Job 15:33

_HE SHALL SHAKE OFF HIS UNRIPE GRAPE AS THE VINE, AND SHALL CAST OFF HIS FLOWER AS THE OLIVE._ Image of incompleteness. The loss of the unripe grapes is poetically made the vine tree's own act, in order to express more pointedly that the sinner's ruin is the fruit of his own conduct (Isaiah 3:11; Jeremiah 6:19)....

17-35 Eliphaz maintains that the wicked are certainly miserable: whence he would infer, that the miserable are certainly wicked, and therefore Job was so. But because many of God's people have prospered in this world, it does not therefore follow that those who are crossed and made poor, as Job, are not God's people. Eliphaz shows also that wicked people, particularly oppressors, are subject to continual terror, live very uncomfortably, and perish very miserably. Will the prosperity of presumptuous sinners end miserably as here described? Then let the mischiefs which befal others, be our warnings. Though no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. No calamity, no trouble, however heavy, however severe, can rob a follower of the Lord of his favour. What shall...

Verse Job 15:33. _HE SHALL SHAKE OFF HIS UNRIPE GRAPE_] 10. Whatever _children_ he may have, they shall never survive him, nor come to mature age. They shall be like _wind-fall grapes_ and _blasted olive_ _blossoms_. As the _vine_ and _olive_, which are among the most _useful_ trees, affording _wine_ and _oil_, so necessary for the worship of God and the comfort of man, are mentioned here, they may be intended to refer to the hopeful progeny of the oppressor; but who fell, like the untimely grape or the blasted olive flower, without having the opportunity of realizing the public expectation....

HE SHALL SHAKE OFF HIS UNRIPE GRAPE AS THE VINE - The idea here is, that the wicked man shall be like a vine that casts off its grapes while they are yet sour and green, and brings none to perfection; compare the notes at Isaiah 18:5. Scott renders this, “As when the vine her half-grown berries showers, Or poisoned olive her unfolding flowers.” It would seem from this passage that the vine might be so blasted by a hot wind or other cause, as to cast its unripe grapes to the earth. The employment of a figure of this kind to illustrate an idea supposes that such a case was familiar to those who were addressed. It is well known that in the East the grape and the olive might be blasted while in blossom, or when the fru

EXPOSITION The second colloquy between Job and his friends is, like the first (ch. 3-14.), one in which all of them take part, and the same order of speakers is maintained. Job answers each speaker in turn; Eliphaz at some length (Job 16:1; Job 17:1.), the other two more briefly. The present chapter contains the second speech of Eliphaz. Compared with the first, it is harsh and violent in tone, assuming Job's guilt, and reproaching him fiercely and rudely. It naturally divides into three portions: (1) a direct reproof of Job for presumption and impiety (verses 1-6); (2) a sarcastic reflection on him for conceit and arrogance (verses 7-16); (3) an exposition of God's ways with man, based upon the experience of ancient sages (verses 17-3

HE SHALL SHAKE OFF HIS UNRIPE GRAPE AS THE VINE,.... Either the wicked man himself shall shake off or lose his substance; or God shall shake off from him all that was dear and valuable to him; or he shall be shaken by one providence or another, just as a vine is shaken by a violent wind and tempest, and its unripe grapes are battered off by an hailstorm, or plucked off by the hand, or drop off through rottenness; so it is signified by this metaphor, that a wicked man should be stripped of his wealth and riches in a sudden manner; or his children should be snatched from him in their youth, before they were well grown up to maturity, and so like the unripe grape; perhaps respect is had to Job's case, both with regard to his substance and his family: AND SHALL CAST OFF HIS FLOWER, AS THE OLIVE: which tree, when shaken in a violent manner, drops its flower, and so brings forth no fruit; it...

THE SECOND SERIES OF CONTROVERSIES CHAPTER 15 Eliphaz's Second Address _ 1. Tells Job that he is self-condemned (Job 15:1)_ 2. Charges him with pride (Job 15:7) 3. The wicked and their lot (Job 15:17) Job 15:1. His second address is not as lofty as his first. Job's language has evidently annoyed him very much. He characterizes his words as vain, unprofitable, which can do no good. He charges him with having cast off fear and having become one who restrained devotion before God. He tells Job that what he has spoken only confirms their views of him, that he is a wicked man and suffers justly for his sins. Thine own m

Eliphaz instructs Job regarding the troubled conscience And the Disastrous Fate of the Wicked Man Having sufficiently rebuked Job's presumption and irreverence Eliphaz proceeds to take up his principles, which "did away with the fear of God," Job 15:4. They are such principles as Job gave forth ch. Job 9:22 _seq_., Job 12:6. The passage has two parts: First, Job 15:17, a brief preface, in which Eliphaz states that his doctrine is that of the wise of all times among the pure-blooded races of men, who have never been contaminated by mixture with foreign tribes, and whose traditions are uncorrupted. Second,...

2. The destiny of the ungodly shows the retributive justice of God. (Job 15:17-35) TEXT 15:17-35 17 I WILL SHOW THEE, HEAR THOU ME; And that which I have seen I will declare 18 (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it; 19 Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them): 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. 21 A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waiting for the sword. 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, _saying,_ Where Is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, a

THE SECOND SERIES OF SPEECHES (JOB 15-21) The rejection by Job of the opinions and advice of the friends, his sturdy maintenance of his innocence, and the fearlessness with which in his anguish he has arraigned the divine government of the world, have all alike deepened their conviction of his guilt. Without actually charging Job with definite sin, for which indeed they have no ground, they now administer stern rebukes, and draw terrible pictures of the certain misery which awaits the godless, and this evidently with an eye to the sufferer. They no longer encourage him to repentance, or predict consequent prosperity. Job, for his part, laments their harshness, and rejects anew their doctrine of retribution as contrary to experience, and as not applicable to his case. He feels himself to be abandoned by God and man; he cries out for pity; he reasserts his innocence, and is still troubled...