Job 24

Job 24:1-25.

1. Why is it that, seeing that the times of punishment

(Eze 30:3;

"time" in the same sense) are not hidden from the Almighty, they who

know Him (His true worshippers,

Job 18:21)

do not see His days (of vengeance;

Joe 1:15;

2Pe 3:10)?

Or, with UMBREIT less simply, making the parallel

clauses more nicely balanced, Why are not times of punishment hoarded

up ("laid up";

Job 21:19;

appointed) by the Almighty? that is, Why are they not so

appointed as that man may now see them? as the second clause shows. Job

does not doubt that they are appointed: nay, he asserts it

(Job 21:30);

what he wishes is that God would let all now see that it is

so.

2-24. Instances of the wicked doing the worst deeds with seeming

impunity

(Job 24:2-24).

Some--the wicked.

landmarks--boundaries between different pastures

(De 19:14;

Pr 22:28).

3. pledge--alluding to

Job 22:6.

Others really do, and with impunity, that which Eliphaz falsely charges

the afflicted Job with.

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;

1Sa 8:3).

poor--in spirit and in circumstances

(Mt 5:3).

hide--from the injustice of their oppressors, who have robbed them

of their all and driven them into unfrequented places

(Job 20:19; 30:3-6;

Pr 28:28).

5. wild asses--

(Job 11:12).

So Ishmael is called a "wild ass-man"; Hebrew

(Ge 16:12).

These Bedouin robbers, with the unbridled wildness of the ass of the

desert, go forth thither. Robbery is their lawless "work." The desert,

which yields no food to other men, yields food for the robber and his

children by the plunder of caravans.

rising betimes--In the East travelling is begun very early, before

the heat comes on.

6. Like the wild asses

(Job 24:5)

they (these Bedouin robbers) reap (metaphorically) their various grain

(so the Hebrew for "corn" means). The wild ass does not let man

pile his mixed provender up in a stable

(Isa 30:24);

so these robbers find their food in the open air, at one time in the

desert

(Job 24:5),

at another in the fields.

the vintage of the wicked--Hebrew, "the wicked gather the

vintage"; the vintage of robbery, not of honest industry. If we

translate "belonging to the wicked," then it will imply that the wicked

alone have vineyards, the "pious poor"

(Job 24:4)

have none. "Gather" in Hebrew, is "gather late." As the first

clause refers to the early harvest of corn, so the second to the

vintage late in autumn.

7. UMBREIT understands it of the Bedouin robbers,

who are quite

regardless of the comforts of life, "They pass the night naked, and

uncovered," &c. But the allusion to

Job 22:6,

makes the English Version preferable (see on

Job 24:10).

Frost is not uncommon at night in those regions

(Ge 31:40).

8. They--the plundered travellers.

embrace the rock--take refuge under it

(La 4:5).

9. from the breast--of the widowed mother. Kidnapping children for

slaves. Here Job passes from wrongs in the desert to those done among

the habitations of men.

pledge--namely, the garment of the poor debtor, as

Job 24:10

shows.

10. (See on

Job 22:6).

In

Job 24:7

a like sin is alluded to: but there he implies open robbery of

garments in the desert; here, the more refined robbery in

civilized life, under the name of a "pledge." Having stripped the poor,

they make them besides labor in their harvest-fields and do not allow

them to satisfy their hunger with any of the very corn which they carry

to the heap. Worse treatment than that of the ox, according to

De 25:4.

Translate: "they (the poor laborers) hungering carry the sheaves"

[UMBREIT].

11. Which--"They," the poor, "press the oil within their wall";

namely, not only in the open fields

(Job 24:10),

but also in the wall-enclosed vineyards and olive gardens of the

oppressor

(Isa 5:5).

Yet they are not allowed to quench their "thirst" with the grapes and

olives. Here, thirsty;

Job 24:10,

hungry.

12. Men--rather, "mortals" (not the common Hebrew for

"men"); so the Masoretic vowel points read as English Version.

But the vowel points are modern. The true reading is, "The dying,"

answering to "the wounded" in the next clause, so Syriac. Not

merely in the country

(Job 24:11),

but also in the city there are oppressed sufferers, who cry for help in

vain. "From out of the city"; that is, they long to get forth

and be free outside of it

(Ex 1:11; 2:23).

wounded--by the oppressor

(Eze 30:24).

layeth not folly--takes no account of (by punishing) their sin ("folly" in Scripture;

Job 1:22).

This is the gist of the whole previous list of sins

(Ac 17:30).

UMBREIT with Syriac reads by changing a

vowel point, "Regards not their supplication."

13. So far as to openly committed sins; now, those done in the

dark. Translate: "There are those among them (the wicked) who rebel," &c.

light--both literal and figurative

(Joh 3:19, 20;

Pr 2:13).

paths thereof--places where the light shines.

14. with the light--at early dawn, while still dark, when the

traveller in the East usually sets out, and the poor laborer to his

work; the murderous robber lies in wait then

(Ps 10:8).

is as a thief--Thieves in the East steal while men sleep at

night; robbers murder at early dawn. The same man who steals at

night, when light dawns not only robs, but murders to escape detection.

15.

(Pr 7:9;

Ps 10:11).

disguiseth--puts a veil on.

16. dig through--Houses in the East are generally built of sun-dried

mud bricks (so

Mt 6:19).

"Thieves break through," literally, "dig through"

(Eze 12:7).

had marked--Rather, as in

Job 9:7,

"They shut themselves up" (in their houses); literally, "they seal up."

for themselves--for their own ends, namely, to escape detection.

know not--shun.

17. They shrink from the "morning" light, as much as other men do

from the blackest darkness ("the shadow of death").

if one know--that is, recognize them. Rather, "They know well (are

familiar with) the terrors of," &c. [UMBREIT]. Or, as

MAURER, "They

know the terrors of (this) darkness," namely, of morning, the light,

which is as terrible to them as darkness ("the shadow of death") is to

other men.

18-21. In these verses Job quotes the opinions of his adversaries

ironically; he quoted them so before

(Job 21:7-21).

In

Job 24:22-24,

he states his own observation as the opposite. You say, "The sinner is

swift, that is, swiftly passes away (as a thing floating) on the

surface of the waters"

(Ec 11:1;

Ho 10:7).

is cursed--by those who witness their "swift" destruction.

beholdeth not--"turneth not to"; figuratively, for He cannot enjoy

his pleasant possessions

(Job 20:17; 15:33).

the way of the vineyards--including his fields, fertile as vineyards;

opposite to "the way of the desert."

19. Arabian image; melted snow, as contrasted with the living

fountain, quickly dries up in the sunburnt sand, not leaving a trace

behind

(Job 6:16-18).

The Hebrew is terse and elliptical to express the swift and

utter destruction of the godless; (so) "the grave--they have

sinned!"

20. The womb--The very mother that bare him, and who is the last to

"forget" the child that sucked her

(Isa 49:15),

shall dismiss him from her memory

(Job 18:17;

Pr 10:7).

The worm shall suck, that is, "feed sweetly" on him as a

delicate morsel

(Job 21:33).

wickedness--that is, the wicked; abstract for concrete (as

Job 5:16).

as a tree--utterly

(Job 19:10);

UMBREIT better, "as a staff." A broken staff is

the emblem of irreparable ruin

(Isa 14:5;

Ho 4:12).

21. The reason given by the friends why the sinner deserves such a

fate.

barren--without sons, who might have protected her.

widow--without a husband to support her.

22-25. Reply of Job to the opinion of the friends. Experience

proves the contrary. Translate: "But He (God) prolongeth the life of

(literally, draweth out at length;

Ps 36:10,

Margin) the mighty with His (God's) power. He (the wicked)

riseth up (from his sick bed) although he had given up hope of

(literally, when he no longer believed in) life"

(De 28:66).

23. Literally, "He

(God omitted, as often;

Job 3:20;

Ec 9:9;

reverentially) giveth to him (the wicked, to be) in safety, or

security."

yet--Job means, How strange that God should so favor them, and yet

have His eyes all the time open to their wicked ways

(Pr 15:3;

Ps 73:4)!

24. Job repeats what he said

(Job 21:13),

that sinners die in exalted positions, not the painful and lingering

death we might expect, but a quick and easy death. Join "for a

while" with "are gone," not as English Version. Translate: "A

moment--and they are no more! They are brought low, as all (others)

gather up their feet to die" (so the Hebrew of "are taken out of

the way").

A natural death

(Ge 49:33).

ears of corn--in a ripe and full age, not prematurely

(Job 5:26).

25. (So

Job 9:24).