Job 24

Verse 1. Days, when he will be punished. Menochius.—They are convinced it will be sometime: while the wicked flatter themselves with impunity. Worthington.—Job has already shewn that his complaints had not been excessive, and that they were extorted chiefly by the dread which he had of God. He now comes to prove that he had not denied Providence. For though he asserted that the wicked were sometimes at ease, he maintained that there was another world, where all would be set to rights. Without this the book would be inexplicable. Calmet.—Know him. Septuagint “the impious.” Bible.

Verse 2. Marks. This was a heinous offence, (Deuteronomy 19:14) which Numa punished with death. Halyc. i. Calmet.—And fed. Septuagint “and those who fed them.”

Verse 4. Poor, by oppression, not allowing them to get their bread, or to walk on the same road. Calmet.—And have. Hebrew and Septuagint “the meek … have hidden themselves together.”

Verse 5. Others. Hebrew “Behold as,” ( Bible.) which may be explained of these oppressors, or rather of the poor, who are forced to flee before them to seek for food. Calmet.—The Vulg. and Septuagint seem more favourable to the former supposition. Bible.

Verse 6. Not, is omitted by the Prot. Bible.—Hebrew “they reap in the field food for the cattle.” Calmet.—His. Hebrew “the wicked man’s vineyard.” Bible.—They do not examine whether the person whom they plunder be just or not. Calmet.—Septuagint “they have reaped before the season the field which was not theirs. But the poor (helpless men) have laboured in the vineyards of the wicked without wages or meat.” Bible.

Verse 7. Cold. Hebrew is still ambiguous, as it may be understood either of the oppressor or of the poor. The cruelty here reprobated is contrary to the law. Exodus 22:26. Calmet.

Verse 8. Stones, for their bed, though they be so wet. Bible.

Verse 9. Robbed. Hebrew and Septuagint “snatched from the breast.”—Stript. Septuagint “knocked down.” Hebrew “taken a pledge of, or seized the poor.” Calmet.

Verse 10. Corn, which they had gleaned for their daily sustenance. Hebrew also, “the poor, perishing through hunger, carry the sheaf” of the rich.

Verse 11. Of them. Hebrew “of corn, and thirst while pressing out their olives.” Calmet.—Prot. “they take away the sheaf from the hungry, (11) which make oil within their walls, and tread their wine-presses, and suffer thirst,” ( Bible.) not being allowed to taste any thing, though the law of Moses would not suffer even the ox to be muzzled. Deuteronomy 25:4. The rich look on without pity, taking their rest at noon, amid the heaps which really belong to the poor, whom they force to labour for them.

Verse 12. Suffer. Hebrew “and God suffers no disorder,” according to you. Calmet.—Sym. “God inspireth not folly: but they have,” and so forth verse 13. Septuagint “But why does he not regard,” ( Bible.) or punish these things? Calmet.

Verse 13. Light of reason and humanity. Calmet.—Pineda understands that they have sought darkness, (verse 14) to do evil. But this expression would be too harsh. Calmet.—Heretics, acting against their own conscience, are stricken with blindness, so that they see not the truth. Saint Gregory xvi. 26. Worthington.

Verse 14. Thief. Oppressing the poor, (Ven. Bede) and taking away their bread. Sirach 34:25.

Verse 15. Face. Septuagint insinuate “with a mask.” Prot. “disguiseth his face.”

Verse 16. Themselves. The band of robbers had marked out their prey. Bible.—Hebrew “In the day time they lie concealed, and know not the light.” Calmet.—Septuagint or rather Theodotion, from whom verse 15 to 17 is taken, “They have sealed themselves up during the day.” If we should read εαυτοις, Hebrew lamo, we might translate as well “they marked them out for themselves.” Bible.—The adulterer had made is his arrangement with the faithless woman, when he should break into the house. Menochius.

Verse 17. Death. They are as much afraid of the light as others are of profound darkness. Calmet.—They dread being detected. Bible.

Verse 18. He is light, and so forth That is, the adulterer, that he may not be perceived and discovered, steps as nimbly and as light as if her were walking upon the waters. Or the sense is: he is as light, that is, as swift and nimble as the running waters.—By the way of the vineyards. That is, by the way where he may meet with fruit and blessings. Challoner.—The wicked are always inconstant. Calmet. Isaiah 57:19.—He deserves no temporal nor eternal happiness. If he were deprived of the former, he might perhaps endeavour to escape the torments of hell. Bible.

Verse 19. Let. Hebrew “Drought and heat consume the snow waters; so doth the grave those which have sinned.” Prot. Challoner. Bible.—The wicked die quickly, and without a lingering illness. Piscat.—What foundation, therefore, has the hell of cold as well as of fire? says Amama. S. Jerom (in Matthew 10.) observes, “We read very plainly in the Book of Job that there is a double gehenna, both of too much heat and of too much cold;” the latter occasions the gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8. Carthus.—“In this world people pass through a medium or temperate state. But in hell, they pass from the excess of tormenting cold to that of burning fire; they will know no medium, because in this life they proceeded from one vice to another, even to the heat of lust. Albertus Magnus. Bible.—Therefore they are punished with torments of a contrary nature. Worthington.—They go from the coldness of infidelity to the heat of heresy; (Saint Gregory) from one calamity to another. Sa.—Septuagint “For they have torn away the arm of the orphans. Then his or their sin has been remembered, and, like a dew-drop, he has disappeared. Bible.

Sheol is the place of the dead.

Verse 20. Sweetness. These will inherit him; ( Bible.) for here all his pleasures will terminate. Calmet.

Verse 21. Fed the barren. That is, the harlot. Or else, he hath fed; that is, he hath fed upon the barren; that is, the poor and desolate. Challoner.—He has not had posterity, but pleasure, in view, when he married. Rabbins.—Septuagint agree with the Vulg. Bible.—But most explain the Hebrew “He hath oppressed the barren;” which may denote those whose husband and children have been slain. Calmet.—No good, but even dealt with them dishonestly. Cajetan.

Verse 22. Down. Hebrew “taketh along with him his guards for his defence. He riseth and is not sure of his life,” fearing lest his enemies may still overpower him. This is a description of the tyrant’s continual anxiety. Calmet.—Prot. “And no man is sure of life,” may intimate that the wicked put all men in danger. Bible.—He who puts others in fear, must also be alarmed. Menochius.

Verse 23. God. Septuagint “being sick, let him not expect to be healed, but he shall fall under sickness.” Hebrew “Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth, yet his eyes are upon their ways,” (Prot.) or “he has given ( Bible.) himself, or appointed them (guards) for his defence, and rests on them; yet his eyes,” and so forth He suspects the fidelity of his servants. Calmet.—Pride. Man abuseth by his free-will the time which God had allowed him to repent from former sins. Romans 2. Worthington.

Verse 25. And set. Septuagint and Prot. “and make my speech nothing worth.” Bible.—This conclusion come frequently. Calmet. 9:15 and 17:15. Job defies his friends to shew the fallacy of his arguments, or that the wicked do not enjoy prosperity, though they may be inwardly miserable. Calmet.