work, whereby he might procure clothes to cover him, but that being withheld, is obliged to go naked, or next to it: AND THEY TAKE AWAY THE SHEAF [FROM] THE H... [ Continue Reading ]
[WHICH] MAKE OIL WITHIN THEIR WALLS,.... Not the poor within their own walls; as if the sense was, that they made their oil in a private manner within the walls of their houses, or in their cellars, lest it should be known and taken away from them; for such cannot be thought to have had oliveyards t... [ Continue Reading ]
MEN GROAN FROM OUT OF THE CITY,.... Because of the oppressions and injuries done to them, so that not only the poor in the country that were employed in the fields, and oliveyards, and vineyards, were used exceeding ill; but even in cities, where not only are an abundance of people, and so the outra... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE OF THOSE THAT REBEL AGAINST THE LIGHT,.... The light of nature, acting contrary to the dictates of their own consciences, in being guilty of the inhumanity, barbarity, and cruelty they were chargeable with in the above instances; or the light of the law, as the Targum; though as yet the law... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MURDERER RISING WITH THE LIGHT,.... The light of the morning, before the sun is risen, about the time the early traveller is set out on his journey, and men go to distant markets to buy and sell goods, and the poor labourer goes forth to his work; then is the time for one that is used to commit... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EYE ALSO OF THE ADULTERER WAITETH FOR THE TWILIGHT,.... Not of the morning, which would not give him time enough to satiate his lust, but of the evening, that he may have the whole night before him to gratify his impure desires, and that these may be indulged in the most private and secret manne... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE DARK THEY DIG THROUGH HOUSES, [WHICH] THEY HAD MARKED FOR THEMSELVES IN THE DAYTIME,.... Which some understand of adulterers last mentioned, who, having observed where beautiful women dwell, mark their houses, and the way to them, and the best way into them, and in the dark get in at windows,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE MORNING [IS] TO THEM EVEN AS THE SHADOW OF DEATH,.... It is as disagreeable, and as hateful, and as terrible to them as the grossest and thickest darkness can be to others. The word יחדו is to be rendered either "alike" or "altogether", and not "even", as in our version: "the morning is to t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE [IS] SWIFT AS THE WATERS,.... Or "upon the face of the waters" y; which some interpret of another set and sort of wicked men, guilty of like crimes, not on land, but upon the mighty waters; pirates, such that commit robberies upon the high seas; who generally choose the swiftest vessels to run fr... [ Continue Reading ]
DROUGHT AND HEAT CONSUME THE SNOW WATERS,.... Melt the snow into water, and dry up that, which is done easily, quickly, and suddenly: [SO DOTH] THE GRAVE [THOSE WHICH] HAVE SINNED; all have sinned, but some are more notorious sinners than others, as those here meant; and all die and are laid in the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WOMB SHALL FORGET HIM,.... His mother that bore him; or his wife, by whom he had many children; or his friend, as Gersom, who had a tender and affectionate respect for him; these all, and each of them, either because of his wicked life and infamous death, care not to speak of him, but bury him i... [ Continue Reading ]
HE EVIL ENTREATETH THE BARREN, [THAT] BEARETH NOT,.... Here Job returns, to give some further account of the sins of some wicked men, who prosper in this world, and go through it with impunity; and speaks of such that use their wives ill because they are barren, upbraid them with it, and are churlis... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DRAWETH ALSO THE MIGHTY WITH HIS POWER,.... Such a wicked man not only maltreats the weak, the helpless, and the defenceless, but even attacks the mighty and powerful; such as are in great power and authority, and abound in wealth and riches, only somewhat inferior in both to himself: wherefore,... [ Continue Reading ]
[THOUGH] IT BE GIVEN HIM [TO BE] IN SAFETY,.... Or "he gives him" g, that is, it is God gives the wicked man to be in safety, notwithstanding all his wickedness; for Job, having described the wicked man, now represents him as in the greatest prosperity: safety is of God in every respect, not only th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE EXALTED FOR A LITTLE WHILE,.... To seats of honour, to places of profit and trust, to great wealth and riches, to be highly esteemed among men, and to have a large affluence of the good things of life; see Malachi 3:15; though this exaltation, dignity, and glory, wealth and riches, last but... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF [IT BE] NOT [SO] NOW,.... If this is not the case of men of such wicked lives as above described, do not prosper in the world, and increase in riches, and do not pass through the world with impunity, and die quietly, in the full possession of their honour and wealth: WHO WILL MAKE ME A LIAR?... [ Continue Reading ]