Job 24:5

_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 24:5. _RISING BETIMES FOR A PREY_] The general sense here seems plain enough. There are some who live a lawless roaming life: make a predatory life their employment; for this purpose, frequent the wilderness, where they seize on and appropriate whatsoever they find, and by this method they and their families are supported. Mr. _Good_ says: "The sense has never yet been understood by any commentator;" and hence he proposes a different division of the words, placing ערבה _arabah_, the _desert_ or _wilderness_, in the first hemistich, thus: - "Rising early for the pillage of the wilderness; The bread of themselves _and_ of their children." Others think that the words are spoken solely of the poor under the hand

BEHOLD, AS WILD ASSES IN THE DESERT - In regard to the wild ass, see the notes at Job 6:5. Schultens, Good, Noyes, and Wemyss, understand this, not as referring to the haughty tyrants themselves, but to the oppressed and needy wretches whom they had driven from society, and compelled to seek a precarious subsistence, like the wild ass, in the desert. They suppose that the meaning is, that these outcasts go to their daily toil seeking roots and vegetables in the desert for a subsistence, like wild animals. But it seems to me that the reference is rather to another class of wicked people: to the wandering tribes that live by plunder - who roam through the deserts, and live an unrestrained and a lawless life, like wild animals. The wild ass is distinguished for its fleetness, and the comparison here turns principally on this fact. These marauders move rapidly from place to pla

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

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 diligently seek for, for them and their young; and so the words may be descriptive of the place where the poor hide themselves, and of the company they are obliged to keep; but the Targum supplies the note of similitude as we do; and others i observe it to be wanting, and so it may respect wicked men before described, who may be compared to the wild asses of the wilderness for their folly and stupidity, man being born like a wild ass's colt, Job 11:12; and for their lust and wantonness, and for their rebellion against God and his laws, and their unteachableness. Perhaps some regard may be had to t...

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...

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos_. App-6. CHILDREN. offspring....