Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 20:8
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
8. as a dream ] Comp. Psa 73:20, “As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image”; Isa 29:8, of the enemies of Israel.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He shall fly away as a dream – As a dream wholly disappears or vanishes. This comparison of man with a dream is not uncommon, and is most impressive. See Psa 73:20; see the notes at Isa 29:7-8.
As a vision of the night – As when one in a dream seems to see objects which vanish when he awakes. The parallelism requires us to understand this of what appears in a dream, and not of a spectre. In our dreams we seem to see objects, and when we awake they vanish.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 20:8
He shall fly away as a dream.
The dream of life
Job, in the text, speaks of life as a dream, a mere passing phantom of the brain.
I. A dream implies a dormancy in certain faculties of our nature. The flitting visions of the brain at night always imply the slumbering state of certain powers of the soul. The will has but little to do with the creations of the dream world. In what sense is the soul asleep? What are the faculties that lie dormant within us? There are those that consciously connect the spirit with the spiritual universe–God and moral responsibilities. But spiritual sleep is unnatural and injurious.
II. A dream fills the mind with illusive visions. The mind sees things in the dreams of the night that never will and that never can have any actual existence. Like dreams, our life here is full of fictions and fancies.
1. Mans notions as to what his life here will be are illusions.
2. Mans notions as to what constitutes the dignities and blessedness of life are illusions. Compare the worlds ideas of dignity with the dictates of common sense, the teaching of philosophy, to say nothing of the higher light of revelation. All notions of dignity and happiness are illusive which have not–
(1) To do more with the soul than the senses.
(2) To do more with the character than the circumstance.
(3) To do more with the present than the future.
(4) To do more with the absolute than with the contingent.
III. A dream is of very short duration. The night dreams of men are very brief, compared with the regular thoughts of their waking hours. Like a dream, life too is brief. This life dream will soon be over. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. He shall fly away as a dream] Instead of rising again from corruption, as thou hast asserted, (Job 19:26,) with a new body, his flesh shall rot in the earth, and his spirit be dissipated like a vapour; and, like a vision of the night, nothing shall remain but the bare impression that such a creature had once existed, but shall appear no more for ever.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As a dream; which for the present makes a great show and noise, and highly affects the fancy, but hath nothing solid nor permanent in it; for as soon as the man awakes all vanisheth, and the remembrance of it is quickly lost.
Shall not be found; the man will be utterly lost and gone, together with all his riches and glory.
As a vision of the night; which appears to a man in the night and in his sleep.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. (Ps73:20).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found,…. Either as a dream which is forgotten, as Nebuchadnezzar’s was, and cannot be recovered; or as the matter and substance of a dream, which, though remembered, is a mere illusion; as when a hungry or thirsty man dreams he eats or drinks, but, awaking, finds himself empty, and not at all refreshed; what he fancied is fled and gone m, and indeed never had any existence but in his imagination, Isa 29:8;
yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night; either the same as a nocturnal dream, or what a man fancies he sees in his dream; or like a mere spectre or apparition, which is a mere phantom, and, when followed and pursued, vanishes and disappears; so such a man before described is chased out of the world, and is seen in it no more, see
Job 18:18; the first clause, according to Sephorno, refers to the generation of the flood, and the second to the slaying of the firstborn of Egypt in the night.
m , Pindar. Pythia, Ode 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Job 20:8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
Ver. 8. He shall fly away as a dream, &c. ] As a delightful dream is soon forgotten, so shall it be with the hypocrite. His felicity is merely imaginary, his joy is but as the commotion of the affections in a dream, which comes to nothing, Isa 29:7-8 . A man that is to be hanged next day may dream over night he shall be a king. A man that sleepeth upon a steep rock may dream of great possessions befallen him, and, starting for joy, may fall to the bottom, and mischieve himself. Psa 73:20 , “As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou wakest, thou shalt despise their image”; that is, their painted pageant of outward pomp. Surely such of all men, walk in a vain show or in an image, Psa 39:6 ; their seeming prosperity hath no tack or consistence in it, themselves and their money perish together, Act 8:20 .
Yea, he shall be chased away
As a vision of the night
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fly away: Psa 73:20, Psa 18:10, Psa 90:5, Isa 29:7, Isa 29:8
Reciprocal: Job 18:18 – chased Psa 37:10 – wicked Dan 11:19 – but Rev 18:21 – and shall