Job 34:20
Ver. 20. In a moment shall they die,.... Princes as well as the common people, rich men as well as poor; all must and do die, great and small, high and low, kings and peasants, rich and poor men, and sometimes suddenly; are struck dead at once, and without any previous notice, that night, that hour, that moment their souls are required of them. The Targum interprets this of the men of Sodom. And Mr. Broughton, in his margin, refers to the history of them in Ge 19:1; and the people shall be troubled at midnight; either the common people, when their kings and governors die; or the relations and friends of persons deceased; and this circumstance "at midnight" is added, which makes the scene more melancholy, awful, and shocking, when it happens at such a time. The above Targum understands it of the Egyptians, when their firstborn were slain, which was in the middle of the night; and Mr. Broughton refers in his margin to the same instance: but it is a question whether this affair ever came to the knowledge of Job and his friends, at least not so early as this controversy;and pass away; not into another country, being taken and carried away captive; but pass away by death into their graves, and into another world. Sephorno interprets it of the destroying angel's passing over the tents of the Israelites, and not entering into them to smite them when they smote the firstborn of Egypt. But the former sense is best, see Ps 37:36;and the mighty shall be taken away without hand: without the hand of men, but by the immediate hand of God; not falling in battle, or in a common natural way by diseases, but by some judgment of God upon them: and the whole verse seems to be understood not of a natural death, or in the common way, but of sudden death in a way of judgment, from the immediate hand of God, and that upon the mighty and great men of the earth; which shows that he is no respecter of princes, see Da 8:25. Job 34:21Ver. 21. For his eyes [are] upon the ways of man,.... Which denotes the omniscience of God, which reaches to every man, to every individual, and to all men in general; and to their ways, to every step taken by them, to the whole of their lives and conversations, and every action of them; to all their internal and external ways and goings; perhaps the former may be meant in this, and the latter in the following clause. This may denote all their inward thoughts, the workings of their mind, the imaginations of their heart; all their secret purposes, designs, and schemes; and all the desires and affections of their soul; and all these, whether good or bad:and he seeth all his goings; the whole of his walk and conversation, conduct and behaviour; all his external ways, works, and actions; and these whether of good or bad men, see Ps 139:1. Job 34:22Ver. 22. [There is] no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. By whom may be meant chiefly profane sinners that are abandoned to a vicious course of life, and make a trade of sin, or that the common course of their lives; though secret sinners, and even professors of religion, hypocrites, who in a more private manner live in sin, come under this name, Mt 7:23; such may endeavour to hide themselves through shame and fear, but all in vain and to no purpose; there is no screening themselves and their actions from the all-seeing eye of God, and from his wrath and vengeance. "No darkness" of any sort can hide them, not the thick clouds of the heavens, nor the darkness of the night; nor is there any darkness in God that can obstruct his sight of them; nor are they able to cast any mist before his eyes, or use any colourings, pretences, and excuses he cannot see through. "Nor shadow of death": the grossest and thickest darkness; nor is even the grave itself an hiding place for sinners, from whence they will be raised to receive the just deserts of their sins. See Job 10:21. Now from the omniscience of God, and his clear uninterrupted sight of all persons and their actions, inward and outward, Elihu argues to the justice of God, who therefore cannot do anything amiss through ignorance, error, or mistake. Job 34:23Ver. 23. For he will not lay upon man more [than right],.... Neither in a way of duty, his law being holy, just, and good, not any of his commandments grievous, but all his precepts concerning all things right, his yoke easy and his burden light; nor in a way of punishment, always punishing then less than their iniquities deserve; nor in a way of chastisement, suffering nothing to befall his people but what is common to men; and he is faithful to bear them up under it and through it, and to make a way to escape out of it: or the phrase, "than right", being a supplement, may be left out, and the words be connected with what follows,that he should enter into judgment with God; and the sense is, either that God does not put it on man to go again into judgment with him; he does not suffer him to have a cause heard over again, to appeal from God or to him to have a second hearing; nor is anything to be got by it, he is in one mind, and none can turn him or reverse or get reversed any sentence of his; and therefore it was a piece of weakness in Job to insist so much as he did to have a hearing of his cause before him, since he could not expect there would be any alteration made in his favour: or, as Mr. Broughton reads it, "it is not for men to purpose to enter into judgment before the Omnipotent"; such a purpose is vain, he can never carry his cause against him; it is a piece of weakness to pretend to litigate a point with him: or the sense is, he puts no more on man than to come to him in judgment, so Schultens; he has appointed a person and time to judge the world in righteousness, and all must appear before his tribunal; and everything, thought, word and action, will then and there be brought into an account, and righteous judgment will pass; and therefore, since he has fixed such a method of proceeding, and requires no other, he can never be charged with injustice. Job 34:24Ver. 24. He shall break in pieces mighty men without number,.... Such as are mighty in bodily strength, as the giants of the old world, and such as were inhabitants of some parts of the land of Canaan; or mighty in power and authority, being kings, princes, rulers, and governors, over nations and cities; or mighty in wealth and riches, which give men power and strength; these God can and sometimes does break in pieces like potters' vessels, and even mighty kingdoms and nations themselves he will make like the chaff of the summer threshing floor: and even without number; or there have been and will be numberless instances of this kind; who can tell how many of these mighty men, men of gigantic stature, were drowned in the flood, or cut off by the sword of the Israelites in the land of Canaan? or "without search" {d} as it may be rendered; either on the part of God, who needs not any, with whom are unnecessary any formal inquiries into a cause, or examination of witnesses, in order to a judicial process against delinquents, all being naked and open before him at once; or on the part of man, with whom the ways and judgments of God are unsearchable and who ought not closely and curiously to inquire into any of his proceedings, and the causes and reasons of them, who does all things after the counsel of his own will. Mr. Broughton renders it "without end", for ever; with an everlasting destruction, an utter and irretrievable one; he so breaks them as that they never can be made whole again, like an earthen vessel that is broke to pieces and cannot be put together again;and set others in their stead; God always provides for a succession in the world, that as when one generation goes off another comes on; when he destroyed the world with a flood, he preserved a family to replenish the earth; when the fathers of the Jewish nation, their carcasses fell in the wilderness, their children were raised up in their room to enter the good land and possess it; and particularly he provides for the civil government of the world and when he pulls down or removes one king he sets up another, and will not suffer kingdoms and states to fall into anarchy and confusion: and sometimes, when he casts down the mighty from their seats, he exalts men of low degree, as when he rejected Saul he took David from the sheepfold, 1Sa 16:11; and makes such kings and kingdoms to "stand" {e} stable and firm, as the kingdom of David, and as the word here used signifies.{d} rqx al "absque inquisitione", Beza, Mercerus; "sine investigatione", Michaelis; so Cocceius, Schultens. {e} dmeyw "et stare faciet", Pagninus, Montanus, V. L. so Mercerus, Drusius, Cocceius, Schultens. Job 34:25Ver. 25. Therefore he knoweth their works,.... Being God omniscient, or rather takes notice of them, weighs and considers them, and gives to man according to them; or rather makes them known, for of his omniscience Elihu had spoken before; he makes them known to themselves, fastens convictions of their evil ways and works on their consciences, and obliges them to confess them, as the instances of Cain, Pharaoh, and others, show; and he makes them known to others by the judgment he executes, as on the old world, Sodom and Gomorrah; and the works of all will be made manifest at the day of judgment;and he overturneth [them] in the night; literally taken, as the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain in the night, Ex 12:30; and Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red sea in the night, Ex 15:4; and the Assyrian army were destroyed by an angel in one night, 2Ki 19:35; and Belshazzar was killed in the night, and the Babylonian empire translated to the Medes and Persians at the same time, Da 5:30: or figuratively, that is, suddenly, at unawares, and by surprise, and as quickly and easily as the night is turned into day; and such a revolution is made, as when he turns the night into day, and discovers and makes known all their secret actions committed in the dark; or he turns the night of calamity upon them, and puts an end to their light of temporal happiness and prosperity; or turns the night of death and everlasting wrath and justice on them, the blackness of darkness upon them:so that they are destroyed; both in a temporal sense, on every side, with an utter destruction; and in a spiritual sense, with an everlasting one. Job 34:26Ver. 26. He striketh them as wicked men,.... Such is the strict justice of God, that he never strikes men, or inflicts punishment on them, or brings down his judgments upon them, but as wicked men, and because of their wickedness; the casting of man out of Eden was for his sin, as well as the casting down the angels from heaven that sinned; the drowning of the old world, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the ruin of Pharaoh and his host, the driving the Canaanites out of their land, the various captivities of the Israelites, with other instances of God's displeasure with men in this world, and the everlasting punishment of them in another, are only of them as wicked men, and for sin; and therefore he is not chargeable with any unrighteousness. Sephorno interprets it, "instead of wicked men", and illustrates it by the shaking out of Pharaoh and his host into the sea in the room and stead of the wicked Israelites, that came up from thence,in the open sight of others: which the same interpreter refers to the Israelites seeing the Egyptians dead on the seashore; or "in the place of them that see" {f}, that is, in a public manner, as generally malefactors are executed, to which the allusion may be; it denotes the publicness of God's righteous judgments on wicked men, for the greater declaration of his power and justice, and for the greater shame and disgrace of such wicked men, and for the joy and comfort of the righteous delivered from them.{f} Myar Mwqmb "in loco videntium", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Michaelis; "in loco spectantium", Beza, Cocceius, Schultens. Job 34:27Ver. 27. Because they turned back from him,.... Became apostates from the ways and worship of God, as the posterity of Cain before the flood, and the posterity of Ham after it; who had been educated and trained up therein, and turned from the law of God, as the Septuagint version, from the light and law of nature:and would not consider any of his ways; either of providence, whether in a way of mercy which might lead to repentance, or in a way of judgment which might be a caution and instruction to them; or of his precepts, the way of his commandments, not any of these would they consider; so as to express a value for them, show any regard to them, and walk in them; and which was owing to the stubbornness of their wills; they would not advert to them. Job 34:28Ver. 28. So that they cause the cry of the poor to come to him,.... To God; through their oppressions of the poor they are made to cry by reason of them, and who come to God with their cries, and tears, and supplications, and which enter into the ears of the Lord of hosts;and he heareth the cry of the afflicted; as he did the cry of the Israelites under Egyptian bondage; he is a God hearing and answering prayer, and he particularly attends to the cry of the humble and of the afflicted, and arises for their help and deliverance. Job 34:29Ver. 29. When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?.... Quietness or peace is of God; external peace to bodies of men, to communities, civil and religious, and to particular persons; quietness and contentment in outward enjoyments, peace and safety at home, and from enemies abroad; inward spiritual peace, this is of God, is in Christ, and from him; is the fruit of his righteousness, spoke by his blood, comes through faith in Christ, and is enjoyed in his ordinances, and continues as long as it is the pleasure of God to give it, and cannot be disturbed by men or devils; a national peace, when God gives it, cannot be broke in upon; nor the peace of churches, though there are always some inclined to be troublers of the Israel of God; nor the peace of particular persons, not their outward peace and quietness, when God sets an hedge of providence about them; nor their inward peace, not by all the afflictions and persecutions they meet with in the world; nor by all the temptations of Satan, and the corruptions of their own hearts. The Targum is, "who shall condemn?" and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; when God acquits, absolves, and justifies men, who can condemn them? see Ro 8:33. When God pronounces the sentence of justification by the righteousness of Christ in the conscience of a sinner, it produces peace solid and substantial, and this being done, who shall condemn? or of what avail will their condemnation be? whether of the law, or of Satan, or of the world, or of themselves, of their own hearts;and when he hideth [his] face, who then can behold him? whether [it be done] against a nation, or against a man only; whether God hides his face from a nation, as he sometimes did from the nation of Israel, because of their sins; when he would not hear their prayers, nor assist them against their enemies, nor arise for their help and deliverance out of their hands: or from his church and people, his spiritual Jacob and Israel, as when they complain, their way is hid from the Lord, and the Lord has forgotten and forsaken them; or from particular persons, as from David, Heman, and others; and who, of the Lord's people, but at one time or another are under the hidings of his face? and then there is no finding him, no looking to him with comfort and confidence; no looking into and beholding the works and ways of God, and the causes of his dealings with them; these are out of sight, his ways are in the deep, and his footsteps are not known. Some refer this to men; who will show favour to him whom God frowns upon? who will look at him in a pleasant manner, when God hides his face from him? Job 34:30Ver. 30. That the hypocrite reign not,.... These words seem to be connected with Job 34:24, "he breaketh in pieces mighty men", &c. the whole of Job 34:29 being read in a parenthesis; or with the phrase "he hideth his face"; as God is said to be in the destruction of mighty wicked men, who oppress the poor, and cause their cry to come to God, to prevent the reign of an hypocrite, or however to shorten it. By "an hypocrite" is not meant a common hypocrite in religion, but an hypocrite in politics; who pretends to great humanity and goodness, to a tender care of the people, and a preservation of them in their rights and liberties, and promises to support and establish the constitution, and observe the laws of the nation, with a show of zeal for the religion professed in it. But when he has ascended the throne, and got the power into his hands, he throws off the mask and becomes a tyrant; and men of such a temper, either God does not suffer to ascend the throne, but if they do get on it through artifice and deceit, he suffers them not to continue, but deposes them, and cuts their reign short: and this he doeslest the people be ensnared; be brought into bondage, and lose their rights, privileges, and liberties; or lest they be drawn into sin by their precepts or examples. Some take the sense of the words to be, that God suffers not such to reign, but when he does it is because of the offences or sins of the people; he gives them such kings in his wrath, to punish them for their iniquities. Job 34:31Ver. 31. Surely it is meet to be said unto God,.... By any afflicted person under his chastising hand, and particularly by Job, for whom the advice and instructions in this verse and Job 34:32 are designed:I have borne [chastisement]; the word "chastisement" is not in the text, but is very properly supplied, as it is by Jarchi and others; the affliction of God's people is a fatherly chastisement, and should be considered and borne as such; and it becomes an afflicted good man to say,"I have borne and still do bear, and I am content yet to bear, the chastisement of the Lord; I am desirous to bear it willingly, cheerfully, and patiently, until he is pleased to remove it from me.''See Mic 7:9;I will not offend [any more]; that is, sin any more; sin is an offence to God, being contrary to his nature, and a breach of his law; Job had sinned as every good man does, no man is without sin, in many things we all offend; and on account of sin God chastens his people, and the design of it is to bring them to a sense and acknowledgment of it; and it becomes them under chastening providences to confess it, and humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, and in the strength of divine grace determine to be careful not to offend more. Some render the words "I will not corrupt" {g}; that is, myself or others, my ways and works, by sinning; and others, "I will not break", or "break through" {h}; the commands of God; and so the sense of this and the former version is much the same with ours; or I will not endeavour to break through the afflictive providence in which I am shut up, or break off the fetters and cords of affliction, but bear all patiently, until it is the Lord's time and will to set me at liberty. Some, as Ben Gersom, interpret this and the preceding clause, "I pardon, I will not destroy"; or "will not retain a pledge", as others {i}; and so take them to be the words of God himself; and thus Mr. Broughton renders the whole verse,"now unto the Omnipotent, which saith, I pardon, I will not destroy, "this should" be said,''namely, what follows in Job 34:32 {k}; it is the prerogative of God, and it is his grace to pardon, and such whom he pardons he never destroys, but accepts, discharges, and remits the surety's bond or pledge; and nothing more effectually engages to a careful abstinence from sin for the future, than a sense of pardoning grace; and it highly becomes such persons to say what they are next directed to.{g} lbxa al "non corrumpam", Montanus, Mercerus, Piscator. {h} "Non disrumpam", Beza. {i} "Non pignerabo", Cocceius; "non pigneratus eram", Schultens. Vid. Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 238. {k} Tigurine version, Vatablus, Junius and Tremellius. Job 34:32Ver. 32. [That which] I see not teach thou me,.... Which may be understood either of the chastisements of God, and his dealings with his people in a providential way, and of the design and use of them, which are sometimes unsearchable, and at most but a part of them only seen and known; it is meet to say to God, it is but a small part and portion of thy ways that is known by me; I can see but little into them: teach me more of thy mind and will in them, or else of sins and transgressions, the cause of chastisement; it is proper for an afflicted man to say unto God, I am conscious to myself of many sinful failings and infirmities, but there may be secret sins committed by me which have escaped my notice and observation; point them out to me, that I may be humbled for them, and make a free confession of them;if I have done iniquity, I will do no more; that is, if I have committed any capital crime, any foul offence or gross enormity, for otherwise no man lives without sin, I sincerely repent of it, and will take care for the future, through divine grace, to do so no more. Job 34:33Ver. 33. [Should it be] according, to thy mind?.... O Job, for the words seem to he directed to him; and may respect either the government of the world in general, and the disposal of all things in it, treated of in this chapter, though more remotely, Job 34:13. Is it not proper that God should govern it, who has made it, and do all things in it as he pleases? is it fit he should consult with men what to do, or be instructed and taught by them in the path of judgment? is it meet that every man should have his mind and will, and have everything go in the form and course most eligible to him? Or else they may respect chastisement, with which the words are more nearly connected; and so the sense be, should man be consulted, as Job or any other, and his mind known first, whether he should be chastened or not? should a son or a servant be asked first by a parent or master, whether it is fitting to give correction or not? or is man to be advised with in what way and manner he should be chastened of God, whether in his person, or family, or estate? or how long the chastening should endure upon him, and when it should be removed? no, surely; all should be left with God, the wise and sovereign Disposer of all things;he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose,and not I; that is, God will recompense chastisement; he will chastise whom he pleases, and in what manner he pleases, and as long as he pleases, whether man consents or submits to it or not; he will not ask his leave; he will do according to the counsel of his own will; and thou Job mayest choose or refuse to submit to him as thou likest best; for my part, was it my case, I would not refuse submission to his will; I would say, "it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth good in his sight". Some make this last clause the words of God, put by way of question, "shouldest thou choose or refuse, and not I?" shouldest thou have thine option and refusal, and not I? should man be his own chooser, or choose for himself what he likes best? should he not say, the Lord shall choose mine inheritance for me, though that inheritance is affliction? The words are rendered by others to different senses, all which to observe would be too tedious: some {l} to this sense,"what is of thyself God recompenses;''sin is of a man's self, it flows from his corrupt heart and will, he is not tempted to it of God; nor is it to be ascribed to the temptations of Satan, which, though they may have their influence, sin is a man's own act and deed; and God will recompense it in one way or another, whether man will or not; either in a way of punishment on the sinner himself, or on his surety for him; or in a way of fatherly correction and chastisement; and this is the Lord's doing and not mine, and he is just in so doing;therefore speak what thou knowest: if thou knowest anything better than this, or canst contradict what is said: or as others {m} to this purpose,"did ever such a speech come from thee, as expressed in the preceding verses? God will recompense it, if thou refusest to speak in such a submissive manner; thou mayest refuse to do it, I would not; I should choose to submit and hear the affliction patiently; if thou thinkest otherwise, speak out thy mind.''{l} hnmlvy Kmemh "ecce de tuo rependit illud", Schultens. {m} Junius and Tremellius, Grotius. Job 34:34Ver. 34. Let men of understanding tell me,.... Whether I am right or wrong:and let a wise man hearken unto me; to what I have said or shall say. Elihu here addresses the company around him, the wise and intelligent part of them; the words may be rendered in the future tense, men of understanding "will" tell me {n}, and a wise man "will" hearken to me and assent, not only to what I have said, but to what I am about to say, namely, what follows.{n} wrmay "dicent"; Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, Mercerus, Drusius, Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens: so Broughton. Job 34:35Ver. 35. Job hath spoken without knowledge,.... Not that Job was an ignorant man, either in things natural or divine; but in this point, about the chastening hand of God upon him, he had said some things which betrayed lack of knowledge, as in Job 34:5;and his words [were] without wisdom; Job was not destitute of human wisdom, nor of spiritual wisdom, but no man is wise at all times; some things had dropped from him which savoured of folly and ignorance, and which he afterwards was convinced of, and confessed with shame, Job 40:4; being charged by the Lord himself with what he is here by Elihu, Job 38:2; and it may be observed, that Elihu does not charge Job with being a wicked man, as his three friends did, but as having spoken unadvisedly with lips, under his chastening circumstances, and which he labours to convince him of. Job 34:36Ver. 36. My desire [is that] Job may be tried unto the end,.... This is my opinion, or what "I bring in" {o} adduce, and lay before you, men of understanding and wisdom, and leave it with you to consider of. Some render it, "O my Father, let Job be tried", &c. as if it was an apostrophe to God, and a request to him; so Mr. Broughton, who adds,"which art in heaven,''and the same is added by some Jewish interpreters {p}, as there are others {q} of them which go this way, and also several Christian commentators {r}; and of late {s} it has been urged, from this and other passages, that Elihu was Christ, who here addresses God as his father: but this is his New Testament title; and though God is the father of all men by creation, and of saints by adoption, yet this relation and title are not so frequently claimed under the former dispensation, or however not so early as the times of Job, but are more peculiar to the Gospel dispensation, under which saints receive "not the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father", Ro 8:15; wherefore admitting this version, rather some grave venerable person, as Eliphaz {t}, senior to Elihu, who was a young man, is addressed under this title; or the whole circle of Job's friends now about him, all elder than Elihu, may be intended; "father" for "fathers", the singular for the plural, see Ac 7:2; and what he proposes is, that they should make it their joint request at the throne of grace, that Job's afflictions be still continued; that he might be thoroughly tried by them, and be purged from all his dross, he not appearing yet to be thoroughly sensible of his sinful speeches, and humbled for them; and therefore it was proper he should be still corrected and chastened to the end, or unto victory, as Mr. Broughton, or until victory was obtained, and he was obliged to yield, and cry "peccavi": but since afflictions are things not joyous but grievous, and it does not seem so agreeable to a good man, kind and humane, to desire the continuance of the afflictions of another, though palliated with a plausible for his good; it seems better to understand this as a motion made to the understanding part of the company by Elihu, that the words of Job, which he had spoken without knowledge and wisdom, might be taken under strict examination by them, and thoroughly scanned, that it might be better known what was proper to be said more to him for his conviction;because of [his] answers for wicked men; or concerning or relative to such answers which he had made, which were like to those which wicked men make; who charge the ways of God with inequality and want of equity, ask where is the God of judgment? or which serve the cause of the wicked, and which furnish them with arguments, prepare them for them, and put them into their mouths, to argue against God and his providential dealings with men, and against all religion. See Job 34:8.{o} yba "pro" ayba "adducam", so some in Codurcus: "haec autem in medio affero", Tigurine version; "adduco", Schultens. {p} P. Abraham Peritsol, Simeon Bar Tzemach, Sephorno. {q} Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Ben Gersom. {r} Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, Drusius, Cocceius; so V. L. {s} Hodge's Elihu. {t} So Hieron. Trad. Heb. fol. 75. I. Job 34:37Ver. 37. For he addeth rebellion unto his sin,.... Or he "may" or "will" add {u}, if he is suffered to go on at this rate, and is not stopped; as yet he has only committed, it may be charitably hoped, some sins through ignorance, error, and mistake, but if he is let alone he will proceed from evil to evil, to more ungodliness; to be guilty of presumptuous sins, of open treason and rebellion against God;he clappeth [his hands] amongst us, or "he will clap"; he will either clap his hands together as expressive of extreme grief and sorrow, of the agonies of his mind; showing extravagant impatience, and pouring out his complaints in the most bitter manner, see Eze 21:14; or rather by way of joy and triumph, as having got the victory over us, see Ps 47:1;and multiplieth his words against God, or "will multiply"; he has said too many things already against God, his justice in his dealings with him, Job 34:5; he will say more if he is not restrained. These are the reasons Elihu gives for a thorough trial and strict examination of Job; and they are taken partly from a concern for the good of Job, and partly on their account, that they might not be triumphed over, and chiefly for the glory of God.{u} Poy "addet"; Montanus, Mercerus, Drusius, Cocceius, so in the next clauses.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.