Job 34:20

_IN A MOMENT SHALL THEY DIE, AND THE PEOPLE SHALL BE TROUBLED AT MIDNIGHT, AND PASS AWAY: AND THE MIGHTY SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY WITHOUT HAND._ They - "the rich" and "princes" who offend God. THE PEOPLE - namely, of the guilty princes; guilty also themselves. AT MIDNIGHT - image from a night attack of an enemy on a camp, which becomes an easy prey (Exodus 12:29, "At midnight the Lord smote all the first-born"). WITHOUT HAND - without visible agency, by the mere word of God (so Job 20:26, "a fire not blown;" Zechariah 4:6; Daniel 2:34, "a stone was cut out without hands")....

16-30 Elihu appeals directly to Job himself. Could he suppose that God was like those earthly princes, who hate right, who are unfit to rule, and prove the scourges of mankind? It is daring presumption to condemn God's proceedings, as Job had done by his discontents. Elihu suggests divers considerations to Job, to produce in him high thoughts of God, and so to persuade him to submit. Job had often wished to plead his cause before God. Elihu asks, To what purpose? All is well that God does, and will be found so. What can make those uneasy, whose souls dwell at ease in God? The smiles of all the world cannot quiet those on whom God frowns....

Verse Job 34:20. _IN A MOMENT SHALL THEY DIE_] Both are equally dependent on the Almighty for their breath and being; the _mighty_ as well as the _poor_. If the _great men_ of the earth have abused their power, he sometimes cuts them off by the most _sudden_ and _unexpected_ _death_; and even at midnight, when in security, and least capable of defence, they are cut off by the people whom they have oppressed, or by the _invisible hand_ of the angel of death. This appears to be spoken in reference to _Eastern tyrants_, who seldom die a natural death....

IN A MOMENT SHALL THEY DIE - That is, the rich and the great. They pass suddenly off the stage of action. They have no power to compel God to favor them, and they have no permanency of existence here which can constitute a claim on his special favor. Soon they will lie undistinguished in the dust. All are in his hand; and when he wills it, they must lie down in the dust together. He exempts none from death; spares none on account of beauty, rank, wealth, talent, or learning, but consigns all indiscriminately to the grave-showing that he is disposed to treat them all alike. This is urged by Elihu as a proof that God has no partiality, but treats all people as being on the same level - and there is no more striking illustration of this than is furnished by death. All die. None are spared on account of title, wealth, rank, beauty, age, or wisdom. All die in a manner that shows that he has n...

EXPOSITION JOB 34:1 In this chapter Elihu turns from Job to those whom he addresses as "wise men" (verse 2), or "men of understanding" (verse 10). Whether these are Job's three special friends, or others among the company which had perhaps gathered to hear the debate, is uncertain. He makes the subject of his address to them Job's conduct—scarcely a polite thing to do in Job's presence. Job, he says, has scorned God and charged him with injustice (verses 5-9). He will vindicate him. This he proceeds to do in verses 10-30. He then points out what Job's course ought to be (verses 31-33), and winds up by an appeal to the "men of understanding" to endorse his condemnation of Job as a sinner and a rebel (verses 34-37). JOB 34:1,...

IN A MOMENT SHALL THEY DIE,.... Princes as well as the common people, rich men as well as poor; all must and do die, great and small, high and low, kings and peasants, rich and poor men, and sometimes suddenly; are struck dead at once, and without any previous notice, that night, that hour, that moment their souls are required of them. The Targum interprets this of the men of Sodom. And Mr. Broughton, in his margin, refers to the history of them in Genesis 19:1; AND THE PEOPLE SHALL BE TROUBLED AT MIDNIGHT; either the common people, when their kings and governors die; or the relations and friends of persons deceased; and this circumstance "at midnight" is added, which makes the scene more melancholy, awful, and shocking, when it happens at such a time. The above Targum understands it of the Egyptians, when their firstborn were slain, which was in the middle of the night; an

Job 34:1. _Furthermore Elihu answered and said, Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat._ I wish that verse was always true, especially concerning those who hear what purports to be the gospel; I only wish they would test and try what they hear, just as, with their mouth, they taste what they eat. But, as there are some persons who will eat anything that is set before them, so there are some who will accept anything that they hear, without exercising any spiritual discernment whatever. «It is cleverly put,» they say, and therefore they receive it; yet they would scarcely be foolish enough to eat unhealthy food simply because it was skillfully carved. Job 34:4. Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among

CHAPTER 34 _ 1. Hear my words ye wise men (Job 34:1)_ 2. The refutation of Job's accusation of God (Job 34:5) 3. Job needs testing to the end (Job 34:31) Job 34:1. In beginning this part of the address, in which Elihu vindicates God's character against Job's insinuations, he addresses the friends of Job, and perhaps others who were gathered there. He wants them to pay the closest attention to what he will say. Job 34:5. This is the main burden of his address; it is taken up with refuting Job's charge against God. He treats Job with all fairness a

Injustice is incompatible with rule. How does Job condemn God, before whom even kings and princes are vile, and who regards rich and poor alike? He sees the oppressor and suddenly destroys him. In Job 34:16 follow _mg._ only understand. In Job 34:18 read with LXX, Vulg. Who saith to a king, Thou art vile, and to nobles, Ye are wicked; that respecteth not the persons of princes. It is God who so speaks. In Job 34:20 b read for the people with Budde the rich; without hand means by the act of God. In Job 34:23 read, For he appointeth no set time for a man that he should go before God in judgment (Wright, Budde, Duhm). In...

WITHOUT HAND. Compare Daniel 2:34; Daniel 2:45; Daniel 8:25. and see 1 Samuel 26:11....