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B.—Job: Seeing that God withdraws Himself from him, and that moreover His allotment of men’s destinies on earth is in many ways most unequal, the incomprehensibleness of His ways may hence be inferred, as well as the short-sightedness and one-sidedness of the external theory of retribution held by the friends
2 Even to-day is my complaint bitter:
my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 O that I knew where I might find Him!
that I might come even to His seat!
4 I would order my cause before Him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which He would answer me,
and understand what He would say unto me.
6 Will He plead against me with His great power?
No; but He would put strength in me.
7 There the righteous might dispute with Him;
so should I be delivered forever from my judge.
8 Behold I go forward, but He is not there;
and backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9 on the left hand where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him;
He hideth Himself on the right hand that I cannot see Him.
10 But He knoweth the way that I take:
when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot hath held His steps,
His way have I kept, and not declined.
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips;
I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him?
and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth.
14 For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me:
and many such things are with Him.
15 Therefore am I troubled at His presence:
when I consider, I am afraid of Him.
16 For God maketh my heart soft,
and the Almighty troubleth me.
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness,
neither hath He covered the darkness from my face.
2. The darkness and unsearchableness of God’s ways to be recognized in many other instances of an unequal distribution of earthly prosperity, as well as in Job’s case
do they that know Him not see His days?
2 Some remove the landmarks;
they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless,
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way;
the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert,
go they forth to their work, rising betimes for a prey:
the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field:
and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing,
that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast,
and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing,
and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 which make oil within their walls,
and tread their wine-presses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city,
and the soul of the wounded crieth out:
yet God layeth not folly to them.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light;
they know not the ways thereof,
nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer rising with the light
killeth the poor and needy,
and in the night is as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,
saying, No eye shall see me:
and disguiseth his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses,
which they had marked for themselves in the daytime:
they know not the light.
17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death:
If one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death
18 He is swift as the waters;
their portion is cursed in the earth:
he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters:
so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him;
he shall be no more remembered;
and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not:
and doeth not good to the widow.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power:
he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth;
yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone
and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others,
and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar,
and make my speech nothing worth?
2. First Division. Repetition of the wish, heretofore uttered, that God might appear to rescue and to vindicate him, together with a self-suggested objection, and an expression of doubt whether the wish would be realized: Job 23.
First Strophe: Job_23:2-5. Even to-day my complaint is still bitter.—Both the authority of the Ancient Versions, such as the Targ., Pesh., Vulg. [E. V.], and also the comparison with former passages, such as Job_7:11; Job_10:1, favor the view that îְøִé signifies “bitterness,” and is thus synonymous with îַø , the possibility of which is shown by the cognate radical relation of the verbs îøä and îøø , which occasionally interchange forms; comp. Delitzsch on the passage. If we take the word however in its ordinary signification of “frowardness, perverseness,” we get a suitable meaning: “my complaint is still ever froward” (ever bids defiance, maintains its opposition), i.e., against such exhortations to penitence as those of Eliphaz (or in opposition to God, as Hahn, Olshausen, etc., explain). On the other hand we can make no use of the reading of the LXX.: ἔê ôῆò ÷åéñὀò ìïõ ( îִéָּãִé ), nor yet of Ewald’s conjecture derived from it— îִéָּãåֹ , “by reason of His hand is my complaint” [so Copt. and Merx].—My hand lies heavy on my groaning:i. e., I am driven to the continuous outbreak of my groaning, I must all the time force forth groans (not: my hand thrusts down my groaning, forces it back; Hirzel). Since this rendering yields a meaning that is entirely suitable, and suffers from no particular difficulty as to the language, it is unnecessary either with the Targ. [E. V.], to understand éָãִé of “the hand of God which strikes me” (the suffix Îִé sensu obj.) or (with the LXX. and Pesh.) [Merx] to read éָãåֹ . (According to E. V., Ges., Ber., Noyes, Schlottm., Ren., Rod., òַì is comparative: “the hand upon me is heavier than my groaning,” which gives a suitable meaning, at least if we take îְøִé in the sense of bitterness. The objection to it is, however, as stated by Delitzsch, that “ ëáøä éã òì is an established phrase, and commonly used of the burden of the hand upon any one, Psa_32:4 (comp. Job_33:7; and the connection with àֶì , 1Sa_5:6, and ùָׁí , 1Sa_5:11”).—E.]. It remains to be said that the clause defining the time, âַּí äַéּåֹí , “even today,” belongs to both halves of the verse, and for the same reason it expresses the more general sense, “even now, even always,” (comp. Job_3:24). The supposition that the colloquy had lasted several days, and that in particular the present third course of the same had begun one day later than the one preceding is scarcely admissible on the strength of their expression, which is certainly not to be pressed too far, (against Ewald, 2d Ed., and Dillmann).
Job_23:3. Oh that I but knew how to find Him.—The Perf. éָãַòְúִּé with the following Imperf. consec. ( åְàֶîְöָàֵäåּ ) expresses the principal notion contained in Job’s wish: utinam scirem (locum ejus), et invenirem eum = utinam possim invenire eum! Comp. the similar construction in Job_32:22; also Gesen., § 142, (§ 139), 3, c. The rendering of Dillmann: “Oh that I, having known (where He is to be found), might find Him,” (in accordance with Ewald, § 357 b) gives essentially the same sense.— úְּëåּðָä in the second member means by itself, a frame, stand, setting up;” here specifically, “seat, throne,” i.e., the judgment seat of God, as the sequel shows.
Job_23:4. In regard to òָøַêְ îִùְׁôָּè , causam instruere, comp. Job_13:18; in regard to úּåֹëָçåֹú (lit. “objections, reproofs”) in the specific sense of “legal arguments, grounds of justification,” see Psa_38:15 [14]; also above Job_13:3.
Second Strophe: Job_23:6-9. The doubt as to the possibility of such a protective interposition of God, begins again to appear. This (Job_23:6) takes first of all the form of a shrinking reflection on the crushing effect which God’s majesty and infinite fulness of power might easily exert upon him; a thought which has already emerged twice before (Job_9:34; Job_13:21), and which in this place Job, supported by the consciousness of his innocence, repudiates and tramples under foot. Would He in omnipotence then contend with me? Nay! He would only regard me: i. e., only give heed to me ( éָùִׂéí , scil. ìֵá ; comp. Job_4:20; here in union with áְּ to express the cleaving of the Divine regard to him, comp. ôָּðָä áְּ , Job_6:28): only grant me a hearing, and as the result thereof acquit me. [ àַêְ “nothing but;” intensive; the very thing that He would do, hence the thing that He would assuredly do]. To render the Imperfect verbs éָøִéּá and éָùִׂéí as expressive of a wish: “shall He contend with me?” i. e., shall I wish, that He would contend with me? (Hirzel, Ew., Dillm., etc.), is altogether too artificial, and not at all required by the connection. [The E. V., Bar., Carey, supply “strength” ( ëֹּçַ ) after éùׂí : God, so far from using His power to crush Job, would strengthen him to plead his cause. But the ellipsis of ìֵá is already justified by Job_4:20, and the antithesis thus obtained between a and b is more direct and natural.—E.].
Job_23:7. Then ( ùָׁí as in Job_35:12; Psa_14:5; Psa_66:6, and often in a temporal sense; then, when such a judicial interposition of God should take place) would a righteous man plead (lit., “be pleading,” ðåֹëָç , partic.) with Him:—i. e., it would be shown that it is a righteous man who pleads with him; and I should forever escape my Judge; i. e., by virtue of this my uprightness. ôַּìֵּè is, like îַìֵּè Job_20:20, intensive of Kal.
Job_23:8-9. The joyful prospect is suddenly swept away by the thought that God is nowhere, in no quarter of the world to be found.—Yet ( äֵï , “yet behold,” in an adversative sense, as in Job_21:16) if I go eastward, He is not there, etc. ÷ֶãֶí (“toward the front, = toward the east”) and àָçåֹø (toward the rear, = toward the west,” comp. Job_18:20), refer to the eastern and western quarters of the heavens, even as the following “left” and “right” refer to the northern and southern.—If He works northward, I behold (Him) not; if He turns southward I see it not. ùְׂîֹàåì , “toward the left” is an adverbial local clause, qualifying áַּòֲùׂúåֹ , as also éָîִéï qualifying éַòֲèֹó . The former verb expresses its customary meaning: “to work, to be active, efficient,” which suits here very well (comp. Job_28:26), so that every different rendering, as e. g., taking = òָùָׂä òָùָׂä ãֶּøֶêְ , “to take His way” (Blumenfeld), or = “to hide Himself” (Umbreit), or = òָèָä “to incline Himself, to turn Himself” (Ewald), seems uncalled for. On the other hand the common signification of òèó —“to veil Himself,” is less suitable in b [so E. V., Lee, Con., Ber., Rod. Elz,, etc.], than the signification “bending, turning aside” adopted by Saadia, Schultens, Ewald Delitzsch, etc., after the Arabic. If this latter definition deserves here the preference, there is he less probability that the passage contains any reference to the çַãְøֵé úֵîָï , (“the chambers of the South,” Job_9:9), or, generally speaking, to any celestial abode of God as set forth in heathen theologies or cosmogonies. Rather does he poet conceive of God as omnipresent, as much so as the poet of the 139th Psalm, in his similar description (Job_23:8-10). [Gesenius and Carey translate b: “He veileth the South, etc.,” but less appropriately, the construction of éָîִéï being evidently the same with ùְׂîֹàåì , which is unquestionably adverbial.—E.]
Third Strophe: Job_23:10-13. The reason why God withdraws Himself: although He knows Job’s innocence, He nevertheless will not abandon His purpose, once formed, not to allow Himself to be found by Him. [“He conceals Himself from him, lest He should be compelled to acknowledge the right of the sufferer, and to withdraw His chastening hand from him.” Delitz.]
Job_23:10. For He knows well my accustomed, way.— ãֶּøֶêְ òִîָּãִé , lit. “the way with me,” i. e., the way which adheres to me, which is steadfastly pursued by me (comp. Psa_139:24; Ew., § 287 c), or: “the way of which I am conscious” [“which his conscience ( óõíåßäçóéò ) approves ( óõììáñôõñåῖ )”], as Delitzsch explains, referring to Job_9:35; Job_15:9.—If He should prove me ( áְּçָðַðִé , an elliptical conditional clause; comp. Ewald, § 357, b), I should come forth as gold, i. e., out of His crucible; a very strong and bold declaration of his consciousness of innocence, for which Job must hereafter (Job_42:6) implore pardon.
Job_23:11. My foot hath held firm to His step ( àçæ , as elsewhere úָּîַêְ , Psa_17:5; Pro_5:5) [“The Oriental foot has a power of grasp and tenacity, because not shackled with shoes from early childhood, of which we can form but little idea.” Carey]: His way I have kept, and turned not aside. àָֽè , Jussive Hiph. from ðèä , in the intransitive sense of deflectere, as in Psa_125:5; Isa_30:11.
Job_23:12. The commandment of His lips—I have not departed from it.— äֵîִéùׁ , intransitive, like äִèָּä in the verse preceding. In regard to the construction (antecedent placing of a nominative absolute) comp. Job_4:6. More than my (own) law I have observed the saying of His mouth; have accordingly set them for above all that I have, of my own will, desired or prescribed for myself. [Bernard explains the preposition î here to mean: “by reason of my rule,” i. e., by reason of my having made it a rule. This however obscures the striking contrast between çֻ÷ִּé and àִîְøֵéÎôִéå —E.]. With çֻ÷ּé we may compare the “law in the members” warring against the Divine law, Rom_7:23. [E. V. takes çֻ÷ִּé , as in Gen_47:22; Pro_30:8, in the sense of one’s “allowance of food;” Ewald also translates by “Gebühr” (“that which as a distinguished rich man I have the right to require in my relations to other men, and my claims upon them”). The consideration of Job’s greatness and power should be borne in mind with the rendering “law.” The “law” which Job had ever held subordinate to the Divine precepts was the will of a prince.—E.]. öָôַï “to lay up, preserve,” is here substantially equivalent with ùָׁîַø , comp. Psa_119:11; in view of which parallel passage it is not necessary with the LXX. instead of îֵäֻ÷ִּé to read áְּçֵé÷ִé , ἐí ôῷ êüëðῳ ìïí ἔêñõøá ῥÞìáôá áὐôïῦ .
Job_23:13. Nevertheless He remaineth (ever) the same, and who will turn Him Ó viz., from His purpose; comp. Job_9:12; Job_11:10. åְäåּà áְּàֶçָã , not: “He remaineth by one thing” (Hirzel, Del.) [Lee, Noyes, Carey], for this would have been expressed by the neuter form áְּàַçַú (comp. Job_9:22); but the áְּ is á essentiæ (Gesen. § 154 [§ 151] 3, a), and the thought expressed is that of the unchangeableness, the constancy of God (not the oneness, or the absolute superiority of God, as the Vulg., Targ., Starke, who refers to Gal_3:20, Schultens, Ewald, Schlottmann, [Ges., Ber., Rod., Elz.] explain, but against the context. With b compare the well-known expression: “He spake, and it was done, etc.,” Psa_33:9. [The unchangeable purpose of God of which Job here speaks is evidently the purpose to inflict suffering on him, a purpose to which He inflexibly adheres, notwithstanding He knows Job’s integrity, and finds through His crucible that the sufferer is pure gold.—E.].
Fourth Strophe: Job_23:14-17. Truly ( ëִּé as in Job_22:26), He will accomplish my destiny. çֻ÷ִּé with suffix of the object, means here that which has been decreed, ordained concerning me. And much of a like kind is with Him—i. e., “has been determined by Him, lies in His purpose,” (comp. Job_9:35; Job_10:13; Job_15:9). The “much of that kind” spoken of refers not specifically to Job’s sufferings (Umbreit, Delitzsch, etc.), as rather to all that is analogous thereto, to all decrees of a like character regarding men in general.
Job_23:15. Therefore do I tremble (lit. “I am terrified, troubled”) before His face; if I consider it, I am afraid before Him. àֶúְáּåֹðֵï is an elliptical hypothetical antecedent, as is the case in Job_23:10 b. We are to supply as the object to be considered the unfathomable decree of God, by virtue of which he must suffer.
Job_23:16. And God hath made my heart faint [lit. “soft”] ( äֵøַêְ Hiph. from øַêְ , Deu_20:3, etc.), and the Almighty has confounded me. The emphasis rests in the subjects àֵì and ùַׁãַּé which are purposely placed first in both members. It is God Himself, who by His incomprehensibly harsh and stern treatment has plunged him in anguish and terror; his suffering considered in itself by no means exerts such a crushing influence upon him (see the vers. following).
Job_23:17. For I am not dumb before the darkness, nor yet before myself whom thick darkness has covered—i. e., the darkness of my calamity (comp. Job_22:11), and my own face and form darkened and disfigured by my sufferings (comp. Job_19:13 seq.) are not able to strike me dumb (with horror); only the thought of God can do this, who with His incomprehensible decree stands behind this my suffering! Observe the significant contrast between the îִôְּðֵéÎçùֶׁêְ of this ver. and the îִôָּðָéå of Job_23:15 a; as well as moreover the antithetic relation, which obtains between this passage and the statement of Eliphaz in Job_22:11 that Job seemed not to mark at all the terrible darkness of his misery. Either of these retrospective references of the passage is lost sight of if, with most of the ancients (LXX., Vulg., Luth.] [E. V. Ges., Scott, Noyes, Ber., Ren., Rod., Elz.] we render: “because I was not cut off ( ðִöְîַú deleri, perire, as in Job_6:17) before the darkness came, and He has not covered the darkness from my face” [i. e., has not covered me in the grave, so that I might never have faced this suffering]. The signification: “to become dumb, to be brought to silence,” is the only one that is suitable here; we should then have to think (with Delitzsch, etc.) of an inward destruction by terror and confusion.
3. Second Division: Job 24. An extended description of the many incomprehensible things in what God does as ruler of the universe, beginning with the many instances in which He permits the innocent and defenceless to be oppressed and persecuted by their powerful enemies: Job_24:1-12.
Fifth Strophe: Job_24:1-4. Why are times not reserved by the Almighty?—i. e. times of reckoning with good and evil; judicial terms, at which He displays His retributive justice. In. regard to the use of öôï , “reserving” [storing up] in the sense of “appointing, fixing, comp. Job_15:20; Job_21:19. The question is of course so intended as to require no answer, or a negative one. So also in the second member: and do His friends (lit. “His knowers” [acquaintances], they who are His, who know Him, and He them, comp. Job_18:21; Psa_36:11 [10]) not see His days?—The “days” of God here are His judgment days, the days in which He reveals Himself in judicial rigor against his enemies, and in beneficent mercy toward His holy ones (comp. Eze_30:3, also the expression, the “days of the Son of Man” in Luk_17:22). This verse also seems to contain a retrospective reference to the last discourse of Eliphaz, especially to Job_22:19; by the ancients, moreover, who were troubled more; particularly about the òִúִּéí , “terms, judicial periods,” it was variously misunderstood, and erroneously translated. [The construction adopted by E. V., Con., etc.: “Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know Him not. see His days?” is a less natural and simple rendering of the original than, that given above. Conant objects that “this, question is not pertinent here. The point of inquiry is not, why are such times of retribution not appointed by God; but why, if they are appointed by Him, as alleged, do not good men witness them?” Job however does deny, by implication, that there is any retribution, or time reserved for it, with the Almighty. The phenomena of human life, he argues, indicate that God cares not how men sin, or suffer. The second member of the verse puts the thought of the first in a still more striking light. The indications of retributive justice in the administration of the world, are such that not even God’s familiars, who are in His secret, can discern the days whereon they occur.—E.].
Job_24:2. Landmarks they remove [or, are removed; vb. impersonal] flocks, they plunder, and feed. From this point on begins the specific description of the many deeds of violence, oppression and persecution permitted by God. The vers. immediately following (3, 4) describe the wicked agents who commit such deeds, Job_24:5-8 the wretched ones who suffer from them, and thence on interchangeably, now the persecutors and now the persecuted, the verbs used being put in the 3d person plural Perfect. In respect to the wickedness of removing landmarks, ( éַñִּéâåּ = éַùִּׂâåּ , from ñåּâ ) comp. Deu_19:14; Deu_27:17; Pro_22:28; Pro_23:10. In regard to the plundering and carrying off of herds, comp. Job_20:19. [“They steal flocks, åַéִּøְòåּ i. e., they are so bare-faced, that after they have stolen them, they pasture them openly.” Delitzsch].
Job_24:3. ðָäַâ , “to drive away,” as in Isa_20:4; çָáַì , “to distrain, to take as a pledge” as in Exo_22:25; Deu_24:6; comp. below Job_24:9 (whereas on the other hand in Job_22:6 the word is used in a somewhat different sense). [The ass of the orphan, and the yoke-ox of the widow are here referred to as the most valuable possession, and principal dependence of those unfortunate ones.—E.].
Job_24:4. The poor they thrust oat of the way—i. e., out of the way, in which they have the right to walk, into roadless regions (comp. äִèָּä in a similar sense in Amo_5:12). All together ( éַçַã as in Job_3:18) the wretched of the land must hide themselves.—So according to the K’ri: òֲðִéֶּéÎàֶøֶõ ;, while the K’thibh òַðְåéֵÎà× would, according to Psa_76:10; Zep_2:3 designate the “afflicted,” the “sufferers” of the land, which seems less suitable here. The Pass. çֻáְּàåּ denotes what these unfortunate ones are compelled to do; comp. Job_30:7.
Sixth Strophe; Job_24:5-8. Description of the miserable condition into which the oppressed and persecuted are brought by those wicked ones (not of another class of evil-doers apart from those previously spoken of, as ancient exegesis for the most part assumed, and as latterly Rosenm., Umbr., Vaih. [Lee, Barnes, Carey, Scott, etc.] explain). As is evident from the more extended description in Job_30:1-8 of the unsettled, vagabond life of such unfortunates, the poet has here before his eyes the aborigines of the lands east of the Jordan, who were driven from their homes into the desert, possibly the remnant of the ancient Horites [cave-dwellers]; comp. what is said more in detail below on Job 30. Behold, wild asses in the wilderness (i. e. as wild asses; comp. Job_6:5; Job_11:12; Job_39:5 seq.), they go forth in their daily work (lit. “work;” comp. Psa_104:23), seeking after prey ( èֶøֶó , booty, prey, a living, as in Pro_31:15) [“from èָøַó in the primary signification decerpere describes that which in general forms their daily occupation as they roam about. …The idea of waylaying is not to be connected with the expression.” Del.]; the steppe [ òֲøָðָä , the wide, open, desert plain] is to them (lit. “to him,” viz., to each one of them), [or “to him as father of the company,” Del., or possibly the sing. ìåֹ is used to avoid the concurrence of ìָäֶí with ìֶçֶí immediately following: Hirzel] bread for their children—( ðְòָøִéí as in Job_1:19; Job_29:5) [“the steppe, with its scant supply of roots and herbs, is to him food for the children; ho snatches it from it, it must furnish it to him” (Del.) thus accounting for the use of èֶøֶó ]. A striking description of the beggar, vagabond life of these troglodytes, the precursors of the gipsies, or South-African Bushmen of to-day. [Of the ôְּøָàִéí , onagri (Kulans), with which these are compared, Delitzsch says: “Those beautiful animals, which, while young, are difficult to be caught; which in their love of freedom are an image of the Beduin, Gen_16:12; in their untractableness an image of that which cannot be bound, Job_11:12; and from their roaming about in herds in waste regions, are here an image of a gregarious vagrant, and freebooter kind of life.” Del.]
Job_24:6. In the field they reap (so according to the K’ri éִ÷ְöåֹøåּ the K’thibh éַ÷ְöִéøåּ would be rendered by some such expression as “they make for a harvest”) the cattle-fodder [ áְּìִéìֹå , as in Job_6:5, mixed fodder for the cattle, farrago]; lit. “his cattle-fodder, i. e. that of the øָùָׁò mentioned in b. [Most explain this to mean that these miserable hirelings seek to satisfy their hunger with the fodder grown the cattle. Delitzsch on the ground that “ ÷ָöַø does not signify to sweep together, but to reap in an orderly manner; and if they meant to steal why did they not seize the better portion of the produce?” supposes that the “rich evildoer hires them to cut the fodder for his cattle, but does not like to entrust the reaping of the better kinds of corn to them.” This view, however, seems less natural than the former, and less in harmony with the parallelism. See below on b.—E.]. And they glean the vineyard of the wicked. ì÷ùׁ serotinos fructus colligere (Rosenm.), to glean the late-ripe fruit, i. e. stealing it. The meaning can scarcely be that this was done in the service of the rich evil-doer, in which case the verb òåֹìֵì racemari would rather have been used (against Delitzsch).
Job_24:7. Naked ( òøåí , adverbial accusative, as in Job_24:10; comp. ùׂåֹìָì , Job_12:17; Job_12:19) they pass the night without clothing, îִáְּìִé lit. “from the lack of,” comp. Job_24:8 b. and Job_24:10.
Job_24:8. …And shelterless (from lack of shelter) they clasp the rock.— çִáְּ÷åּ , they “embrace” the rock, in that shivering they crouch beneath it as their shelter. Comp. the phrase, “embracing the dunghill” (mezabil), Lam_4:5.
Seventh Strophe: Job_24:9-12. Resuming the description of the tyrannical conduct of those men of power described in Job_24:2-4. They tear the orphan from the breast.— ùֹׁã here the same as ùַׂã , as also in Isa_60:16; Isa_66:11. Correctly therefore the LXX.: ἀðὸ ìáóôïῦ —whereas to render ùֹׁã in its customary signification of “destruction, ruin” (as e. g. by Ramban, etc.) [=“from the shattered patrimony”], yields no satisfactory meaning. The act of tearing away from the breast is conceived of as the violent deed of harsh creditors, who would satisfy their claims by bringing up the orphan children as slaves. And what the miserable one has on they take away as a pledge.—A tenable meaning, and one that will agree well with Job_24:10 is obtained only by regarding åְòַì as an elliptical expression for åַàֲùֶׂø òַì “and what is on the miserable one,” i. e. What he wears, his clothing (Ralbag, Gesen., Arnh., Vaih., Dillmann) [Rod., Bernard, Noyes]. With the thought may then be compared Mic_2:9; in respect to çáì see above on Job_24:3. The other explanations which have been given are less suited to the connection, if not absolutely impossible, such as: “they take a pledge above [beyond the ability of] the sufferer” (Hirzel); “they take for a pledge the suckling ( åְòֻì of the poor”) (Kamphausen) [Elzas]; “with the poor they deal basely,” or “knavishly” (Umbr., Del.), which latter rendering however would make it seem strange that the verb çáì has only a short while before been used twice (Job_24:3, and Job_22:6) in the sense of distraining. [To which add Dillmann’s objection that this interpretation seems “colorless,” out of place in the series of graphic, concrete touches of which the description is composed. It may also be said of the explanation of E. V. Ewald, Schlott., Renan, Conant, etc., “they impose a pledge on the sufferers,” that it is less vivid than that adopted above. It must be admitted on the other hand that the assumption that = òì àùׁø òì is somewhat doubtful.—E.].
Job_24:10-12 again bring into the foreground as subject those who are maltreated by the proud oppressors. These are however no longer represented as the wretched inhabitants of steppes or caves, but as poor serfs on the estates of the rich, and are thus represented as being in inhabited cities and their vicinity. Naked they (the poor) slink about, without clothing.—Comp. Job_24:7, and in respect to äִìֵּêְ , “to slink,” see Job_30:28. And hungry they bear the sheaves—i. e. for the rich, whose hired service they perform, who however allow them to go hungry in their service, and thus become guilty of the crying sin of the merces retenta laborum (Deu_25:4; 1Ti_5:18, etc.). [The English translators, misled probably by the Piel, äִìֵּëåּ , which they took to be transitive, have made the “oppressors” of the vers. preceding the subject of Job_24:10. äִìֵּêְ however is always “to walk about, to go to and fro” (so also in Pro_8:20). Taking it in this sense here, the subject is naturally “the poor;” and ðùׂà in the second member is simply “to bear, not “to take away from.”—E.]
Job_24:11. Between their walls (hence under their strict supervision) they must press out the oil ( éַöְäִéøåּ , Hiph. denom., only here); they tread the wine-vats, and suffer thirst (while so engaged—Imperf. consec. comp. Ewald, § 342, a). A further violation of the law that the mouth of the ox must not be muzzled.
Job_24:12. Out of the cities the dying groan.—So according to the reading îֵúִéí (Pesh., 1 Ms. of de Rossi’s, and some of the older editions), which word indeed elsewhere means “the dead,” but which here, as the parallel of the following çֲìָìִéí (“wounded, pierced to death,” comp. Eze_26:15; Jer_51:22) may very well be taken to mean the dying, those who utter the groaning and rattling of the death struggle [see Green, § 266, 2, a]. So correctly Umbreit, Ew., Hirz., Vaih., Stick., Heiligst., Dillmann [Schlott., Renan, Noyes. Others (Carey, Elzas, etc.) in the weaker sense: “mortals.”] The usual reading îְúִéí , “men,” yields a suitable rendering only by disregarding the masoretic accentuation, and connecting this îְúִéí as subj. with éִðְàָ÷åּ (so Jer., Symmachus, Theod.). In that case, however, it should be translated not by the colorless and indefinite term “people” [Leute] (Hahn, etc.) but by “men [Männen, viri], warriors,” and understood (with Del.) of the male population of a city, “whom a conqueror would put to the sword.” This however would remove the discourse too far out of the circle of thought in which it has hitherto removed. [According to the Masor. punctuations îֵòִ֣éø îְúִéí would be “out of an inhabited, thickly populated city,” a thought which has no place in the connection. Gesenius, followed by Conant, takes òéø (II Lex.) in the sense of “anguish:” “for anguish do the dying groan.” But the second member: “and the soul of the wounded cries out,” brings up before us a scene of blood, involving the slaying of a multitude, for which we should have been unprepared without the mention of the “city” in the first member.—E.]. Yet God regards not the folly!— úִּôְìָä , lit. [“insipidity], absurdity, insulsitas (Job_1:22), a contemptuous expression which seems very suitable here, serving as it does to describe tersely the violence of the wicked, mocking at the moral order of the universe, and still remaining unpunished. The punctuation úְּôִìָּä , “prayer, supplication” (Pesh., some MSS.) [Con., Noyes, Good, Elzas], may also be properly passed by without consideration. In regard to the absolute use of ìֹàÎéָùִׂéí (supply áְּìִëּåֹ , comp. Job_22:22), “he regards not,” see Job_4:20; Isa_41:20; and especially Psa_50:23, where, precisely as here, the expression is construed with the accus. of the object. [The rendering of E. V.: “yet God layeth (=imputeth) not folly to them,” is not essentially different, but is less expressive. Oppression ravages the earth; in the wilderness, among rocks and caves, in fields and vineyards, in villages and cities, men suffer, groan, die—and all this chaotic folly, this dark anomaly, this mockery of the Divine order—God heeds it not!—E.]
4. Second Division: Second Half: Job_24:13-25. Continuation of the preceding description, in which special prominence is given to those evildoers who commit their crimes in secret, and escape for a long time the divine punishment, which surely awaits them.
Eighth Strophe: Job_24:13-17. Those ( äֵîָּä , emphatically contrasting the present objects of the description, as a new class of evil-doers, with those previously mentioned) are rebels against the light, or: “are become rebels,” etc.; for so may the clause äָéåּ áְּ with á essential, comp. Job_23:13) be taken, unless we prefer to explain: “are become among apostates from the light,” i. e. have acquired the nature of such (Del., Dillm.) [in either case äéä is not the mere copula, but expresses a process of becoming]. îøְֹãֵéÎàåֹø , “apostates, revolters from the light, enemies of the light,” are essentially the same, as “children of the night” (Rom_13:12; 1Th_5:5; Eph_5:8, etc.—Will not know its ways; i. e. the ways of the light, for it is more natural to refer the suffix in ãְøָëָéå , as well as in ðְúִéáåֹúָéå to àåֹø than to “God.”
Job_24:14. At the dawn ( ìָàåֹø , sub lucem, cum diluculo, toward the break of day, before it is yet broad daylight) the murderer riseth up. øåֹöֵçַ , one who makes a trade of murder, who kills to steal, like the English garotter; for the wealthy oppressor is no longer (down to Job_24:18) the subject of the discourse.—[He slays the poor and needy: because of their defenceless condition; not of course for plunder, but to gratify his bloodthirsty disposition.]—And in the night he acts like a thief, or: “he becomes as the thief,” i. e. in the depths of night, when there is no one to cross his path, he plies the trade of a petty, common thief, committing burglary, etc. for the Jussive éְäִé instead of éִäְéֶä , comp. above Job_18:12; Job_20:23, etc. [poetic form]; and for àָçַæ , instead of àֶçֱæֶä , Job_23:9.
Job_24:15. And the adulterer’s eye watches ( ùָׁîַø , observare, to be on the watch for, to lurk for) the twilight, i. e. the evening twilight, before the approach of which he does not ply his craft; comp. Pro_7:9. ðֶùֶׁó here crepusculum; see above on Job_3:9—And puts a veil over the face: lit. “and lays on a covering of the face,” i. e., some kind of a veil;—hardly a mask, of which oriental antiquity had no knowledge; comp. Delitzsch on the passage.
Job_24:16. They break in the dark into houses; lit. “he,” or “one breaks in;” the indefinite subj. of çúø , is, as the plurals in the following members show, an entire band of thieves.—They, who by day keep themselves shut up, know not the light, i. e. they have no fellowship with it, as children of night and of darkness. The rendering of the Targ. and of some of the Rabbis (approximately also of the Vulg.) [also of E. V.]: “which houses) they had marked for themselves in the daytime,” is opposed by the fact that çúí signifies always obsignare, never designare; comp. Job_14:17; Job_37:7.
Job_24:17. For to them all deep darkness is morning; i. e. when the deepest darkness of the night ( öìîåú , comp. Job_3:5) begins, then they enter upon their day’s work [the drawing on of the night is to them what day-break is to others]—a striking characteristic of the ἔñãá ôïῦ óêüôïõò , in which these evil-doers engage. Umbreit and Hirzel [and so E. V. Ber., Con.] unsuitably take not öìîåú , but á÷ø as subject: “the morning is to them at once deep darkness.” Against this explanation it may be urged that éַçְãָּå means not “at once,” but as in Job_2:11; Job_9:32, etc., “all together, all in a body.”—Because they know the terrors of deep darkness; i. e. are familiar with them, as other men are with the open day; comp. Job_24:16 e; Job_38:16. The sing, again makes its appearance here [ ëִּé éַëִּéø , lit. “for he (or one) knows,” etc.], because stress is laid on the fact that every member of this wicked band has this familiarity with the darkness of night. [According to the rendering of E. V., Hirzel, etc., here rejected, the meaning would be that morning or daylight would bring terror to these evil-doers, the fear i. e. of being detected and condemned. In the second member ëִּé éַëִּéø would then be antecedent, either general: “when one can discern” (Con.), or particular: “if one know them” (E. V.) and áַּìְçåֹú öַìְîָåֶú , the consequent—“terrors of death-shade!” The other rendering, however, has on the whole the advantage of greater simplicity, and agreement with usage and the context.—E.]
Ninth Strophe: Job_24:18-21. The judgment which will overtake the wicked who have been thus far described. This judgment Job describes here proleptically, for in Job_24:22-24 a he returns once again to their haughty, insolent conduct before the judgment comes, in order to bring out the thought that a long time usually elapses before it overtakes them. This strophe sets forth, in the first place, and this intentionally in strong language, which in the mouth of Job is quite surprising, that a grievous punishment and certain destruction infallibly awaits them; but that such destruction, for the most part, is long delayed, is maintained in the following strophe, which, however, in Job_24:24 again resumes the description of the destruction. The language does not permit us with the LXX., Vulg., Pesh., Eichh., Dathe, Umbr., Vaih, etc., to take these verses in an optative sense, as a description of the punishment, which ought to befal evil-doers: thus at the outset in Job_24:18 we have ÷ַì äåּà , not éְäִé ÷ַì äåּà ; and so throughout every sign of the optative form of speech is wanting. It is possible, but the same is not indicated with sufficient clearness by the author, and for that reason is altogether too artificial, to take vers 18–21 (with Ewald, Hirzel, Schlottm., v. Gerlach, Heiligstedt, Dillmann) as a description of the well-merited judgment inflicted on the wicked, ironically attributed by Job to his opponents, Job’s own opinion on the opposite side being in that case annexed to it in Job_24:22 seq. See against this opinion, as well as against the related opinion of Sti