Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 21:30
That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
30. they shall be brought forth to ] Rather, they are led forth in, i. e. led away in safety from the destroying wrath, parallel to “spared” or withholden, in the first clause; cf. Isa 55:12 ( led forth), or “conducted,” Psa 45:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? – He is not punished, as you maintain, at once. He is kept with a view to future punishment; and though calamity will certainly overtake him at some time, yet it is not immediate. This was Jobs doctrine in opposition to theirs, and in this he was undoubtedly correct. The only wonder is, that they had not at all seen it sooner, and that it should have been necessary to make this appeal to the testimony of travelers. Rosenmuller, Noyes, and Schultens, understand it as meaning that the wicked are spared in the day of destruction, that is, in the day when destruction comes upon other people. This accords well with the argument which Job is maintaining. Yet the word ( chasak) rather means, especially when followed by l, to hold back, reserve, or retain for something future; and this is the sentiment which Job was maintaining, that the wicked were not cut off at once, or suddenly overwhelmed with punishment. He did not deny that they would be punished at some period; and that exact justice would be done them. The point of the controversy turned upon the inquiry whether this would come at once, or wheather the wicked might not live long in prosperity.
They shall be brought forth – yubalu. They shall be led or conducted – as one is to execution. This appears as if Job held to the doctrine of future retribution. But when that time would be, or what were his exact views in reference to the future judgment, is not certainly intimated. It is clear, however, from this discussion, that he supposed it would be beyond death, for he says that the wicked are prospered in this life: that they go down to the grave and sleep in the tomb; that the clods of the valley are sweet unto them, Job 21:32-33, yet that the judgment, the just retribution, would certainly come. This passage, therefore, seems to be decisive to prove that he held to a state of retribution beyond the grave, where the inequalities of the present life would be corrected, and where people, though prospered here, would be treated as they deserved. This, he says, was the current opinion.
It was that which was brought by travelers, who had gone into other lands. What impropriety is there in supposing that he may refer to some travelers who had gone into the country where Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob had lived, or then lived, and that they had brought this back as the prevalent belief there? To this current faith in that foreign land, he may now appeal as deserving the attention of his friends, and as meeting all that they had said. It would meet all that they said. It was the exact truth. It accorded with the course of events. And sustained, as Job says it was, by the prevailing opinion in foreign lands, it was regarded by him as settling the controversy. It is as true now as it was then; and this solution, which could come only from revelation, settles all inquiries about; the rectitude of the divine administration in the dispensation of rewards and punishments. It answers the question, How is it consistent for God to bestow so many blessings on the wicked, while his own people are so much afflicted? The answer is, they have their good things in this life, and in the future world all these inequalities will be rectified.
Day of wrath – Margin, as in Hebrew wraths. The plural form here is probably employed to denote emphasis, and means the same as fierce wrath.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 30. That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction?] Though every one can tell that he has seen the wicked in prosperity, and even spend a long life in it; yet this is no proof that God loves him, or that he shall enjoy a prosperous lot in the next world. There, he shall meet with the day of wrath. There, the wicked shall be punished, and the just rewarded.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That the wicked, & c. this is the thing which they might learn of passengers.
Reserved; or, withheld, or kept back, to wit, from falling into common calamities, though in truth he be not so much kept from evil as kept for evil; he is reserved from a less, that he may be swallowed up in a greater misery; as Pharaoh was kept from the other plagues, that he might be drowned in the sea.
They shall be brought: he speaketh of the same person; only the singular number is changed into the plural, possibly to intimate, that although for the present only some wicked men were punished, yet then all of them should suffer. Shall be brought forth, to wit, by the conduct of Gods providence and justice, as malefactors are brought forth from prison to judgment and execution, though they be brought to it slowly, and by degrees, and with some kind of pomp and state, as this word signifies.
To the day of wrath; Heb. to the day of wraths, i.e. of special and extraordinary wrath; either to some terrible and desolating judgments, which God sometimes sends upon wicked princes or people; or to the day of the last and general judgment, which is called in Scripture the day of wrath; for the day of the general resurrection and judgment was not unknown to Job and his friends, as appears from Job 19:25, &c, and other passages of this book.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
30. Their testimony (referringperhaps to those who had visited the region where Abraham who enjoyeda revelation then lived) is that “the wicked is (now) spared(reserved) against the day of destruction (hereafter).” TheHebrew does not so well agree with [UMBREIT]”in the day of destruction.” Job does not deny sinners’future punishment, but their punishment in this life.They have their “good things” now. Hereafter, theirlot, and that of the godly, shall be reversed (Lu16:25). Job, by the Spirit, often utters truths which solve thedifficulty under which he labored. His afflictions mostly clouded hisfaith, else he would have seen the solution furnished by his ownwords. This answers the objection, that if he knew of theresurrection in Job 19:25, andfuture retribution (Job 21:30),why did he not draw his reasonings elsewhere from them, which he didnot? God’s righteous government, however, needs to be vindicated asto this life also, and therefore the Holy Ghost has caused theargument mainly to turn on it at the same time giving glimpses of afuture fuller vindication of God’s ways.
brought forthnot”carried away safe” or “escape” (referring tothis life), as UMBREIThas it.
wrathliterally,”wraths,” that is, multiplied and fierce wrath.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction?…. That is, that they are spared, withheld, restrained, as the word d signifies, or kept and preserved from many calamities and distresses, which others are exposed unto; and so are reserved, either unto a time of greater destruction in this life or rather to eternal destruction in the world to come; which is the same with the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men, when they will be destroyed soul and body, in hell, with an everlasting destruction, as the just demerit of sin; or of that sinful course of life they live, being the broad way which leads to and issues in destruction, and for which there is a day appointed, when it will take place; and unto that day are the wicked reserved, in the purpose and decree of God, by which they are righteously destined to this day of evil, and by the power and providence of God, even the same chains of darkness, in which the angels are reserved unto the same time, being fitted and prepared for destruction by their own sins and transgressions, 2Pe 2:4: and unto which they are kept, as condemned malefactors are in their cells, unto the day of execution, they being condemned already, though the sentence is not yet executed; in order to which
they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath; the wrath of God, which is very terrible and dreadful, and is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, and is here expressed in the plural number, “wraths” e, either as denoting both present and future wrath; or the vehemency of it, it being exceeding fierce and vehement; and the continuance and duration of it, there will be wrath upon wrath, even to the uttermost, and for ever; and for this a day is fixed, against which day wicked men are treasuring up wrath to themselves, and they shall be brought forth at the day of judgment, to have it poured forth upon them. This is the true state of the case with respect to them, that, though sometimes they are involved in general calamities, as the old world, and the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, Ge 7:23; and sometimes good men are delivered from them, as Noah and Lot were, Ge 7:23, or are taken away by death from the evil to come; yet for the most part, generally speaking, wicked men escape present calamities and distresses, and are not in trouble as other men, but live in ease and pleasure all their days; nevertheless, wrath and ruin, and everlasting destruction, will be their portion.
d “prohibebitur”, Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius; so Beza, Vatablus, Mercerus; “subtrahitur”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius “subdueitur”, Schultens. e “irarum”, Pagninus, Tigurine version, Cocceius, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(30-33) That the wicked. . . .These verses contain the result of their experience.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
30. The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction Rosenmuller and Delitzsch, in order to harmonize the “tokens” of the wayfaring men with the argument of Job, have rendered the verb with , reserved to, spared in, as if the substance of this report was, that in days of calamity the wicked escaped. The grammatical construction is against such an interpretation, as Dillmann admits. A like construction of the Kal form of the verb in Job 38:23, is quite decisive, since in the latter case no other interpretation is possible. The preposition , to, stands on guard before both yoms, “days,” as if divinely commissioned to exclude all such parasitical intruders as from, in, or at, which the modern rendering demands. Compare Pro 16:4 “The wicked man for the day ( le yom) of trouble.” (See Excursus III by Tayler Lewis in Lange’s Commentary on Job.)
Brought forth Same word as in Job 21:32, which see. (Comp. the same phrase in Isa 53:7: , “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter;” also Jer 11:19; Hos 10:6; Hos 12:1, etc.) The sense of antiquity embodied in this narration of the travellers, ( 30-33 inclusive,) that the punishment of the wicked is after death, is confirmed by the most ancient memorials, as well as by divine revelation, to be a truth beyond dispute.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
Ver. 30. That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? ] Here is the passenger’s verdict; viz. that wicked men escape scot free, and flourish for a season; nevertheless their preservation is but a reservation (as Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and others have found it), and if they flourish for the present, it is that they may be destroyed for ever, Psa 92:7 . Others read this verse more suitably to the next, thus, That at the day of destruction the wicked is kept back, and they are carried out in the day of wrath; that is, they are oft spared when the testimonies of God’s wrath are rife against others.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
That. Supply Ellipsis (App-6) before “That” = “[They say] that”. See translation below.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the wicked: Pro 16:4, Nah 1:2, 2Pe 2:9-17, 2Pe 3:7, Jud 1:13
day: Job 20:28, Psa 110:5, Pro 11:4, Zep 1:15, Rom 2:5, Rev 6:17
wrath: Heb. wraths
Reciprocal: Jos 2:3 – Bring Jos 10:18 – General 1Sa 15:7 – smote Job 12:7 – But ask Job 27:19 – shall lie Job 31:3 – destruction Job 34:9 – It Job 36:6 – preserveth Psa 88:11 – in destruction Pro 2:22 – the wicked Ecc 8:13 – it shall Jer 41:15 – escaped Zep 1:18 – in the day Mal 3:15 – yea Luk 16:22 – the rich 2Pe 2:4 – to be
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of {r} destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
(r) Though the wicked flourish here, yet God will punish him in the last day.