Job 24 commentary

Job discourses further about the prosperity of the wicked. That many live at ease who are ungodly and profane, he had showed, ch. xxi. Here he shows that many who live in open defiance of all the laws of justice, succeed in wicked practices; and we do not see them reckoned with in this world. He notices those that do wrong under pretence of law and authority; and robbers, those that do wrong by force. He says, “God layeth not folly to them;” that is, he does not at once send his judgments, nor make them examples, and so manifest their folly to all the world. But he that gets riches, and not by right, at his end shall be a fool, Jer 17:11.

See what care and pains wicked men take to compass their wicked designs; let it shame our negligence and slothfulness in doing good. See what pains those take, who make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it: pains to compass, and then to hide that which will end in death and hell at last. Less pains would mortify and crucify the flesh, and be life and heaven at last. Shame came in with sin, and everlasting shame is at the end of it. See the misery of sinners; they are exposed to continual frights: yet see their folly; they are afraid of coming under the eye of men, but have no dread of God's eye, which is always upon them: they are not afraid of doing things which they are afraid of being known to do.

Sometimes how gradual is the decay, how quiet the departure of a wicked person, how is he honoured, and how soon are all his cruelties and oppressions forgotten! They are taken off with other men, as the harvestman gathers the ears of corn as they come to hand. There will often appear much to resemble the wrong view of Providence Job takes in this chapter. But we are taught by the word of inspiration, that these notions are formed in ignorance, from partial views. The providence of God, in the affairs of men, is in every thing a just and wise providence. Let us apply this whenever the Lord may try us. He cannot do wrong. The unequalled sorrows of the Son of God when on earth, unless looked at in this view, perplex the mind. But when we behold him, as the sinner's Surety, bearing the curse, we can explain why he should endure that wrath which was due to sin, that Divine justice might be satisfied, and his people saved.

CHAPTER 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).

Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty - Mr. Good translates: "Wherefore are not doomsdays kept by the Almighty, so that his offenders may eye their periods?" Doomsdays are here used in the same sense as term times; and the wish is, that God would appoint such times that the falsely accused might look forward to them with comfort; knowing that, on their arrival, they should have a fair hearing, and their innocence be publicly declared; and their detractors, and the unjust in general, meet with their deserts. But God reserves the knowledge of these things to himself. "The holy patriarch," says Mr. Good, "has uniformly admitted that in the aggregate scale of Providence the just are rewarded and the wicked punished for their respective deeds, in some period or other of their lives. But he has contended in various places, and especially in Job 21:7-13, that the exceptions to this general rule are numerous: so numerous, as to be sufficient to render the whole scheme of providential interposition perfectly mysterious and incomprehensible, Job 23:8-12; so in the passage before us: if the retribution ye speak of be universal, and which I am ready to admit to a certain extent to be true and unquestionable, I not only ask, Why do the just ever suffer in the midst of their righteousness? but, Why do not the wicked see such retribution displayed before their eyes by stated judgments, so that they may at one and the same time know and tremble?"

Some remove the landmarks - Stones or posts were originally set up to ascertain the bounds of particular estates: and this was necessary in open countries, before hedges and fences were formed. Wicked and covetous men often removed the landmarks or termini, and set them in on their neighbors' ground, that, by contracting their boundaries, they might enlarge their own. The law of Moses denounces curses on those who remove their neighbors' landmarks. See Deu 19:14; Deu 27:17, and the note on the former place, where the subject is considered at large.

They violently take away flocks, and feed thereof - Mr. Good translates ירעו yiru, they destroy, deriving the word, not from רעה raah, to feed, but from רע ra, to rend, to destroy. The Septuagint had read רעה roch, a shepherd; and therefore have translated ποιμνιον συν ποιμενι ἁρπασαντες, "violently carrying off both the flock and the shepherd."

They turn the needy out of the way - They will not permit them to go by the accustomed paths; they oblige them to take circuitous routes. When the Marquis of H. was made ranger of Richmond Park, he thought it his duty to shut up a pathway which had existed for a long time; and those who presumed, after this shutting up, to break the fence, and take that path as formerly, were prosecuted. A cobbler near the place entered an action against the marquis: the cause was tried, the marquis cast, and the path ordered to be opened, on the ground that it had, time out of mind, been a public undisputed path. When one asked the cobbler, "How he could have the boldness to go to law with the Marquis of H.?" he answered, "Because I did not like to leave the world worse than I found it." All tolerated oppression and voluntary forfeiture of ancient rights, are injurious to society at large, and they who wink at them leave the world worse than they found it.

Rising betimes for a prey - The general sense here seems plain enough. There are some who live a lawless roaming life: make a predatory life their employment; for this purpose, frequent the wilderness, where they seize on and appropriate whatsoever they find, and by this method they and their families are supported. Mr. Good says: "The sense has never yet been understood by any commentator;" and hence he proposes a different division of the words, placing ערבה arabah, the desert or wilderness, in the first hemistich, thus: - "Rising early for the pillage of the wilderness;

The bread of themselves and of their children."

Others think that the words are spoken solely of the poor under the hand of oppression, who are driven away from their homes, and obliged to seek such support as the wilderness can afford. Such was originally the state of the Bedouins, and of the wandering Arab hordes in general: the oppression of the tyrannous governors obliged them to seek refuge in the deserts, where they still live in a roaming predatory life.

They reap every one his corn in the field - This is perfectly characteristic. These wandering hordes often make sudden irruptions, and carry off the harvest of grain, olives, vines, etc., and plunge with it into the wilderness, where none can follow them. The Chaldee gives the same sense: "They reap in a field that is not their own, and cut off the vineyard of the wicked."

They cause the naked to lodge without clothing - Or rather, They spend the night naked, without clothing; and without a covering from the cold: another characteristic of the wandering Arabs. They are ill-fed, ill-clothed. and often miserable off, even for tents. They can have little household stuff: as they are plunderers, they are often obliged to fly for their lives, and cannot encumber themselves with what is not absolutely needful.

They are wet with the showers of the mountains - Mr. Good thinks that torrents, not showers, is the proper translation of the original זרם zerem; but I think showers of the mountain strictly proper. I have seen many of these in mountainous countries, where the tails of water-spouts have been intercepted and broken, and the outpouring of them would be incredible to those who have never witnessed similar phenomena. The rain fell in torrents, and produced torrents on the land, carrying away earth and stones and every thing before them, scooping out great gullies in the sides of the mountains. Mountain torrents are not produced but by such extraordinary outpourings of rain, formed either by water-spouts, or by vast masses of clouds intercepted and broken to pieces by the mountain tops.

And embrace the rock for want of a shelter - In such cases as that related above, the firm rock is the only shelter which can be found, or safely trusted.

They pluck the fatherless from the breast - They forcibly take young children in order that they may bring them up in a state of slavery. This verse is the commencement of a new paragraph, and points out the arbitrary dealings of oppressors, under despotic governors.

Take a pledge of the poor - Oppressive landlords who let out their grounds at an exorbitant rent, which the poor laborers, though using the utmost diligence, are unable at all times to pay; and then the unfeeling wretch sells then up, as the phrase here is, or takes their cow, their horse, their cart, or their bed, in pledge, that the money shall be paid in such a time. This is one of the crying sins of some countries of Europe.

They cause him to go naked - These cruel, hard-hearted oppressors seize the cloth made for the family wear, or the wool and flax out of which such clothes should be made.

And they take away the sheaf - Seize the grain as soon as it is reaped, that they may pay themselves the exorbitant rent at which they have leased out their land: and thus the sheaf - the thraves and ricks, by which they should have been supported, are taken away from the hungry.

Make oil within their walls - Thus stripped of all that on which they depended for clothing and food, they are obliged to become vassals to their lord, labor in the fields on scanty fare, or tread their wine-presses, from the produce of which they are not permitted to quench their thirst.

Men groan from out of the city - This is a new paragraph. After having shown the oppressions carried on in the country, he takes a view of those carried on in the town. Here the miseries are too numerous to be detailed. The poor in such places are often in the most wretched state; they are not only badly fed, and miserably clothed, but also most unwholesomely lodged. I was once appointed with a benevolent gentleman, J. S., Esq., to visit a district in St. Giles's London, to know the real state of the poor. We took the district in House Row, and found each dwelling full of people, dirt, and wretchedness. Neither old nor young had the appearance of health: some were sick, and others lying dead, in the same place! Several beds, if they might be called such, on the floor in the same apartment; and, in one single house, sixty souls! These were groaning under various evils; and the soul of the wounded, wounded in spirit, and afflicted in body, cried out to God and man for help! It would have required no subtle investigation to have traced all these miseries to the doors, the hands, the lips, and the hearts, of ruthless landlords; or to oppressive systems of public expenditure in the support of ruinous wars, and the stagnation of trade and destruction of commerce occasioned by them: to which must be added the enormous taxation to meet this expenditure.

Yet God layeth not folly to them - He does not impute their calamities to their own folly. Or, according to the Vulgate, Et Deus inultum abire non patitur; "And God will not leave (these disorders) unpunished." But the Hebrew may be translated And God doth not attend to their prayers. Job's object was to show, in opposition to the mistaken doctrine of his friends, that God did not hastily punish every evil work, nor reward every good one. That vice often went long unpunished, and virtue unrewarded; and that we must not judge of a man's state either by his prosperity or adversity. Therefore, there might be cases in which the innocent oppressed poor were crying to God for a redress of their grievances, and were not immediately heard; and in which their oppressors were faring sumptuously every day, without any apparent mark of the Divine displeasure. These sentiments occur frequently.

They - rebel against the light - Speaking of wicked men. They rebel against the light of God in their consciences, and his light in his word. They are tyrants in grain, and care neither for God nor the poor. They know not the ways thereof - they will not learn their duty to God or man. Nor abide in the paths thereof - if brought at any time to a better mind, they speedily relapse; and are steady only in cruelty and mischief. This is the character of the oppressors of suffering humanity, and of sinners audacious and hardened. This whole verse Mr. Good translates in the following manner: -

They are indignant of the light;

They respect not its progress;

And will not return to its paths.

They hate good; they regard not its operation; they go out of the way of righteousness, and refuse to return.

The murderer rising with the light - Perhaps the words should be read as Mr. Good has done: -

With the daylight ariseth the murderer;

Poor and needy, he sheddeth blood.

This description is suitable to a highwayman; one who robs in daylight, and who has been impelled by poverty and distress to use this most unlawful and perilous mode to get bread; and for fear of being discovered or taken, commits murder, and thus adds crime to crime.

In the night is as a thief - Having been a highwayman in the daytime, he turns footpad or housebreaker by night; and thus goes on from sin to sin. There have been several instances like the case above, where poverty and distress have induced a man to go to the highway and rob, to repair the ruin of himself and family. I shall introduce an authentic story of this kind, which the reader may find at the end of this chapter.

The eye also of the adulterer - This is another sin particularly of the city. The adulterer has made his assignation; he has marked the house of her into whose good graces he has insinuated himself, called digging through the house; he waits impatiently for the dusk; and then goes forth, having muffled or disguised his face, and spends a criminal night with the faithless wife of another man. The morning dawns: but it is to him as the shadow of death, lest he should be detected before he can reach his own home. And if one know him - if he happen to be recognized in coming out of the forbidden house; the terrors of death seize upon him, being afraid that the thing shall be brought to light, or that he shall be called to account, a sanguinary account, by the injured husband. This seems to be the general sense of the very natural picture which Job draws in the Job 24:15, Job 24:16, and Job 24:17.

In the dark they dig through houses - Thieves in Bengal very frequently dig through the mud wall and under the clay floors of houses, and, entering unperceived, plunder them while the inhabitants are asleep. Mr. Good's version of this paragraph I shall lay before the reader: - Job 24:15 For the dark too watcheth the eye of the adulterer;Exclaiming, No eye shall behold me.Then putteth he the muffler on his face; Job 24:16 He wormeth into houses amidst the darkness.In the daytime they seal themselves up,They know not the light: Job 24:17 For, the dawn they reckon to themselves as the death-shade;The horrors of the death-shade as it returneth.

He is swift as the waters - Literally, Light is he on the face of the waters: and cursed shall be their portion on the earth, which Mr. Good translates: -

Miserable is this man on the waters:

Deeply miserable the lot of those on dry land.

He beholdeth not the way of the vineyards - These no longer flourish or bring forth fruit. The labor of the vintage fails.

Drought and heat consume the snow-waters - The public cisterns or large tanks which had been filled with water by the melting of the snow on the mountains, and which water was stored for the irrigation of their lands, had been entirely exhausted by the intensity of the heat, and the long continuance of drought.

So doth the grave those which have sinned - For this whole paragraph we have only two words in the original; viz., שאול חטאו sheol chatau, "the pit, they have sinned;" which Mr. Good translates: - "They fall to their lowest depth." I believe the meaning to be, - even the deepest tanks, which held most water, and retained it longest, had become exhausted; so that expectation and succor were cut off from this as well as from every other quarter. I have elsewhere shown that שאול sheol signifies, not only hell and the grave, but any deep pit; and, also, that חטא chata signifies to miss the mark. Mr. Good, properly aware of these acceptations of the original words, has translated as above; and it is the only ground on which any consistent meaning can be given to the original.

The womb shall forget him - The mother that bare him shall have no affection for him, nor be afflicted at his death. But the word רחם rechem signifies compassion, mercy. Mercy shall be unmindful of him. How dreadful such a state! When mercy itself forgets the sinner, his perdition slumbereth not. The worm shall feed sweetly on him - The Chaldee has, "The cruel, who have neglected to commiserate the poor, shall be sweet to the worms." He shall be brought into a state of the greatest degradation, and shall be no more remembered.

And wickedness shall be broken as a tree - He shall be as a rotten or decayed tree, easily broken to pieces. If it were clear that עולה avlah, here rendered wickedness, has the same sense as עלה aleh, a leaf, sucker, or shoot, then we might translate according to the ingenious version of Mr. Good; viz., But the shoot shall be broken off as a tree; which might, in this case, be supposed to refer to illicit commerce, the fruit of the womb becoming abortive.

He evil entreateth the barren - I believe the original word ולה should be translated he feedeth, and so the Vulgate understood the word: Pavit enim sterilem. He has been kind to the barren woman; but he has done no good to the widow. He has shown no mercy to large families; he has been an enemy to the procreation of children. Though he may, for particular reasons, have provided for a barren woman; yet the widow he has not comforted, she being old or infirm, or such as might not suit his purpose.

He draweth also the mighty - Calmet gives the following version of the original: "He draws with him guards for his defense; he raises himself up, and does not feel assured of his life." In the midst even of his guards he is afraid; and dares not put confidence in any person. This is an admirable delineation of the inquietudes and terrors of a tyrant.

Though it be given him to be in safety - The Vulgate gives this verse a singular turn: Dedit ei Deus locum paenitentiae, et ille abutitur eo in superbiam, "God gave him space for repentance, but he has abused it through pride." This is by no means conformable to the original. I think the words should be translated thus: "He gives them (i.e., the guards) to him for security, and he leans upon them; yet his eyes are upon their ways." Though he have taken the guards, mentioned in the preceding verse, for his personal defense, and for this purpose he uses them; yet he is full of diffidence, and he is continually watching them lest they should be plotting his destruction. The true picture of an Eastern tyrant. Without are fightings; within are fears.

They are exalted for a little while - Such tyrants are exalted for a time, for God putteth down one and raiseth up another; but he turns his hand against them, and they are gone. They are removed by his justice as all of the same character have been and shall be; time and judgment shall mow them down as the grass, and crop them off as the ears of ripe corn. They may flourish for a time, and continue their oppressions; but they shall at last come to an untimely end. Few tyrants ever visit the eternal world sicca morte, but by a violent death. All Eastern history is full of this great fact.

And if it be not so now - Job has proved by examples that the righteous are often oppressed; that the wicked often triumph over the just, that the impious are always wretched even in the midst of their greatest prosperity; and he defies his friends to show one flaw in his argument, or an error in his illustration of it; and that existing facts are farther proofs of what he has advanced.

In the preceding chapters we find Job's friends having continual recourse to this assertion, which it is the grand object of all their discourses to prove, viz., The righteous are so distinguished in the approbation of God, that they live always in prosperity, and die in peace. On the other hand, Job contends that the dispensations of Providence are by no means thus equal in this life; that experience shows that the righteous are often in adversity, and the wicked in power and prosperity. Job's friends had also endeavored to prove that if a reported good man fell into adversity, it was a proof that his character had been mistaken, that he was an internal sinner and hypocrite; and that God, by these manifest proofs of his disapprobation, unmasked him. Hence they charged Job with hypocrisy and secret sins, because he was now suffering adversity, and that his sins must be of the most heinous nature, because his afflictions were uncommonly great. This Job repels by appeals to numerous facts where there was nothing equivocal in the character; where the bad was demonstrably bad, and yet in prosperity; and the good demonstrably good, and yet in adversity. It is strange that none of these could hit on a middle way: viz., The wicked may be in prosperity, but he is ever miserable in his soul: the righteous may be in adversity, but he is ever happy in his God. In these respects, God's ways are always equal. On Job 24:14, I have referred to the case of unfortunate men who, falling into adversity, madly have recourse to plunder to restore their ruined circumstances. The following anecdote is told of the justly celebrated Dr. Sharp, archbishop of York, the grandfather of that highly benevolent, useful, learned, and eminent man, Granville Sharp, Esq., with whom I had for several years the honor of a personal acquaintance. "Never was any man, as well by the tenderness of his nature as by the impulse of religion, better disposed to succor the distressed, and relieve the necessities of the poor; to which merciful offices he had so strong an inclination that no reasonable solicitations were ever in danger of meeting with a repulse. Nay, he was more prone to seek out proper objects of his bounty, than to reject them when recommended; and so far was his charity from any suspicion of being extorted by importunity, that it appeared rather a delight than uneasiness to him to extend his liberality upon all proper occasions." For the same reason, a singular anecdote of the archbishop, related in the London Chronicle of Aug. 13, 1785, and always credited by his family, may be thought worth preserving. "It was his lordship's custom to have a saddle-horse attend his carriage, that in case of fatigue from sitting, he might take the refreshment of a ride. As he was thus going to his episcopal residence, and was got a mile or two before his carriage, a decent, well-looking young man came up with him; and, with a trembling hand and a faltering tongue presented a pistol to his lordship's breast, and demanded his money. The archbishop, with great composure, turned about; and, looking steadfastly at him, desired he would remove that dangerous weapon, and tell him fairly his condition. 'Sir! sir!' with great agitation, cried the youth; 'no words, 'tis not a time; your money instantly.' 'Hear me, young man,' said the archbishop; 'you see I am an old man, and my life is of very little consequence: yours seems far otherwise. I am named Sharp, and am archbishop of York; my carriage and servants are behind. Tell me what money you want, and who you are, and I will not injure you, but prove a friend. Here, take this; and now ingenuously tell me how much you want to make you independent of so destructive a business as you are now engaged in.' 'O sir,' replied the man, 'I detest the business as much as you. I am-but-but-at home there are creditors who will not stay - fifty pounds, my lord, indeed would do what no tongue besides my own can tell.' 'Well, sir, I take it on your word; and, upon my honor, if you will, in a day or two, call on me at - , what I have now given you shall be made up that sum.' The highwayman looked at him, was silent, and went off; and, at the time appointed, actually waited on the archbishop, and assured his lordship his words had left impressions which nothing could ever destroy. "Nothing more transpired for a year and a half or more; when one morning a person knocked at his grace's gate, and with peculiar earnestness desired to see him. The archbishop ordered the stranger to be brought in. He entered the room where his lordship was, but had scarce advanced a few steps before his countenance changed, his knees tottered, and he sank almost breathless on the floor. On recovering, he requested an audience in private. The apartment being cleared, 'My lord,' said he, 'you cannot have forgotten the circumstances at such a time and place; gratitude will never suffer them to be obliterated from my mind. In me, my lord, you now behold that once most wretched of mankind; but now, by your inexpressible humanity, rendered equal, perhaps superior, in happiness to millions. O, my lord!' tears for a while preventing his utterance, ''tis you, 'tis you that have saved me, body and soul; 'tis you that have saved a dear and much-loved wife, and a little brood of children, whom I tendered dearer than my life. Here are the fifty pounds; but never shall I find language to testify what I feel. Your God is your witness; your deed itself is your glory; and may heaven and all its blessings be your present and everlasting reward! I was the younger son of a wealthy man; your lordship knows him; his name was - My marriage alienated his affection; and my brother withdrew his love, and left me to sorrow and penury. A month since my brother died a bachelor and intestate. What was his, is become mine; and by your astonishing goodness, I am now at once the most penitent, the most grateful, and happiest of my species.'" See Prince Hoar's life of Granville Sharp, Esq., page 13. I have no doubt there have been several cases of a similar kind, when the first step in delinquency was urged by necessity; but few of such wretched adventurers have met with an Archhishop Sharp. An early and pious education is the only means under God to prevent such dangerous steps, which generally lead to the most fearful catastrophe. Teach a child, that whom God loveth he chasteneth. Teach him, that God suffers men to hunger, and be in want, that he may try them if they will be faithful, and do them good in their latter end. Teach him, that he who patiently and meekly bears providential afflictions, shall be relieved and exalted in due time. Teach him, that it is no sin to die in the most abject poverty and affliction, brought on in the course of Divine providence, but that any attempts to alter his condition by robbery, knavery, cozening, and fraud, will be distinguished with heavy curses from the Almighty, and necessarily end in perdition and ruin. A child thus educated is not likely to abandon himself to unlawful courses.

Why - Why (how comes it to pass) seeing times, (the fittest seasons for every, action, and particularly for the punishment of wicked men,) are not hidden from, or unknown to the Almighty God, (seeing all times, and men that live, and things that are done, or to be done in their times and seasons, are exactly known to God) do they that know him, (who love and obey him) not see (whence is it that they cannot discern) his (that is, God's) days? His times and seasons which he takes for the punishment of ungodly men; which if they were constant and fixed in this life, they would not be unknown to good men, to whom God uses to reveal his secrets.

Pledge - Contrary to God's law, first written in mens hearts, and afterwards in holy scripture, Exod 22:26,27.

Way - Out of the path or place in which these oppressors walk and range. They labour to keep out of their way for fear of their farther injuries. Hide - For fear of these tyrants.

Wild asses - Which are lawless, and fierce, and greedy of prey. Desert - Which is the proper habitation of wild asses. They - The oppressors. Go - To spoil and rob.

They - The oppressors. Wicked - Of such as themselves: so they promiscuously robbed all, even their brethren in iniquity.

Naked - Those whom they stripped of their garments and coverings.

Wet - With the rain - water, which runs down the rocks or mountains into the caves, to which they fled for shelter. Rock - Are glad when they can find a cleft of a rock in which they may have some protection against the weather.

They - The oppressors. Pluck - Out of covetousness; they will not allow the mother time for the suckling of her infant.

The sheaf - That single sheaf which the poor man had got with the sweat of his brow to satisfy his hunger.

Walls - Within the walls of the oppressors for their use. Suffer - Because they are not permitted to quench their thirst out of the wine which they make.

Groan - Under grievous oppressions. Soul - The life or blood of those who are wounded to death, as this word properly signifies, crieth aloud to God for vengeance. Yet - Yet God doth not punish them.

Light - As well the light of reason and conscience, as the light of Divine revelation, which was then in good measure imparted to the people of God, and shortly after committed to writing. Know not - They do not approve, nor love, or chuse them.

Poor - Where he finds nothing to satisfy his covetousness, he exercises his cruelty.

They - The robber: having on that occasion inserted the mention of the adulterer as one who acted his sin in the same manner as the night - thief did, he now returns to him again.

Is - Terrible and hateful.

Swift - That is, he quickly passeth away with all his glory, as the waters which never stay in one place, but are always hasting away. Portion - His habitation and estate which he left behind him. He - He shall never more see or enjoy his vineyards, or other pleasant places and things, which seem to be comprehended under this particular.

Womb - His mother that bare him in her womb. Wickedness - The wicked man. Broken - Broken to pieces, or violently broken down, as the word signifies. Tree - Which being once broken down never grows again.

He - He here returns to the declaration of his farther wickednesses, the cause of these judgments. Barren - Barrenness was esteemed a curse and reproach; and so he added affliction to the afflicted.

Draweth - Into his net.

Yet - Yet his eyes are upon their ways: although God gives them such strange successes, yet he sees and observes them all, and will in due time punish them.

The way - Out of this world. Other - They can no more prevent or delay their death, than the meanest men in the world. Corn - In its greatest height and maturity.

1. WHy seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him, not see his days ?

The sense of the words according to this Translation is this, Why (how comes it to pass) seeing times, (i. e. the several times of every mans Life, how long he shall live, or the fittest seasons and opportunities (which are ost called times, as Gen. 24. 11. Psal. 31. 15. & 119. 126. Acts 1. 6, 7.) for every action, and particularly for the punishment of wicked men, about which the present controversie was) are not [illegible: 1+ letters]idden from, or unknown to the Almighty God, (i. e. seeing all times and men that live, and things that are done, or to be done in their times and seasons, are exactly known to God,) do they that know him (i. e. who love and obey him, as that word is oft used, as Psal. 9. 10. & 36. 10. & 91. 14. or they who observe and regard his ways and works done in the world) not see (whence is it that they cannot discern) his (i. e. Gods) days? i. e. his times and seasons which he takes for the punishment, of ungodly men, which if they were constant and fixed in this Life, as you pretend they are, they would not be unknown to good men, to whom God useth to reveal his secrets, and they could not be unobserved by so many good men who make it their business to mind and study the works of God. and especially the course and Methods of his Providence towards good and bad men. The times or days of Gods executing Judgments upon sinners are frequently called the days of the Lord, as Isa 2. 12. & 13. 6. Ier. 46. 10. Compare Iob 20 28. Prov. 6. 34. Act. 2. 20. as the time of mans judging is called mans day, 1 Cor. 4. 3. But this Verse is in part, and may very agreeably to the Hebrew Text be rendred and interpreted thus, Why or how are not times (i. e. the times and seasons appointed for the punishment of evil-doers, about which the Dispute was) [illegible: 1+ letters]idden or reserved by or with God (i. e. kept as a secret in his own Breast, and concealed from the knowledge of Mankind: How can you say or think with any colour that these times are fixed and manifest to all men, and that sinners are constantly punished in this Life, and that so notoriously that all good men see it, as was said, Chap. 22. 15,—19.) seeing (as the particle vau is rendred, Chap. 19. 28. or for, as it is frequently used) they that know him (that give themselves to understand and consider his doings in the world, who of all men are most likely to know this, if it were true and certain) do not see his days, to wit of punishing the wicked in this Life, as was said before. And this he mentions as a fit Preface to usher in the following Discourse concerning the manifold wickedness of Men, and withal their present impunity.

Marginal references: Act. 1. 7.

2. Some remove the Land-marks ; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof .

Or, they (i. e. the wicked, of whom he here treats) touch (to wit, in an unlawful manner, and with evil design, as this word is oft used, as Gen. 26. 11, 29. Ruth 2. 9. so as to invade, or possess, or remove,) the Land-marks, by which mens Lands are discerned, and their proprieties secured, that so they may inlarge their own border by diminishing their Neighbours. Which is so horrid an Act of Injustice, that it hath not only been severely forbidden by God, Deut. 19. 14. & 27. 17. Prov. 22. 28. & 23. 10. but also declared execrable by the Heathens; among whom it was permitted to any man to kill him that did it.

Or, feed them. They do not hide or kill them, but openly feed them, either in their oppressed Neighbours ground, which, by taking away the Land-marks, they have made their own, or in their own Pastures without any remorse, or shame, or fear of punishment, either from God or men.

Marginal references: Or, feed them.

3. They drive away the Ass of the Fatherless , they take the Widows Ox for a Pledge .

Either the asses, the singular number being used collectively. Or he saith the Ass, to aggravate their sin, that they robbed him who had but one Ass. Compare 2 Sam. 12. 2, 3, 4.

Whose helpless condition required their pity and mercy.

Thereby depriving her not only of the Ox itself, but of all the benefit of its labours, by which she sustained her Life.

Contrary to Gods Law, first written in mens Hearts, and afterwards in holy Scripture, Exod. 22▪ 26, 27. Deut. 24. 6, 10, &c.

Marginal references: Chap. 22. 6.

4. They turn the needy out of the way : the poor of the Earth hide themselves together .

Either 1. Out of the way of Piety and Justice. They engage them to take evil courses by their Examples, or Promises, or threatnings. Or. 2. Out of their right. Or 3. Out of their course and way of living. Or rather (as the word properly signifies, and as the next clause explains it) out of the high way, out of the path or place in which these wicked oppressours walk and range. They labour to keep out of their way and sight for fear of their further injuries and oppressions.

For fear of these wicked Tyrants and Persecutors.

For their mutual comfort and defence against those who should invade or disturb them there. Or, alike. Though some of the poor are more nearly related, or have been more serviceable to these oppressors, yet none of them can escape their rage and violence.

Marginal references: Pro. 28. 28.

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. ,

which are wild, and lawless, and unteachable, and fierce, and greedy of Prey, or Food, which they snatch out of the goods or labours of the Husbandman: in all which they are fit emblems of these men. Or, these wild-men. For so this word signifies, Gen. 16. 12. as elsewhere wild Asses. The particle, as, is not in the Hebrew.

Which is the proper Habitation of wild Asses, Ier. 2. 24. If this be understood of the wild men, he placeth them in the Dis[illegible: 1+ letters]t and Wilderness, either because they by their spoils and violences have destroyed or driven away the people, as is intimated Verse 4. and thereby turned populous places into Deserts; or because such places as have but few Houses and Inhabitants, (which are o[illegible: 1+ letters]t so called, as Gen. 21. 20, 21. Ios. 15. 61, 62. 1 Kings 2. 34. & 9. 18. Isa. 42. 11. Matth. 3. 1.) are most fit for their Robberies.

i. e. To spoil and rob, which is their constant work and trade.

They are so diligent and industrious in that work, that they will fetch food for them and theirs, even out of Desert-places in which the Owners can very hardly subsist.

n Either 1. the poor whom they spoiled and drove away from their own former habitations into Deserts, where they hid themselves, and wrought hard for a subsistence. Or rather 2. the Oppressors, who are more fitly compared to wild Asses, and more truly said to seek for prey, than those poor oppressed persons mentioned v. 4. and of whom he speaks both in the foregoing and following Verses.

q Or servants; for the word signifies both children and servants, even the whole Family.

6. They reap every one his corn in the field : and they gather the vintage of the wicked .

Either the poor, who are forced to gather in the Corn and Grapes of their wicked Oppressors: Or rather 2. the Oppressors, of whom he speaks, v. 4, 5, & 7.

i. e. The Corn of the wicked, as it is in the next Clause. Or, that which is not their own; as the Seventy, and Chaldee, and Vulgar Latine translate it, reading the Hebrew as two distinct words: They reap other men's labours.

i. e. In the Field of the right Owner from whom they take it. He notes their great power and boldness, that they did not come suddenly and carry away their Corn when it was laid up in the Barns, or in heaps, but they proceeded leisurely, and stayed to reap the Corn, and by degrees carried it away; as it were in triumph, not fearing any interruption or hindrance either from God or man.

Of such as themselves: So they promiscuously robbed all, even their own Brethren in iniquity: whereby also he may intimate the righteous [illegible: 1+ letters]udgment of God in punishing one wicked man by another, and in depriving men of those goods which they [illegible: 1+ letters]ad wickedly gotten. Or, the wicked (the Singular Number being used collectively for the Plural, as is frequent, the Oppressors) gather the vintage; to wit, belonging to other men.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word], or [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

7. They cause the naked to lodge without cloathing , that they have no covering in the cold .

i. e. Those whom they have made naked, whom they stripped of their garments and coverings; so far were they from exercising justice or charity towards them.

To sleep in the night, which is the coldest season.

Without Bed-cloaths to cover them. Compare Deut. 24. 13.

Of the Night of the Winterseason. This Verse is and may fitly be rendred thus ▪ They cause men to lodge naked, because they have no cloathing, (i. e. because they leave them nothing wherewith they can cloath themselves) and no covering in the cold: They leave them neither rayment to wear in the Day, nor a covering for the Night.

8. They are met with the showers of the mountains , and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

i. e. The poor being stripped of their Rayment, and forced away from their houses.

With the Rain-water which in great showers runs down from the rocks or mountains into the caves or holes in the sides of them, to which they fled for shelter.

i. e. Are glad when they can find a Cavern or Cleft of a Rock in which they may have some protection against the Injuries of the Weather, and an hiding-place from the fury of their Oppressors. Compare Lament. 4. 5.

9. They pluck the fatherless from the breast , and take a pledge of the poor .

The wicked Oppressor, as is manifest from the following words.

Either out of cruelty, not sparing poor Insan[illegible: 1+ letters]s, but killing them: or out of covetousness, and with design either to sell the Mother, or to employ her in their work to which they so strictly confine her, that they will not allow any of her time or strength for the suckling of her Infant.

Of which see the Notes on Chapter 22. 6.

10. They cause him to go naked without clothing and they take away the sheaf from the hungry .

The poor oppressed person.

Leaving him nothing, or next to nothing to cover him in the Day-time, when he should go abroad to his labour to get his living, but cannot for want of Cloaths to cover his nakedness.

That single Sheaf which the poor man had got with the sweat of his Brows to satisfie his hunger, they unhumanely take away, and added it to their own Stores and full Barns. Or, they are hungry; or they sent them away hungry; those words being repeated cut of the former Clause of the Verse, as is most usual[illegible: 1+ letters] which took or carried the sheaf, or their sheaves; i. e. which re[illegible: 1+ letters]ped and gathered in the rich man's Corn, for which they received injuries in stead of a just Recompence for their labour; and that when God's liberality, and the bounty of the earth to them invited and obliged them to kind and generous actions to others.

11. Which make oil within their walls , and tread their wine-presses , and suffer thirst .

To wit, the poor man last mentioned. Either 1. within their own Walls, i. e. in private and secret places for fear of the Oppressors. Or rather 2. within the Walls of the rich Oppressors for their use and benefit: For the poor, alas! had no Walls nor Houses, nor Olive-yards nor Vine yards left to them, but they were violently spoiled of and drive[illegible: 1+ letters] away from all those things as was said in the foregoing Verses.

i. e. The Grapes in their Wine-presses, by a Metonymy of the thing containing, for the thing contained.

Because they are not permitted to quench their thirst out of the Wine which they make, though their labours both need and deserve refreshment.

12. Men groan from out of the city , and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them .

Under the burden of Injuries and grievous Oppressions.

Not only in Deserts or less inhabited places where these Tyrants have the greater opportunity and advantage to practice their Villanies, but even in Cities where there is a face of Order and Government, and Courts of Justice, and a multitude of people to observe and restrain such actions; whereby they▪ plainly declare that they neither fear God no[illegible: 1+ letters] reverence man.

Either 1. properly their Soul sympathizing with the Body, and being grieved for its insupportable miseries, crieth to God and men for help. Or rather 2. the life or blood (which oft cometh under th[illegible: 1+ letters] name) of those who are there wounded unto death, as this word properly signifies, [illegible: 1 word]. 30. 24. crieth aloud unto God for vengeance, Gen. 4. 10. Re[illegible: 1+ letters]. 6▪ 9, [illegible: 1+ letters]0. whereby God might seem in some sort obliged to punish them, and yet he did not, as the next words declare.

So the sense is, Yet God doth not impute or lay to their charge this folly or wickedness, which in Scripture is commonly called folly; i. e. He takes no notice of these horrid Oppressions, no[illegible: 1+ letters] hears the Cries of the Oppressed, nor punisheth the Oppressors. Or, Yet God (who seeth and permitteth all this) disposeth or ordereth, or doth, (for all these things this Hebrew Verb signifies) nothing which is absurd, or foolish, or unsavoury▪ i. e. doth nothing in this permission and connivance unworthy of himself, or which a wise and considerate man cannot relish or approve, or which is not in it self righteous and reasonable, though we do not always discern the reasonableness of it.

13. They are of those that rebel against the light they know not the ways thereof nor abide in the paths thereof .

This is added as the general Character of the persons before mentioned, and as a great aggravation of their wickedness, that they were not modest sinners which were ashamed of their evil ways; and therefore sinned in the dark, and in secret, as some who here follow: but sinned impudently in the face of the Sun, and in spight of all their light, as well the light of Reason and Conscience, which abhors and condemns their wicked actions, as the light of Divine Revelation which was then in good measure imparted to the Church and people of God in this time, and shortly after was committed to Writing; all which they set at defiance, sinning with manifest contempt of God, and of men, and of their own Consciences.

Either 1. they do not desire or care to know them, they are willingly ignorant of them. Or 2. they do not approve, nor love, nor choose them, as knowing frequently signifies in Scripture-use.

i. e. Of the light, or in such ways and courses as are agreeable to the light. Or, in his ways, i. e. in the ways of God, who is oft understood in this Book where he is not expressed.

If they do some good actions, yet they do not persevere in well-doing, they are not constant and fixed in a good course of life.

14. The murderer rising with the light , killeth the poor and needy , and in the night is as a thief .

As soon as the light appears, using no less diligence in his wicked practises, than Labourers do in their honest and daily employments.

Where he finds nothing to satisfie his covetousness, he exerciseth his cruelty.

i. e. He is really a Thief, the Particle as being oft used to express not the resemblance, but the truth of the thing, as Num. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1. Deut. 9. 10. Hos. 4. 4. & 5. 10. Iohn 1. 14. In the Night they rob men secretly and cunningly, as in the Day-time they do it more openly and avowedly.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters]sal. 10. 8.

15. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight , saying , No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face .

i. e. The Adulterer; but he mentions his Eye, because the Eye discerns the difference between light and darkness.

To wit, for the Evening twilight which is his opportunity.

In his heart, comforting himself with the thoughts of secre[illegible: 1+ letters]ess and impunity.

Heb. putteth his face in secret, covers it with a Vizard or Cloak that he may be undiscovered.

Marginal references: Prov. 7. 9.; [illegible: 1+ letters]eb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] in se [illegible: 1+ letters].

16. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the day-time: they know not the light .

Either 1. the Adulterer last mentioned; although such persons do not use nor need these violent courses to get into the house of the Adulteress, but are commonly admitted upon milder and easier terms. Or 2. the Thief or Robber, whose common practise this is, of whom he spoke [illegible: 1+ letters]. 14. and having on that occasion inserted the mention of the Adulterer as one who acted his sin in the same manner as the Night-thief did, he▪ now returns to him again.

The Thief and his Complices.

Designing by some secret mark the house of some rich man which they intended to rob▪ and the part of the house where they resolved to enter into it.

i. e. Do not love nor like it, as Verse 13. but abhor it, as it follows.

Marginal references: John 3. 20.

17. For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death : if one know them, they are in the terrours of the shadow of death .

i. e. Terrible and hateful, because it both discovers them and hinders their practises.

If they are brought to light or discovered, they are overwhelmed with deadly horrours and terrours. Or, as the words are, and may very agreeably to the Hebrew be rendred thus; But (as the Hebrew Particle commonly signifies) they know (Heb. he knoweth, every one of them knoweth; i▪ e. approveth and loveth) the [illegible: 1+ letters]errours of the shadow of death, i. e. the grossest darkness of the Night, which to other men is as terrible as the shadow of death, but to these men is most acceptable: So this Clause is fitly opposed to the former, he hates the light, and he likes darkness.

18. He is swift as the waters , their portion is cursed in the earth : he beholdeth not the way of the vineyard .

In these words he describes either 1. the wicked man's disposition and deportment, that such persons are light and frothy in their spirits; or swift, or hasty to do evil, or unstable in their ways as the waters, or upon the face of the waters; i. e. like the foam or froath, or any other light thing which swims upon the top of the waters. Or rather 2. his miserable condition of which he manifestly speaks in the next words, and in the two next Verses. For though Iob constantly affirms and maintains it against his Friends, that many ungodly men do prosper and escape punishment in this life, yet withal he observes and asserts, that God will certainly sooner or later punish them, and that he sometimes doth it here, cutting them off by cruel and untimely Deaths, or otherwise inflicting some notable judgment upon them; of which he also speaks, Chap. 21. 17, &c. So the sense is, He is swift, i. e. he quickly passeth away with all his glory, as the waters which never stay in one place, but are always hasting and running away; or like a Ship, or any other thing which swimmeth upon the face of the waters: Though he seems to stand as firm and unmovable as a Rock, and to have taken deep rooting in the earth, yet he is suddenly and unexpectedly removed and pulled up by the roots.

Or, his; for he still speaks of the same person, though with a change of the number, which is most familiar in this Book, and elsewhere in Scripture.

Or, part, i. e. his Habitation and Estate which he left behind him.

Is really accursed by God, and is by all men who live near it, or observe it pronounced accursed, because of the remarkable judgments of God upon it, and upon his Posterity or Family to which he left it, and from whom it is strangely and suddenly alienated.

i. e. He shall never more see or enjoy his Vineyards, or other pleasant places and things, which seem to be comprehended under this particular.

Marginal references: Heb. upon the face of the waters.

19. Drought and heat consume the snow-water: so doth the grave those which have sinned .

As the Snow though it doth for a time lie upon the ground, yet at last is dissolved into water by the heat of the season, and that water quickly swallowed up by the earth when it is dry and thirsty: So ungodly sinners though they live and prosper for a season, yet at last they shall go into the grave, which will consume them together with all their hopes and comforts: Their jolly life is attended with a sad and o[illegible: 1+ letters]t-times sudden and violent death, not with such a death as the godly die, which perfects them and brings them to happiness, but with a consuming and never dying death.

Marginal references: Heb. viol[illegible: 1+ letters]t ly take.

20. The womb shall forget him , the worm shall feed sweetly on him , he shall be no more remembred , and wickedness shall be broken as a tree .

His Mother that bare him in her Womb, and much more the rest of his Friends, shall seldom or never remember or mention him; to wit, with honour and comfort, but shall rather be afraid and ashamed to own their Relation to one that lived such a vile and wretched life, and died such an accursed death. This he shall have instead of all that Honour and Renown which he thirsted and laboured for, and expected should persume his Name and Memory.

This proud and insolent Tyrant that preyed upon all his Neighbours, v. 2. 3, &c. shall himself become a prey and a sweet Morsel to the contemptible Worms.

To wit, with Honour, or so as he desired and hoped, but his Name shall rot, and scarce ever be mentioned but with Infamy and Execration.

i. e. The wicked man, of whom he is here treating; the Abstract being put for the Concrete, of which many Instances have been formerly given.

Broken to pieces, or violently broken down, as the word signifies. He shall be utterly and irrecoverably destroyed. And this expression plainly sheweth that the former Clauses are not to be understood of the Sinner's happiness in an easie and comfortable death, but of his cursed and miserable end.

Which being once broken either by its own weight or by some violent wind, or by the hand of man, never groweth again.

Marginal references: Heb. is sweet to him. Ch. 21. 33.

21. He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not , and doth not good to the widow.

Either 1. God, who is oft understood, who having cut off his person and brought him to his grave, continues his judgments upon his Wife or Widow, and Family. Or rather, the Oppressor, who is the principal subject of almost all that is said in this Chapter; whose great and manifold wickedness Iob described from v. 2, to 18. where he proceeds to relate the judgments of God upon him for his sins; which having done v. 13, 19, 20. he here returns to the declaration of his further wickednesses, the cause of these judgments.

Or, feedeth upon, or devoureth, or breaketh in pieces: for all these the word signifieth, and all come to one and the same thing.

Barrenness was esteemed a Curse and Reproach; and so he added affliction to the afflicted, whom he should have pitied and helped: But because such had no Children, and the Widows no Husbands, to defend or avenge their Cause, he exercised cruelty upon them.

Either 1. he did her much wrong and harm, it being usual in Scripture under such Negative expressions to contain the Affirmation of the contrary; as Exod. 20. 7. Prov. 17. 21. & 28. 21. And so this Branch answers to the former, of evil-entreating. Or 2. he afforded her no help, or advice, or comfort in her Distresses: And so he intimateth the greatness of Omission▪sins. and that the common neglect or contempt of plain and positive Duties, whether of Piety to God, or of Charity to men, is to be reckoned among high and hainous Crimes.

22. He draweth also the mighty , with his power : he riseth up , and no man is sure of life .

Either into his Ne[illegible: 1+ letters], as Psalm 10. 9. or to his Party, to assist and serve him in his Enterprizes

Who are mighty in place, or wealth, or power: He practiseth upon these, as well as upon the poor.

Which being greater than theirs, the soon forceth them to comply with his desires and demands.

To wit, against any man, as this phrase is used, Psalm 18. 38. & 44. 5. When he sets himself against a man and resolves to destroy him.

i. e. None of them whom he so opposeth can be secure or confident of holding his life, but all such give up themselves for lost men, as knowing they cannot resist his greater might: Compare Deut. 28. 26.

Marginal references: Or, he trusteth not his own life.

23. Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways .

Heb. He giveth to him to be in safety, or all things necessary for his safety, &c. This Verse is understood either 1. of the Oppressor, If the Oppressor give a man his hand or promise, that he shall live in safety by him; or, If the Oppressed give Gifts to the Oppressor to purchase his quiet and safety, and as it follows, he resteth upon that assurance given him, yet his, i. e. the Oppressors eyes are upon their ways, he watcheth for their halting, and seeks for all occasions to quarrel with them, and to destroy them. Or rather 2. of God, and so the words are fitly rendred thus, He, i. e. God, giveth or granteth to him, i. e. to the Oppressor, to be in safety, i. e. to live a quiet and comfortable life, and he resteth secure, or he resteth or leaneth upon him, i. e. upon God; his former experience of God's Favour makes him confident of the continuance of it: So he is not only happy in his present enjoyments, but also in his freedom from distracting fears of future miseries; and his, i. e. God's Eyes are upon their ways, i. e. God blesseth and prospereth him in all his undertakings, as this phrase most commonly signifies, as Deut. 11. 12. Ezra 5. 5. Psalm 33. 18. Or, yet his eyes are upon their ways, i. e. although God giveth them such strange successes, this doth not proceed from his ignorance or regardlesness of their wicked actions, for he sees and observes them all, and will in due time punish them, though not always in this life, nor as soon as their sins are committed, but in such time and way as he in deep wisdom seeth most [illegible: 1+ letters]it.

Marginal references: That is, God's Eyes.

24. They are exalted for a little while but are gone , and brought low , they are taken out of the way as all other and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn .

They live in honour and happiness, but not for ever, but only at best during this short and mortal life, which lasteth but for a very little time, and therefore their present happiness is not to be envied; nor is it any reproach to God's Providence, which hath time enough to reckon with them hereafter.

Heb. are not; to wit, in this World, they die.

As low as their graves: Or, after (as the Particle Vau is elsewhere used, as hath been observed before) they have been brought low; to wit, by pining sickness, or other grievous judgments.

i. e Out of this World and way of living, by death▪ Or, are restrained or shut up; to wit, in the grave, the place of silence and impotency.

They can no more prevent or delay their death, than the meanest men in the world.

By Death's Sickle, or by a violent Hand.

To wit▪ in his greatest height and maturity, when he is arrived at his perfect stature of worldly power and glory, then God cuts him off, and that suddenly and violently.

Marginal references: Heb. are not.; Heb. closed up.

25. And if it be not so now , who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

To wit, as I have discoursed, if God doth not suffer wicked men to live long and prosperously in the World before he punisheth them; and if good men be not sometimes sorely afflicted here, if all things do not fall alike to all men in these matters.

Job 24:1-4   1  Wherefore are not bounds reserved by the Almighty,

And they who honour Him see not His days?   2  They remove the landmarks,

They steal flocks and shepherd them.   3  They carry away the ass of the orphan,

And distrain the ox of the widow.   4  They thrust the needy out of the way,

The poor of the land are obliged to slink away together.

The supposition that the text originally stood מדּוּע לרשׁעים משּׁדּי is natural; but it is at once destroyed by the fact that Job 24:1 becomes thereby disproportionately long, and yet cannot be divided into two lines of comparatively independent contents. In fact, לרשׁעים is by no means absolutely necessary. The usage of the language assumes it, according to which את followed by the genitive signifies the point of time at which any one’s fate is decided. Isa 13:22; Jer 27:7; Eze 22:3; Eze 30:3; the period when reckoning is made, or even the terminus ad quem, Ecc 9:12; and ywm followed by the gen. of a man, the day of his end, Job 15:32; Job 18:20; Eze 21:30, and freq.; or with יהוה, the day when God’s judgment is revealed, Joe 1:15, and freq. The boldness of poetic language goes beyond this usage, by using עתּים directly of the period of punishment, as is almost universally acknowledged since Schultens’ day, and ימיו dna ,y of God’s days of judgment or of vengeance;On עתים, in the sense of times of retribution, Wetzstein compares the Arab. ‛idât, which signifies predetermined reward or punishment; moreover, עת is derived from עדת (from ועד), and עתּים is equivalent to עדתּים, according to the same law of assimilation, by which now-a-days they say לתּי instead of לדתּי (one who is born on the same day with me, from Arab. lidat , lida), and רתּי instead of רדתּי (my drinking-time), since the assimilation of the ד takes place everywhere where ת is pronounced. The ת of the feminine termination in עתים, as in שׁקתות and the like, perhaps also in בתים (bâttim), is amalgamated with the root. and it is the less ambiguous, since צפן, in the sense of the divine predetermination of what is future, Job 15:20, especially of God’s storing up merited punishment, Job 21:19, is an acknowledged word of our poet. On מן with the passive, vid., Ew. §295, c (where, however, Job 28:4 is erroneously cited in its favour); it is never more than equivalent to ἀπό, for to use מן directly as ὑπό with the passive is admissible neither in Hebrew nor in Arabic. ידעו (Keri ידעיו, for which the Targ. unsuitably reads ידעי) are, as in Psa 36:11; Psa 87:4, comp. supra, Job 18:21, those who know God, not merely superficially, but from experience of His ways, consequently those who are in fellowship with Him. לא חזוּ is to be written with Zinnorith over the לא, and Mercha by the first syllable of חזו. The Zinnorith necessitates the retreat of the tone of חזו to its first syllable, as in כי־חרה, Psa 18:8 (Bär’s Pslaterium, p. xiii.); for if חזו remained Milra, לא ought to be connected with it by Makkeph, and consequently remain toneless (Psalter, ii. 507).

Next follows the description of the moral, abhorrence which, while the friends (Job 22:19) maintain a divine retribution everywhere manifest, is painfully conscious of the absence of any determination of the periods and days of judicial punishment. Fearlessly and unpunished, the oppression of the helpless and defenceless, though deserving of a curse, rages in every form. They remove the landmarks; comp. Deu 27:17, “Cursed is he who removeth his neighbour’s landmark” (מסּיג, here once written with שׂ, while otherwise השּׂיג from נשׂג signifies assequi, on the other hand הסּיג from סוּג signifies dimovere). They steal flocks, ויּרעוּ, i.e., they are so barefaced, that after they have stolen them they pasture them openly. The ass of the orphans, the one that is their whole possession, and their only beast for labour, they carry away as prey (נהג, as e.g., Isa 20:4); they distrain, i.e., take away with them as a pledge (on חבל, to bind by a pledge, obstringere, and also to take as a pledge, vid., on Job 22:6, and Köhler on Zec 11:7), the yoke-ox of the widow (this is the exact meaning of שׁור, as of the Arab. thôr). They turn the needy aside from the way which they are going, so that they are obliged to wander hither and thither without home or right: the poor of the land are obliged to hide themselves altogether. The Hiph. הטּה, with אביונים as its obj., is used as in Amo 5:12; there it is used of turning away from a right that belongs to them, here of turning out of the way into trackless regions. אביון (vid., on Job 29:16) here, as frequently, is the parallel word with ענו, the humble one, the patient sufferer; instead of which the Keri is עני, the humbled, bowed down with suffering (vid., on Psa 9:13). ענוי־ארץ without any Keri in Psa 76:10; Zep 2:3, and might less suitably appear here, where it is not so much the moral attribute as the outward condition that is intended to be described. The Pual חכּאוּ describes that which they are forced to do.

The description of these unfortunate ones is now continued; and by a comparison with Job 30:1-8, it is probable that aborigines who are turned out of their original possessions and dwellings are intended (comp. Job 15:19, according to which the poet takes his stand in an age in which the original relations of the races had been already disturbed by the calamities of war and the incursions of aliens). If the central point of the narrative lies in Haurân, or, more exactly, in the Nukra, it is natural, with Wetzstein, to think of the Arab. 'hl 'l - wukror ‛rb 'l - ḥujr , i.e., the (perhaps Ituraean) “races of the caves” in Trachonitis.

Job 24:5-8   5  Behold, as wild asses in the desert,

They go forth in their work seeking for prey,

The steppe is food to them for the children.   6  In the field they reap the fodder for his cattle,

And they glean the vineyard of the evil-doer.   7  They pass the night in nakedness without a garment,

And have no covering in the cold.   8  They are wet with the torrents of rain upon the mountains,

And they hug the rocks for want of shelter.

The poet could only draw such a picture as this, after having himself seen the home of his hero, and the calamitous fate of such as were driven forth from their original abodes to live a vagrant, poverty-stricken gipsy life. By Job 24:5, one is reminded of Psa 104:21-23, especially since in Job 24:11 of this Psalm the פּראים, onagri (Kulans), are mentioned, - those beautiful animalsLayard, New Discoveries, p. 270, describes these wild asses’ colts. The Arabic name is like the Hebrew, el - ferâ , or also himâr el - wahsh , i.e., wild ass, as we have translated, whose home is on the steppe. For fuller particulars, vid., Wetzstein’s note on Job 39:5. which, while young, as difficult to be broken in, and when grown up are difficult to be caught; which in their love of freedom are an image of the Beduin, Gen 16:12; 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. The old expositors, as also Rosenm., Umbr., Arnh., and Vaih., are mistaken in thinking that aliud hominum sceleratorum genus is described in Job 24:5. Ewald and Hirz. were the first to perceive that Job 24:5 is the further development of Job 24:4, and that here, as in Job 30:1, those who are driven back into the wastes and caves, and a remnant of the ejected and oppressed aborigines who drag out a miserable existence, are described.

The accentuation rightly connects פראים במדבר; by the omission of the Caph similit., as e.g., Isa 51:12, the comparison (like a wild ass) becomes an equalization (as a wild ass). The perf. יצאוּ is a general uncoloured expression of that which is usual: they go forth בפעלם, in their work (not: to their work, as the Psalmist, in Psa 104:23, expresses himself, exchanging ב for ל). משׁחרי לטּרף,  searching after prey, i.e., to satisfy their hunger (Psa 104:21), from טרף, in the primary signification decerpere (vid., Hupfeld on Psa 7:3), describes that which in general forms their daily occupation as they roam about; the constructivus is used here, without any proper genitive relation, as a form of connection, according to Ges. §116, 1. The idea of waylaying is not to be connected with the expression. Job describes those who are perishing in want and misery, not so much as those who themselves are guilty of evil practices, as those who have been brought down to poverty by the wrongdoing of others. As is implied in משׁחרי (comp. the morning Psa 63:2; Isa 26:9), Job describes their going forth in the early morning; the children (נערים, as Job 1:19; Job 29:5) are those who first feel the pangs of hunger. לו refers individually to the father in the company: the steppe (with its scant supply of roots and herbs) is to him food for the children; he snatches it from it, it must furnish it for him. The idea is not: for himself and his family (Hirz., Hahn, and others); for v. 6, which has been much misunderstood, describes how they, particularly the adults, obtain their necessary subsistence. There is no MS authority for reading בּלי־לו instead of בּלילו; the translation “what is not to him” (lxx, Targ., and partially also the Syriac version) is therefore to be rejected. Raschi correctly interprets יבולו as a general explanation, and Ralbag תבואתו: it is, as in Job 6:5, mixed fodder for cattle, farrago, consisting of oats or barley sown among vetches and beans, that is intended. The meaning is not, however, as most expositors explain it, that they seek to satisfy their hunger with food for cattle grown in the fields of the rich evil-doer; for קצר 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? It is correct to take the suff. as referring to the רשׁע which is mentioned in the next clause, but it is not to be understood that they plunder his fields per nefas; on the contrary, that he 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. It is impracticable to press the Hiph. יקצירו of the Chethib to favour this rendering; on the contrary, הקציר stands to קצר in like (not causative) signification as הנחה to נחה (vid., on Job 31:18). In like manner, Job 24:6 is to be understood of hired labour. The rich man prudently hesitates to employ these poor people as vintagers; but he makes use of their labour (whilst his own men are fully employed at the wine-vats) to gather the straggling grapes which ripen late, and were therefore left at the vintage season. the older expositors are reminded of לקשׁ, late hay, and explain ילקּשׁוּ as denom. by יכרתו לקשׁו (Aben-Ezra, Immanuel, and others) or יאכלו לקשׁו (Parchon); but how unnatural to think of the second mowing, or even of eating the after-growth of grass, where the vineyard is the subject referred to! On the contrary, לקּשׁ signifies, as it were, serotinare, i.e., serotinos fructus colligere (Rosenm.):In the idiom of Hauran, לקשׂ, fut. i, signifies to be late, to come late; in Piel, to delay, e.g., the evening meal, return, etc.; in Hithpa. telaqqas, to arrive too late. Hence laqı̂s לקישׂ and loqsı̂ לקשׂי, delayed, of any matter, e.g., לקישׁ and זרע לקשׂי, late seed (= לקשׁ, Amo 7:1, in connection with which the late rain in April, which often fails, is reckoned on), ולד לקשׂי, a child born late (i.e., in old age); bakı̂r בכיר and bekrı̂ בכרי are the opposites in every signification. - Wetzst. this is the work which the rich man assigns to them, because he gains by it, and even in the worst case can lose but little.

Job 30:7 tell how miserably they are obliged to shift for themselves during this autumnal season of labour, and also at other times. Naked (ערום, whether an adverbial form or not, is conceived of after the manner of an accusative: in a naked, stripped condition, Arabic ‛urjânan) they pass the night, without having anything on the body (on לבוּשׁ, vid., on Psa 22:19), and they have no (אין supply להם) covering or veil (corresponding to the notion of בּגד) in the cold.All the Beduins sleep naked at night. I once asked why they do this, since they are often disturbed by attacks at night, and I was told that it is a very ancient custom. Their clothing (kiswe, כסוה), both of the nomads of the steppe (bedû) and of the caves (wa‛r), is the same, summer and winter; many perish on the pastures when overtaken by snow-storms, or by cold and want, when their tents and stores are taken from them in the winter time by an enemy. - Wetzst.

They become thoroughly drenched by the frequent and continuous storms that visit the mountains, and for want of other shelter are obliged to shelter themselves under the overhanging rocks, lying close up to them, and clinging to them, - an idea which is expressed here by חבּקוּ, as in Lam 4:5, where, of those who were luxuriously brought up on purple cushions, it is said that they “embrace dunghills;” for in Palestine and Syria, the forlorn one, who, being afflicted with some loathsome disease, is not allowed to enter the habitations of men, lies on the dunghill (mezâbil), asking alms by day of the passers-by, and at night hiding himself among the ashes which the sun has warmed.Wetzstein observes on this passage: In the mind of the speaker, מחסה is the house made of stone, from which localities not unfrequently derive their names, as El-hasa, on the east of the Dead Sea; the well-known commercial town El-hasâ, on the east of the Arabian peninsula, which is generally called Lahsâ; the two of El-hasja (אלחסיה), north-east of Damascus, etc.: so that חבקו צור forms the antithesis to the comfortable dwellings of the Arab. ḥaḍarı̂ , hadarı̂ , i.e., one who is firmly settled. The roots חבק, חבך, seem, in the desert, to be only dialectically distinct, and like the root עבק, to signify to be pressed close upon one another. Thus חבקה (pronounced hibtsha), a crowd = zahme, and asâbi‛ mahbûke (מחבוּכה), the closed fingers, etc. The locality, hibikke (Beduin pronunciation for habáka, חבכה with the Beduin Dag. euphonicum), described in my Reisebericht, has its name from this circumstance alone, that the houses have been attached to (fastened into) the rocks. Hence חבּק in this passage signifies to press into the fissure of a rock, to seek out a corner which may defend one (dherwe) against the cold winds and rain-torrents (which are far heavier among the mountains than on the plain). The dherwe (from Arab. ḏarâ, to afford protection, shelter, a word frequently used in the desert) plays a prominent part among the nomads; and in the month of March, as it is proverbially said the dherwe is better than the ferwe (the skin), they seek to place their tents for protection under the rocks or high banks of the wadys, on account of the cold strong winds, for the sake of the young of the flocks, to which the cold storms are often very destructive. When the sudden storms come on, it is a general thing for the shepherds and flocks to hasten to take shelter under overhanging rocks, and the caverns (mughr, Arab. mugr) which belong to the troglodyte age, and are e.g., common in the mountains of Hauran; so that, therefore, Job 24:8 can as well refer to concealing themselves only for a time (from rain and storm) in the clefts as to troglodytes, who constantly dwell in caverns, or to those dwelling in tents who, during the storms, seek the dherwe of rock sides.

The usual accentuation, מזרם with Dechî, הרים with Munach, after which it should be translated ab inundatione montes humectantur, is false; in correct Codd. זרם has also Munach; the other Munach is, as in Job 23:5, Job 23:9, Job 24:6, and freq., a substitute for Dechî. Having sketched this special class of the oppressed, and those who are abandoned to the bitterest want, Job proceeds with his description of the many forms of wrong which prevail unpunished on the earth:

Job 24:9-12   9  They tear the fatherless from the breast,

And defraud the poor. 10  Naked, they slink away without clothes,

And hungering they bear the sheaves. 11  Between their walls they squeeze out the oil;

They tread the wine-presses, and suffer thirst. 12  In the city vassals groan, And the soul of the oppressed crieth out -

And Eloah heedeth not the anomaly.

The accentuation of Job 24:9 (יגזלו with Dechî, משׁד with Munach) makes the relation of שׁד יתום genitival. Heidenheim (in a MS annotation to Kimchi’s Lex.) accordingly badly interprets: they plunder from the spoil of the orphan; Ramban better: from the ruin, i.e., the shattered patrimony; both appeal to the Targum, which translates מביזת יתום, like the Syriac version, men bezto de - jatme (comp. Jerome: vim fecerunt depraedantes pupillos). The original reading, however, is perhaps (vid., Buxtorf, Lex. col. 295) מבּיזא, ἀπὸ βυζίου, from the mother’s breast, as it is also, the lxx (ἀπὸ μαστοῦ), to be translated contrary to the accentuation. Inhuman creditors take the fatherless and still tender orphan away from its mother, in order to bring it up as a slave, and so to obtain payment. If this is the meaning of the passage, it is natural to understand יחבּלוּ, Job 24:9, of distraining; but (1) the poet would then repeat himself tautologically, vid., Job 24:3, where the same thing is far more evidently said; (2) חבל, to distrain, would be construed with על, contrary to the logic of the word. Certainly the phrase חבל על may be in some degree explained by the interpretation, “to impose a fine” (Ew., Hahn), or “to distrain” (Hirz., Welte), or “to oppress with fines” (Schlottm.); but violence is thus done to the usage of the language, which is better satisfied by the explanation of Ralbag (among modern expositors, Ges., Arnh., Vaih., Stick., Hlgst.): and what the unfortunate one possesses they seize; but this על = אשׁר על directly as object is impossible. The passage, Deu 7:25, cited by Schultens in its favour, is of a totally different kind.

But throughout the Semitic dialects the verb חבל also signifies "to destroy, to treat injuriously” (e.g., Arab. el - châbil, a by-name of Satan); it occurs in this signification in Job 34:31, and according to the analogy of הרע על, 1Ki 17:20, can be construed with על as well as with ל. The poet, therefore, by this construction will have intended to distinguish the one חבל from the other, Job 22:6; Job 24:3; and it is with Umbreit to be translated: they bring destruction upon the poor; or better: they take undue advantage of those who otherwise are placed in trying circumstances.

The subjects of Job 24:10 are these עניים, who are made serfs, and become objects of merciless oppression, and the poet here in Job 24:10 indeed repeats what he has already said almost word for word in Job 24:7 (comp. Job 31:19); but there the nakedness was the general calamity of a race oppressed by subjugation, here it is the consequence of the sin of merces retenta laborum, which cries aloud to heaven, practised on those of their own race: they slink away (הלּך, as Job 30:28) naked (nude), without (בּלי = מבּלי, as perhaps sine = absque) clothing, and while suffering hunger they carry the sheaves (since their masters deny them what, according to Deu 25:4, shall not be withheld even from the beasts). Between their walls (שׁוּרת like שׁרות, Jer 5:10, Chaldee שׁוּריּא), i.e., the walls of their masters who have made them slaves, therefore under strict oversight, they press out the oil (יצהירוּ, ἅπ. γεγρ.), they tread the wine-vats (יקבים, lacus), and suffer thirst withal (fut. consec. according to Ew. §342, a), without being allowed to quench their thirst from the must which runs out of the presses (נּתּות, torcularia, from which the verb דּרך is here transferred to the vats). Böttch. translates: between their rows of trees, without being able to reach out right or left; but that is least of all suitable with the olives. Carey correctly explains: “the factories or the garden enclosures of these cruel slaveholders.” This reference of the word to the wall of the enclosure is more suitable than to walls of the press-house in particular. From tyrannical oppression in the country,Brentius here remarks: Quantum igitur judicium in eos futurum est, qui in homines ejusdem carnis, ejusdem patriae, ejusdem fidei, ejusdem Christi committunt quod nec in bruta animalia committendum est, quod malum in Germania frequentissimum est. Vae igitur Germaniae!

Job now passes over to the abominations of discord and was in the cities.

Job 24:13-15 13  Others are those that rebel against the light,

They will know nothing of its ways,

And abide not in its paths. 14  The murderer riseth up at dawn,

He slayeth the sufferer and the poor,

And in the night he acteth like a thief. 15  And the eye of the adulterer watcheth for the twilight;

He thinks: “no eye shall recognise me,”

And he putteth a veil before his face.

With המּה begins a new turn in the description of the moral confusion which has escaped God’s observation; it is to be translated neither as retrospective, “since they” (Ewald), nor as distinctive, “they even” (Böttch.), i.e., the powerful in distinction from the oppressed, but ”those” (for המה corresponds to our use of “those,” אלּה to "these”), by which Job passes on to another class of evil-disposed and wicked men. Their general characteristic is, that they shun the light. Those who are described in Job 24:14 are described according to their general characteristic in Job 24:13; accordingly it is not to be interpreted: those belong to the enemies of the light, but: those are, according to their very nature, enemies of the light. The Beth is the so-called Beth essent.; היוּ (comp. Pro 3:26) affirms what they are become by their own inclination, or as what they are fashioned, viz., as ἀποστάται φωτός (Symm.); מרד (on the root מר, vid., on Job 23:2) signifies properly to push one’s self against anything, to lean upon, to rebel; מרד therefore signifies one who strives against another, one who is obstinate (like the Arabic mârid , merı̂d , comp. mumâri , not conformable to the will of another). The improvement מרדי אור (not with Makkeph, but with Mahpach of mercha mahpach. placed between the two words, vid., Bär’s Psalterium, p. x.) assumes the possibility of the construction with the acc., which occurs at least once, Jos 22:19. They are hostile to the light, they have no familiarity with its ways (הכּיר, as Jos 22:17, Psa 142:5; Rth 2:19, to take knowledge of anything, to interest one’s self in its favour), and do not dwell (ישׁבוּ, Jer. reversi sunt, according to the false reading ישׁבוּ) in its paths, i.e., they neither make nor feel themselves at home there, they have no peace therein. The light is the light of day, which, however, stands in deeper, closer relation to the higher light, for the vicious man hateth τὸ φῶς, Joh 3:20, in every sense; and the works which are concealed in the darkness of the night are also ἔργα τοῦ σκότους, Rom 13:12 (comp. Isa 29:15), in the sense in which light and darkness are two opposite principles of the spiritual world. It need not seem strange that the more minute description of the conduct of these enemies of the light now begins with לאור. It is impossible that this should mean: still in the darkness of the night (Stick.), prop. towards the light, when it is not yet light. Moreover, in biblical Hebrew, אור does not signify evening, in which sense it occurs in Talmudic Hebrew (Pesachim 1 a, Seder olam rabba, c. 5, אור שׁביעי, vespera septima), like אורתּא (= נשׁף) in Talmudic Aramaic. The meaning, on the contrary, is that towards daybreak (comp. הבקר אור, Gen 44:3), therefore with early morning, the murderer rises up, to go about his work, which veils itself in darkness (Psa 10:8-10) by day, viz., to slay (comp. on יקטל...יקוּם, Ges. §142, 3, c) the unfortunate and the poor, who pass by defenceless and alone. One has to supply the idea of the ambush in which the waylayer lies in wait; and it is certainly inconvenient that it is not expressed.

The antithesis וּבלּילה, Job 24:14, shows that nothing but primo mane is meant by לאור. He who in the day-time goes forth to murder and plunder, at night commits petty thefts, where no one whom he could attack passes by. Stickel translates: to slay the poor and wretched, and in the night to play the thief; but then the subjunctivus ויהי ought to precede (vid., e.g., Job 13:5), and in general it cannot be proved without straining it, that the voluntative form of the future everywhere has a modal signification. Moreover, here יהי does not differ from Job 18:12; Job 20:23, but is only a poetic shorter form for יהיה: in the night he is like a thief, i.e., plays the part of the thief. And the adulterer’s eye observes the darkness of evening (vid., Pro 7:9), i.e., watches closely for its coming on (שׁמר, in the usual signification observare, to be on the watch, to take care, observe anxiously), since he hopes to render himself invisible; and that he may not be recognised even if seen, he puts on a mask. סתר פּנים is something by which his countenance is rendered unrecognisable (lxx ἀποκρυβὴ προσώπου), like the Arab. sitr , sitâreh , a curtain, veil, therefore a veil for the face, or, as we say in one word borrowed from the Arabic mascharat , a farce (masquerade): the mask, but not in the proper sense.The mask was perhaps never known in Palestine and Syria; סתר פנים is the mendı̂l or women’s veil, which in the present day (in Hauran exclusively) is called sitr, and is worn over the face by all married women in the towns, while in the country it is worn hanging down the back, and is only drawn over the face in the presence of a stranger. If this explanation is correct the poet means to say that the adulterer, in order to remain undiscovered, wears women’s clothes comp. Deu 22:5; and, in fact, in the Syrian towns (the figure is taken from town-life) women’s clothing is always chosen for that kind of forbidden nocturnal undertaking, i.e., the man disguises himself in an ı̂zâr, which covers him from head to foot, takes the mendı̂l, and goes with a lantern (without which at night every person is seized by the street watchman as a suspicious person) unhindered into a strange house. - Wetzst.

Job 24:16-17 16  In the dark they dig through houses,

By day they shut themselves up,

They will know nothing of the light. 17  For the depth of night is to them even as the dawn of the morning,

For they know the terrors of the depth of night.

The handiwork of the thief, which is but slightly referred to in Job 24:14, is here more particularly described. The indefinite subj. of חתר, as is manifest from what follows, is the band of thieves. The בּ, which is elsewhere joined with chtr (to break into anything), is here followed by the acc. בּתּים (to be pronounced bâttim, not bottim),Vid., Aben-Ezra on Exo 12:7. The main proof that it is to be pronounced bâttim is, that written exactly it is בּתּים, and that the Metheg according to circumstances, is changed into an accent, as Exo 8:7; Exo 12:7; Jer 18:22; Eze 45:4, which can only happen by Kametz, not by Kometz (K. chatûph); comp. Köhler on Zec 14:2. as in the Talmudic, חתר שׁנּו, to pick one’s teeth (and thereby to make them loose), b. Kidduschin, 24 b. According to the Talmud, Ralbag, and the ancient Jewish interpretation in general, Job 24:16 is closely connected to btym: houses which they have marked by day for breaking into, and the mode of its accomplishment; but חתם nowhere signifies designare, always obsignare, to seal up, to put under lock and key, Job 14:17; Job 9:7; Job 37:7; according to which the Piel, which occurs only here, is to be explained: by day they seal up, i.e., shut themselves up for their safety (למו is not to be accented with Athnach, but with Rebia mugrasch): they know not the light, i.e., as Schlottm. well explains: they have no fellowship with it; for the biblical ידע, γινώσκειν, mostly signifies a knowledge which enters into the subject, and intimately unites itself with it. In Job 24:17 one confirmation follows another. Umbr. and Hirz. explain: for the morning is to them at once the shadow of death; but יחדּו, in the signification at the same time, as we have taken יחד in Job 17:16 (nevertheless of simultaneousness of time), is unsupportable: it signifies together, Job 2:11; Job 9:32; and the arrangement of the words למו...יחדּו (to them together) is like Isa 9:20; Isa 31:3; Jer 46:12. Also, apart from the erroneous translation of the יחדו, which is easily set aside, Hirzel’s rendering of Job 24:17 is forced: the morning, i.e., the bright day, is to them all as the shadow of death, for each and every one of them knows the terrors of the daylight, which is to them as the shadow of death, viz., the danger of being discovered and condemned. The interpretation, which is also preferred by Olshausen, is far more natural: the depth of night is to them as the dawn of the morning (on the precedence of the predicate, comp. Amo 4:13 and Amo 5:8 : walking in the darkness of the early morning), for they are acquainted with the terrors of the depth of night, i.e., they are not surprised by them, but know how to anticipate and to escape them. Job 38:15 also, where the night, which vanishes before the rising of the sun, is called the “light” of the evil-doer, favours this interpretation (not the other, as Olsh. thinks). The accentuation also favours it; for is בקר had been the subj., and were to be translated: the morning is to them the shadow of death, it ought to have been accented בקר למו צלמות, Dechî, Mercha, Athnach. It is, however, accented Munach, Munach, Athnach, and the second Munach stands as the deputy of Dechî, whose value in the interpunction it represents; therefore בקר למו is the predicate: the shadow of death is morning to them. From the plur. the description now, with יכּיר, passes into the sing., as individualizing it. בּלהות constr. of בּלּהות, is without a Dagesh in the second consonant. Mercier admirably remarks here: sunt ei familiares et noti nocturni terrores, neque eos timet aut curat, quasi sibi cum illis necessitudo et familiaritas intercederet et cum illis ne noceant foedus aut pactum inierit. Thus by their skill and contrivance they escape danger, and divine justice allows them to remain undiscovered and unpunished, - a fact which is most incomprehensible.

It is now time that this thought was once again definitely expressed, that one may not forget what these accumulated illustrations are designed to prove. But what now follows in Job 24:18 seems to express not Job’s opinion, but that of his opponents. Ew., Hirz., and Hlgst. regard Job 24:18, Job 24:22, as thesis and antithesis. To the question, What is the lot that befalls all these evil-doers? Job is thought to give a twofold answer: first, to Job 24:21, an ironical answer in the sense of the friends, that those men are overtaken by the merited punishment; then from Job 24:22 is his own serious answer, which stands in direct contrast to the former. But (1) in Job 24:18 there is not the slightest trace observable that Job does not express his own view: a consideration which is also against Schlottman, who regards Job 24:18 as expressive of the view of an opponent. (2) There is no such decided contrast between Job 24:18 and Job 24:22, for Job 24:19 and Job 24:24 both affirm substantially the same thing concerning the end of the evil-doer. In like manner, it is also not to be supposed, with Stick., Löwenth., Böttch., Welte, and Hahn, that Job, outstripping the friends, as far as Job 24:21, describes how the evil-doer certainly often comes to a terrible end, and in Job 24:22 how the very opposite of this, however, is often witnessed; so that this consequently furnishes no evidence in support of the exclusive assertion of the friends. Moreover, Job 24:24 compared with Job 24:19, where there is nothing to indicate a direct contrast, is opposed to it; and Job 24:22, which has no appearance of referring to a direct contrast with what has been previously said, is opposed to such an antithetical rendering of the two final strophes. Job 24:22 might more readily be regarded as a transition to the antithesis, if Job 24:18 could, with Eichh., Schnurr., Dathe, Umbr., and Vaih., after the lxx, Syriac, and Jerome, be understood as optative: “Let such an one be light on the surface of the water, let ... be cursed, let him not turn towards,” etc., but Job 24:18 is not of the optative form; and Job 24:18, where in that case אל־יפנה would be expected, instead of אל־יפנה, shows that Job 24:18, where, according to the syntax, the optative rendering is natural, is nevertheless not to be so rendered. The right interpretation is that which regards both Job 24:18 and Job 24:22 as Job’s own view, without allowing him absolutely to contradict himself. Thus it is interpreted, e.g., by Rosenmüller, who, however, as also Renan, errs in connecting Job 24:18 with the description of the thieves, and understands Job 24:18 of their slipping away, Job 24:18 of their dwelling in horrible places, and Job 24:18 of their avoidance of the vicinity of towns.

Job 24:18-21 18  For he is light upon the surface of the water;

Their heritage is cursed upon the earth;

He turneth no more in the way of the vineyard. 19  Drought, also heat, snatch away snow water -

So doth Sheôl those who have sinned. 20  The womb forgetteth him, worms shall feast on him,

He is no more remembered;

So the desire of the wicked is broken as a tree - 21  He who hath plundered the barren that bare not,

And did no good to the widow.

The point of comparison in Job 24:18 is the swiftness of the disappearing: he is carried swiftly past, as any light substance on the surface of the water is hurried along by the swiftness of the current, and can scarcely be seen; comp. Job 9:26 : “My days shoot by as ships of reeds, as an eagle which dasheth upon its prey,” and Hos 10:7, “Samaria’s king is destroyed like a bundle of brushwood (lxx, Theod., φρύγανον) on the face of the water,” which is quickly drawn into the whirlpool, or buried by the approaching wave.The translation: like foam (spuma or bulla), is also very suitable here. Thus Targ., Symm., Jerome, and others; but the signification to foam cannot be etymologically proved, whereas קצף in the signification confringere is established by קצפה, breaking, Joe 1:7, and Arab. qṣf; so that consequently קצף, as synon. of אף, signifies properly the breaking forth, and is then allied to אברה.

But here the idea is not that of being swallowed up by the waters, as in the passage in Hosea, but, on the contrary, of vanishing from sight, by being carried rapidly past by the rush of the waters. If, then, the evil-doer dies a quick, easy death, his heritage (חלקה, from חלק, to divide) is cursed by men, since no one will dwell in it or use it, because it is appointed by God to desolation on account of the sin which is connected with it (vid., on Job 15:28); even he, the evil-doer, no more turns the way of the vineyard (פּנה, with דּרך, not an acc. of the obj., but as indicating the direction = אל־דּרך; comp. 1Sa 13:18 with 1Sa 13:17 of the same chapter), proudly to inspect his wide extended domain, and overlook the labourers. The curse therefore does not come upon him, nor can one any longer lie in wait for him to take vengeance on him; it is useless to think of venting upon him the rage which his conduct during life provoked; he is long since out of reach in Sheôl.

That which Job says figuratively in Job 24:18, and in Job 21:13 without a figure: “in a moment they go down to Sheôl,” he expresses in Job 24:19 under a new figure, and, moreover, in the form of an emblematic proverb (vid., Herzog’s Real-Encyklopädie, xiv. 696), according to the peculiarity of which, not כּן, but either only the copulative Waw (Pro 25:25) or nothing whatever (Pro 11:22), is to be supplied before שׁאול חטאו. חטאוּ is virtually an object: eos qui peccarunt. Job 24:19 is a model-example of extreme brevity of expression, Ges. §155, 4, b. Sandy ground (ציּה, arid land, without natural moisture), added to it (גּם, not: likewise) the heat of the sun - these two, working simultaneously from beneath and above, snatch away (גּזלוּ, cogn. גּזר, root גז, to cut, cut away, tear away; Arab. jzr , fut. i, used of sinking, decreasing water) מימי שׁלג, water of (melted) snow (which is fed from no fountain, and therefore is quickly absorbed), and Sheôl snatches away those who have sinned (= גּזלה את־אשׁר חטאוּ). The two incidents are alike: the death of those whose life has been a life of sin, follows as a consequence easily and unobserved, without any painful and protracted struggle. The sinner disappears suddenly; the womb, i.e., the mother that bare him, forgets him (רחם, matrix = mater; according to Ralbag: friendship, from רחם, to love tenderly; others: relationship, in which sense Arab. raḥimun = רחם is used), worms suck at him (מתקו for מתקתּוּ, according to Ges. §147, a, sugit eum, from which primary notion of sucking comes the signification to be sweet, Job 21:33 : Syriac, metkat ennun remto ; Ar. imtasahum , from the synonymous Arab. maṣṣa= מצץ, מצה, מזה), he is no more thought of, and thus then is mischief (abstr. pro concr. as Job 5:16) broken like a tree (not: a staff, which עץ never, not even in Hos 4:12, directly, like the Arabic ‛asa , ‛asât , signifies). Since עולה is used personally, רעה וגו, Job 24:21, can be connected with it as an appositional permutative. His want of compassion (as is still too often seen in the present day in connection with the tyrannical conduct of the executive in Syria and Palestine, especially on the part of those who collected the taxes) goes the length of eating up, i.e., entirely plundering, the barren, childless (Gen 11:30; Isa 54:1), and therefore helpless woman, who has no sons to protect and defend her, and never showing favour to the widow, but, on the contrary, thrusting her away from him. There is as little need for regarding the verb רעה here, with Rosenm. after the Targ., in the signification confringere, as cognate with רעע, רצץ, as conversely to change תּרעם, Psa 2:9, into תּרעם; it signifies depascere, as in Job 20:26, here in the sense of depopulari. On the form ייטיב for יימיב, vid., Ges. §70, 2, rem.; and on the transition from the part. to the v. fin., vid., Ges. §134, rem. 2. Certainly the memory of such an one is not affectionately cherished; this is equally true with what Job maintains in Job 21:32, that the memory of the evil-doer is immortalized by monuments. Here the allusion is to the remembrance of a mother’s love and sympathetic feeling. The fundamental thought of the strophe is this, that neither in life nor in death had he suffered the punishment of his evil-doing. The figure of the broken tree (broken in its full vigour) also corresponds to this thought; comp. on the other hand what Bildad says, Job 18:16 : “his roots dry up beneath, and above his branch is lopped off” (or: withered). The severity of his oppression is not manifest till after his death.

In the next strophe Job goes somewhat further. But after having, in Job 24:22, Job 24:23, said that the life of the ungodly passes away as if they were the favoured of God, he returns to their death, which the friends, contrary to experience, have so fearfully described, whilst it is only now and then distinguished from the death of other men by coming on late and painlessly.

Job 24:22-25 22  And He preserveth the mighty by His strength;

Such an one riseth again, though he despaired of life. 23  He giveth him rest, and he is sustained,

And His eyes are over their ways. 24  They are exalted - a little while, - then they are no more,

And they are sunken away, snatched away like all others,

And as the top of the stalk they are cut off. - 25  And if it is not so, who will charge me with lying,

And make my assertion worthless?

Though it becomes manifest after their death how little the ungodly, who were only feared by men, were beloved, the form of their death itself is by no means such as to reveal the retributive justice of God. And does it become at all manifest during their life? The Waw, with which the strophe begins, is, according to our rendering, not adversative, but progressive. God is the subject. משׁך, to extend in length, used elsewhere of love, Psa 36:11; Psa 109:12, and anger, Psa 85:6, is here transferred to persons: to prolong, preserve long in life. אבּירים are the strong, who bid defiance not only to every danger (Psa 76:6), but also to all divine influences and noble impulses (Isa 46:12). These, whose trust in their own strength God might smite down by His almighty power, He preserves alive even in critical positions by that very power: he (the אבּיר) stands up (again), whilst he does not trust to life, i.e., whilst he believes that he must succumb to death (האמין as Psa 27:13, comp. Genesis, S. 368; חיּין, Aramaic form, like מלּין, Job 4:2; Job 12:11; the whole is a contracted circumstantial clause for והוא לא וגו). He (God) grants him לבטח, in security, viz., to live, or even directly: a secure peaceful existence, since לבטח is virtually an object, and the ל is that of condition (comp. לרב, Job 26:3). Thus Hahn, who, however, here is only to be followed in this one particular, takes it correctly: and that he can support himself, which would only be possible if an inf. with ל had preceded. Therefore: and he is supported or he can support himself, i.e., be comforted, though this absolute use of נשׁען cannot be supported; in this instance we miss על־טוּבו, or some such expression (Job 8:15). God sustains him and raises him up again: His eyes (עיניחוּ = עיניו) are (rest) on the ways of these men, they stand as it were beneath His special protection, or, as it is expressed in Job 10:3 : He causes light to shine from above upon the doings of the wicked. “They are risen up, and are conscious of the height (of prosperity) - a little while, and they are no more.” Thus Job 24:24 is to be explained. The accentuation רומו with Mahpach, מעט with Asla legarmeh (according to which it would have to be translated: they stand on high a short time), is erroneous. The verb רוּם signifies not merely to be high, but also to rise up, raise one’s self, e.g., Pro 11:11, and to show one’s self exalted, here extulerunt se in altum or exaltati sunt; according to the form of writing רומּוּ, רוּם is treated as an Ayin Waw verb med. O, and the Dagesh is a so-called Dag. affecuosum (Olsh. §83, b), while רמּוּ (like רבּוּ, Gen 49:23) appears to assume the form of a double Ayin verb med. O, consequently רמם (Ges. §67, rem. 1). מעט, followed by Waw of the conclusion, forms a clause of itself, as more frequently עוד מעט ו (yet a little while, then ... ), as, e.g., in an exactly similar connection in Psa 37:10; here, however, not expressive of the sudden judgment of the ungodly, but of their easy death without a struggle (εὐθανασία): a little, then he is not (again a transition from the plur. to the distributive or individualizing sing.). They are, viz., as Job 24:24 further describes, bowed down all at once (an idea which is expressed by the perf.), are snatched off like all other men. המּכוּ is an Aramaizing Hophal-form, approaching the Hoph. of strong verbs, for הוּמכּוּ (Ges. §67, rem. 8), from מכך, to bow one’s self (Psa 106:43), to be brought low (Ecc 10:18); comp. Arab. mkk, to cause to vanish, to annul. יקּפצוּן (for which it is unnecessary with Olsh. to read יקּבצוּן, after Eze 29:5) signifies, according to the primary signification of קפץ, comprehendere, constringere, contrahere (cogn. קבץ, קמץ, קמט, comp. supra, p. 481): they are hurried together, or snatched off, i.e., deprived of life, like the Arabic qbḍh allâh (קפצו אלהים) and passive qubiḍa, equivalent to, he has died. There is no reference in the phrase to the componere artus, Gen 49:33; it is rather the figure of housing (gathering into the barn) that underlies it; the word, however, only implies seizing and drawing in. Thus the figure which follows is also naturally (comp. קמץ, Arab. qabḍat , manipulus) connected with what precedes, and, like the head of an ear of corn, i.e., the corn-bearing head of the wheat-stalk, they are cut off (by which one must bear in mind that the ears are reaped higher up than with us, and the standing stalk is usually burnt to make dressing for the field; vid., Ges. Thes. s.v. קשׁ).Another figure is also presented here. It is a common thing for the Arabs (Beduins) in harvest-time to come down upon the fields of standing corn - especially barley, because during summer and autumn this grain is indispensable to them as food for their horses - of a district, chiefly at night, and not unfrequently hundreds of camels are laden at one time. As they have no sickles, they cut off the upper part of the stalk with the ‛aqfe (a knife very similar to the Roman sica) and with sabres, whence this theft is called qard קרץ, sabring off; and that which is cut off, as well as the uneven stubble that is left standing, is called qarid. - Wetzst.).

On ימּלוּ (fut. Niph. = ימּלּוּ), vid., on Job 14:2; Job 18:16; the signification praedicuntur, as observed above, is more suitable here than marcescunt (in connection with which signification Job 5:26 ought to be compared, and the form regarded as fut. Kal). Assured of the truth, in conformity with experience, of that which has been said, he appeals finally to the friends: if it be not so (on אפו = אפוא in conditional clauses, vid., Job 9:24), who (by proving the opposite) is able to charge me with lying and bring to nought (לאל = לאין, Ew. §321, b, perhaps by אל being conceived of as originally infin. from אלל (comp. אליל), in the sense of non-existence, Arab. 'l - ‛adam) my assertion?

The bold accusations in the speech of Eliphaz, in which the uncharitableness of the friends attains its height, must penetrate most deeply into Job’s spirit. But Job does not answer like by like. Even in this speech in opposition to the friends, he maintains the passionless repose which has once been gained. Although the misjudgment of his character has attained its height in the speech of Eliphaz, his answer does not contain a single bitter personal word. In general, he does not address them, not as though he did not wish to show respect to them, but because he has nothing to say concerning their unjust and wrong conduct that he would not already have said, and because he has lost all hope of his reproof taking effect, all hope of sympathy with his entreaty that they would spare him, all hope of understanding and information on their part.

In the first part of the speech (Job 23) he occupies himself with the mystery of his own suffering lot, and in the second part (Job 24) with the reverse of this mystery, the evil-doers’ prosperity and immunity from punishment. How is he to vindicate himself against Eliphaz, since his lament over his sufferings as unmerited as accounted by the friends more and more as defiant obstinacy (מרי), and consequently tends to bring him still deeper into that suspicion which he is trying to remove? His testimony concerning himself is of no avail; for it appears to the friends more self-delusive, hypocritical, and sinful, the more decidedly he maintains it; consequently the judgment of God can alone decide between him and his accusers. But while the friends accuse him by word of mouth, God himself is pronouncing sentence against him by His acts, - his affliction is a de facto accusation of God against him. Therefore, before the judgment of God can become a vindication of his affliction against the friends, he must first of all himself have defended and proved his innocence in opposition to the Author of his affliction. Hence the accusation of the friends, which in the speech of Eliphaz is become more direct and cutting than heretofore, must urge on anew with all its power the desire in Job of being able to bring his cause before God.

At the outset he is confident of victory, for his consciousness does not deceive him; and God, although He is both one party in the cause and judge, is influenced by the irresistible force of the truth. Herein the want of harmony in Job’s conception of God, the elevation of which into a higher unity is the goal of the development of the drama, again shows itself. He is not able to think of the God who pursues him, the innocent one, at the present time with suffering, as the just God; on the other hand, the justice of the God who will permit him to approach His judgment throne, is to him indisputably sure: He will attend to him, and for ever acquit him. Now Job yields to the arbitrary power of God, but then he will rise by virtue of the justice and truth of God. His longing is, therefore, that the God who now afflicts him may condescend to hear him: this seems to him the only way of convincing God, and indirectly the friends, of his innocence, and himself of God’s justice. The basis of this longing is the desire of being free from the painful conception of God which he is obliged to give way to. For it is not the darkness of affliction that enshrouds him which causes Job the intensest suffering, but the darkness in which it has enshrouded God to him, - the angry countenance of God which is turned to him. But if this is sin, that he is engaged in a conflict concerning the justice of the Author of his affliction, it is still greater that he indulges evil thoughts respecting the Judge towards whose throne of judgment he presses forward. He thinks that God designedly avoids him, because He is well aware of his innocence; now, however, he will admit no other thought but that of suffering him to endure to the end the affliction decreed. Job’s suspicion against God is as dreadful as it is childish. This is a profoundly tragic stroke. It is not to be understood as the sarcasm of defiance; on the contrary, as one of the childish thoughts into which melancholy bordering on madness falls. From the bright height of faith to which Job soars in Job 19:25. he is here again drawn down into the most terrible depth of conflict, in which, like a blind man, he gropes after God, and because he cannot find Him thinks that He flees before him lest He should be overcome by him. The God of the present, Job accounts his enemy; and the God of the future, to whom his faith clings, who will and must vindicate him so soon as He only allows himself to be found and seen - this God is not to be found! He cannot get free either from his suffering or from his ignominy. The future for him is again veiled in a twofold darkness.

Thus Job does not so much answer Eliphaz as himself, concerning the cutting rebukes he has brought against him. He is not able to put them aside, for his consciousness does not help him; and God, whose judgment he desires to have, leaves him still in difficulty. But the mystery of his lot of affliction, which thereby becomes constantly more torturing, becomes still more mysterious from a consideration of the reverse side, which he is urged by Eliphaz more closely to consider, terrible as it may be to him. He, the innocent one, is being tortured to death by an angry God, while for the ungodly there come no times of punishment, no days of vengeance: greedy conquerors, merciless rulers, oppress the poor to the last drop of blood, who are obliged to yield to them, and must serve them without wrong being helped by the right; murderers, who shun the light, thieves, and adulterers, carry on their evil courses unpunished; and swiftly and easily, without punishment overtaking them, or being able to overtake them, Sheôl snatches them away, as heat does the melted snow; even God himself preserves the oppressors long in the midst of extreme danger, and after a long life, free from care and laden with honour, permits them to die a natural death, as a ripe ear of corn is cut off. Bold in the certainty of the truth of his assertion, Job meets the friends: if it is not so, who will convict me as a liar?! What answer will they give? They cannot long disown the mystery, for experience outstrips them. Will they therefore solve it? They might, had they but the key of the future state to do it with! But neither they nor Job were in possession of that, and we shall therefore see how the mystery, without a knowledge of the future state, struggled through towards solution; or even if this were impossible, how the doubts which it excites are changed to faith, and so are conquered.

Outward Prosperity of the Wicked. (b. c. 1520.)

1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, 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 winepresses, 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.

Job's friends had been very positive in it that they should soon see the fall of wicked people, how much soever they might prosper for a while. By no means, says Job; though times are not hidden from the Almighty, yet those that know him do not presently see his day, v. 1. 1. He takes it for granted that times are not hidden from the Almighty; past times are not hidden from his judgment (Eccl. iii. 15), present times are not hidden from his providence (Matt. x. 29), future times are not hidden from his prescience, Acts xv. 18. God governs the world, and therefore we may be sure he takes cognizance of it. Bad times are not hidden from him, though the bad men that make the times bad say one to another, He has forsaken the earth, Ps. xciv. 6, 7. Every man's times are in his hand, and under his eye, and therefore it is in his power to make the times of wicked men in this world miserable. He foresees the time of every man's death, and therefore, if wicked men die before they are punished for their wickedness, we cannot say, "They escaped him by surprise;" he foresaw it, nay, he ordered it. Before Job will enquire into the reasons of the prosperity of wicked men he asserts God's omniscience, as one prophet, in a similar case, asserts his righteousness (Jer. xii. 1), another his holiness (Hab. i. 13), another his goodness to his own people, Ps. lxxiii. 1. General truths must be held fast, though we may find it difficult to reconcile them to particular events. 2. He yet asserts that those who know him (that is, wise and good people who are acquainted with him, and with whom his secret is) do not see his day,—the day of his judging for them; this was the thing he complained of in his own case (ch. xxiii. 8), that he could not see God appearing on his behalf to plead his cause,—the day of his judging against open and notorious sinners, that is called his day, Ps. xxxvii. 13. We believe that day will come, but we do not see it, because it is future, and its presages are secret. 3. Though this is a mystery of Providence, yet there is a reason for it, and we shall shortly know why the judgment is deferred; even the wisest, and those who know God best, do not yet see it. God will exercise their faith and patience, and excite their prayers for the coming of his kingdom, for which they are to cry day and night to him, Luke xviii. 7.

For the proof of this, that wicked people prosper, Job specifies two sorts of unrighteous ones, whom all the world saw thriving in their iniquity:—

I. Tyrants, and those that do wrong under pretence of law and authority. It is a melancholy sight which has often been seen under the sun, wickedness in the place of judgment (Eccl. iii. 16), the unregarded tears of the oppressed, while on the side of the oppressors there was power (Eccl. iv. 1), the violent perverting of justice and judgment, Eccl. v. 8. 1. They disseize their neighbours of their real estates, which came to them by descent from their ancestors. They remove the land-marks, under pretence that they were misplaced (v. 2), and so they encroach upon their neighbours' rights and think they effectually secure that to their posterity which they have got wrongfully, by making that to be an evidence for them which should have been an evidence for the rightful owner. This was forbidden by the law of Moses (Deut. xix. 14), under a curse, Deut. xxvii. 17. Forging or destroying deeds is now a crime equivalent to this. 2. They dispossess them of their personal estates, under colour of justice. They violently take away flocks, pretending they are forfeited, and feed thereof; as the rich man took the poor man's ewe lamb, 2 Sam. xii. 4. If a poor fatherless child has but an ass of his own to get a little money with, they find some colour or other to take it away, because the owner is not able to contest with them. It is all one if a widow has but an ox for what little husbandry she has; under pretence of distraining for some small debt, or arrears of rent, this ox shall be taken for a pledge, though perhaps it is the widow's all. God has taken it among the titles of his honour to be a Father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows; and therefore those will not be reckoned his friends that do not to their utmost protect and help them; but those he will certainly reckon with as his enemies that vex and oppress them. 3. They take all occasions to offer personal abuses to them, v. 4. They will mislead them if they can when they meet them on the high-way, so that the poor and needy are forced to hide themselves from them, having no other way to secure themselves from them. They love in their hearts to banter people, and to make fools of them, and do them a mischief if they can, especially to triumph over poor people, whom they turn out of the way of getting relief, threaten to punish them as vagabonds, and so force them to abscond, and laugh at them when they have done. Some understand those barbarous actions (v. 9, 10) to be done by those oppressors that pretend law for what they do: They pluck the fatherless from the breast; that is, having made poor infants fatherless, they make them motherless too; having taken away the father's life, they break the mother's heart, and so starve the children and leave them to perish. Pharaoh and Herod plucked children from the breast to the sword; and we read of children brought forth to the murderers, Hos. ix. 13. Those are inhuman murderers indeed that can with so much pleasure suck innocent blood. They take a pledge of the poor, and so they rob the spital; nay, they take the poor themselves for a pledge (as some read it), and probably it was under this pretence that they plucked the fatherless from the breast, distraining them for slaves, as Neh. v. 5. Cruelty to the poor is great wickedness and cries aloud for vengeance. Those who show no mercy to such as lie at their mercy shall themselves have judgment without mercy. Another instance of their barbarous treatment of those they have advantage against is that they take from them even their necessary food and raiment; they squeeze them so with their extortion that they cause them to go naked without clothing (v. 10) and so catch their death. And if a poor hungry family has gleaned a sheaf of corn, to make a little cake of, that they may eat it and die, even that they take away from them, being well pleased to see them perish for want, while they themselves are fed to the full. 4. They are very oppressive to the labourers they employ in their service. They not only give them no wages, though the labourer is worthy of his hire (and this is a crying sin, Jam. v. 4), but they will not so much as give them meat and drink: Those that carry their sheaves are hungry; so some read it (v. 10), and it agrees with v. 11, that those who make oil within their walls, and with a great deal of toil labour at the wine-presses, yet suffer thirst, which was worse than muzzling the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn. Those masters forget that they have a Master in heaven who will not allow the necessary supports of life to their servants and labourers, not caring whether they can live by their labour or no. 5. It is not only among the poor country people, but in the cities also, that we see the tears of the oppressed (v. 12): Men groan from out of the city, where the rich merchants and traders are as cruel with their poor debtors as the landlords in the country are with their poor tenants. In cities such cruel actions as these are more observed than in obscure corners of the country and the wronged have easier access to justice to right themselves; and yet the oppressors there fear neither the restraints of the law nor the just censures of their neighbours, but the oppressed groan and cry out like wounded men, and can no more ease and help themselves, for the oppressors are inexorable and deaf to their groans.

II. He speaks of robbers, and those that do wrong by downright force, as the bands of the Sabeans and Chaldeans, which had lately plundered him. He does not mention them particularly, lest he should seem partial to his own cause, and to judge of men (as we are apt to do) by what they are to us; but among the Arabians, the children of the east (Job's country), there were those that lived by spoil and rapine, making incursions upon their neighbours, and robbing travellers. See how they are described here, and what mischief they do, v. 5-8. 1. Their character is that they are as wild asses in the desert, untamed, untractable, unreasonable, Ishmael's character (Gen. xvi. 12), fierce and furious, and under no restraint of law or government, Jer. ii. 23, 24. They choose the deserts for their dwelling, that they may be lawless and unsociable, and that they may have opportunity of doing the more mischief. The desert is indeed the fittest place for such wild people, ch. xxxix. 6. But no desert can set men out of the reach of God's eye and hand. 2. Their trade is to steal, and to make a prey of all about them. They have chosen it as their trade; it is their work, because there is more to be got by it, and it is got more easily, than by an honest calling. They follow it as their trade; they follow it closely; they go forth to it as their work, as man goes forth to his labour, Ps. civ. 23. They are diligent and take pains at it: They rise betimes for a prey. If a traveller be out early, they will be out as soon to rob him. They live by it as a man lives by his trade: The wilderness (not the grounds there but the roads there) yieldeth food for them and for their children; they maintain themselves and their families by robbing on the high-way, and bless themselves in it without any remorse of compassion or conscience, and with as much security as if it were honestly got; as Ephraim, Hos. xii. 7, 8. 3. See the mischief they do to the country. They not only rob travellers, but they make incursions upon their neighbours, and reap every one his corn in the field (v. 6), that is, they enter upon other people's ground, cut their corn, and carry it away as freely as if it were their own. Even the wicked gather the vintage, and it is their wickedness; or, as we read it, They gather the vintage of the wicked, and so one wicked man is made a scourge to another. What the wicked got by extortion (which is their way of stealing) these robbers get from them in their way of stealing; thus oftentimes are the spoilers spoiled, Isa. xxxiii. 1. 4. The misery of those that fall into their hands (v. 7, 8): They cause the naked, whom they have stripped, not leaving them the clothes to their backs, to lodge, in the cold nights, without clothing, so that they are wet with the showers of the mountains, and, for want of a better shelter, embrace the rock, and are glad of a cave or den in it to preserve them from the injuries of the weather. Eliphaz had charged Job with such inhumanity as this, concluding that Providence would not thus have stripped him if he had not first stripped the naked of their clothing, ch. xxii. 6. Job here tells him there were those that were really guilty of those crimes with which he was unjustly charged and yet prospered and had success in their villanies, the curse they laid themselves under working invisibly; and Job thinks it more just to argue as he did, from an open notorious course of wickedness inferring a secret and future punishment, than to argue as Eliphaz did, who from nothing but present trouble inferred a course of past secret iniquity. The impunity of these oppressors and spoilers is expressed in one word (v. 12): Yet God layeth not folly to them, that is, he does not immediately prosecute them with his judgments for these crimes, nor make them examples, and so evince their folly to all the world. He that gets riches, and not by right, at his end shall be a fool, Jer. xvii. 11. But while he prospers he passes for a wise man, and God lays not folly to him until he saith, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, Luke xii. 20.

Present Impunity of Transgressors. (b. c. 1520.)

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.

These verses describe another sort of sinners who therefore go unpunished, because they go undiscovered. They rebel against the light, v. 13. Some understand it figuratively: they sin against the light of nature, the light of God's law, and that of their own consciences; they profess to know God, but they rebel against the knowledge they have of him, and will not be guided and governed, commanded and controlled, by it. Others understand it literally: they have the day-light and choose the night as the most advantageous season for their wickedness. Sinful works are therefore called works of darkness, because he that does evil hates the light (John iii. 20), knows not the ways thereof, that is, keeps out of the way of it, or, if he happen to be seen, abides not where he thinks he is known. So that he here describes the worst of sinners,—those that sin wilfully, and against the convictions of their own consciences, whereby they add rebellion to their sin,—those that sin deliberately, and with a great deal of plot and contrivance, using a thousand arts to conceal their villanies, fondly imagining that, if they can but hide them from the eye of men, they are safe, but forgetting that there is no darkness or shadow of death in which the workers of iniquity can hide themselves from God's eye, ch. xxxiv. 22. In this paragraph Job specifies three sorts of sinners that shun the light:—1. Murderers, v. 14. They rise with the light, as soon as ever the day breaks, to kill the poor travellers that are up early and abroad about their business, going to market with a little money or goods; and though it is so little that they are really to be called poor and needy, who with much ado get a sorry livelihood by their marketings, yet, to get it, the murderer will both take his neighbour's life and venture his own, will rather play at such small game than not play at all; nay, he kills for killing sake, thirsting more for blood than for booty. See what care and pains wicked men take to compass their wicked designs, and let the sight shame us out of our negligence and slothfulness in doing good. Ut jugulent homines, surgunt de nocte latrones, Tuque ut te serves non expergisceris?— Rogues nightly rise to murder men for pelf; Will you not rouse you to preserve yourself? 2. Adulterers. The eyes that are full of adultery (2 Pet. ii. 14), the unclean and wanton eyes, wait for the twilight, v. 15. The eye of the adulteress did so, Prov. vii. 9. Adultery hides its head for shame. The sinners themselves, even the most impudent, do what they can to hide their sin: si non caste, tamen caute—if not chastely, yet cautiously; and after all the wretched endeavours of the factors for hell to take away the reproach of it, it is and ever will be a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret, Eph. v. 12. It hides its head also for fear, knowing that jealousy is the rage of a husband, who will not spare in the day of vengeance, Prov. vi. 24, 25. See what pains those take that make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it, pains to compass, and then to conceal, that provision which, after all, will be death and hell at last. Less pains would serve to mortify and crucify the flesh, which would be life and heaven at last. Let the sinner change his heart, and then he needs not disguise his face, but may lift it up without spot. 3. House-breakers, v. 16. These mark houses in the day-time, mark the avenues of a house, and on which side they can most easily force their entrance, and then, in the night, dig through them, either to kill, or steal, or commit adultery. The night favours the assault, and makes the defence the more difficult; for the good man of the house knows not what hour the thief will come and therefore is asleep (Luke xii. 39) and he and his lie exposed. For this reason our law makes burglary, which is the breaking and entering of a dwelling-house in the night time with a felonious intent, to be felony without benefit of clergy.

And, lastly, Job observes (and perhaps observes it as part of the present, though secret, punishment of such sinners as these) that they are in a continual terror for fear of being discovered (v. 17): The morning is to them even as the shadow of death. The light of the day, which is welcome to honest people, is a terror to bad people. They curse the sun, not as the Moors, because it scorches them, but because it discovers them. If one know them, their consciences fly in their faces, and they are ready to become their own accusers; for they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. Shame came in with sin, and everlasting shame is at the end of it. See the misery of sinners—they are exposed to continual frights; and yet see their folly—they are afraid of coming under the eye of men, but have no dread of God's eye, which is always upon them: they are not afraid of doing that which yet they are so terribly afraid of being known to do.

Ultimate Ruin of the Wicked. (b. c. 1520.)

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 other, 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?

Job here, in the conclusion of his discourse,

I. Gives some further instances of the wickedness of these cruel bloody men. 1. Some are pirates and robbers at sea. To this many learned interpreters apply those difficult expressions (v. 18), He is swift upon the waters. Privateers choose those ships that are the best sailors. In these swift ships they cruise from one channel to another, to pick up prizes; and this brings them in so much wealth that their portion is cursed in the earth, and they behold not the way of the vineyards, that is (as bishop Patrick explains it), they despise the employment of those who till the ground and plant vineyards as poor and unprofitable. But others make this a further description of the conduct of those sinners that are afraid of the light: if they be discovered, they get away as fast as they can, and choose to lurk, not in the vineyards, for fear of being discovered, but in some cursed portion, a lonely and desolate place, which nobody looks after. 2. Some are abusive to those that are in trouble, and add affliction to the afflicted. Barrenness was looked upon as a great reproach, and those that fall under that affliction they upbraid with it, as Peninnah did Hannah, on purpose to vex them and make them to fret, which is a barbarous thing. This is evil entreating the barren that beareth not (v. 21), or those that are childless, and so want the arrows others have in their quiver, which enable them to deal with their enemy in the gate, Ps. cxxvii. 5. They take that advantage against and are oppressive to them. As the fatherless, so the childless, are in some degree helpless. For the same reason it is a cruel thing to hurt the widow, to whom we ought to do good; and not doing good, when it is in our power, is doing hurt. 3. There are those who, by inuring themselves to cruelty, come at last to be so exceedingly boisterous that they are the terror of the mighty in the land of the living (v. 22): "He draws the mighty into a snare with his power; even the greatest are not able to stand before him when he is in his mad fits: he rises up in his passion, and lays about him with so much fury that no man is sure of his life; nor can he at the same time be sure of his own, for his hand is against every man and every man's hand against him," Gen. xvi. 12. One would wonder how any man can take pleasure in making all about him afraid of him, yet there are those that do.

II. He shows that these daring sinners prosper, and are at ease for a while, nay, and often end their days in peace, as Ishmael, who, though he was a man of such a character as is here given, yet both lived and died in the presence of all his brethren, as we are told, Gen. xvi. 12; xxv. 18: Of these sinners here it is said, 1. That it is given them to be in safety, v. 23. They seem to be under the special protection of the divine Providence; and one would wonder how they escape with life through so many dangers as they run themselves into. 2. That they rest upon this, that is, they rely upon this as sufficient to warrant all their violences. Because sentence against their evil works is not executed speedily they think that there is no great evil in them, and that God is not displeased with them, nor will ever call them to an account. Their prosperity is their security. 3. That they are exalted for a while. They seem to be the favourites of heaven, and value themselves as making the best figure on earth. They are set up in honour, set up (as they think) out of the reach of danger, and lifted up in the pride of their own spirits. 4. That, at length, they are carried out of the world very silently and gently, and without any remarkable disgrace or terror. "They go down to the grave as easily as snow-water sinks into the dry ground when it is melted by the sun;" so bishop Patrick explains v. 19. To the same purport he paraphrases v. 20, The womb shall forget him, &c. "God sets no such mark of his displeasure upon him but that his mother may soon forget him. The hand of justice does not hang him on a gibbet for the birds to feed on; but he is carried to his grave like other men, to be the sweet food of worms. There he lies quietly, and neither he nor his wickedness is any more remembered than a tree which is broken to shivers." And v. 24, They are taken out of the way as all others, that is, "they are shut up in their graves like all other men; nay, they die as easily (without those tedious pains which some endure) as an ear of corn is cropped with your hand." Compare this with Solomon's observation (Eccl. viii. 10), I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten.

III. He foresees their fall however, and that their death, though they die in ease and honour, will be their ruin. God's eyes are upon their ways, v. 23. Though he keep silence, and seem to connive at them, yet he takes notice, and keeps account of all their wickedness, and will make it to appear shortly that their most secret sins, which they thought no eye should see (v. 15), were under his eye and will be called over again. Here is no mention of the punishment of these sinners in the other world, but it is intimated in the particular notice taken of the consequences of their death. 1. The consumption of the body in the grave, though common to all, yet to them is in the nature of a punishment for their sin. The grave shall consume those that have sinned; that land of darkness will be the lot of those that love darkness rather than light. The bodies they pampered shall be a feast for worms, which shall feed as sweetly on them as ever they fed on the pleasures and gains of their sins. 2. Though they thought to make themselves a great name by their wealth, and power, and mighty achievements, yet their memorial perished with them, Ps. ix. 6. He that made himself so much talked of shall, when he is dead, be no more remembered with honour; his name shall rot, Prov. x. 7. Those that durst not give him his due character while he lived shall not spare him when he is dead; so that the womb that bore him, his own mother, shall forget him, that is, shall avoid making mention of him, and shall think that the greatest kindness she can do him, since no good can be said of him. That honour which is got by sin will soon turn into shame. 3. The wickedness they thought to establish in their families shall be broken as a tree; all their wicked projects shall be blasted, and all their wicked hopes dashed and buried with them. 4. Their pride shall be brought down and laid in the dust (v. 24); and, in mercy to the world, they shall be taken out of the way, and all their power and prosperity shall be cut off. You may seek them, and they shall not be found. Job owns that wicked people will be miserable at last, miserable on the other side death, but utterly denies what his friends asserted, that ordinarily they are miserable in this life.

IV. He concludes with a bold challenge to all that were present to disprove what he had said if they could (v. 25): "If it be not so now, as I have declared, and if it do not thence follow that I am unjustly condemned and censured, let those that can undertake to prove that my discourse is either, 1. False in itself, and then they prove me a liar; or, 2. Foreign, and nothing to the purpose, and then they prove my speech frivolous and nothing worth." That indeed which is false is nothing worth; where there is not truth, how can there be goodness? But those that speak the words of truth and soberness need not fear having what they say brought to the test, but can cheerfully submit it to a fair examination, as Job does here.

CHAP. XXIV. Verſe 1. Why, ſeeing times are not hidden from the Almighty.]

HEB. Why are not times hidden from the Almighty? q.d. Who could think any otherwiſe, that had not been at the Sanctuary, Pſ. 73.17. and there heard, Wo to the wicked, it ſhall go ill with him, for the reward of his hands ſhall be (ſooner or later) given unto him? Iſai. 3.11. The Jew-Doctors conclude, (but falſly) from this Text, that Job denyed the Divine Providence. And the Vulgar Latine, to ſalve the matter and ſave Job from the imputation of Epicuriſme, takes the boldneſſe to leave out the Interrogative, Why, and rendreth it thus, The times are not hidden from the Almighty; leſt, by making it a queſtion, Job ſhould affirm, that times and events are hidden from God, or at leaſt ſhould wiſh and deſire that they were ſo. Vatablus thinketh that Job here putteth on the perſon of one that denyeth Gods Providence, or at leaſt doubteth of it: as if he ſhould ſay, Ye, my friends, ſay that nothing is hidden from God, and I now demand of you how the times, and thoſe things which are done in time, can be otherwiſe then hid from him, when as we ſee wicked men ſo to take their ſwinge in ſin, and yet, for ought we ſee, to eſcape unpuniſhed? It ſhould ſeem by his winking at wicked practiſes, that he takes no care how things are carried in this preſent world;Brent. as certainly he would do, were he diligens mundi Oeconomus, ant rerum humanarum conſcius. This indeed might ſtagger a David or a Jeremy in a paſſion, as Pſal. 73.2. &c. Jer. 12.1. and make a Diagoras or an Averroes, turn Atheiſt. But Job was better inſtructed in this point, as appeareth by many paſſages in this Book; ſee chap. 21.16, 22. Neither can any ſuch thing be concluded from this Text, if we take in the latter part of the verſe.

Do they that know him, not ſee his dayes?] The whole verſe ſhould be read thus, Why are not times hidden from the Almighty, ſeeing they that know him, de not ſee his dayes? that is ſith his moſt knowing ſervants could never obſerve the times and the ſeaſons (of puniſhing graceleſſe perſons here) which he hath put in his own power, Act. 1.7. Abraham indeed (by ſpecial favour) was told that Sodom ſhould be ſuddenly deſtroyed: And Moſes could ſay, Wrath is gone out from the Lord, take a Cenſer, &c. Numb. 16.46. As any one is more faithful and familiar with God, ſo much better and earlier doth he diſcern his judgements on the wicked, and is affected therewith. See Hab. 3.16. with the Note. But there is no certain rule given us, by what puniſhment to conclude a man wicked, neither can we ſafely ſay at what time, or what manner and meaſure God will puniſh the ungodly in this preſent life. That of Auſtin is very right, Some wicked God puniſheth here, leſt his providence; and but ſome, leſt his patience and promiſe of judgment ſhould be called into queſtion.

Verſe 2. Some remove the Land marks] Here he inſtanceth in all ſorts of wicked perſons, with their ſeculi laetitia, impunita nequitia: they go point blank againſt Gods Commandments; they pleaſe not him, and are contrary to all men; and yet who but they, ſo long as it will laſt? Some remove (or touch) the Landmarks, which the very Heathens held to be ſacred, and not once to be touched.Inter Ethnicor Terminus numinis lo.o habitua eſt. Numa King of Romans made a Law, that if any hid or removed a Land-mark, he ſhould be ſlain by the next that met him, as a ſacrilegious perſon, or publick Peſt. Gods Law curſeth ſuch an Offendour, Deut. 27. and the Civil Lawes paſſe ſentence of death upon him. The Chaldee Paraphraſt and old Rabbins underſtand this and the following Offences, of the old world, full of rapacity and impiety. But are there not the like and worſe evils found alſo amongſt us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, in theſe laſt and worſt times, as Bernard fitly yoaketh them? Read the Catalogue and compare.In his ultimis et peſſimis. temporibus. Bern. Reckon alſo, that you then read or hear this Chapter aright, when applying each paſſage to your ſelves, you learn to waſh your hands in innocency, or at leaſt in teares for theſe abominations: As alſo, if ye be not offended at the proſperity of thoſe who fall into all or but ſome of theſe wickedneſſes, ſith the time is at hand when account muſt be given of all things done in the body, whether good or evil.

They violently take away flocks and feed thereon] Though they eat that on earth which they ſhall digeſt in hell. Or, and feed them; viz. openly and impudently, with as much inſolence as injuſtice; and as if they had got them by right, and not by rapine and robbery. Lavater upon the Text maketh mention of a certain Helvetian Tyrant, who violently took away the Oxen from the Plough of an honeſt Countryman, and told him that it was fit that Clownes ſhould draw the Plough themſelves, without the help of Oxen.

Verſe 3 They drive away the Aſſe of the fatherleſſe] The only Aſſe of Orphans, thoſe helpleſſe, ſhiftleſſe creatures, ſo mercileſſe are theſe abigei, which is no ſmall aggravation of their injuſtice, (ſee 2 Samuel 12.3) For all ſinnes are not equal, as the Stoicks once held, but lighter or heavier according to their circumſtances. To rob the rich is a great offence, but to pillage the poor is far greater.

They take the widows Ox for a pledge] Without which the cannot plough: or. Her Cow, as ſome render it, without which the and her children cannot live. A poor bodies livelyhood is his life (as that poor widowes was, Mark 12.44. [non-Latin text not transcribed] and the like is ſaid of the Haemorrhoiſſe, Luke 8.43) cruſh this ſnail in his ſhel, and you kill him. Now therefore albeit it be not unlawful to take a pledge for ſecurity in ſome caſes; yet courteſie muſt be uſed, and mercy muſt be ſhewed to Orphans, Widowes, Strangers, and ſuch like, becauſe they are Gods Clients, and he hath taken them into his ſpecial care and tuition.

Verſe 4. They turn the needy out of the way] Either to make room for themſelves as the only men. Stand back, ſay the Sodomites to L[illegible: 1 letter]t, Gen. 19.9. Stand further off, ſay thoſe in Iſaiah, See Prov. 30, 14. Ans. 8.4. Or elſe, becauſe when theſe Spoilers are abroad, they beſet the wayes, and no Traveller,Bezai be they never ſo poor and needy, can paſſe freely by them; inſomuch that they are conſtrained to leave the broad beaten way, and every where to ſeek out by-wayes and unknown paſſages, to eſcape their hands.

And the poor of the earth hide themſelves together] Leſt after their Cattel driven away,Junius. as before, themſelves, [illegible: 1 letter]t mancipia nexa, as ſlaves linked together, ſhould be taken and carryed away by them to ſuch baſe Offices, as are mentioned in the next verſes. Tyrants are looked upon as ſo many Comets, or Tempeſts: Attilas ſtiled himſelf, Deiflagellum, et Orbis vnſtinatem. The ſcourge in Gods hand, and the worlds waſte-good: He arrogantly ſaid, That the Stars fell before him, the Earth ſhook under him, and that he would make the Inhabitants thereof wriggle into corners, as worms do into their holes when once it thundereth. We know who they were (even thoſe Worthies of whom the world was not worthy) who hunted as Partridges by their cruel Perſecutors, and driven out from houſe and home, wandred in deſarts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, Heb. 11.38. where they found the wild Beaſts more mild and merciful to them, then thoſe hard-hearted Tyrants.

Verſe 5.Onagri inter fer as ſunt efferatiſſimi, neque unquam manſueſcunt. Merc. Beza. Behold, as wild-Aſſes in the deſart, go they forth to their work] Theſe barbarous and bruitiſh Oppreſſors, skilful to deſtroy, do live in this world, as the wild-Aſs doth in the wilderneſs, roving and rambling up and down for booty, whereunto early in the morning they prepare and harneſs themſelves, as if this were their trade and occupation whereby they muſt needs get their living. Hic labor, hoc opus, vel artificium corum eſt, ſaith Lavater. As man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labour until the evening, Pſal. 104.23. ſo do theſe greedy Cormorants, theſe evening Wolves (as Micah calleth them) theſe ſpoylers that deviſe iniquity, and work evil upon their beds, when the morning is light they practiſe it, becauſe it is in the power of their hands. And they covet fields and take them by violence; and houſes, and take them away, &c. Mich. 2.1, 2. Job had ſuffered much by the Arabian ſpoylers, Fabric. in deſcrip. peregr. Hieroſol. thoſe wild-Aſſes, who continue their old trade to this day, catching and ſnatching, vivitur ex rapto: neither can they be repelled or reſtrained by reaſon of their multitudes, and their incredible ſwiftneſs.

The wilderneſs yieldeth food, &c.] Their pillage is their tillage, their rapine their revenue, whereby they maintain themſelves and theirs: as the wild-Aſs picks out a living in the deſart. But ſhall they thus eſcape by iniquity? Have they no other wayes to work? no better Mediums? Never think it: In thine anger caſt dawn the people. O God; Pſal. 56.7. He will do it: for the words are prophetical, as well as optative. Treaſure of wickedneſs profit nothing, Prov. 10.2. Mammon of iniquity, is the next odious name to the Devil; and to the Devil it will bring a man, 1 Tim. 6.9. Engliſh Hubertus, a covetous Oppreſſor, is ſaid to have made this, Will; I yield my Goods to the King, my Body to the Grave, my Soul to the Devil. Pope Sylveſter 2. is ſaid to have given his Soul to the Devil for ſeven years enjoyment of the Popedom.

And for their Children] We have a profane and falſe proverb, Happy is that Child, whoſe Father goeth to the Devil. O faithful drudge! ſaid a graceleſs Son once of ſuch a Father, who died and left him great ſtore of ill-gotten goods.

Verſe 6. They reape every one his corn in the field] The poor oppreſſed are made by them to inn their crops, and tread their vintages in the end of the year; as the Hebrew importeth,Serò colligunt. without either meat or wages, or ſo much as a cup of drink, as the eleventh verſe ſets forth: which is extreme cruelty, and flatly forbidden, Deut 24.14, 15. and order taken that the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn ſhould not be muzzled, Deut. 25.4. Quantum igitur judicium, ſaith Brentius, how great judgements of God then will light upon thoſe who do that to men of the ſame fleſh, of the ſame faith, of the ſame country with themſelves, which they ought not to do to the bruit creatures they make uſe of? Quo[illegible: 1 letter] malum in Germania frequent[illegible: 1 letter]ſſimum eſt; V[illegible: 1 letter] igitur Germaniae. This, ſaith he, is a common ſin in Germany, woe therefore to Germany. Think the ſame of England, and take notice that this is one of thoſe crying ſins that entreth into the ears of the Lord of Sabboth, Jam. 5.4. and he will hear, for he is gracious, Exod. 22.27. The words are otherwiſe ſenſed by ſome: but this to me ſeemeth moſt ſutable to the ſubſequent verſes.

Verſe 7. They cauſe the naked to lodge without clothing] viz. By denying and detaining from them that they have earned, wherewith they ſhould provide them garments, which are ſo called, quaſi gardments: becauſe they ſerve to guard mens bodies from the injury of the weather. They cauſe them to lodge naked, becauſe they have no clothing; ſo ſome reade the text, they lay them open to the pinching cold of the night. And what a miſery it is to lye a cold and wet, and not to have wherewith to keep us warm and dry, in winter ſeaſon eſpecially, who knows not? Hîc diſce Deo gratus eſſe, ſaith Lavater. Here then learn thankfulneſs to God, thou that haſt not only a warm and wholeſome lodging-room, but alſo good ſtore of bed-cloaths; and thoſe of the better ſort too. Abuſe not theſe bleſſings to pride and luxury, leſt God turn in upon thee ſpoylers and plunderers, who may leave thee little enough; leave thee nuaum tanquam ex mari, as they did many in theſe late ſhredding and ſtripping times, Ezek. 25.4. God threatneth to ſend the men of the Eaſt to dwell (as ſo many Lord-Danes) in their Palaces, and to eate their milk, &c. When the Children play with their meat, and caſt it to the Dogs, what can the Father do leſs, than bid, Take away?

Verſe 8. They are wet with the ſhowers of the mountains] Wet they are, but not at all refreſhed as this word (here only found in the Bible) ſignifieth ſometimes among the Rabbins. Cold comfort they finde abroad; and at home they dare not abide, leſt rich men ſhould oppreſs them and draw them before the judgement-ſeats, Jam. 2.6. or drag them to priſon for refuſing their drudgery. Hence they are forced to live in the mountains, and deſart places, in extreme miſery.

And embrace the Rock for want of a ſhelter] Like Conies or wild Beaſts, glad of any lurking place, that may keep them out of the hands of unreaſonable and wicked men. What hardſhip have many worthy men in all ages ſuffered from perſecutors and oppreſſors (in Dio[illegible: 1 letter]leſians dayes eſpecially) driven out of houſe and harbour, and glad to take up in any hole, there to lie on the cold ſtone in ſtead of a warm bed, (as that good Dutcheſs of Suffolk, with that noble Gentleman her Husband did in the Low-countries, whiter they fled from the Marian perſecution) till,In Loc. as Elias once under the Juniper, they wiſh themſelves out of the world? Iterùm hîc diſc[illegible: 1 letter] gratias Deo agere, ſaith L[illegible: 1 letter]vater. Here again learn to give thanks to God for this great benefit, if thou maieſt ſtay at home, and not be forced to flie for thy life, or for conſcience-ſake; for home is home, as we ſay, and very deſireable: and the Apoſtle reckons it for a piece of his ſufferings, that he was [illegible: 1 word], and had no ſettled ſtation, [non-Latin text not transcribed] no certain dwelling place, 1 Cor. 4.11.

Verſe 9. They pluck the fatherleſs from the breſt] What can be more to be pitied than a fatherleſs ſuckling? Who leſs to be moleſted or violenced than the Mother doing that office to her babe? In the Pariſian Maſſacre, one of the murtherers took a little one in his arms, who ſmiled upon him and plaid with his beard; yet this barbarous wretch was ſo far from compaſſion, that he wounded it with his dagger,Act. & Mon. and ſo caſt it all gore blood into the River. The ſtory of the Infant of the Iſle of Garriſer, thrown back into the fire, out of which it had ſprawled, is well known.Ibid. So is the ſavage inhumanity of that mercileſs Minerius the Popes Champion, who at Merindol[illegible: 1 letter] in France, cut off the Paps of many which gave ſuck to their Children;Ibid. p. 868. which looking for ſuck at their Mothers breſts, being dead before, died alſo for hunger. Well therefore might our Saviour ſay, Beware of men, Mart. 10.17. It had been better the Indies had been given to the Devils of hell, ſaid those poor Natives, than to thoſe bloody Spaniards, who daſhed the Mother in pieces upon their Children, as once at Betharbel, Hoſ. 10.14.

And take a pledge from the poor] Miſery, which ſhould beget pity in them, begetteth but audacity, and inviteth them to ruine the poor, and fill their houſes with their ſpoyles. Some render it thus, They take the poor for a pledge; ſc. putting them to their ranſom, and mean while enſlaving them.

Verſe 10. They cauſe him to go naked without clothing] Naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to their ſhame, and danger; as Eſa. 20.4. So dealt the Popiſh Biſhops with the poor Proteſtant Albigenſes, at the Rendition of Carcaſſ[illegible: 1 letter]n, in France; they let them have their lives upon condition,Rivet. Jeſuit. vap. that both men and women ſhould go thence ſtark naked; thoſe parts that cannot well be named, being laid open to the view of thoſe Pope-holy Cruciates.

And they take away the Sheaf from the hungry] Or, The handful; that little that they had leazed; ſnatching the eares of corn out of their hands, and condemning them thus denuded and deſpoyled, to a death which is ſo much the more cruel, as it is tedious and languiſhing. Some reade it thus, And thoſe that carried their Sheaves, they made to go away hungery: either not feeding, or not Paying their harveſt-labourers, and other ſervants. It is noted in Hiſtory as a cruelty in the Athenians, that they put an engine about their ſervants necks called [non-Latin text not transcribed], and it reached down to their hands, that they might not ſo much as lick of the Meal when they were ſifting it.

Verſe 11. Which make oyl within their walls, &c.] See the Note above on verſ. 6. and on verſ. 10.

Verſe 12. Men groan from out of the City] viz. Under the preſſures of their oppreſſors. Thus did Jeruſalem that faithful City, when once become an harlot; it was full of judgement, righteouſneſs lodged in it; but now murderers, Iſa. 1.21. The like die the City of Rome, when, under the Government of Marius ſet up againſt Sylla, ſhe cryed out that the remedy was worſe than the diſeaſe: and under Pompey, Calamitas noſtra magnus eſt: and under the Caeſars, that the names of their good Emperours might all be ſet down in the compaſs of a ſignet-ring: and again under the Popes, that for many years together ſhe had not had the happineſs to be ruled by any but Reprobates: Hen, hen, Domine Deus, ſaith Faſciculus temporum, bitterly bewayling Romes miſery under her turbulent Tyrants, Hildebrand, Ʋrban 2. (whom Cardinal Benno worthily calleth Turban) Boniface 8. and many other ſuch like Monſters. Of moſt great Cities it may be ſaid, as of that ſtrange vineyard in Paleſtin[illegible: 1 letter], Iſa. 5.7. God looked for judgement, but behold oppreſſion (Heb. a ſcab.) for righteouſneſs, but behold a cry. Anima confoſſorum veciferatur.

And the ſoul of the wounded (of the deadly wounded) cryeth out] ſc. For grief; and in prayer to God for eaſe.

Yet God layeth not folly to them] Deus non ponit prohibitionem, ſo one of the Rabbins rendreth it. God putteth not a ſtop to the proceedings, he puniſheth not thoſe Tyrants, who do oppreſs whole Cities, making their luſt a Law, and overbearing all right with their Volumus & jubemus: nothing at all moved with the groans of the oppreſſed City, or with the out-cryes of the wounded. Word for word it is, Deus non interponit inſulſ[illegible: 1 letter]m quid, God interpoſeth not any thing inſulſe or unſavory; that is, he ſuffereth not any croſs mean while to befal them: Yea, he ſo carrieth the matter, as if he favoured them; yea, approved and proſpered their crafty and cruel practiſes: For they live happy, obtain victories, are magnified among men,Yull. de divin. lib. 2. they flatter themſelves in their own eyes, until their iniquity be found to be hateful, Pſal. 36.2. Mean while, foelix ſcelus virtus vocatur; as the Oratour ſpeaketh, their proſperous villany is called vertue: and if any man mutter againſt them,Di[illegible: 1 letter] in Ner. yea if he cry them not up, he is looked upon as a Traytor, as Thraſeas that noble Roman was by Nero.

Verſe 13. They are of thoſe that rebel againſt the light] Againſt the common light of the Sun, ſay ſome, which they are ready to curſe, (as the Atlantes, a people of Ethiopia, Her[illegible: 1 letter]dot. are ſaid to do) and could wiſh extinct, that they might ſin unſeen. Others more fitly underſtand it of the light of Nature and Scripture; againſt which wicked Atheiſts riſe up and rebel; as malecontents and mutineres do againſt lawful Authority. In the poor blind Ethnicks it is to be ſeen that ſome few Principles and Notions of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falſhood, are yet to be found in corrupt Nature: like as when Cities and great Buildings are over-thrown by War, ſome Towers, ſome Pinacles ſurvive the violence. Now ſome deſperate ſinners againſt their own ſouls, take the boldneſs to tear out theſe Principles, that might any way diſturb their courſe in ſin; and to take an order with their natural conſciences, clapping up thoſe Prophets from God, cloſe Priſoners, Rom. 1 18. till at length all that little light is loſt, that ruſh-candle quite extinct. When wine is powred out of a cup, the ſides are yet moiſt. But when it is rinſed and wiped, then remaineth not the leaſt taſte. Even ſo that glimmering of divine Light left in the natural man is ſo defaced by obſtinacy in ſin, that not the leaſt ſpark thereof remaineth. Theſe Bars have flown ſo long againſt that light, that at length they have put it out. And whereas to thoſe that live under the Ordinances, there is another light riſen, viz. that of Gods Word and works, graceleſs wretches ſhut their windows, leſt this light ſhould come in upon them, as the Phariſees did: they hate it becauſe their deeds are evill, ſaith our Saviour: they ſpurn and ſcorn at it, ſaith Solomon, Pro. 1. they are willingly ignorant, Joh. 3.18. ſaith Peter; they wink wilfully, ſaith Juſtin Martyr; Ʋt liberiùs peccent, libenter ignorant, ſaith Bernard: they rebel againſt the light, as Balaam did when he ſet his face toward the wilderneſs, and would needs curſe howſoever. Or as Pharaoh, who ſat not down under the Miracle Moſes wrought, but ſent for the Magicians. How many are there at this day, who after conviction, get the Bit betwixt their teeth, like unruly Horſes, and run away?

They know not the ways thereof] A carnal heart is not willing to know what if ſhould do, leſt if ſhould do what it would not do. Of ſuch Bernard ſaith,Feſtucam quorum us occules cruans. that they ſeek ſtraws to put out their own eyes with. If they ſeek after Gods wayes, it is but as a coward ſeeketh after his enemy, with an hope he ſhall not finde him: So he is loth to find, and fears to know; therefore he ſearcheth no further, than wil ſerve his turn; and the little light he hath, he putteth not under a buſhel, but under a dunghil Woe be to theſe rebels, theſe Soli[illegible: 1 letter]uga, that refuſe, or abuſe Goſpel-light. Turks and Pagans ſhall have an eaſier judgment. It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteouſneſs, ſaith Peter, then after they have known it, &c. 2 Epiſt. 2.21. Gravis eſt lux conſcientiae, ſaith Seneca; but grav[illegible: 1 letter]or eſt lux Evangelii, ſay we: if this light be hated by any, it is meerly becauſe it ſtands in the light of their wicked wayes, as the Angel did in Balaams way to his ſin.

Nor abide in the paths thereof] They have no ſtability,Hoſ. 6.3. nor ſettledneſs in well-doing. They follow not on to know, but ſoon give over the purſuit and practiſe of holineſs; not caring to adde to Faith Vertue, and to Vertue Knowledge, &c. 2 Pet. 1.3.

Verſe 14. The murderer riſing with the light] Betimes, whiles it is yet darkiſh: for here Job ſheweth how thoſe that do evil hate the light, and take the fitteſt opportunities for a diſpatch of the deeds of darkneſs, daily digging deſcents down to Hell, and haſtening thereto, as if they feared it would be full before they come thither. They ſpend therefore the whole day in wicked pranks and practiſes, proùt videtur commodum, as ſhall ſeem beſt for their purpoſes, interdin latrones, nocte fures agunt. By day they do what miſchief they may in woods and deſarts: at night they return into the City, and there play the theeves, hoping to do it un-obſerved.Bernard. Thus every ſuch one may better ſay then that Ancient did, Totum tempus perdidi, quia perdite vixi, I have loſt all my time, by ſpending it looſely and baſely: I have been too faithful a drudge to the Devil, whom Chriſt calleth a murth[illegible: 1 letter]rer; Joh. 8. and Tertullian calleth Furem Veritatis, a thief of the Truth. Two notable Theeves of Naples, Rain. de Idol. Rom. prafat. (whereof one was called Pater-noſter, and the other Ave-Maria) had murthered an hundred and ſixteen ſeveral perſons, at ſeveral times and in divers places. Theſe were worthily put to a cruel death by the Magiſtrate: who poſſibly might by his connivence and ſlackneſs in doing his office, be himſelf guilty of ſome of thoſe murders: ſith, to reſtrain juſtice, is to ſupport ſin: and not to correct, is to conſent to the Crime. Hemingius maketh mention of a Felon, who was indicted of ſeven murders: while the Judge was ſtudying what grievous puniſhment ſhould be inflicted upon ſuch a bloody villain, an Advocate ſteps to the Bar, and pleading for him, proved, That the Judge was guilty of ſix of the murders: for th[illegible: 2 letters] the Felon was not put to death for the firſt offence.

Killeth the poor and needy] Without Authority, (ſuch as Magiſtrates have to kill Malefactors, and Souldiers in a lawful Battel to kill their Enemies: Sum Talbotti pro occidere inimic[illegible: 1 letter]s meos; Speed. this blunt boiſterous ſentence was written upon the renowned L. Talbots Sword, whileſt he warred in France) and without any preſent neceſſity for his own lawful defence, as Exod. 2.22. when he muſt either kill or be killed: provided that he endeavour firſt to ſave himſelf by flight if poſſibly he can: For that Tenet of Soto, a Popiſh Caſuiſt, is the moſt falſe,Quia fugs eſt ignominioſa. That it is lawful for a man in his own defence to kill another, becauſe it is a ſhame to flie. And that alſo of Navarrus, that for a box on the ear, it is not unlawful to kill another,Ad bonor em recuper [illegible: 1 word]. for the recovering of his honour.

And in the night is as a thief] That is, very thief: for this as, is magis expre[illegible: 2 letters] [illegible: 1 word] veritatis, as Mercer ſpeaketh, he would not ſeem to be, but yet is an arrant thief, ending the day with theft, which he began with murder. How theſe two ſins go commonly coupled, ſee Hoſ. 4.2 and Iſai. 13.16.

Verſe 15. The eye alſo of the Adulterer wa[illegible: 1 letter]teth.] Obſerveth, expecteth, and longeth till it cometh. Ʋt videas ill[illegible: 1 letter]m non precare infirmitate ſed malitiâ, ſaith Vatablus; This ſheweth, that he ſinneth not of infirmity, but of forethought, malice and wickedneſſe; which he plotteth and ploweth (as the Scripture phraſeth it) purveying for the fleſh,Quotidie perire me ſentio. Suer. Rom 13. ult. putrifying alive, under a [illegible: 1 letter]abe, of impure luſts, and daily periſhing therein, as Tiberius at Caprea, by his own confeſſion. This beaſt was not aſhamed of his deteſtable filthineſſe; as being a moſt impure and impudent defiler of other mens beds. But the Adulterer here ſpoken of, ſeeks the covert of the twilight, and another of a diſguiſe. He putteth hu face in a ſecret place (ſo the Hebrew hath it) wrapping it in his cloak, or getting on a Vizzard, which (ſaith he) ſhall render me unknown, and none eye ſhall ſee me. For as for Gods eye, either he conceits him blind, or preſumes him indulgent, not doubting or an eaſie and ſpeedy pardon. This is charged upon David, 2 Sam. 12.10. Becauſe thou haſt deſpiſed me. &c. viz. in thinking to ſin ſecretly, not conſidering mine All-ſeeing eye, not caring though I looked on, &c. therefore ſhall all come to light, verſe 12. Sin ſecretly committed, ſhall bee ſtrangely diſcovered: yea, perhaps the ſinner himſelfe ſhall confeſſe his ſinnes, as Judas: So ſooner on later, God wil bring every work into judgement, with every ſecret thing, Eccleſiaſ[illegible: 1 letter]es 12.14. See alſo Eccleſiaſticus 23.

Verſe 16. In the dark they dig through the earth, &c.] Heb. He digs through houſes; i.e. the Adulterer doth, to come at his Strumpet, with whom he had agreed upon a place of meeting for that evil purpoſe, and in whoſe boſome by night (the dark and black night, as Solomon calleth it, Prov. 7.9) he ſpareth not to bury his name, ſubſtance, ſoul and carcaſſe, whilſt they glut their unclean deſires by the favour of the darkneſſe. This is a bitterneſſe beyond that of death, Eccleſ. 7.26. But the divel preſenteth his Butter in ſo Lordly a diſh, that the ſoul ſpies not the hammer and nail in his hand, till he have driven it into the Temples. Roger Mortimer, who digged that hole at Notingham Caſtle, and was afterwards hanged at Tiburn, (a juſt reward of his Ambition and Uncleanneſſe) had the experience of this.

They know not the light] i.e. They brook it not, but run full butt againſt it, becauſe it diſcovereth and diſquieteth them. See on ver. 13.

Verſe 17 For the morning is unto them as the ſhadow of death] i.e. They are in deadly fear leſt the light ſhould bewray them, and expoſe them to condigne puniſhment. How fearful was Judah of being ſhamed, after he had thus ſinned, Gen. 38.23? And how forward to ſave his credit by ſending his Kid by the hand of that hang by Hiram? Ter. in Eun. That young man in Terence, was ſore aſhamed to be ſeen in the Eunuchs garment, a token of his Uncleanneſſe; whereas to have done the deed did nothing ſo much trouble him. But the children of light hate and ſhun ſin more for the filth that is in it, then for the fire that is in it: the blackneſſe of that coal offendeth them more then the heat of it. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Plato condemneth the Poets for ſetting forth Jupiters Adulteries, whereby the people were drawn to the like wantonneſſe; and for ſaying, it were no matter though men did commit ſin, ſo they could hide it. Si non caſtè, ſaltem cautè, ſay the Popiſh Shavelings, who are ſometimes taken in the manner, as was that carnal Cardinal Cremonenſis, Acts & Mon. fol. 1065. Ibid. 1905. Barns Funccius Luth. Coloq. the Popes Legat here, in Hen. 8. dayes, and Dr. W[illegible: 1 letter]ſton Dean of Windſor in the Raign of Queen Mary, apprehended in Adultery, and for the ſame deprived of all his Spiritual Livings by Cardinal Pool. Pope John the twelfth, being taken a bed with another mans wife, was killed immediately by her husband. In Germany a Gentleman of note and his Harlot, were ſerved in like ſort, as Luther relateth. So was Re[illegible: 3 letters]ldus the Eighth, King of Lombardy; and Sergui a King of Scotland. Of all theſe,P.Mel. Chron. Lang. Chron. and many more eſuſdem furfuris, it may well be ſaid, as here, that being noted and notified, they were in the terrors of the ſhadow of death. Which death to eſcape.

Verſe 18. He is ſwift as the waters] He ſtayes not long in a place, but flies away ſwiftly (like the River Tigris, ſwift as an arrow out of a bow) to avoid puniſhment. Heb. He is light upon the face of the waters. The meaning[illegible: 1 letter]s (ſaith One) they are as a light thing upon the ſtreams of water running ſwiftly, and carrying it away with ſpeed. Some, that it is ſpoken in reſpect of their ſwift paſſing on from one wickedneſſe to another, or their never being ſettled after ſuch wickedneſſe committed, but alwayes ready to be overturned as a ſhip that is unballaſted, and ſo to be drowned in the ſea.

Their portion is curſed on the earth] Cain-like, they wander up and down, à corde ſuo facti fugitivi; but their ſin will ſurely find them out; neither can they run out of the reach of Gods rod, &c. This Job ſaith, leſt any ſhould gather from what he had ſaid before, that it ſhould be alwayes well with the wicked, and ill with the godly. Some take it curſe-wiſe thus, Let their portion on earth be accurſed, neither let them turn themſelves to the Vineyards; ſcil. either to dreſſe them, or to taſte of the fruits of them.

He beholdeth not the way of the Vineyards] That is, ſay ſome, to run away by them, which were common wayes to Cities, but by ſome other obſcure byway that he may not be found. In Vineyards ſomething is to be done at all times, that way therefore they take not, leſt they ſhould be diſcovered and puniſhed. Beza rendreth it, He turneth not into the way (that is, the nature) of the Vines, which by cutting and pruning, ſprouteth out, and becometh more profitable. Others ſenſe it far otherwiſe. The conciſe brevity and ambiguity of the words, together with the change of number, hath cauſed a cloud upon them.

Verſe 19. Drought and heat conſume the ſnow waters] Here alſo brevity hath bred obſcurity. Snow waters as they are more ſubtile, ſo they ſooner ſink into the dry earth; ſo dye the wickeds, quickly and eaſily. See chap. 21.13, 31. There are that read the whole verſe thus, In the drought and heat they rob, and in the ſnow waters; they ſin to the grave; that is, they rob (and run into other flagitious practiſes) in all weather, Summer and Winter, and never give over till they dye. They perſiſt in their ſins (ſaith Calvin) wherein they have been nuzzelled up, even to their grave. This is a good ſenſe. Luther tells of one filthy Adulterer, ſo ſet upon that ſin, that he was heard to utter theſe abominable words, If I were ſure to live here for ever, and that I might ſtill be carried from one Brothel-houſe to another, I would never deſire any other heaven then that. Vae dementiae, & impietati. Theat. Hiſt. pag. 568. This beaſtly man breathed out his wretched ſoul betwixt two harlots. Once I knew a moſt odious Adulterer of ſeventy years old (ſaith another great Divine) who having waſted his fleſh and ſtate with harlots, and lying neer death, was requeſted thus, Potter, call upon God;M. Dan. Rog. he replyed with his ordinary oathes, Pox and Wounds, is this a time to pray? I knew, (ſaith a third Reverend man) a great ſwearer, who coming to his death-bed, Satan ſo filled his heart with a madded and enraged greedineſſe after ſin,Mr. Bolton. that though himſelf ſwore as faſt and as furiouſly as he could, yet (as though he had been already among the bannings and blaſphemies of hell) he deſperately deſired the ſtanders by to help him with Oathes, and to ſwear for him. Athenaeus reporteth of one covetous Mammoniſt, that at the hour of his death, he devoured many pieces of Gold, and ſewed the reſt in his coat, commanding that they ſhould be all buried with him. And our Chroniclers write of King Edward 1. that he adjured his ſon and Nobles,Dan. Hiſt. 202. that if he dyed in his Expedition againſt Bruce King of Stots, they ſhould not interre his Corps, but carrie it about Scotland, till they had avenged him on that Uſurper.

Verſe 20. The Womb ſhall forget him] Some read it, The merciful man forgetteth him; ſcil. becauſe himſelf was mercileſſe. Or becauſe he was a trouble to the world, and a common Peſt, therefore good men are glad to be ſo rid of him; and in ſtead of ſighing over him, ſay, Let the worm feed ſweetly on him, 'tis well he is gone, as he lived wickedly, ſo he dyed wickedly; let him be no more remembred or honourably mentioned, but moulder away, and fall as a rotten tree. Others interpret the words of the ſudden and eaſie death of the wicked, thus, The womb ſhall forget him; that is, ſaith Beza, being once dead, neither his mother nor his wife do bewail and lament his death, becauſe without that pain and torment, that many ſuffer when they depart the world.

The wormes ſhall feed ſweetly on him] Moritar impunitus, he maketh the worms a feaſt with his fat Corps (as Dr. Taylor Martyr made account to have done, if buried in Hadley Church-yard) and feels no pain.

He ſhall be no more remembred] And this is reckoned up as a piece of his happineſs See Eccleſ. 8.10. with the Note there.

And wickedneſſe] that is, the wicked perſon, that crooked piece that can hardly ever be ſet ſtraight again.

Shall be broken as a tree] As a rotten tree blown down by the wind.

Verſe 21. He evil intreateth the barren that beareth not] Who had more need to be comforted, then further afflicted. But Homo homini Daemon. Jacob and Elkanab loved and comforted their wives under this croſſe. The Vulgar rendreth it, He hath fed the barren, whereupon ſome expound it of wicked mens feeding Whores, and maintaining them for their pleaſure; keeping them barren, that they may keep their beauty.

And doth not good to the widow] i.e. Doth her much hurt; for not to do good, is to do evil, Mark 3.4. He hath afflicted his barren wife, and evil intreated the poor deſolate widow his mother. What marvel then if the womb forget him, &c. if his wife bewail not ſo unkind an husband, nor his mother ſo unnatural a ſon, as verſ. 30 Thus Beza here.

Verſe 22. He draweth alſo the mighty with his power] i.e. He hath brought them by force under his girdle, and compelled them to do him homage and ſervice.

He riſeth up.] In the fulneſſe of his might, as a King againſt whom there is no riſing up, Prov. 30.31.

And no man is ſure of life] Which the Tyrant taketh away at his pleaſure. Or thus, The Tyrant himſelf, after he hath made all cock-ſure, as he may think, is not yet ſure of his owne life, dare not confide in his beſt friends: Dionyſius for inſtance, and our Richard the third. The Hebrew is, And he is not ſure of life.

Verſe 23. Though it be given him to be in ſafety] Heb. It is given him to be in ſafety, whereon he reſteth. His ſafety and proſperity was given him for a better purpoſe; but (as if God had hired him to be wicked) he abuſeth it to creature confidence, leaning too hard upon the arm of fleſh.

Yet his eyes are upon their wayes] Nevertheleſſe God proſpereth them (according to Pſal. 34.11.) Or, as others ſenſe it, God eyeth their wicked wayes, and deſigneth them to deſtruction. And the next verſe ſeemeth to make for this Interpretation.

Verſe 24. They are exalted for a little while] Or, They are exalted, but within a little while they are not. This former part of the verſe needeth no Expoſition, ſaith an Expoſitor. And as for the later

They are taken away as all other, they are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn] It may be underſtood of the like violence,Velm frit-ſpica ſuccidu[illegible: 1 letter]tur. Trem. ex Varr. wherewith Tyrants ſhall be cut off, by which they have cut off other mighty and great men: as Thraſibulus King of Mileſians by ſtriking off with his ſtaff certain ears of corn, and Tarquin King of Romans by doing the like to certain Poppies in his Garden, ſignified their minds to have diverſe chief men beheaded: which was accordingly accompliſhed. So Mithridates King of Pontus, V. l. Max. by one Letter cauſed the death of fourſcore thouſand Romans, trading throughout Aſia. Now God loveth to retaliate as hath been ſaid before. See it exemplified in Adonibezeck, Agag, Haman and others.

Verſe 25. And if it be not ſo now, who will make me a Lyar?] Quis ementietur me? Who ſhall diſprove or confute what I have affirmed? viz. That God doth many things, the depth whereof we cannot fathom, and that he lets wicked men many times ſpend their dayes in pleaſure, and end them without much pain. this I will abide by, and I would fain ſee the man, qui anſit & poſſit, who can and will maintain the contrary.