Job 20:11

11 His bones are full of young strength, but it will go down with him into the dust.

Job 20:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 20:11

His bones are full [of the sins] of his youth
Man is born in sin, and is a transgressor from the womb; and the youthful age is addicted to many sins, as pride, passion, lust, luxury, intemperance, and uncleanness; and these are sometimes brought to mind, and men are convinced of them, and corrected for them, when more advanced in years; and if not stopped in them, and reformed from them, they are continued in an old age; and the effects of them are seen in bodily diseases, which a debauched life brings upon them, not only to the rottenness and consumption of their flesh, but to the putrefaction of their bones; though this may be understood of the whole body, the bones, the principal and stronger parts, being put for the whole, and denote that general decay and waste which gluttony, drunkenness, and uncleanness, bring into, see ( Proverbs 5:11-14 ) ; Some interpret this of "secret" sins F16, as the word is thought to signify, which, if not cleansed from and pardoned, will be found and charged on them, and be brought into judgment, and they punished for them, ( Psalms 90:8 ) ( Ecclesiastes 12:14 ) ;

which shall lie down with him in the dust:
to be in the dust is to be in the state of the dead, to lie in the grave, where men lie down and sleep as on a bed; and this is common to good and bad men, all sleep in the dust of the earth, but with this difference, the sins of wicked men lie down with them; as they live in sin, they die in their sins; not that their sins die with them, and are no more, but they continue on them, and with them, and will rise with them, and will follow them to judgment, and remain with them after, and the guilt and remorse of which will be always on their consciences, and is that worm that never dies: of such it is said, that they "are gone down to hell with their weapons of war"; with the same enmity against God, against Christ, and his people, and all that is good, they had in their lifetime: and "they have laid their swords under their heads"; in the grave, and shall rise with the same revengeful spirit they ever had against the saints, see ( Revelation 20:8 Revelation 20:9 ) ; "but their iniquities shall be upon their bones"; both them, and the punishment of them, ( Ezekiel 32:27 ) . The Jewish commentator last mentioned interprets the whole verse of Balaam, who died at the age of thirty three, and whose prosperity died with him, he leaving nothing to his children; and so he interprets the following verses of the curse he was forced to hide, which he would gladly have pronounced, and of the riches he received from Balak falling into the hands of the Israelites.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (wymwle) "ejus occultis", Montanus, Vatablus, Schmidt.

Job 20:11 In-Context

9 The eye which saw him sees him no longer; and his place has no more knowledge of him.
10 His children are hoping that the poor will be kind to them, and his hands give back his wealth.
11 His bones are full of young strength, but it will go down with him into the dust.
12 Though evil-doing is sweet in his mouth, and he keeps it secretly under his tongue;
13 Though he takes care of it, and does not let it go, but keeps it still in his mouth;
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