Job 24:11

_SOME REMOVE THE LANDMARKS; THEY VIOLENTLY TAKE AWAY FLOCKS, AND FEED THEREOF._ Instances of the wicked doing the worst deeds with seeming impunity. SOME - the wicked. LANDMARKS - boundaries between different pastures (Deuteronomy 19:14; Proverbs 22:28). Verse 3. PLEDGE - alluding to Job 22:6. Others really do, and with impunity, that which Eliphaz falsely charges the afflicted Job with. Verse 4. Literally, they push the poor out of their road in meeting them. Figuratively, they take advantage of them by force and injustice (alluding to the charge of Eliphaz (Job 22:8;...

1-12 Job discourses further about the prosperity of the wicked. That many live at ease who are ungodly and profane, he had showed, ch. xxi. Here he shows that many who live in open defiance of all the laws of justice, succeed in wicked practices; and we do not see them reckoned with in this world. He notices those that do wrong under pretence of law and authority; and robbers, those that do wrong by force. He says, "God layeth not folly to them;" that is, he does not at once send his judgments, nor make them examples, and so manifest their folly to all the world. But he that gets riches, and not by right, at his end shall be a fool, Jeremiah 17:11....

Verse Job 24:11. _MAKE OIL WITHIN THEIR WALLS_] Thus stripped of all that on which they depended for _clothing_ and _food_, they are obliged to become _vassals_ to their lord, labour in the fields on scanty fare, or _tread their wine-presses_, from the produce of which they are not permitted to quench their _thirst_....

WHICH MADE OIL WITHIN THEIR WALLS - Or rather, they compel them to express oil within their walls. The word יצהירו _yatshı̂yrû_, rendered “made oil,” is from צחר _tsachar_, to shine, to give light; and hence, the derivatives of the word are used to denote light, and then oil, and thence the word comes to denote to press out oil for the purpose of light. Oil was obtained for this purpose from olives by pressing them, and the idea here is, that the poor were compelled to engage in this service for others without compensation. The expression “within their walls,” means probably within the walls of the rich; that is, within the enclosures where such presses were erected. They were taken away from their homes; compelled to toil for others; and confined for this purpose within enclosures erected for the purpose of expressing oil. Some have proposed to read this passage, “Between their

EXPOSITION The general subject of this chapter is the prosperity of the wicked, whose proceedings and their results are traced out in detail (Job 24:2). A single note of perplexity (Job 24:1) forms a sufficient introduction; and a single note of challenge a sufficient epilogue (Job 24:25). JOB 24:1 WHY, SEEING TIMES ARE NOT HIDDEN FROM THE ALMIGHTY. By "times" seem to be meant God's special periods of exhibiting himself in action as the moral Governor of the world, vindicating the righteous, and taking vengeance upon sinners. Such "times" are frequently spoken of in the prophetical Scriptures as "days of th

[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 to make oil of; rather within the walls of their rich masters, where they were kept closely confined to their work, as if in a prison; or within the walls and fences of their oliveyards, where their olive presses stood; or best of all "within the rows q [of] their [olive trees]", as the word signifies, where having gathered the olives, they pressed out the oil in the presses and this they did at noon, in the heat of the day, as the word r for making oil is observed by some to signify, and yet had nothing given them to quench their thirst, as follows: [AND] TREAD [THEIR] WINEPRESSES, AND SUFFER...

Job 24:1. _Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?_ «Why do they live so long? Why do they appear to have such prosperity?» Job 24:2. _Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together._ «They are hard-hearted enough to rob even poor widows and orphan children.» Job 24:5. _Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work;_ Like wild asses, their work consists in going forth to do mischief....

CHAPTER S 23-24 JOB'S REPLY _ 1. O that I knew where I may find Him (Job 23:1)_ 2. Trusting yet doubting (Job 23:10) 3. Hath God failed? (Job 24:1) 4. Job's further testimony as to the wicked (Job 24:13) Job 23:1. Job here does not disprove at once the false charges of Eliphaz. He can afford to wait till later, till their mouths are completely silenced. Then he speaks the final word. He acknowledgeth that he is still rebellious. His hand which is upon him is heavier than all his groanings. Then that outburst which reveals the longing of his t

JOB 24. This chapter has since Merx in 1871 been subjected to much criticism, the general trend of which has been to deny the whole or a considerable part of the chapter to Job. Peake, however, considers that the chapter as a whole reflects Job's point of view, though alien elements are to be recognised in it. Davidson sums up the chapter under the heading: The Divine rectitude which Job misses in his own instance he equally misses in the broad field of the world. Job 24:1 asks why days of assize are wanting in the universe? With Job 24:2 begins a series of examples of injustice. In Job 24:5 we have the description of a wretched tribe of pariahs, nameless outcasts, probably aborigines. In...

These verses describe the miseries of another class, those who have allowed themselves to be subjected, and become serfs and bondmen attached to the estates of the rich. Probably they are but a portion of the same aboriginal tribes mentioned in Job 24:5....