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Job Chapter
Twenty-seven
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO JOB 27
Though
Job's friends were become silent, and dropped the controversy with him, he
still continued his discourse in this and the four following chapters; in which
he asserts his integrity; illustrates and confirms his former sentiments; gives
further proof of his knowledge of things, natural and divine; takes notice of
his former state of prosperity, and of his present distresses and afflictions,
which came upon him, notwithstanding his piety, humanity, and beneficence, and
his freedom from the grosser acts of sin, both with respect to God and men, all
which he enlarges upon. In this chapter he gives his word and oath for it, that
he would never belie himself, and own that he was an hypocrite, when he was
not, but would continue to assert his integrity, and the righteousness of his
cause, as long as he lived, Job 27:1; for to be
an hypocrite, and to attempt to conceal his hypocrisy, would be of no advantage
to him, either in life, or in death, Job 27:7; and was
this his character and case, upon their principles, he could expect no other
than to be a miserable man, as wicked men are, who have their blessings turned
into curses, or taken away from them, and they removed out of the world in the
most awful and terrible manner, and under manifest tokens of the wrath and
displeasure of God, Job 27:11.
Job 27:1 Moreover
Job continued his discourse, and said:
YLT
1And Job addeth to lift up
his simile, and saith: --
Moreover Job continued his parable,.... Having finished his
discourse concerning the worlds and ways of God, and the display of his
majesty, power, and glory, in them, he pauses awhile, waiting for Zophar, whose
turn was next to rise up, and make a reply to him; but neither he, nor any of
his friends, reassumed the debate, but kept a profound silence, and chose not
to carry on the dispute any further with him; either concluding him to be an
obstinate man, not open to conviction, and on whom no impressions could be
made, and that it was all lost time and labour to use any argument with him; or
else being convicted in their minds that he was in the right, and they in the
wrong, though they did not choose to own it; and especially being surprised
with what he had last said concerning God and his works, whereby they perceived
he had great knowledge of divine things, and could not be the man they had
suspected him to be from his afflictions: however, though they are silent, Job
was not, "he added to take or lift up his parable"F1ויוסף שאת משלו
"et addidit assumere suam parabolam", Pagninus, Montanus. , as the
words may be rendered; or his oration, as Mr. Broughton, his discourse; which,
because it consisted of choice and principal things, which command regard and
attention, of wise, grave, serious, and sententious sayings, and some of them
such as not easy to be understood, being delivered in similes and figurative
expressions, as particularly in the following chapter, it is called his
parable; what are called parables being proverbial phrases, dark sayings,
allegorical or metaphorical expressions, and the like; and which way of
speaking Job is here said to take, "and lift up", which is an eastern
phraseology, as appears from Balaam's use of it, Numbers 23:7; and
may signify, that he delivered the following oration with great freedom,
boldness, and confidence, and with a high tone and loud voice; to all which he
might be induced by observing, through the silence of his friends, that he had
got the advantage of them, and had carried his point, and had brought them to
conviction or confusion, or however to silence, which gave him heart and spirit
to proceed on with his oration, which he added to his former discourse:
and said; as follows.
Job 27:2 2 “As God lives, who
has taken away my justice, And the Almighty, who has made my soul
bitter,
YLT
2God liveth! He turned aside
my judgment, And the Mighty -- He made my soul bitter.
As God liveth,.... Which is
an oath, as Jarchi observes, and is a form of one frequently used, see 2 Samuel 2:27; and
is used by God himself, who, because he can swear by no greater, swears by
himself, and by his life, which ever continues, as in Ezekiel 18:3; and
many other places; and so the Angel of the Lord, even the uncreated Angel, Daniel 12:7; and so
should men, when they swear at all, it should be in this manner, see Jeremiah 4:2;
though this ought not to be but in cases of moment and importance, for the
confirmation of the truth, and to put an end to strife, when it cannot be done
any other way than by an appeal to God; as was the present case with Job, it
being about hypocrisy, and want of integrity his friends charged him with; and
such a case can only be determined truly and fully by God, who is here
described as the living God, by whom men swear, in opposition to the idols of
the Gentiles, which are of gold, silver, wood, and stone, and without life and
breath, or to their deified heroes, who were dead men; but the true God is the
living God, has life in and of himself, and is the fountain of life to others,
the author and giver of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal, and who himself
lives for ever and ever; and as such is the object of faith and confidence, of
fear and reverence, of love and affection; all which swearing by him supposes
and implies; it is a saying of R. Joshuah, as Jarchi on the place relates it,
"that
Job from love served God, for no man swears by the life of a king but who loves
the king;'
the
object swore by is further described,
who hath taken away my
judgment; not the judgment of his mind, or his sense of judging things,
which remained with him quick and strong, notwithstanding his afflictions; nor
correction with judgment, which continued with him; but, as the Targum
paraphrases it,
"he
hath taken away the rule of my judgment;'
that
is, among men, his substance, wealth, and riches, his former affluence and
prosperity, which while he enjoyed, he was reckoned a good man; but now all
this being taken away by the hand of God as it was, he was censured as a wicked
man, and even by his friends; or rather it is a complaint, that God had
neglected the judgment of him, like that of the church in Isaiah 40:27; that
he did not stir up himself to his judgment, even to his cause; did not
vindicate him, though he appealed to him; did not admit him to his judgment
seat, nor give his cause a hearing, and decide it, though he had most earnestly
desired it; nor did he let him know the reason of his thus dealing and
contending with him; yea, he afflicted him severely, though righteous and
innocent, in which Job obliquely reflects upon the dealings of God with him;
though he does not charge him with injustice, or break out into blasphemy of
him; yet this seems to be one of those speeches which God disapproved of, and
is taken notice of by Elihu with a censure, Job 34:5;
and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; with whom
nothing is impossible, and who could easily have relieved him from his
distresses; and who was "Shaddai", the all-sufficient Being, who
could have supplied him with all things temporal and spiritual he wanted; yet
instead of this "vexed his soul" with adversity, with
afflictions very grievous to him, his hand touching and pressing him sore: or,
"hath made my soul bitter"F2המר נפשי "affecit amaritudine animam meam", Pagninus,
Montanus, Mercerus, Michaelis; so Sept. ; dealt bitterly with him, as the
Almighty did with Naomi, 1:20. Afflictions are
bitter things, they are like the waters of Marah, they are wormwood and gall,
they cause bitter distress and sorrow, and make a man go and speak in the
bitterness of his soul; and these are of God, to whom job ascribes his, and not
to chance and fortune; they were bitter things God appointed for him and wrote
against him.
Job 27:3 3 As long as my breath is
in me, And the breath of God in my nostrils,
YLT
3For all the while my breath
[is] in me, And the spirit of God in my nostrils.
All the while my breath is in me,.... So long
the oath of God would be upon him, or he bound himself under it:
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; which
signifies the same thing. The breath of a man is his spirit, and this is of
God, the Father of spirits; he first breathed into man the breath of life, and
he became a living soul or spirit, Genesis 2:7; it is
he that gives life and breath to every man, Acts 17:25, and
continues it as long as he pleases, which is a very precarious thing; for it is
in his nostrils, where it is drawn to and fro and soon and easily stopped; nor
will it always continue, it will some time not be, it will go forth, and then
man dies, and returns to the earth, Ecclesiastes 12:7;
but as long as there is breath there is life; so that to say this is the same
as to say, as long as I live, or have a being, Psalm 104:33; and
while that continued, Job looked upon himself under the oath he had taken by
the living God.
Job 27:4 4 My lips will not speak
wickedness, Nor my tongue utter deceit.
YLT
4My lips do not speak
perverseness, And my tongue doth not utter deceit.
My lips shall not speak wickedness,.... This is the thing he
swears to, this the matter of his oath, not only that he would not speak a
wicked word not anything corrupt, unsavoury, unchaste, profane, and idle nor
speak evil of his neighbours and friends or of any man; but that he would not
speak wickedly of himself, as he must do, if he owned himself to be a wicked
man and an hypocrite as his friends charged him, and they would have had him
confessed; but he swears he would not utter such wickedness as long as he had
any breath in him:
nor my tongue utter deceit; which respects the same
thing; not merely any fallacy or lie, or what might impose upon and deceive
another, which yet he was careful of; but such deceit and falsehood as would be
a belying himself, which would be the case should he say that he was devoid of
integrity and sincerity.
Job 27:5 5 Far be it from me That I
should say you are right; Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
YLT
5Pollution to me -- if I
justify you, Till I expire I turn not aside mine integrity from me.
God forbid that I should justify you,.... Not but
that he counted them righteous and good men God-ward; he did not take upon him
to judge their state, and to justify or condemn them with respect to their
everlasting condition; but he could not justify them in their censures of him,
and say they did a right thing in charging him with wickedness and hypocrisy;
nor could he justify them in all their sentiments and doctrines which they had
delivered concerning the punishment of the wicked in this life, and the happiness
that attends all good men; and that a man by his outward circumstances may be
known to be either a good man or a bad man; such things as these he could not
say were right; for so to do would be to call evil good, and good evil; and
therefore he expresses his utmost abhorrence and detestation of showing his
approbation of such conduct as theirs towards him, and of such unbecoming
sentiments of God, and of his dealings, they had entertained; and to join in
with which would be a profanation and a pollution, as the word used by him
signifies; he could not do it without defiling his conscience, and profaning
truth:
until I die one will not remove my integrity from me; Job was an
upright man both in heart and life, through the grace of God bestowed on him;
and he continued in his integrity, notwithstanding the temptations of Satan,
and his attacks upon him, and the solicitations of his wife; and he determined
through the grace of God to persist therein to the end of his life; though what
he chiefly means here is, that he would not part with his character as an
upright man, which he had always had, and God himself had bore testimony to; he
would never give up this till he gave up the ghost; he would never suffer his
integrity to be removed from him, nor remove it from himself by denying that it
belonged to him, which his friends bore hard upon him to do. So Jarchi
paraphrases it,
"I
will not confess (or agree) to your saying, that I am not upright;'
the
phrase, "till I die", seems rather to belong to the first clause,
though it is true of both, and may be repeated in this.
Job 27:6 6 My righteousness I hold
fast, and will not let it go; My heart shall not reproach me as long as
I live.
YLT
6On my righteousness I have
laid hold, And I do not let it go, My heart doth not reproach me while I live.
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go,.... Meaning
not his personal righteousness, or the righteousness of his works, as his
justifying righteousness before God, and for acceptance with him; which no man
that is convinced of the insufficiency of, as Job was, will hold fast, but
renounce, and desire, with the Apostle Paul, not to be found in it, Philemon 3:9.
Indeed the righteousness of his living Redeemer, which was his, and he might
call so, this he knew, and knew he should be justified by it, and which he laid
hold upon by faith in the strong exercise of it, and would not drop it, or
become remiss in it, but retain it, and constantly make mention of it, and
plead it as his justifying righteousness with God; but here he intends the
righteousness of his cause, which he always maintained strongly, and was
determined he ever would, and never give way, or let it drop, but continue to
affirm, that he was a righteous man, and that it was not for any
unrighteousness he had done to any man that God dealt thus with him; he had
wronged no man, he had done justice to all men, as well as he was not devoid of
the fear of God, and piety towards him; and this character of himself he would
never give up, but defend to the uttermost:
my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live; not that he
imagined he should or could live without sin, so that his conscience could
never charge, accuse, or upbraid him with it; for there is no man, let him live
a life ever so harmless and inoffensive to God and man, but his heart will
smite him, and condemn him for his sins committed in thought, word, and deed:
but Job's sense is, that he would never deny his integrity, or renounce the
righteousness of his cause, and own himself to be an insincere and unrighteous
man; should he do this, he should speak contrary to his own conscience, which
would accuse and reproach him for so saying, and therefore he was determined it
never should; for, as long as he lived, he neither could nor would say any such
thing. Some render the last phrase, "for my days"F3מימי "propter dies meos", Munster; "vel
propter dies vitae meae", Michaelis; "de diebus meis",
Schultens. , or "concerning" them; for my course of life, all my
days, so Jarchi; for that my heart shall not reproach me, as being conscious to
himself he had lived in all good conscience to that day, and trusted he ever
should; but the sense before given is best.
Job 27:7 7 “May my enemy be like the
wicked, And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.
YLT
7As the wicked is my enemy,
And my withstander as the perverse.
Let mine enemy be as the wicked,.... Job in this, and
some following verses, shows, that he was not, and could not, and would not be
a wicked man and an hypocrite, or however had no opinion and liking of such
persons; for whatever his friends might think of him, because he had said so
much of their outward prosperity in this world; yet he was far from approving
of or conniving at their wickedness and hypocrisy, or choosing them for his
companions, and joining with them in their actions, or imagining they were
really happy persons; so far from it, that he would not be in their condition
and circumstances for all the world: for if he was to wish a bad thing to the
greatest enemy he had, he could not wish him any worse than to be as a wicked
and unrighteous man; that is, to be a wicked and unrighteous man; which it is
impossible for a good man to wish, and indeed would be a needless wish, since
all that are enemies to good men, as such, must be wicked; and such were Job's
enemies, as the Chaldeans and Sabeans; but that they might be as such, in their
state and circumstances, or rather as they will be in the consequence of
things, most wretched and miserable; for they are always under the displeasure
of God, and hated by him; and whatever fulness they may have of the things of
this world, they have them with a curse, and they are curses to them, and their
end will be everlasting ruin and destruction; wherefore the Septuagint version
is,
"as
the overthrow of the ungodly, and as the perdition of transgressors;'
though
some take this to be a kind of an ironic imprecation, and that by the wicked
man here, and unrighteous in the next clause, he means himself, whom his
friends reckoned a wicked and unrighteous man; and then the sense is, I wish
you all, my friends, and even the worst enemies I have, were but as wicked Job
is, as you call him; not that he wished they might be afflicted in body,
family, and estate, as he was, but that they were as good men as he was, and
partook of as much of the grace of God as he did, and had the same integrity
and righteousness as he had, see Acts 26:29; and
such a wish as this, as it serves to illustrate his own character, so it
breathes charity and good will to others; and indeed it cannot be thought the
words are to be taken in such a sense as that he wished the same evils might be
retorted upon his enemies, whether open or secret, which they were the means of
bringing upon him, which was contrary to the spirit of Job, Job 31:29. Some
consider them not as an imprecation, but as a prediction, "mine enemy
shall be as the wicked"F5יהי כרשע איבי "erit ut impius
inimieus meus", Pagninus, Montanus, Boldacius; so Junius & Tremellius,
Broughton, & Ramban. ; and may have respect to his friends, who were so
ready to charge him with wickedness, and suggests that in the issue of thin;
they would be found, and not he, guilty of sin folly, and to have said the
things that were not right, neither of God, nor of him, which had its
accomplishment, Job 42:7;
and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous; which is but
another way of expressing the same thing; for an enemy, and one that rises up
against a man, is the same person; only this the better explains what enemy is
intended, even an open one, that rises up in an hostile manner, full of rage
and fury; and so a wicked and an unrighteous man are the same, and are
frequently put together as describing the same sort of persons, see Isaiah 55:7.
Job 27:8 8 For what is the hope of
the hypocrite, Though he may gain much, If God takes away his life?
YLT
8For what [is] the hope of
the profane, When He doth cut off? When God doth cast off his soul?
For what is the hope of the hypocrite,.... In
religion, who seems to be what he is not, a holy and righteous man; professes
to have what he has not, the grace of God; pretends to do what he does not,
worship God sincerely and fervently, and does all he does to be seen of men;
though such a man may have an hope, as he has, of an interest in the divine
layout, and of eternal glory and happiness, what will it signify? what avail
will it be unto him? what will it issue in? Job was of the same mind in this
with Bildad and Zophar, that such a man's hope is as the spider's web, and as
the giving up of the ghost, Job 8:14; however
he may please himself with it in this life, it will be of no service to him at
death; for it is not like that of the true believer's, that is sure and
steadfast, and founded upon the perfect righteousness and sacrifice of Christ;
but upon his outward substance, fancying, that because God prospers him in this
world, he is highly in his favour, and shall enjoy the happiness of the world
to come; and upon his external profession of religion, and found of duties
performed by him, but he will find himself mistaken: though he hath gained;
great wealth and riches under a guise of religion, and by that means making
gain of godliness, and taking the one for the other; so the Targum,
"because
he hath gathered the mammon of falsehood;'
and
also has great gifts, and a great deal of head knowledge, being able to talk of
and dispute about most points of religion, and so has gained a great name among
men both for knowledge and holiness, and yet all will not stand him in any
stead, or be of any advantage to him:
when God taketh away his soul? out of his body by
death, as a sword is drawn out of its scabbard, and which is as easily done by
him; or as a shoe is plucked off from the foot, as Aben Ezra, and what he has a
right to do, and will do it: and this taking it away seems to be in a violent
manner, though not by what is called a violent death, yet against the will of
the person; a good man is willing to die, is desirous of it, and gives up the
ghost cheerfully; but an hypocrite is not willing to die, being afraid of
death, and therefore his life or soul is taken from him without his consent and
will, and not in love but in wrath, as the latter part of this chapter shows.
Now Job had an hope which bore him up under all his troubles, and which he
retained in the most killing and distressed circumstances, and which continued
with him, and supported him in the views of death and eternity, so that he
could look upon death, and into another world, with pleasure, and therefore
could be no hypocrite, see Job 13:15.
Job 27:9 9 Will God hear his cry When
trouble comes upon him?
YLT
9His cry doth God hear, When
distress cometh on him?
Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh, upon him? No, he will
not, he heareth not sinners, and such as regard iniquity in their hearts, Psalm 66:18; every
man has trouble more or less in this life, even the best of men; and generally
speaking they have the most, and wicked men the least; but when death comes, he
is a king of terrors to them, and they find sorrow and trouble; and especially
at the day of judgment, when they will cry for mercy; and hypocrites, as the
foolish virgins, will cry, "Lord, Lord, open unto us", Matthew 25:11; but
when they call for mercy, the Lord will not answer, but laugh at their
calamity, and mock when their fear cometh, Proverbs 1:26; but
God hears the cries of his people when in, trouble, whether in, life, or, in
death, and is a present help unto them; and when, strength and heart fail, he
is their portion, and will be so for evermore; and though sometimes they think
he does not hear them, as Job sometimes complains, yet he makes it appear that
he does sooner or later, and so Job describes himself as one that "calleth
upon God, and he answereth him", Job 12:4; and
therefore might conclude he was no hypocrite.
Job 27:10 10 Will he delight himself in
the Almighty? Will he always call on God?
YLT
10On the Mighty doth he
delight himself? Call God at all times?
Will he delight himself in the Almighty?.... That is,
the hypocrite; no, he will not; he may seem to delight in, him, but he does not
truly and sincerely; not in him as the Almighty, or in his omnipotence, into
whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall, and who is able to destroy soul and
body in hell; nor his omniscience, who, searches and knows the hearts of all
men, and the insincerity of the hypocrite, covert to men soever he is; nor in
his holiness, which at heart he loves not; nor in his ways and worship, word,
ordinances, and people, though he makes a show of it, Isaiah 58:2;
will he always call upon God? God only is to be called
upon, and it becomes all men to call upon him for all blessings, temporal and
spiritual; and this should be done in faith, with fervency, in sincerity and
uprightness of soul, and with constancy, always, at all times both of
prosperity and adversity; but an hypocrite does not, and cannot call upon God
in a sincere and spiritual manner; nor is he constant in this work, only by
fits and starts, when it is for his worldly interest and external honour so to
do. Now Job was one that delighted in God, was uneasy at his absence, longed
for communion with him, sought earnestly after him, frequently and constantly
called upon him, though he was wrongly charged with casting off the fear of
God, and restraining prayer before him, and therefore no hypocrite. Some
understandF6Schultens. all this as affirmed of the hypocrite,
setting forth his present seeming state of happiness; as that he has a hope of
divine favour, and of eternal felicity; has much peace and tranquillity of mind
in life, and at death; is heard of God when trouble comes, and so gets out of
it, and enjoys great prosperity; professes much delight and pleasure in God,
and his ways, and is a constant caller upon him, and keeps close to the
external duties of religion; and yet, notwithstanding all this, is in the
issue, when death comes, exceeding miserable, as the following part of the
chapter shows.
Job 27:11 11 “I will teach you about
the hand of God; What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
YLT
11I shew you by the hand of
God, That which [is] with the Mighty I hide not.
I will teach you by the hand of God,.... To serve God, and
speak truth, says one of the Jewish commentatorsF7Simeon Bar
Tzemach. ; rather the works of God, and methods of his providence, with wicked
men and hypocrites; the wisdom of God in his dispensations towards them; the
reasons why he suffers them to live in outward prosperity and happiness, and
what in the issue will be their case and circumstances; wherefore some render
the words, "I will teach you the hand of God", or
"of", or "concerning the hand of God"F8ביד אל "manum Dei",
Beza, Cocceius; "de manu Dei", Mercerus, Piscator, Drusius, Schmidt,
Michaelis, Schultens. ; and so Mr. Broughton, of God, his hand; not his works
of nature which his hand had wrought, of which he had discoursed in the preceding
chapter; but his works of providence, and those more mysterious ones relating
to the afflictions of the godly, and the prosperity of the wicked. Job had been
a teacher and instructor of others in the times of his prosperity, and his
words had upheld, strengthened, and comforted many, Job 4:3; and he was
not the less qualified for, nor the less capable of such an office now in his
adversity, which had been a school to him, in which he had learned many useful
lessons himself, and so was in a better capacity of teaching others. Thus some
render the words, "I will teach you", being in or "under the
hand of God"F9"In plaga Dei fortis versans", Junius
& Tremellius. ; under his mighty hand, his afflicting, chastising hand,
which had touched him, and pressed him sore, and yet had guided and instructed
him in many things, and particularly relating to the subject he proposed to
instruct his friends in; who, though they were men of knowledge, and in years,
yet he apprehended needed instruction; and he undertook to give them some by
the good hand of God upon him, through his help and assistance, and under the
influences and teachings of his spirit. The Targum is,
"I
will teach you by the prophecy of God;'
see
Ezekiel 1:3;
that which is
with the Almighty will I not conceal; meaning not the secret
purposes and decrees of God within himself, which cannot be known, unless he
reveals them; rather secret truths, which are not obvious to everyone, the
mysteries of the kingdom, the wisdom of God in a mystery, the knowledge of
which the Lord vouchsafes to some of his people in a very peculiar manner; though
the mysteries of Providence seem chiefly intended, which those that carefully
observe attain to an understanding of, so as to be capable of instructing
others; and indeed what is in reserve with God for men among his treasures,
whether of grace or glory for his own peculiar people, or especially of wrath
and vengeance for wicked men and hypocrites, may be here designed; and whatever
knowledge men have of the mysteries of nature, providence, and grace, which may
be profitable unto others, and make for the glory of God, should not be
concealed from men, see Job 6:10.
Job 27:12 12 Surely all of you have
seen it; Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?
YLT
12Lo, ye -- all of you --
have seen, And why [is] this -- ye are altogether vain?
Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it,.... As they
were men of observation, at least made great pretensions to it, as well as of
age and experience, they must have seen and observed somewhat at least of the
above things; they must have seen the wicked, as David afterwards did,
spreading himself like a green bay tree, and the hypocrites in easy and
flourishing circumstances, and good men labouring under great afflictions and pressures,
and Job himself was now an instance of that before their eyes:
why then are ye thus altogether vain? or
"become vain in vanity"F11הבל תהבלו "vanitate vanescitis", Pagninus, Junius
& Tremellius, Michaelis, Schultens; "vel evanescitis",
Montanus, Bolducius, Beza, Mercerus, Drusius, Piscator, Cocceius. ; so
exceeding vain, so excessively trifling, as to speak and act against the
dictates of their own conscience, against their own sense, and what they saw
with their own eyes, and advance notions so contrary thereunto; as to affirm
that evil men are always punished of God in this life, and good men are
succeeded and prospered by him; and so from Job's afflictions drew so vain and
empty a conclusion, that he must be a wicked man and an hypocrite.
Job 27:13 13 “This is the portion of a
wicked man with God, And the heritage of oppressors, received from the
Almighty:
YLT
13This [is] the portion of
wicked man with God, And the inheritance of terrible ones From the Mighty they
receive.
This is the portion of a wicked man with God,.... Not to be
punished in this life, but after death. This is what Job undertook to teach his
friends, and is the purport of what follows in this chapter. A wicked man is
not only one that has been so from the womb, and is openly and notoriously a
wicked man, but one also that is so secretly, under a mask of sobriety,
religion, and godliness, and is an hypocrite, for of such Job speaks in the
context; and the portion of such a man is not what he has in this life, which
is oftentimes a very affluent one as to the things of this world, but what he
has after death, which is banishment from the presence of God, the everlasting
portion of his people, a part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone,
the wrath of God to the uttermost, the second death, and a dwelling with devils
and wicked men, such as himself, even a portion with hypocrites, which of all
is the most dreadful and miserable, Matthew 24:51; and
this is "with God", is appointed by him; for God has appointed the
wicked, the vessels of wrath, fitted by their sins for destruction to the day
of evil, to everlasting ruin and destruction; and it is prepared by him for
them, as for the devil and his angels, and for them it is reserved among his
treasures, even blackness of darkness, damnation, wrath, and vengeance:
and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of
the Almighty; these are such who are either oppressors of the poor in their
natural and civil rights, taking from or denying to them what of right is their
due; or oppressors of the saints in their religious rights and privileges,
furious persecutors of them; and who, being powerful, are terrible, as the word
signifies: there is an "heritage", or an inheritance for those, which
is entailed upon them, and will descend unto them, as the firstborn of their
father the devil, as children of disobedience, and so of wrath, and like an
inheritance will endure: and this they "shall receive"; it is future,
it is wrath to come, and it is certain there is no escaping it; it is their due
desert, and they shall receive it; it is in the hands of the almighty God, and
he will render it to them, and they shall most assuredly inherit it.
Job 27:14 14 If his children are
multiplied, it is for the sword; And his offspring shall not be
satisfied with bread.
YLT
14If his sons multiply -- for
them [is] a sword. And his offspring [are] not satisfied [with] bread.
If his children be multiplied,.... As it is possible
they may; this is one external blessing common to good men and bad men. Haman,
that proud oppressor, left ten sons behind him, and wicked Ahab had seventy, Esther 9:12,
it is for the sword; for them that
kill with the sword, as the Targum; to be killed with it, as in the two
instances above; Haman's ten sons were slain by the sword of the Jews, Esther 9:13, and
Ahab's seventy sons by the sword of Jehu, or those he ordered to slay them, 2 Kings 10:7. The
children of such wicked persons are oftentimes put to death, either by the
sword of the enemy, fall in battle in an hostile way, which is one of God's
four sore judgments, Ezekiel 14:21; or,
leading a most wicked life, commit such capital crimes as bring them into the
hand of the civil magistrate, who bears not the sword in vain, but is the
minister of God, a revengeful executioner of wrath on wicked men; or else they
die by the sword of the murderer, being brought into the world for such, and
through their riches become their prey, Hosea 9:13; or if
neither of these is the case, yet they at last, let them prosper as they will,
fall a sacrifice to the glittering sword of divine justice, whetted and drawn
in wrath against them; the sword of the enemy seems chiefly intended:
and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread; such of them
as die not by the sword shall perish by famine, which is another of God's sore
judgments; though this may respect the grandchildren of wicked men, whom God
visits to the third and fourth generation; the Targum paraphrases it, his children's
children, and so Sephorno; to which agrees the Vulgate Latin version: the sense
is, that the posterity of such wicked men, when they are dead and gone, shall
be so reduced as to beg their bread, and shall not have a sufficiency of that
for the support of nature, but shall die for want of food.
Job 27:15 15 Those who survive him
shall be buried in death, And their[a] widows
shall not weep,
YLT
15His remnant in death are
buried, And his widows do not weep.
Those that remain of him,.... Of the wicked man
after his death; or such that remain, and have escaped the sword and famine:
shall be buried in death: the pestilence, emphatically
called death by the Hebrews, as by us the mortality, see Revelation 6:8.
This is another of God's sore public judgments wicked men, and is such a kind
of death, by reason of the contagion of it, that a person is buried as soon as
dead almost, being infectious to keep him; and so Mr. Broughton translates the
words,
"his
remnant shall be buried as soon as they are dead;'
or
the disease of which such die being so very infectious sometimes, no one dares
to bury them for fear of catching it, and so they lie unburied; which some take
to be the sense of the phrase, either that they shall be hurried away to the
grave, and so not be embalmed and lie in state, and have an honourable and
pompous funeral, or that they shall have none at all, their death will be all
the burial they shall have: or else the sense is, they shall die such a death
as that death shall be their grave; and they shall have no other, as the men of
the old world that were drowned in the flood, Genesis 7:23; and
Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, Exodus 15:4; and
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who were swallowed up in the earth, Numbers 16:27; and
such as are devoured by wild beasts; and if this last could be thought to be
meant, we have all the four sore judgments of God in this verse and Job 27:14, sword,
famine, pestilence, and evil beasts, see Ezekiel 14:21,
and his widows shall not weep; leaving more than one
behind him, polygamy being frequent in those times; or else these are his sons'
wives, left widows by them, as Bar Tzemach thinks, they being the persons
immediately spoken of, dying by various deaths before mentioned; but whether
they be his widows, or theirs, they shall weep for neither of them; either
because they themselves will be cut off with them; or their husbands dying
shameful deaths, lamentation would be forbidden; or they would not be able to
weep through the astonishment and stupor they should be seized with at their
death; or having lived such miserable and uncomfortable lives with them, they
should be so far from lamenting their death, that they should, as Jarchi
interprets it, rejoice at it; the Septuagint version is,
"no
one shall have mercy on their widows.'
Job 27:16 16 Though he heaps up silver
like dust, And piles up clothing like clay—
YLT
16If he heap up as dust
silver, And as clay prepare clothing,
Though he heap up silver as the dust,.... Which, as
it denotes the great abundance of it collected together, so it expresses the
bias and disposition of such a man's mind, that he cannot be content without
amassing great quantities of it, and also his diligence and success therein,
see 1 Kings 10:27;
and prepare raiment as the clay; not merely, for use, but
pomp and show, to fill his wardrobes with; and formerly, raiment was part of
the treasure of great men: the phrase signifies that he might have such a
variety of raiment, and such large quantities of it, that he would value it no
more than so much clay; or else that his riches, consist of what it would,
would be both polluting and troublesome to him; the Septuagint version reads
"gold" instead of "raiment", as in Zechariah 9:3,
where like expressions are used of Tyre.
Job 27:17 17 He may pile it up,
but the just will wear it, And the innocent will divide the silver.
YLT
17He prepareth -- and the
righteous putteth [it] on, And the silver the innocent doth apportion.
He may prepare it,.... Raiment; beginning
with that first which was mentioned last, which is frequent in the Hebrew and
eastern languages; such things may be done, and often are, by wicked men:
but the just shall put it on; the wicked man will
either have no heart, or have no time, to wear it, at least to wear it out, and
so a just man shall have it, as the Israelites put on the raiment of the
Egyptians, which they begged or borrowed, and spoiled them of, Exodus 12:35; and
oftentimes so it is in Providence, that the wealth of wicked men is by one
means or another transferred into the families of good men, who enjoy it, and
make a better use of it, Proverbs 13:22;
and the innocent shall divide the silver; have a part
of it at least, or divide the whole between his children, or give a part of it
to the poor; so money that is ill gotten, or ill used, is taken away, and put
into the hands of one that will have mercy on the poor, and liberally
distribute it to them, Proverbs 28:8.
Job 27:18 18 He builds his house like a
moth,[b] Like a
booth which a watchman makes.
YLT
18He hath built as a moth his
house, And as a booth a watchman hath made.
He buildeth his house as a moth,.... Which builds its
house in a garment by eating into it, and so destroying it, and in time eats
itself out of house and home, and however does not continue long in it, but is
soon and easily shook out, or brushed off; so a wicked man builds himself an
house, a stately palace, like ArcturusF12כעש
"quasi Arcturi", Junius & Tremellius; so Aben Ezra. ; so some
render the words from Job 9:9, a palace
among the stars, an heavenly palace and paradise, and expects it will continue
for ever; but as he builds it with the mammon of unrighteousness, and to the
prejudice and injury of others, and with their money, or what was due to them,
so by his sins and iniquities he brings ruin and destruction upon himself and his
family, so that his house soon falls to decay, and at least he and his
posterity have but a short lived enjoyment of it. This may be applied in a
figurative sense to the hypocrite's hope and confidence, which is like a
spider's web, a moth eaten garment, and a house built upon the sand; the
Septuagint version here adds, "as a spider", Job 8:13;
and as a booth that the keeper maketh; either a
keeper of sheep, who sets up his tent in a certain place for a while, for the
sake of pasturage, and then removes it, to which the allusion is, Isaiah 38:12; or a
keeper of fruit, as the Targum, of gardens and orchards, that the fruit is not
stolen; or of fig trees and vineyards, as Jarchi and Bar Tzemach, which is only
a lodge or hut pitched for a season, until the fruit is gathered in, and then
is taken down, see Isaiah 1:8; and it
signifies here the short continuance of the house of the wicked man, which he
imagined would continue for ever, Psalm 49:11.
Job 27:19 19 The rich man will lie
down, But not be gathered up;[c] He opens
his eyes, And he is no more.
YLT
19Rich he lieth down, and he
is not gathered, His eyes he hath opened, and he is not.
The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered,.... That is,
the wicked rich man; and the sense is, either he shall lie down upon his bed,
but shall not be gathered to rest, shall get no sleep, the abundance of his
riches, and the fear of losing them, or his life for them, will not suffer him
to compose himself to sleep; or else it expresses his sudden loss of them, he
"lies down" at night to take his rest, "and it is not
gathered", his riches are not gathered or taken away from him, but remain
with him:
he openeth his eyes: in the morning, when he
awakes from sleep:
and it is not; by one providence or
another he is stripped of all substance; or rather this is to be understood of
his death, and of what befalls him at that time: death is often in Scripture
signified by lying down, sleeping, and taking rest, as on a bed, see Job 14:10; rich men
die as well as others; their riches cannot profit them, or be of any avail to
them to ward off the stroke of death, and their death is miserable; he is
"not gathered", or "shall not gather"F13ויאסף "nihil secum auferet", V. L. , he cannot
gather up his riches, and carry it with him, Psalm 49:15, 1 Timothy 6:7;
"he openeth his eyes" in another world, "and it is not",
his riches are not with him; or, as the Vulgate Latin version, "he shall
find nothing"; or rather the meaning is, he is "not gathered";
to his grave, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom; and so Mr. Broughton, "he is not
taken up", that is, as he interprets it, to be honestly buried. He is not
buried in the sepulchres of his ancestors, which is often in Scripture
signified by a man being gathered to his people, or to his fathers; but here it
is suggested, that, notwithstanding all his riches, he should have no burial,
or, what is worse than that, when he dies he should not be gathered to the
saints and people of God, or into God's garner, into heaven and happiness:
"but he openeth his eyes"; in hell, as the rich man is said to do,
and finds himself in inexpressible torment: "and he is not"; on
earth, in his palace he built, nor among his numerous family, friends, and
acquaintance, and in the possession of his earthly riches, but is in hell in
the most miserable and distressed condition that can be conceived of. Some
think this last clause respects the suddenness of his death, one "opens
his eyes", and looks at him, "and he is not"; he is dead, in the
twinkling of an eye, and is no more in the land of the living; but the former
sense is best.
Job 27:20 20 Terrors overtake him like
a flood; A tempest steals him away in the night.
YLT
20Overtake him as waters do
terrors, By night stolen him away hath a whirlwind.
Terrors take hold on him as waters,.... The terrors of
death, and of an awful judgment that is to come after it; finding himself
dying, death is the king of terrors to him, dreading not only the awful stroke
of death itself, but of what is to follow upon it; or rather these terrors are
those that seize the wicked man after death; perceiving what a horrible
condition he is in, the terrors of a guilty conscience lay hold on him,
remembering his former sins with all the aggravating circumstances of them; the
terrors of the law's curses lighting upon him, and of the wrath and fury of the
Almighty pouring out on him and surrounding him, and devils and damned spirits
all about him. These will seize him "as waters", like a flood of
waters, denoting the abundance of them, "terror on every side", a
"Magormissabib", Jeremiah 20:3, will
he be, and coming with great rapidity, with an irresistible force, and without
ceasing, rolling one after another in a sudden and surprising manner:
a tempest stealeth him away in the night; the tempest
of divine wrath, from which there is no shelter but the person, blood, and
righteousness of Christ; this comes like a thief, suddenly and unexpectedly,
and steals the wicked man out of this world; or rather from the judgment seat,
and carries him into the regions of darkness, of horror and black despair,
where he is surrounded with the aforesaid terrors; this is said to be in the
night, to make it the more shocking and terrible, see Luke 12:19; and may
have respect to that blackness that attends a tempest, and to that blackness of
darkness reserved for wicked men, Judges 1:13.
Job 27:21 21 The east wind carries him
away, and he is gone; It sweeps him out of his place.
YLT
21Take him up doth an east
wind, and he goeth, And it frighteneth him from his place,
The east wind carrieth him away,.... Which is very strong
and powerful, and carries all before it; afflictions are sometimes compared to
it, Isaiah 27:8; and
here either death, accompanied with the wrath of God, which carries the wicked
man, sore against his will, out of the world, from his house, his family, his
friends, his possessions, and estates, and carries him to hell to be a
companion with devils, and share with them in all the miseries of that dreadful
state and place. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, "a
burning wind", such as are frequent in the eastern countries, which carry
a man off at once, so that he has only time at most to say, I burn, and
immediately drops down dead, as Thevenot, and other travellers, relate; which
is thus described;
"it
is a wind called "Samiel", or poison wind, a very hot one, that
reigns in summer from Mosul to Surrat, but only by land, not upon the water;
they who have breathed that wind fall instantly dead upon the place, though
sometimes they have time to say that they burn within. No sooner does a man die
by this wind but he becomes as black as a coal; and if one take him by his leg,
arm, or any other place, his flesh comes from the same, and is plucked off by
the hand that would lift him upF14Thevenot's Travels into the
Levant, par. 2. B. 1. ch. 12. p. 54. :'
and
again, it is observed, that in Persia, if a man, in June or July, breathes in
certain hot south winds that come from the sea, he falls down dead, and at most
has no more time than to say he burnsF15Thevenot's Travels into the
Levant, par. 2. B. 3. ch. 5. p. 135. . Wicked men are like chaff and stubble,
and they can no more resist death than either of these can resist the east
wind; and they are as easily burnt up and consumed with the burning wind of
God's wrath as they are by devouring flames; and though wicked men and
hypocrites may think all will be well with them if they have but time to say,
Lord have mercy on us; they may be carried off with such a burning wind, or
scorching disease, as to be able only to say, that they burn, and not in their
bodies only, but in their souls also, feeling the wrath of God in their
consciences: or this may have respect to the devouring flames of hell they are
surrounded with upon dying, or immediately after death, see Isaiah 33:14;
and he departeth; out of the world, not willingly, but,
whether he will or not, he must depart; or rather he will be bid to depart, and
he will depart from the bar of God, from his presence, into everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels:
an as a storm hurleth him out of his place: this is done
either at death, when as a storm hurls a tree, or any other thing, out of its
place, so is the sinner forced out of his place in a tempestuous manner,
through the power and wrath of God, so that his place knows him no more; and he
is hurried into hell and everlasting destruction, just as the sinning angels
were hurled out of heaven, and cast down into hell, and there will be no place
found in heaven for them any more; or rather this will be his case at judgment,
which immediately follows, where the wicked shall not stand, or be able to
justify themselves, and make their case good; but with the storm of divine
wrath and vengeance shall be hurled from thence, and go, being driven, into everlasting
punishment.
Job 27:22 22 It hurls against him and
does not spare; He flees desperately from its power.
YLT
22And it casteth at him, and
doth not spare, From its hand he diligently fleeth.
For God shall cast upon him, and not spare,.... Cast his
sins upon him, which will lie as an intolerable weight upon his conscience; and
his wrath upon him, which being poured out like fire, he will not be able to
bear it; and deserved punishment on him, which, like a talent of lead, will
bear him down to the lowest hell; and this will be done without showing any
mercy at all; for, though the wicked have much of sparing mercy in this world,
they have none in the next; there is sparing mercy now, but none in hell; God,
that spared not the angels that sinned, nor the old world, nor Sodom and
Gomorrah, will not spare them, 2 Peter 2:4; he
that made them will have no mercy on them; and he that formed them will show
them no favour:
he would fain flee out of his hands; in whose hands he is,
not as all men are, being the works of his hands, and supported by him; much
less as his people are, secure there; but in his hands as an awful and terrible
Judge, condemning him for his sins, and sentencing him to everlasting
punishment; and a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living and
almighty God: there is no getting out of them, though "fleeing, he
flees", as the phrase is, with all his might and main, with all the swiftness
he can; it is all to no purpose; he is where he was, and must continue in the
torment and misery he is in to all eternity; his worm of conscience will never
die, nor the fire of divine wrath be ever quenched; though he will desire death
ten thousand times over, he shall not find it, it shall flee from him, Revelation 9:6.
Job 27:23 23 Men
shall clap their hands at him, And shall hiss him out of his place.
YLT
23It clappeth at him its
hands, And it hisseth at him from his place.
Men shall clap their hands at
him,.... In a way of joy and triumph, scorn and derision, see Lamentations 2:15;
either at the time of his death, being glad they are rid of him, Psalm 52:5; or
rather hereafter, to all eternity, while the wrath and vengeance of God is
pouring on him; and this will be done by all righteous men evermore; not
pleasing themselves with the shocking scene, nor indulging any evil passion in
them, from which they will be entirely free; but rejoicing in the glory of
divine justice, which will be displayed in the everlasting destruction of
wicked men, see Revelation 18:20;
and this need not be restrained to good men only, but ascribed to angels also;
for it may be rendered impersonally, "hands shall be clapped at him";
or joy be expressed on this occasion by all in heaven, angels and saints, who
will all approve and applaud the divine procedure against wicked men as right
and just; yea, this may express the glorying of divine justice, and its triumph
in the condemnation and destruction of sinners;
and shall hiss him out of his place; from the bar and
tribunal of God, where he stood and was condemned; and, as he goes to
everlasting punishment, expressing abhorrence and detestation of him and his
crimes, and as pleased with the righteous judgment of God upon him. Now this is
the wicked man's portion, and the heritage he shall have of God at and after
death, though he has been in flourishing circumstances in life; all which Job
observes, to show that he was no friend nor favourer of wicked men, nor thought
well of them and their ways, though he observed the prosperity they are attended
with in their present state; and as for himself, he was not, and would not, be
such a wicked man, and an hypocrite, on any account whatever, since he was sure
he must then be miserable hereafter, to all intents and purposes.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)