Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 15:17
I will show thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen I will declare;
17. I will shew thee ] Eliphaz assumes a high tone with Job; one is entitled to do so with a man in his unfortunate condition.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
17 35. Eliphaz instructs Job regarding the troubled conscience And the Disastrous Fate of the Wicked Man
Having sufficiently rebuked Job’s presumption and irreverence Eliphaz proceeds to take up his principles, which “did away with the fear of God,” Job 15:4. They are such principles as Job gave forth ch. Job 9:22 seq., Job 12:6. The passage has two parts:
First, Job 15:17-19, a brief preface, in which Eliphaz states that his doctrine is that of the wise of all times among the pure-blooded races of men, who have never been contaminated by mixture with foreign tribes, and whose traditions are uncorrupted.
Second, Job 15:20-35, the doctrine regarding the wicked man itself, in which there are three points: (1) the troubled conscience and presentiments of coming evil that continually haunt the evil man, Job 15:20-24; (2) the cause of this, his defiance of God and sensual life, Job 15:25-28; and (3) finally, a picture of his punishment and disastrous end, Job 15:29-35.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will show thee … – The remainder of this chapter is a violent declamation, designed to overwhelm Job with the proofs of personal guilt. Eliphaz professes to urge nothing which had not been handed down from his ancestors, and was the result of careful observation. What he says is made up of apothegms and maxims that were regarded as containing the results of ancient wisdom, all meaning that God would punish the wicked, or that the wicked would be treated according to their deserts. The implied inference all along was, that Job, who had had so many proofs of the divine displeasure, must be a wicked man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. I will show thee, hear me; and that which I have seen l will declare] Eliphaz is now about to quote a whole collection of wise sayings from the ancients; all good enough in themselves, but sinfully misapplied to the case of Job.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I will prove what I have affirmed, that such strokes as thine are peculiar to hypocrites and wicked men. I speak not by hearsay only, but from my own experience.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. In direct contradiction ofJob’s position (Job 12:6, &c.),that the lot of the wicked was the most prosperous here, Eliphazappeals (1) to his own experience, (2) to the wisdom of the ancients.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I will show thee, hear me,…. Here Eliphaz proceeds to illustrate and make plain, to clear and defend, his former sentiment and proposition, and into which the rest of his friends came; that only wicked, and not righteous men, are afflicted of God, especially in such a manner as Job was; and he proposes to show things worthy of his regard, and not such vain and unprofitable things which Job had uttered; and, in order to stir up and engage his attention, he says what follows:
and that [which] I have seen I will declare; what he had been an eyewitness of himself; the same he had observed, Job 4:8; and such testimonies are most regarded, and reckoned most authentic and creditable, especially when they come from men of character; see Lu 1:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17 I will inform thee, hear me!
And what I have myself seen that I will declare,
18 Things which wise men declare
Without concealment from their fathers –
19 To them alone was the land given over,
And no stranger had passed in their midst – :
Eliphaz, as in his first speech, introduces the dogma with which he confronts Job with a solemn preface: in the former case it had its rise in a revelation, here it is supported by his own experience and reliable tradition; for is not intended as meaning ecstatic vision (Schlottm.). The poet uses also of sensuous vision, Job 8:17; and of observation and knowledge by means of the senses, not only the more exalted, as Job 19:26., but of any kind (Job 23:9; Job 24:1; Job 27:12, comp. Job 36:25; Job 34:32), in the widest sense. is used as neuter, Gen 6:15; Exo 13:8; Exo 30:13; Lev 11:4, and freq.
(Note: So also Psa 56:10, where I now prefer to translate “This I know,” neuter, like Pro 24:12, and referring forward as above, Job 15:17.)
(comp. the neuter , Job 13:16, and often), and is a relative clause (Ges. 122, 2): quod conspexi , as Job 19:19 quos amo , and Psa 74:2 in quo habitas , comp. Psa 104:8, Psa 104:26; Pro 23:22, where the punctuation throughout proceeds from the correct knowledge of the syntax. The waw of is the waw apodosis, which is customary (Ngelsbach, 111, 1, b) after relative clauses (e.g., Num 23:3), or what is the same thing, participles (e.g., Pro 23:24): et narrabo = ea narrabo . In Job 15:18 is, logically at least, subordinate to , as in Isa 3:9,
(Note: Heidenheim refers to Hos 8:2 for the position of the words, but there Israel may also be an apposition: we know thee, we Israel.)
as the Targum of the Antwerp Polyglott well translates: “what wise men declare, without concealing ( ), from the tradition of their fathers;” whereas all the other old translations, including Luther’s, have missed the right meaning. These fathers to whom this doctrine respecting the fate of evil-doers is referred, lived, as Eliphaz says in Job 15:19, in the land of their birth, and did not mingle themselves with strangers, consequently their manner of viewing things, and their opinions, have in their favour the advantage of independence, of being derived from their own experience, and also of a healthy development undisturbed by any foreign influences, and their teaching may be accounted pure and unalloyed.
Eliphaz thus indirectly says, that the present is not free from such influences, and Ewald is consequently of opinion that the individuality of the Israelitish poet peeps out here, and a state of things is indicated like that which came about after the fall of Samaria in the reign of Manasseh. Hirzel also infers from Eliphaz’ words, that at the time when the book was written the poet’s fatherland was desecrated by some foreign rule, and considers it an indication for determining the time at which the book was composed. But how groundless and deceptive this is! The way in which Eliphaz commends ancient traditional lore is so genuinely Arabian, that there is but the faintest semblance of a reason for supposing the poet to have thrown his own history and national peculiarity so vividly into the working up of the role of another. Purity of race was, from the earliest times, considered by “the sons of the East” as a sign of highest nobility, and hence Eliphaz traces back his teaching to a time when his race could boast of the greatest freedom from intermixture with any other. Schlottmann prefers to interpret Job 15:19 as referring to the “nobler primeval races of man” (without, however, referring to Job 8:8), but does not signify the earth here, but: country, as in Job 30:8; Job 22:8, and elsewhere, and Job 15:19 seems to refer to nations: = barbarus (perhaps Semitic: , ). Nevertheless it is unnecessary to suppose that Eliphaz’ time was one of foreign domination, as the Assyrian-Chaldean time was for Israel: it is sufficient to imagine it as a time when the tribes of the desert were becoming intermixed, from migration, commerce, and feud.
Now follows the doctrine of the wise men, which springs from a venerable primitive age, an age as yet undisturbed by any strange way of thinking (modern enlightenment and free thinking, as we should say), and is supported by Eliphaz’ own experience.
(Note: Communication from Consul Wetzstein: If this verse affirms that the freer a people is from intermixture with other races, the purer is its tradition, it gives expression to a principle derived from experience, which needs no proof. Even European races, especially the Scandinavians, furnish proof of this in their customs, language, and traditions, although in this case certain elements of their indigenous character have vanished with the introduction of Christianity. A more complete parallel is furnished by the wandering tribes of the ‘ Aneze and Sharrt of the Syrian deserts, people who have indeed had their struggles, and have even been weakened by emigration, but have certainly never lost their political and religious autonomy, and have preserved valuable traditions which may be traced to the earliest antiquity. It is unnecessary to prove this by special instance, when the whole outer and inner life of these peoples can be regarded as the best commentary on the biblical accounts of the patriarchal age. It is, however, not so much the fact that the evil-doer receives his punishment, in favour of which Eliphaz appeals to the teaching handed down from the fathers, as rather the belief in it, consequently in a certain degree the dogma of a moral order in the world. This dogma is an essential element of the ancient Abrahamic religion of the desert tribes – that primitive religion which formed the basis of the Mosaic, and side by side with it was continued among the nomads of the desert; which, shortly before the appearance of Christianity in the country east of Jordan, gave birth to mild doctrines, doctrines which tended to prepare the way for the teaching of the gospel; which at that very time, according to historical testimony, also prevailed in the towns of the Higz, and was first displaced again by the Jemanic idolatry, and limited to the desert, in the second century after Christ, during the repeated migrations of the southern Arabs; which gave the most powerful impulse to the rise of Islam, and furnished its best elements; which, towards the end of the last century, brought about the reform of Islamism in the province of Negd, and produced the Wahabee doctrine; and which, finally, is continued even to the present day by the name of Dn Ibrhm, “Religion of Abraham,” as a faithful tradition of the fathers, among the vast Ishmaelitish tribes of the Syrian desert, “to whom alone the land is given over, and into whose midst no stranger has penetrated.” Had this cultus spread among settled races with a higher education, it might have been taught also in writings: if, however, portions of writings in reference to it, which have been handed down to us by the Arabic, are to be regarded as unauthentic, it may also in ‘ Irk have been mixed with the Sabian worship of the stars; but among the nomads it will have always been only oral, taught by the poets in song, and contained in the fine traditions handed down uncorrupted from father to son, and practised in life.
It is a dogma of this religion (of which I shall speak more fully in the introduction to my Anthologie von Poesien der Wanderstmme), that the pious will be rewarded by God in his life and in his descendants, the wicked punished in his life and in his descendants; and it may also, in Job 15:19, be indirectly said that the land of Eliphaz has preserved this faith, in accordance with tradition, purer than Job’s land. If Eliphaz was from the Petraean town of Tmn (which we merely suggest as possible here), he might indeed rightly assert that no strange race had become naturalized there; for that hot, sterile land, poorly supplied with water, had nothing inviting to the emigrant or marauder, and its natives remain there only by virtue of the proverb: lola hhibb el – wattan quat . tal , lakan dar essu’ charab , “Did not the love of one’s country slay (him who is separated from it), the barren country would be uninhabited.” Job certainly could not affirm the same of his native country, if this is, with the Syrian tradition, to be regarded as the Nukra (on this point, vid., the Appendix). As the richest province of Syria, it has, from the earliest time to the present, always been an apple of contention, and has not only frequently changed its rulers, but even its inhabitants.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
17 I will show thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; 18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: 19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. 21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. 25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. 26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. 28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. 30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. 31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. 32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. 34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. 35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
Eliphaz, having reproved Job for his answers, here comes to maintain his own thesis, upon which he built his censure of Job. His opinion is that those who are wicked are certainly miserable, whence he would infer that those who are miserable are certainly wicked, and that therefore Job was so. Observe,
I. His solemn preface to this discourse, in which he bespeaks Job’s attention, which he had little reason to expect, he having given so little heed to and put so little value upon what Job had said (v. 17): “I will show thee that which is worth hearing, and not reason, as thou dost, with unprofitable talk.” Thus apt are men, when they condemn the reasonings of others, to commend their own. He promises to teach him, 1. From his own experience and observation: “That which I have myself seen, in divers instances, I will declare.” It is of good use to take notice of the providences of God concerning the children of men, from which many a good lesson may be learned. What good observations we have made, and have found benefit by ourselves, we should be ready to communicate for the benefit of others; and we may speak boldly when we declare what we have seen. 2. From the wisdom of the ancients (v. 18): Which wise men have told from their fathers. Note, The wisdom and learning of the moderns are very much derived from those of the ancients. Good children will learn a good deal from their good parents; and what we have learned from our ancestors we must transmit to our posterity and not hide from the generations to come. See Ps. lxxviii. 3-6. If the thread of the knowledge of many ages be cut off by the carelessness of one, and nothing be done to preserve it pure and entire, all that succeed fare the worse. The authorities Eliphaz vouched were authorities indeed, men of rank and figure (v. 19), unto whom alone the earth was given, and therefore you may suppose them favourites of Heaven and best capable of making observations concerning the affairs of this earth. The dictates of wisdom come with advantage from those who are in places of dignity and power, as Solomon; yet there is a wisdom which none of the princes of this world knew,1Co 2:7; 1Co 2:8.
II. The discourse itself. He here aims to show,
1. That those who are wise and good do ordinarily prosper in this world. This he only hints at (v. 19), that those of whose mind he was were such as had the earth given to them, and to them only; they enjoyed it entirely and peaceably, and no stranger passed among them, either to share with them or give disturbance to them. Job had said, The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, ch. ix. 24. “No,” says Eliphaz, “it is given into the hands of the saints, and runs along with the faith committed unto them; and they are not robbed and plundered by strangers and enemies making inroads upon them, as thou art by the Sabeans and Chaldeans.” But because many of God’s people have remarkably prospered in this world, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it does not therefore follow that those who are crossed and impoverished, as Job, are not God’s people.
2. That wicked people, and particularly oppressors and tyrannizing rulers, are subject to continual terrors, live very uncomfortably, and perish very miserably. On this head he enlarges, showing that even those who impiously dare God’s judgments yet cannot but dread them and will feel them at last. He speaks in the singular number–the wicked man, meaning (as some think) Nimrod; or perhaps Chedorlaomer, or some such mighty hunter before the Lord. I fear he meant Job himself, whom he expressly charges both with the tyranny and with the timorousness here described, Job 22:9; Job 22:10. Here he thinks the application easy, and that Job might, in this description, as in a glass, see his own face. Now,
(1.) Let us see how he describes the sinner who lives thus miserably. He does not begin with that, but brings it in as a reason of his doom, v. 25-28. It is no ordinary sinner, but one of the first rate, an oppressor (v. 20), a blasphemer, and a persecutor, one that neither fears God nor regards man. [1.] He bids defiance to God, and to his authority and power, v. 25. Tell him of the divine law, and its obligations; he breaks those bonds asunder, and will not have, no, not him that made him, to restrain him or rule over him. Tell him of the divine wrath, and its terrors; he bids the Almighty do his worst, he will have his will, he will have his way, in spite of him, and will not be controlled by law, or conscience, or the notices of a judgment to come. He stretches out his hand against God, in defiance of him and of the power of his wrath. God is indeed out of his reach, but he stretches out his hand against him, to show that, if it were in his power, he would ungod him. This applies to the audacious impiety of some sinners who are really haters of God (Rom. i. 30), and whose carnal mind is not only an enemy to him, but enmity itself, Rom. viii. 7. But, alas! the sinner’s malice is as impotent as it is impudent; what can he do? He strengthens himself (he would be valiant, so some read it) against the Almighty. He thinks with his exorbitant despotic power to change times and laws (Dan. vii. 25), and, in spite of Providence, to carry the day for rapine and wrong, clear of the check of conscience. Note, It is the prodigious madness of presumptuous sinners that they enter the lists with Omnipotence. Woe unto him that strives with his Maker. That is generally taken for a further description of the sinner’s daring presumption (v. 26): He runs upon him, upon God himself, in a direct opposition to him, to his precepts and providences, even upon his neck, as a desperate combatant, when he finds himself an unequal match for his adversary, flies in his face, though, at the same time, he falls on his sword’s point, or the sharp spike of his buckler. Sinners, in general, run from God; but the presumptuous sinner, who sins with a high hand, runs upon him, fights against him, and bids defiance to him; and it is easy to foretel what will be the issue. [2.] He wraps himself up in security and sensuality (v. 27): He covers his face with his fatness. This signifies both the pampering of his flesh with daily delicious fare and the hardening of his heart thereby against the judgments of God. Note, The gratifying of the appetites of the body, feeding and feasting that to the full, often turns to the damage of the soul and its interests. Why is God forgotten and slighted, but because the belly is made a god of and happiness placed in the delights of sense? Those that fill themselves with wine and strong drink abandon all that is serious and flatter themselves with hopes that tomorrow shall be as this day, Isa. lvi. 12. Woe to those that are thus at ease in Zion,Amo 6:1; Amo 6:3; Amo 6:4; Luk 12:19. The fat that covers his face makes him look bold and haughty, and that which covers his flanks makes him lie easy and soft, and feel little; but this will prove poor shelter against the darts of God’s wrath. [3.] He enriches himself with the spoils of all about him, v. 28. He dwells in cities which he himself has made desolate by expelling the inhabitants out of them, that he might be placed alone in them, Isa. v. 8. Proud and cruel men take a strange pleasure in ruins, when they are of their own making, in destroying cities (Ps. ix. 6) and triumphing in the destruction, since they cannot make them their own but by making them ready to become heaps, and frightening the inhabitants out of them. Note, Those that aim to engross the world to themselves, and grasp at all, lose the comfort of all, and make themselves miserable in the midst of all. How does this tyrant gain his point, and make himself master of cities that have all the marks of antiquity upon them? We are told (v. 35) that he does it by malice and falsehood, the two chief ingredients of his wickedness who was a liar and a murderer from the beginning, They conceive mischief, and then they effect it by preparing deceit, pretending to protect those whom they design to subdue, and making leagues of peace the more effectually to carry on the operations of war. From such wicked men God deliver all good men.
(2.) Let us see now what is the miserable condition of this wicked man, both in spiritual and temporal judgments.
[1.] His inward peace is continually disturbed. He seems to those about him to be easy, and they therefore envy him and wish themselves in his condition; but he who knows what is in men tells us that a wicked man has so little comfort and satisfaction in his own breast that he is rather to be pitied than envied. First, His own conscience accuses him, and with the pangs and throes of that he travaileth in pain all his days, v. 20. He is continually uneasy at the thought of the cruelties he as been guilty of and the blood in which he has imbrued his hands. His sins stare him in the face at every turn. Diri conscia facti mens habet attonitos–Conscious guilt astonishes and confounds. Secondly, He is vexed at the uncertainty of the continuance of his wealth and power: The number of years is hidden to the oppressor. He knows, whatever he pretends, that they will not last always, and has reason to fear that they will not last long and this he frets at. Thirdly, He is under a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation (Heb. x. 27), which puts him into, and keeps him in, a continual terror and consternation, so that he dwells with Cain in the land of Nod, or commotion (Gen. iv. 16), and is made like, Pashur, Magor-missabib–a terror round about,Jer 20:3; Jer 20:4. A dreadful sound is in his ears, v. 21. He knows that both heaven and earth are incensed against him, that God is angry with him and that all the world hates him; he has done nothing to make his peace with either, and therefore he thinks that every one who meets him will slay him, Gen. iv. 14. Or he is like a man absconding for debt, who thinks every man a bailiff. Fear came in, at first, with sin (Gen. iii. 10) and still attends it. Even in prosperity he is apprehensive that the destroyer will come upon him, either some destroying angel sent of God to avenge his quarrel or some of his injured subjects who will be their own avengers. Those who are the terror of the mighty in the land of the living usually go down slain to the pit (Ezek. xxxii. 25), the expectation of which makes them a terror to themselves. This is further set forth (v. 22): He is, in his own apprehension, waited for of the sword; for he knows that he who killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword, Rev. xiii. 10. A guilty conscience represents to the sinner a flaming sword turning every way (Gen. iii. 24) and himself inevitably running on it. Again (v. 23): He knows that the day of darkness (or the night of darkness rather) is ready at his hand, that it is appointed to him and cannot be put by, that it is hastening on apace and cannot be put off. This day of darkness is something beyond death; it is that day of the Lord which to all wicked people will be darkness and not light and in which they will be doomed to utter, endless, darkness. Note, Some wicked people, though they seem secure, have already received the sentence of death, eternal death, within themselves, and plainly see hell gaping for them. No marvel that it follows (v. 24), Trouble and anguish (that inward tribulation and anguish of soul spoken of Rom 2:8; Rom 2:9, which are the effect of God’s indignation and wrath fastening upon the conscience) shall make him afraid of worse to come. What is the hell before him if this be the hell within him? And though he would fain shake off his fears, drink them away, and jest them away, it will not do; they shall prevail against him, and overpower him, as a king ready to the battle, with forces too strong to be resisted. He that would keep his peace, let him keep a good conscience. Fourthly, If at any time he be in trouble, he despairs of getting out (v. 22): He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, but he gives himself up for gone and lost in an endless night. Good men expect light at evening time, light out of darkness; but what reason have those to expect that they shall return out of the darkness of trouble who would not return from the darkness of sin, but went on in it? Ps. lxxxii. 5. It is the misery of damned sinners that they know they shall never return out of that utter darkness, nor pass the gulf there fixed. Fifthly, He perplexes himself with continual care, especially if Providence ever so little frown upon him, v. 23. Such a dread he has of poverty, and such a waste does he discern upon his estate, that he is already, in his own imagination, wandering abroad for bread, going a begging for a meal’s meat, and saying, Where is it? The rich man, in his abundance, cried out, What shall I do? Luke xii. 17. Perhaps he pretends fear of wanting, as an excuse of his covetous practices; and justly may he be brought to this extremity at last. We read of those who were full, but have hired out themselves for bread (1 Sam. ii. 5), which this sinner will not do. He cannot dig; he is too fat (v. 27): but to beg he may well be ashamed. See Ps. cix. 10. David never saw the righteous so far forsaken as to beg their bread; for, verily, they shall be fed by the charitable unasked, Psa 37:3; Psa 37:25. But the wicked want it, and cannot expect it should be readily given them. How should those find mercy who never showed mercy?
[2.] His outward prosperity will soon come to an end, and all his confidence and all his comfort will come to an end with it. How can he prosper when God runs upon him? so some understand that, v. 26. Whom God runs upon he will certainly run down; for when he judges he will overcome. See how the judgments of God cross this worldly wicked man in all his cares, desires, and projects, and so complete his misery. First, He is in care to get, but he shall not be rich, v. 29. His own covetous mind keeps him from being truly rich. He is not rich that has not enough, and he has not enough that does not think he has. It is contentment only that is great gain. Providence remarkably keeps some from being rich, defeating their enterprises, breaking their measures, and keeping them always behind-hand. Many that get much by fraud and injustice, yet do not grow rich: it goes as it comes; it is got by one sin and spent upon another. Secondly, He is in care to keep what he has got, but in vain: His substance shall not continue; it will dwindle and come to nothing. God blasts it, and what came up in a night perishes in a night. Wealth gotten by vanity will certainly be diminished. Some have themselves lived to see the ruin of those estates which have been raised by oppression; but, where this is not the case, that which is left goes with a curse to those who succeed. De male qusitis vix gaudet tertius hres–Ill-gotten property will scarcely be enjoyed by the third generation. He purchases estates to him and his heirs for ever; but to what purpose? He shall not prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth; neither the credit nor the comfort of his riches shall be prolonged; and, when those are gone, where is the perfection of them? How indeed can we expect the perfection of any thing to be prolonged upon the earth, where every thing is transitory, and we soon see the end of all perfection? Thirdly, He is in care to leave what he has got and kept to his children after him. But in this he is crossed; the branches of his family shall perish, in whom he hoped to live and flourish and to have the reputation of making them all great men. They shall not be green, v. 32. The flame shall dry them up, v. 30. he shall shake them off as blossoms that never knit, or as the unripe grape, v. 33. They shall die in the beginning of their days and never come to maturity. Many a man’s family is ruined by his iniquity. Fourthly, He is in care to enjoy it a great while himself; but in that also he is crossed. 1. He may perhaps be taken from it (v. 30): By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away, and leave his wealth to others; that is, by God’s wrath, which, like a stream of brimstone, kindles the fire that devours him (Isa. xxx. 33), or by his word; he speaks, and it is done immediately. This night thy soul shall be required of thee; and so the wicked is driven away in his wickedness, the worldling in his worldliness. 2. It may perhaps be taken from him, and fly away like an eagle towards heaven: It shall be accomplished (or cut off) before his time (v. 32); that is, he shall survive his prosperity, and see himself stripped of it. Fifthly, He is in care, when he is in trouble, how to get out of it (not how to get good by it); but in this also he is crossed (v. 30): He shall not depart out of darkness. When he begins to fall, like Haman, all men say, “Down with him.” It was said of him (v. 22), He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness. He frightened himself with the perpetuity of his calamity, and God also shall choose his delusions and bring his fears upon him (Isa. lxvi. 4), as he did upon Israel, Num. xiv. 28. God says Amen to his distrust and despair. Sixthly, He is in care to secure his partners, and hopes to secure himself by his partnership with them; but that is in vain too, Job 15:34; Job 15:35. The congregation of them, the whole confederacy, they and all their tabernacles, shall be desolate and consumed with fire. Hypocrisy and bribery are here charged upon them; that is, deceitful dealing both with God and man–God affronted under colour of religion, man wronged under colour of justice. It is impossible that these should end well. Though hand join in hand for the support of these perfidious practices, yet shall not the wicked go unpunished. (3.) The use and application of all this. Will the prosperity of presumptuous sinners end thus miserably? Then (v. 31) let not him that is deceived trust in vanity. Let the mischiefs which befal others be our warnings, and let not us rest on that broken reed which always failed those who leaned on it. [1.] Those who trust to their sinful ways of getting wealth trust in vanity, and vanity will be their recompence, for they shall not get what they expected. Their arts will deceive them and perhaps ruin them in this world. [2.] Those who trust to their wealth when they have gotten it, especially to the wealth they have gotten dishonestly, trust in vanity; for it will yield them no satisfaction. The guilt that cleaves to it will ruin the joy of it. They sow the wind, and will reap the whirlwind, and will own at length, with the utmost confusion, that a deceived heart turned them aside, and that they cheated themselves with a lie in their right hand.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
2. The destiny of the ungodly shows the retributive justice of God. (Job. 15:17-35)
TEXT 15:1735
17 I will show thee, hear thou me;
And that which I have seen I will declare
18 (Which wise men have told
From their fathers, and have not hid it;
19 Unto whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them):
20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,
Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21 A sound of terrors is in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,
And he is waiting for the sword.
23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where Is it?
He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Distress and anguish make him afraid;
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25 Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,
And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
26 He runneth upon him with a stiff neck,
With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
27 Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,
And gathered fat upon his loins;
28 And he hath dwelt in desolate cities,
In houses which no man inhabited,
Which were ready to become heaps;
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness;
The flame shall dry up his branches,
And by the breath of Gods mouth shall he go away.
31 Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself;
For vanity shall be his recompense.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time,
And his branch shall not be green.
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
34 For the company of the godless shall be barren,
And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity,
And their heart prepareth deceit.
COMMENT 15:1735
Job. 15:17Here again is Eliphazs favorite theme, the destiny of the wicked. Once more the doctrine is supported by reference to the accumulated wisdom of the ages. (Compare Eliphazs claim with Psalms 73). Eliphazs unbridled eloquence is still not very convincing, though he claims revelation (hazahprophetic gazing) as source for his message.
Job. 15:18Eliphaz is here claiming that his convictions are confirmed by the observation of past generations. Tradition confirms the accuracy of Eliphazs judgment. Where have we heard that claim before? (Even Tevye, from Fiddler on the Roof, knew both the power of tradition and change.) Eliphaz, like his many successors, never learned that tradition is never to be necessarily identified with truth, either human or divine.[177]
[177] The verse might contain a clue to the date of the book of Job. If the land is Canaan, which the text does not claim, Israel had undisputed control up to the fall of Samaria ca 7221 B.C.; or perhaps the fall of Judah 5865 B.C. Surely Delitzschs views are still appropriateEliphaz has reference to his own country and tribesee Joe. 3:17.
Job. 15:19The tradition of wisdom has been transmitted pure, uncontaminated by foreign influences. Edom was the proverbial home of wisdomJer. 49:7. Eliphazs provincialism shines forth in his belief that the purest wisdom is that in the possession of his own people. Remember, he is not a member of the covenant nation.
Job. 15:20Job has earlier asserted that robbers prosperJob. 12:6. Eliphaz responds to Job that the wicked are in constant agonyIsa. 57:20 ff. The prosperity of the unrighteous man is hollow because he is tortured psychologically, by a guilty conscienceall his days. The Hebrew text has mispar, which means a number, i.e., a few, but the parallelism calls for all his daysall his years. The word translated oppressor in the A. V., in Job. 6:23; Job. 27:13, comes from the root to terrify, or to inspire awe and means here a ruthless person. The verse means that the unrighteous are miserable and short-lived, but the pious are happy and long-lived.[178]
[178] For analysis of critical problems with the grammar, see M. Dahood, Biblica, 48, 1967, 428ff; A. C. M. Blommerde, Northwest Semitic Grammar and Job, Biblica et Orient alia, 22, 1969. This indispensable study follows Dahoods analysis.
Job. 15:21Eliphaz continues to describe the frightful calamities that come upon the corrupt man. The imagination of the wicked condemns himPro. 28:1. Peace is an illusion to the impious. Prosperity is only temporal security to the wicked. There is a constant dread of coming destruction.
Job. 15:22Darkness (hosek), the figure of misfortune, hovers over the life and possession of the wicked. The condemning conscience of the wicked is haunted by the finality of darkness. The sword is waiting[179] for the wicked. The threat of assassination generates constant dread. An evil conscience creates a constant apprehension of disaster.
[179] See analysis of grammar by G. R. Driver, Vetus Testamentum, Supplement III, 1955, 78, renders this phrase he is marked down for the sword.
Job. 15:23The verse means that the wicked-prosperous is always haunted by fears of poverty. This gnawing dread graphically portrays the frustration of the wandering wicked (so LXX). They expect the worst and receive the worst. The LXX attaches the phrase a day of darkness to Job. 15:24, so others follow. The unbearable tyranny of a pessimistically conceived day of darkness is ever lurking at hand to bring all of existence crashing down.[180]
[180] For technical discussion, see Dhorme, Job, pp. 2178.
Job. 15:24A day of darkness (from Hebrew of Job. 15:23) terrifies him. Anguish and sickness unto death prevail against him. Misfortune is pictured as an army of vultures prepared for attack.
Job. 15:25A divine assault is imminent. Suddenly, Eliphaz switches to imagery portraying an attack on God. Job is here projected as one attacking God. An outstretched hand is a symbol of a threatIsa. 5:29; Isa. 9:21; Isa. 10:4; Pro. 1:24.
Job. 15:26The picture of Jobs foolish defiance continues. Job stubbornly (stiff neck, insolently; LXXhybrispride) opposes God with the thickness of the bosses of his shields, i.e., the bosses (or convex side of shield turned toward the enemy) of his shields are set closely together for more protection against the Almighty.
Job. 15:27The image is one of gluttonous fatness, the characteristic of spiritual insensibilityDeu. 32:15; Jer. 5:28; and Psa. 73:7; Psa. 119:70. This wicked insensitive person sits around and gets fatter. The Hebrew pimah means blubber or a superabundance of fat on the mans loins. This imagery stands in marked contrast to Jobs present physical condition.
Job. 15:28Formerly inhabited cities, now desolate, were considered to be so because of Gods judgment. Again the same theology appearsfailure means judgment; success means blessingJos. 6:26; 1Ki. 16:34; Isa. 13:20 ff; and Isa. 34:13 ff. The wicked man, according to Eliphaz, is prepared to risk Gods curse in his idolatrous confidence in his own prosperity.
Job. 15:29Here we return to the theme of the fears of the wicked. Though there are lexical problems in this verse, the sense is clear enough. Dahood[181] yields a relevant meaning. The stretching out of the shadow is a figure of the extent of a persons influencePsa. 80:8 ff. The A. V. makes little sense, and does speak to several important grammatical issues in the verse. The essence of the verse is that a wicked mans influence will not long endure on the earth.
[181] See M. Dahood, Northwest Semitic Philology and Job, in The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, ed. by J. L. McKenzie, 1962, pp. 60ff; also M. Dahood, Biblica, 50, 1969, 343.
Job. 15:30Here the fate of the wicked is described. Darkness is an image of misfortuneJob. 15:22 ff. The destiny of the wicked is not an accident, but rather it is set by God. The Hebrew text reads ruahbreath or spirit of Godand does not require repointing as some suggest. The verse describes the swift disaster of the unrighteous, whose security through prosperity will vanish like flames that reduce a forest to ashes.
Job. 15:31The verse might be congruous with a series of images based on plant lifeJob. 15:29-30; Job. 15:32-33. He who trusts in emptiness will be rewarded by emptiness. The image of the tree from Job. 15:30 continues into this verse. All of the promised greatness will not reach fulfillment, rather it will be rewarded with destructionJob. 4:8.
Job. 15:32The subject it refers to his recompense which will be demanded of him before his number of years is finished, i.e., his end will be premature. If we take the LXX reading, it will be withered, rather than the Hebrew text, it will be paid in full, we continue the parallel, which speaks of palm tree and not a trading profit. His branchIsa. 9:13supports the view that the palm tree should be supplied in the first line of the verse; therefore, the A. V. translation is probably not an adequate rendering of the verse. The metaphor becomes more vivid when we recall that the palm tree is the symbol of longevity.
Job. 15:33Delitzsch correctly observes that the vine does not cast off (Heb. lit. treat with violenceIsa. 18:5) its unripe fruit. What then can be the sense of this verse? The tree will not produce mature fruitJer. 31:29 ff and Eze. 18:2. The second line of the verse beautifully symbolizes the point at stake. The Syrian olive tree bears during its first, third, and fifth years, but rests during the second, fourth, and sixth years. It also sheds many of its blossoms like snowflakes.[182]
[182] See Dhorme, Job, p. 223, for tree imagery.
Job. 15:34The word translated company of impious in A. V. is the Hebrew term for congregation and is here used in a derogatory senseJob. 13:6; Job. 17:8; Job. 20:5; Job. 27:8; Job. 34:30; Job. 36:13. Bribery is frequently condemned in scripture and is here used as a general term for injustice. The word rendered barren in A. V. appears also in Job. 3:7 and should be translated sterile. The phrase tents of bribery carries the meaning that the wealth of the wicked has been obtained through deceptive and unjust means by either giving or receiving bribes. How appropriate an image for twentieth century industry and multi-national industrial combines 1
Job. 15:35At the beginning of his speech, Eliphaz attacked Job for filling his belly with the hot east windJob. 15:1.
Here, once more, their belly (lit. their belly, though translated heart in A. V.) produced only deceit. Eliphazs conclusion is that misfortune is self-entailed. The penalty of the ungodly is premature deathJob. 15:31-33, and lack of prosperityJob. 15:34.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Job 15:17. I will shew thee, hear me, &c. I will shew thee, hear me, for this I have seen; I will declare also (Job 15:18.) what the wise men recounted; for they concealed not the tradition of their fathers. Heath and Houbigant. Eliphaz, says Bp. Warburton, speaking of the wonderful works of God, declares how he came to the knowledge of them, I will shew thee, Job 15:17-18. The very way which Moses directs to preserve the memory of the miraculous works of God. “It is so,” replies Mr. Peters; “and the very way that all the ancient history, and all the ancient wisdom, from the beginning of the world, was transmitted to posterity.” The Bishop adds, “And who are these wise men? They are so particularly marked out, as not to be mistaken; unto whom the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them, Job 15:19 a circumstance applying to no people whatsoever, but the Israelites settled in Canaan.” But, is Eliphaz here speaking of a nation or people? says Mr. Peters in return: no; he only speaks of wise men: and this could never be meant of the Israelites in general, whom the learned writer himself now and then represents as a gross sort of people. I shall not perplex the reader or myself with the various conjectures of expositors, in order to shew who are meant by these wise men; they are so particularly marked out, as the learned writer above mentioned observes, that one would think they could not easily be mistaken; and yet none of the commentators, who have come within my reach, seem to have been aware, that the characters here laid down so distinctly, can belong to none so properly as to Noah and his sons, from whom, in reality, the ancient traditions were delivered down: and it is evident, from the scripture history, that the earth was divided among these; that they were all of one family, and no stranger passed among them. See Peters, p. 32.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(17) I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; (18) Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: (19) Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. (20) The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. (21) A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. (22) He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. (23) He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. (24) Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. (25) For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. (26) He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: (27) Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. (28) And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. (29) He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. (30) He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. (31) Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. (32) It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. (33) He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. (34) For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. (35) They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
Eliphaz makes a long discourse, and lays down many great truths and sound arguments; though in many instances accompanied with ill founded observations. His chief scope is to show that where a life of misery is, there must have been much wickedness. Job, on the contrary had contended, that GOD might and did afflict his people, and that afflictions were no marks of divine displeasure. And this is so very agreeable to the whole tenor of the gospel, that there can be no doubt but Job was under the same divine Teacher. Indeed Job, in his heavy trials and afflictions, became a lively type of the great Author of the gospel himself. I do not detain the Reader with any length of remarks on Eliphaz’s discourse. The words of it are very plain; and the drift of it as easy to be understood. And, they can receive no beauty in an illustration of what is too beautiful in point of language to be increased.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 15:17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen I will declare;
Ver. 17. I will show thee, hear me ] Here Eliphaz useth a short but a lofty preface, calling hard for attention, and raising in Job an expectation of no mean matters. But
Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu – (Horat.)
This is his argument:
This is to be held to be true which experience evinceth, and wise men teach us, just as they have learned it from their religious ancestors.
But, both continued experience and consent of men teach us, that wicked men have terrors within and troubles without.
Therefore this is to be taken for a truth. Therefore also, by consequence, that is false which thou hast spoken concerning the prosperity of wicked men, Job 12:6 . Neither canst thou avoid the charge of wickedness who dost suffer the punishments of the wicked. Now what is all this more than Eliphaz had said in a former discourse (so that Job might have cried out, Apage coccysmum? ) only there he grounded his argument upon a night vision; here upon the testimony and consent of certain wise men, commended by their power and justice. Some think he meaneth Noah and his pious posterity.
That which I have seen I will declare
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 15:17-35
Job 15:17-35
THE DARK PICTURE THAT ELIPHAZ PAINTED OF JOB’S FUTURE
“I will show thee, hear thou me;
And that which I have seen I will declare
(Which wise men have told
From their fathers, and have not hid it;
Unto whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them):
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,
Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
A sound of terror is in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,
And he is waited for of the sword.
He wandereth abroad for bread, saying,
Where is it?
He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
Distress and anguish make him afraid;
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,
And behaveth himself proudly (biddeth defiance to) against the Almighty.
He runneth upon him with a stiff neck,
With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,
And gathered fat upon his loins;
And he hath dwelt in desolate cities,
In houses which no man inhabited,
Which were ready to become heaps;
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
Neither shall their possessions be extended …. on the earth.
He shall not depart out of the darkness;
The flame shall dry up his branches,
And by the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.
Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself;
For vanity shall be his recompense.
It shall be accomplished before his time,
And his branch shall not be green.
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
And shall cast off his flower as the olive tree
For the company of the godless shall be barren,
And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity,
And their heart prepareth deceit.”
The discerning reader will not overlook Eliphaz’ strategy in this evil speech. In effect, he preached Job’s funeral, mentioning all the things he could think of that would tie his description of the wicked to what had already happened to Job. The implied prophecies were that Job would never be rich (Job 15:20), that he would soon die (Job 15:30; Job 15:32). etc. These prophecies, of course, were never fulfilled. Note particularly Job 15:21 in which Eliphaz explained that God’s judgment would fall upon the wicked in the time of his “prosperity,” exactly as it had happened to Job. A dozen other such brutal insinuations may be detected in this shameful tirade against Job.
We are delighted to skip any further attention to this crooked speech, although a fantastic instrument of the devil it surely was!
E.M. Zerr:
Job 15:17-19. Eliphaz pretended that he was about to impart some great and new truths to Job; we shall see what they were if he had any to tell.
Job 15:20. But they turned out to be untrue, for wicked men are as free from pain as any other class of human individuals.
Job 15:21-23. This again was not true to the facts. The wicked man has frequently been among the most prosperous of the creatures of the earth.
Job 15:24. Instead of the unrighteous one being afraid, he is boastful and feels prepared to do as he pleases in spite of all opposition, human or divine.
Job 15:25. The wicked person stretches out his hand against God, it is true, but he has clothed himself with a feeling of security that will finally prove vain.
Job 15:26. He (the wicked man) runneth upon him (God). It represents a wicked human being making a charge upon God as if he were a warrior’s steed decorated with flashy ornaments and indications of strength and accomplishments.
Job 15:27. This is an exaggerated description of a prosperous person who is puffed up by his own sense of importance.
Job 15:28. This wicked man is so powerful that he can overcome the disadvantages of cities that had fallen to decay and ready to be heaped in ruins.
Job 15:29-30. Eliphaz wanted to impress Job concerning his own threatened downfall by describing the failure of this wicked one.
Job 15:31. This was good advice but entirely off of the subject being discussed.
Job 15:32. Before his time means the defeat of the wicked will come prematurely.
Job 15:33. Shake off unripe grape has the same meaning of prematurity as the italicized words in the preceding verse.
Job 15:34-35. This paragraph and most of the ones preceding in this chapter stated much truth. However, it was truth already known to Job and was taught by him. But it was all outside of the subject that was supposed to be under consideration.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
hear me: Job 5:27, Job 13:5, Job 13:6, Job 33:1, Job 34:2, Job 36:2
Reciprocal: Job 13:1 – ear Psa 44:1 – in the times Pro 24:30 – went
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 15:17-18. I will show thee, hear me I will prove what I have affirmed, namely, that such strokes as thine are peculiar to hypocrites and wicked men. And that which I have seen I will declare I will not speak from hearsay, but only from my own observation and experience. Which wise men have told Who are most able to be witnesses and judges in these matters; from their fathers Or, ancestors; who diligently observed this, and carefully transmitted their own judgment and experience successively to their posterity. And have not hid it They judged it to be so certain and important a truth, that they would not conceal it in their own breasts.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The fate of the wicked 15:17-35
Perhaps Eliphaz wanted to scare Job into repenting with these words. As before, Eliphaz’s authority was his own observations (Job 15:17; cf. Job 4:8). To this he added the wisdom of their ancestors (Job 15:18-19; cf. Job 8:8). Probably Job 15:18 means wise men have not hidden their fathers’ traditions. In the ancient world, people considered it foolish to reject the traditions of the past.
Several troubles come on the wicked person because of his sin (Job 15:20-35). He writhes in pain-the same Hebrew word describes labor pains-all his life (Job 15:20 a; cf. Job 14:22). He dies earlier than the godly do (Job 15:20 b; cf. Job 14:5). He has irrational fears (Job 15:21 a). He suffers destruction while at peace (Job 15:21 b; cf. Job 1:13-19; Job 12:6). He experiences torment by a guilty conscience (Job 15:22 a). He feels he is a hunted person (Job 15:22 b). He is anxious about his basic needs (Job 15:23), and he feels distressed and in anguish (Job 15:24; cf. Job 7:14; Job 9:34; Job 13:21; Job 14:20). Job had confessed every one of these troubles. Eliphaz implied that Job had all the marks of a wicked man. He stressed the inner turmoil of the wicked in this list. He also reminded Job that God will destroy the wicked (Job 15:20).
The writer set forth Job 15:20-35 in a chiastic structure to emphasize the reasons for these judgments, which form the heart of the section.
A Judgments of the wicked Job 15:20-24
B Reasons for the judgments Job 15:25-26
B’ Reasons for the judgments Job 15:27-28
A’ Judgments of the wicked Job 15:29-35
The reasons for the judgments were essentially two: rebellion against God (Job 15:25-26) and self-indulgence (Job 15:27-28). Job 15:28 may mean, "He proudly lived in ruined cities and rebuilt houses previously unoccupied, thus defying the curse on ruined sites (Job 15:28; cf. Jos 6:26; 1Ki 16:34)." [Note: Zuck, Job, p. 74.]
Seven more judgments follow in Job 15:29-35. The wicked person will not prosper (Job 15:29) but will die (Job 15:30 a). His works will fail (Job 15:30 b-c) and he will suffer prematurely (Job 15:31-32 a; cf. Job 4:8). His wealth will fail (Job 15:32-33), he will experience barrenness (Job 15:34; cf. Job 3:7; Job 4:21; Job 8:22), and he deceives himself (Job 15:31). Note that Eliphaz began this section with a reference to childbirth (Job 15:20) and ended it with another reference to the same thing (Job 15:35). Not all these judgments are completely distinct from one another. Poetic parallelism often uses a slight restatement to make a more forceful impression rather than to express a different idea.
"It is a subtlety of our author that Eliphaz, who began by calling Job a wind-bag (Job 15:2), ends his own speech with a pile of verbiage. With tedious repetition, assertion not argument, he presents the doctrine ’you reap what you sow’ in several forms." [Note: Andersen, p. 179.]