Job 24
CHAPTER 24
1. Why is it that, seeing that the times of punishment ( Ezekiel 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 Joel 1:15 , 2 Peter 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 ( Deuteronomy 19:14 , Proverbs 22:28 ).
3. pledge--alluding to Job 22:6 . Others really do, and with impunity, that which Eliphaz falsely charges the afflicted Job with.
4. Literally, they push the poor out of their road in meeting them. Figuratively, they take advantage of them by force and injustice (alluding to the charge of Eliphaz, Job 22:8 , 1 Samuel 8:3 ).
poor--in spirit and in circumstances ( Matthew 5:3 ).
hide--from the injustice of their oppressors, who have robbed them of their all and driven them into unfrequented places ( Job 20:19 , 30:3-6 , Proverbs 28:28 ).
5. wild asses--( Job 11:12 ). So Ishmael is called a "wild ass-man"; Hebrew ( Genesis 16:12 ). These Bedouin robbers, with the unbridled wildness of the ass of the desert, go forth thither. Robbery is their lawless "work." The desert, which yields no food to other men, yields food for the robber and his children by the plunder of caravans.
rising betimes--In the East travelling is begun very early, before the heat comes on.
6. Like the wild asses ( Job 24:5 ) reap (metaphorically) their various grain (so the Hebrew for "corn" means). The wild ass does not let man pile his mixed provender up in a stable ( Isaiah 30:24 ); so these robbers find their food in the open air, at one time in the desert ( Job 24:5 ), at another in the fields.
the vintage of the wicked--Hebrew, "the wicked gather the vintage"; the vintage of robbery, not of honest industry. If we translate "belonging to the wicked," then it will imply that the wicked alone have vineyards, the "pious poor" ( Job 24:4 ) have none. "Gather" in Hebrew, is "gather late." As the first clause refers to the early harvest of corn, so the second to the vintage late in autumn.
7. UMBREIT understands it of the Bedouin robbers, who are quite regardless of the comforts of life, "They pass the night naked, and uncovered," &c. But the allusion to Job 22:6 , makes the English Version preferable not uncommon at night in those regions ( Genesis 31:40 ).
8. They--the plundered travellers.
embrace the rock--take refuge under it ( Lamentations 4:5 ).
9. from the breast--of the widowed mother. Kidnapping children for slaves. Here Job passes from wrongs in the desert to those done among the habitations of men.
pledge--namely, the garment of the poor debtor, as Job 24:10 shows.