19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
"By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, But he who is kind to the needy honors him.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; From their young children you take away my blessing forever.
They covet fields, and seize them; And houses, and take them away: And they oppress a man and his house, Even a man and his heritage.
Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their lords, "Bring, and let us drink." The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, "The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, And the last of you with fish hooks. You will go out at the breaks in the wall, Everyone straight before her; And you will cast yourselves into Harmon," says Yahweh.
The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
For the vineyard of Yahweh of Hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah his pleasant plant: And he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; For righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress. Woe to those who join house to house, Who lay field to field, until there is no room, And you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don't marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.
The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, shall a nation which you don't know eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always;
"Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says Yahweh; "I will set him in safety from those who malign him."
To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, That man who is of the earth may terrify no more.
"If I have despised the cause of my man-servant Or of my maid-servant, When they contended with me; What then shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him? Didn't he who made me in the womb make him? Didn't one fashion us in the womb? "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the fatherless has not eaten of it (No, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, Her have I guided from my mother's womb); If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, Or that the needy had no covering; If his heart hasn't blessed me, If he hasn't been warmed with my sheep's fleece; If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, Because I saw my help in the gate: Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, And my arm be broken from the bone.
There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, And they take the widow's ox for a pledge. They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves. Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, They go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food; The wilderness yields them bread for their children. They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked. They lie all night naked without clothing, And have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for lack of a shelter. There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor, So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves. They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst. From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, Yet God doesn't regard the folly.
"Behold, I know your thoughts, The devices with which you would wrong me. For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?'
There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.
Here I am: witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose donkey have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes therewith? and I will restore it you. They said, You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything of any man's hand.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Job 20
Commentary on Job 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 20
SECOND SERIES.
Job 20:1-29. Reply of Zophar.
2. Therefore—Rather, the more excited I feel by Job's speech, the more for that very reason shall my reply be supplied by my calm consideration. Literally, "Notwithstanding; my calm thoughts (as in Job 4:13) shall furnish my answer, because of the excitement (haste) within me" [Umbreit].
3. check of my reproach—that is, the castigation intended as a reproach (literally, "shame") to me.
spirit of … understanding—my rational spirit; answering to "calm thoughts" (Job 20:2). In spite of thy reproach urging me to "hastiness." I will answer in calm reason.
5. the hypocrite—literally, "the ungodly" (Ps 37:35, 36).
6. (Isa 14:13; Ob 3, 4).
7. dung—in contrast to the haughtiness of the sinner (Job 20:6); this strong term expresses disgust and the lowest degradation (Ps 83:10; 1Ki 14:10).
8. (Ps 73:20).
9. Rather "the eye followeth him, but can discern him no more." A sharp-looking is meant (Job 28:7; Job 7:10).
10. seek to please—"Atone to the poor" (by restoring the property of which they had been robbed by the father) [De Wette]. Better than English Version, "The children" are reduced to the humiliating condition of "seeking the favor of those very poor," whom the father had oppressed. But Umbreit translates as Margin.
his hands—rather, "their (the children's) hands."
their goods—the goods of the poor. Righteous retribution! (Ex 20:5).
11. (Ps 25:7), so Vulgate. Gesenius has "full of youth"; namely, in the fulness of his youthful strength he shall be laid in the dust. But "bones" plainly alludes to Job's disease, probably to Job's own words (Job 19:20). Umbreit translates, "full of his secret sins," as in Ps 90:8; his secret guilt in his time of seeming righteousness, like secret poison, at last lays him in the dust. The English Version is best. Zophar alludes to Job's own words (Job 17:16).
with him—His sin had so pervaded his nature that it accompanies him to the grave: for eternity the sinner cannot get rid of it (Re 22:11).
12. be—"taste sweet." Sin's fascination is like poison sweet to the taste, but at last deadly to the vital organs (Pr 20:17; Job 9:17, 18).
hide … tongue—seek to prolong the enjoyment by keeping the sweet morsel long in the mouth (so Job 20:13).
14. turned—Hebrew denotes a total change into a disagreeable contrary (Jer 2:21; compare Re 10:9, 10).
gall—in which the poison of the asp was thought to lie. It rather is contained in a sack in the mouth. Scripture uses popular language, where no moral truth is thereby endangered.
15. He is forced to disgorge his ill-gotten wealth.
16. shall suck—It shall turn out that he has sucked the poison, &c.
17. floods—literally, "stream of floods," plentiful streams flowing with milk, &c. (Job 29:6; Ex 3:17). Honey and butter are more fluid in the East than with us and are poured out from jars. These "rivers" or water brooks are in the sultry East emblems of prosperity.
18. Image from food which is taken away from one before he can swallow it.
restitution—(So Pr 6:31). The parallelism favors the English Version rather than the translation of Gesenius, "As a possession to be restored in which he rejoices not."
he shall not rejoice—His enjoyment of his ill-gotten gains shall then be at an end (Job 20:5).
19. oppressed—whereas he ought to have espoused their cause (2Ch 16:10).
forsaken—left helpless.
house—thus leaving the poor without shelter (Isa 5:8; Mic 2:2).
20. Umbreit translates, "His inward parts know no rest" from desires.
his belly—that is, peace inwardly.
not save—literally, "not escape with that which," &c., alluding to Job's having been stripped of his all.
21. look for—rather, "because his goods," that is, prosperity shall have no endurance.
22. shall be—rather, "he is (feeleth) straitened." The next clause explains in what respect.
wicked—Rather, "the whole hand of the miserable (whom he had oppressed) cometh upon him"; namely, the sense of his having oppressed the poor, now in turn comes with all its power (hand) on him. This caused his "straitened" feeling even in prosperity.
23. Rather, "God shall cast (may God send) [Umbreit] upon him the fury of His wrath to fill his belly!"
while … eating—rather, "shall rain it upon him for his food!" Fiery rain, that is, lightning (Ps 11:6; alluding to Job's misfortune, Job 1:16). The force of the image is felt by picturing to one's self the opposite nature of a refreshing rain in the desert (Ex 16:4; Ps 68:9).
24. steel—rather, "brass." While the wicked flees from one danger, he falls into a greater one from an opposite quarter [Umbreit].
25. It is drawn—Rather, "He (God) draweth (the sword, Jos 5:13) and (no sooner has He done so, than) it cometh out of (that is, passes right through) the (sinner's) body" (De 32:41, 42; Eze 21:9, 10). The glittering sword is a happy image for lightning.
gall—that is, his life (Job 16:13). "Inflicts a deadly wound."
terrors—Zophar repeats Bildad's words (Job 17:11; Ps 88:16; 55:4).
26. All darkness—that is, every calamity that befalls the wicked shall be hid (in store for him) in His (God's) secret places, or treasures (Jude 13; De 32:34).
not blown—not kindled by man's hands, but by God's (Isa 30:33; the Septuagint in the Alexandrian Manuscript reads "unquenchable fire," Mt 3:12). Tact is shown by the friends in not expressly mentioning, but alluding under color of general cases, to Job's calamities; here (Job 1:16) Umbreit explains it, wickedness, is a "self-igniting fire"; in it lie the principles of destruction.
ill … tabernacle—Every trace of the sinner must be obliterated (Job 18:15).
27. All creation is at enmity with him, and proclaims his guilt, which he would fain conceal.
28. increase—prosperity. Ill got—ill gone.
flow away—like waters that run dry in summer; using Job's own metaphor against himself (Job 6:15-17; 2Sa 14:14; Mic 1:4).
his wrath—God's.
29. appointed—not as a matter of chance, but by the divine "decree" (Margin) and settled principle.