Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 22:15
Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
15. It was under a similar feeling in regard to God that the great sinners before the Flood filled the earth with violence, and Eliphaz asks Job whether he will go the length of accepting the principles and following the conduct of such men? Compare the words of Elihu, ch. Job 34:8.
Hast thou marked the old way ] Rather, wilt thou keep ? i. e. follow the path they walked in.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? – Hast thou seen what has happened in former times to wicked people? Job had maintained that God did not deal with people in this world according to their character. To meet this, Eliphaz now appeals to ancient facts, and especially refers to the deluge, when the wicked were cut off by a flood for their sins. Schultens, Dr. Good, Noyes, and Reiske, however, suppose that tbe word here rendered mark, means to pursue, or imitate, and that the sense is, Are you willing to adopt the principles of those wicked people who lived in the time of the deluge? But the sense is not materially affected. The general design is to refer Job to the case of the impious generation that was swept off by a flood. The judgments of God on them were a full refutation, in his view, of the sentiments of Job.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 22:15-20
Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
The way of the wicked described
It is commonly remarked, how little advantage mankind make of each others experience. This is surely a striking proof of the folly and presumption of our nature. Eliphaz here is reasoning on the principle stated. Though he misapplied the admonition conveyed in his question, the admonition itself is important, for without marking this way of the wicked, how shall we have knowledge of it; and without knowing it, how shall we avoid it?
I. Some particulars concerning the way of the wicked.
1. The sameness, or oneness, of the way. There are, indeed, many different kinds of sin in which the wicked are living. But they are all turning their backs on the same objects; they are all proceeding in the same direction; they are all tending to the same end.
2. This way is the old way. Eliphaz so called it in the time of Job. It is a way as old as the fall of man.
3. It is a trodden way. This word gives the idea of a way which has been much used and frequented; a beaten road, in which many passengers are always to be found.
II. A more exact description of the way itself. By the wicked, in the Bible, are meant all who are devoid of an inward principle of godliness; who, whatever their lives and characters in the sight and judgment of the world may be, are yet in the sight of God without any practical fear and love of Him in their hearts. The way of the wicked is the way of practical ungodliness. Here men are all guilty. They forget God, and walk after the course of this world.
III. The end to which the way of wicked men leads. Our Saviour says, It leadeth to destruction. The end resembles that of the sinners in the days of Noah and Lot. Learn, that you may not be an open sinner, and yet you may be walking in the way of the wicked, as you live a mere sensual, worldly life, without any habitual regard to the will and glory of God. (E. Cooper.)
The history of wickedness
1. It is a history of ancient date. It is an old way–the track of old.
2. It is a history of terrible calamities. Which were cut down out of time, etc. There are personal, social, material calamities.
3. It is a history of practical atheism.
(1) A guilty conscience makes men dread God.
(2) Dread of God makes men hate Him.
(3) Hating God prompts men to repel Him.
4. It is a history liable to misinterpretation. Men make misapplication of the history of wickedness–
(1) When they conclude that God is indifferent in relation to the moral character of men.
(2) When they conclude that, because God does not punish wicked men at once, He will not punish them at all.
Yet this history has lessons of great significance.
(1) It teaches the vastness of mans power.
(2) It teaches the greatness of mans patience.
(3) It teaches the energy of human influence.
(4) It teaches the magnitude of Christs work. (Homilist.)
The way which wicked men have trodden
I. The way itself. Eliphaz calla it an old way. It is almost as old as the human race, or as the world which they inhabit. In the account of the conduct of the first sinner, we see selfishness, or Eves preference of herself to God. We see also pride, which produced discontent. We see sensuality, or a disposition to be governed and guided by her senses, and to seek their gratification in an unlawful manner. We see unbelief, a distrust of Gods Word, and a consequent belief of the tempters suggestions. She could believe the tempters falsehood. From the conduct of Adam and Eve at the close of the day, we may obtain further acquaintance with the way in which sinners walk. They exhibited sullen hardness of heart, impenitence, and despair of forgiveness. They expressed no sorrow, nor penitence, nothing like brokenness of heart. They made no confession of sin; they uttered no cries for mercy; they expressed no wish to be restored to the favour of their offended Judge. They displayed a self-justifying temper. They showed a disposition to reflect upon God as the cause of their disobedience. In a manner precisely similar have sinners ever since acted.
II. Its termination. It leads to destruction. That it does so, we might infer from what has taken place in the world. Application–
1. Whether some of you are not walking in this way?
2. Should any of you be convinced that you are in this dangerous way, permit me to urge you to forsake it without delay. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The old way of the wicked
Hast thou marked the old way? Antiquity is no guarantee for truth. It was the old way, but it was the wrong way. It was an old way, but they who ran in it perished in it just as surely as if it had been a new way of sinning entirely of their own invention: antiquity will be no consolation to those who perish by following evil precedents.
I. The way. First, what it was. There is no doubt that Eliphaz is here alluding to those who sinned before the flood. He is looking to what were ancient days to him.
1. Now this way, in the first place, was a way of rebellion against God.
2. In the next place, the old way was a way of selfishness.
3. The old way was a way of pride. Our mother Eve rebelled against God because she thought she knew better than God did.
4. The old way which wicked men have trodden is a way of self-righteousness. If Abel kneels by the altar, Cain will kneel by the altar also. Beware, I entreat you, for this is the old way of the Pharisee when he thanked God that he was not as other men.
5. The old way which wicked men have trodden was, in the next place, a way of unbelief. Noah was sent to tell those ancient sinners that the world would be destroyed by a flood. They thought him an old dotard, and mocked him to scorn.
6. The old way which wicked men have trodden is a way of worldliness and carelessness and procrastination. What did those men before the flood? They married and were given in marriage till the flood came and swept them all away. Eliphaz says, Hast thou marked the way?
I want you to stop a little while, and look at that road again, and mark it anew.
1. The first thing I observe as I look into it is, that it is a very broad way.
2. Observe that it is a very popular road. The way downward to destruction is a very fashionable one, and it always will be.
3. It is a very easy way, too. You need not trouble yourself about finding the entrance into it, you can find it in the dark.
4. This old way, if you look at it, is the way in which all men naturally run. For all that, it is a most unsatisfactory road.
5. One thing more, across it here and there Divine mercy has set bars. The angel of mercy stands before you now, and bids you tarry. Why will ye die?
II. The end: Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood. The end of these travellers was not according to their unbelief, but according to the despised truth. They would not believe Noah, but the flood came. Remember this, then, unbelief will not, laugh as it may, remove one jot of the penalty. The flood, like the destroying fire which will come upon ungodly men, was total in its destructiveness. It did not sweep away some of them, but all, and the punishments of God will not be to a few rebels, but to all. It will find out the rich in their palaces, as well as the poor in their hovels. Moreover, it was a final overthrow. The text gives us two pictures, and these two may suffice to bring out the meaning of Eliphaz. First, he says, they were cut down out of time. The representation here is that of a tree with abundant foliage and wide-spreading boughs, to which the woodman comes. Such is the sinner in his prosperity, spreading himself like a green bay tree; birds of song are amongst his branches, and his fruit is fair to look upon; but the axe of death is near, and where the tree falleth there it must forever lie; fixed is its everlasting state. The other picture of the text is that of a building which is utterly swept away. Here I would have you notice that Eliphaz does not say that the flood came and swept away the building of the wicked, but swept away their very foundations. If in the next world the sinner only lost his wealth or his health, or his outward comforts of this life, it would be subject for serious reflection; but when it comes to this, that he loses his soul, his very self; then it becomes a thing to consider with all ones reason, and with something more of the enlightenment which Gods Spirit can add to our reason. Oh that we would but be wise and think of this:
III. The warning: Am I or am I not treading in that broad way? Ah! saith one, I do not know. I will help thee to answer it. Are you travelling in the narrow way in which believers in Christ are walking? I cannot say that, say you. Well, then, I can tell you without hesitation that you are treading in the broad way, for there are but two ways. As for you who confessedly are in the old way, would you turn, would you leave it? Then the turning point is at yonder cross, where Jesus hangs a bleeding sacrifice for the sons of men. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. Hast thou marked the old way] This is supposed to be another accusation; as i! he had said, “Thou hollowest the same way that the wicked of old have walked in.” Here is an evident allusion to the FLOOD, as is particularly noted in the next verse.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Heb. the way of antiquity, i.e. of men living in ancient times, or former ages. By this way is here meant, either,
1. Their course or common practice; or,
2. Their end or success; as the
way is taken, 1Sa 9:6,8; and as death, which is, and is called, the end of all men, Ecc 7:2, is also called the way of all the earth, Jos 23:14; 1Ki 2:2.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. markedRather, Dost thoukeep to? that is, wish to follow (so Hebrew, 2Sa22:22). If so, beware of sharing their end.
the old waythedegenerate ways of the world before the flood (Ge6:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?] The evil way that wicked men have walked in ever since man apostatized from God, the way of Cain and his descendants, who were of the wicked one, and lived wicked lives and conversations; “the way of the old world”, as Mr. Broughton renders the phrase here, the imagination of the thoughts of whose hearts was evil, and that continually; who filled the earth with rapine and violence, and all flesh corrupted their way with all manner of impurity and wickedness, and indulged themselves in the gratification of their sensual lusts and pleasures; and were, as the Apostle Peter calls them, “the world of the ungodly”; and here, “men of wickedness”, or “iniquity” y; such who gave themselves up to it, and were immersed in it; these trod the paths of sin, and made it a beaten road; they frequented this way, they walked continually in it; their life was a series and course of iniquity, in which they obstinately persisted, and proceeded from evil to evil, to more and more ungodliness. Now Job is asked if he had “marked” this their way and course of life; the evil of their way should have been marked, in order to avoid it; it being an old way should not recommend it; and the end of it, which was sudden ruin and destruction, should be marked to deter from it: but it is suggested that Job kept in this way, and observed it himself, and walked in it; for the words may be rendered, “truly thou keepest the old way”, or “the way of the world” z; trod in the steps of wicked men, was a close follower of them, and companied with them; like manner is Job charged by Elihu, Job 34:7; and this sense agrees with what goes before.
y “viri iniquitatis”, Montanus, Mercerus; so Drusius, Michaelis. z “profecto viam seculi servas”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
15 Wilt thou observe the way of the ancient world,
Which evil men have trodden,
16 Who were withered up before their time,
Their foundation was poured out as a stream,
17 Who said unto God: Depart from us!
And what can the Almighty do to them?
18 And notwithstanding He had filled their houses with good-
The counsel of the wicked be far from me!
While in Psa 139:24 prospectively signifies a way of eternal duration (comp. Eze 26:20, , of the people who sleep the interminably long sleep of the grave), signifies here retrospectively the way of the ancient world, but not, as in Jer 6:16; Jer 18:15, the way of thinking and acting of the pious forefathers which put their posterity to shame, but of a godless race of the ancient world which stands out as a terrible example to posterity. Eliphaz asks if Job will observe, i.e., keep ( as in Psa 18:22), this way trodden by people ( , comp. , Job 34:36) of wickedness. Those worthless ones were withered up, i.e., forcibly seized and crushed, , when it was not yet time ( after the manner of a circumstantial clause: quum nondum , as Psa 139:16), i.e., when according to God’s creative order their time was not yet come. On ,
(Note: This , according to the Masora, is the middle word of the book of Job ( ).)
vid., on Job 16:8; lxx correctly, , nevertheless is too feeble as a translation of ; for as Arab. qbs signifies to take with the tip of the finer, whereas Arab. qbd signifies to take with the whole bent hand, so , in conformity to the dull, emphatic final consonant, signifies “to bind firmly together.” In Job 22:16 is not perf. Pual for (Ew. 83, b), for this exchange, contrary to the law of vowels, of the sharp form with the lengthened form is without example; it must at least have been written (comp. Jdg 18:29). It is fut. Hoph., which, according to Job 11:15, might be ; here, however, it is with a resolving, not assimilation, of the Jod, as in Lev 21:10. The fut. has the signification of the imperfect which it acquires in an historic connection. It is not to be translated: their place became a stream which has flowed away (Hirz.), for the which would be required by such an interpretation could not be omitted; also not: flumen effusum est in fundamentum eorum (Rosenm., Hahn, and others), which would be , and would still be very liable to be misunderstood; also not: whose foundation was a poured-out stream (Umbr., Olsh.), for then there would be one attributive clause inserted in the other; but: their solid ground became fluid like a stream (Ew., Hlgst., Schlottm.), so that , after the analogy of the verbs with two accusative, Ges. 139, 2, is a so-called second acc. of the obj. which by the passive becomes a nominative (comp. Job 28:2), although it might also be an apposition of the following subj. placed first: a stream (as such, like such a one) their solid ground was brought into a river; the ground on which they and their habitations stood was placed under water and floated away: without doubt the flood is intended; reference to this perfectly accords with the patriarchal pre-and extra-Israelitish standpoint of the book of Job; and the generation of the time of the flood ( ) is accounted in the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament as a paragon of godlessness, the contemporaries of Noah are the , , (comp. 1Pe 3:20 with Psa 68:19).
Accordingly they are now here also further described (Job 22:17) as those who said to God, “Depart from us,” and what could the Almighty do to them ( instead of , which was to be expected, since, as in Job 19:28, there is a change from the oratio directa to obliqua )! Olshausen explains with Hahn: “with respect to what thou sayest: and what then does the Almighty do to them (for it)? He fills their houses with prosperity, while the counsel of the wicked is far from me (notwithstanding I am unfortunate).” But this explanation is as forced (since without a or standing with it is taken as the word of Job) as it is contrary to the syntax (since the circumstantial clause with is not recognised, and on the other hand , instead of which it ought at least to have been , is regarded as such an one). No indeed, just this is an exceedingly powerful effect, that Eliphaz describes those godless ones who dismiss God with , to whom, according to Job’s assertion, Job 21:13., undimmed prosperity is portioned out, by referring to a memorable fact as that which has fallen under the strict judgment of God; and that with the very same words with which Job, Job 21:16, declines communion with such prosperous evil-doers: “the counsel of the wicked be far from me,” he will have nothing more to do, not with the wicked alone, but, with a side glance at Job, even with those who place themselves on a level with them by a denial of the just government of God in the world. , as the following circumstantial clause shows, is intended like Psa 68:29, comp. Job 31:20; Isa 26:12: how can the Almighty then help or profit them? Thus they asked, while He had filled their houses with wealth – Eliphaz will have nothing to do with this contemptible misconstruction of the God who proves himself so kind to those who dwell below on the earth, but who, though He is rewarded with ingratitude, is so just. The truly godly are not terrified like Job 17:8, that retributive justice is not to be found in God’s government of the world; on the contrary, they rejoice over its actual manifestation in their own case, which makes them free, and therefore so joyous.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Judgments Executed on the Wicked. | B. C. 1520. |
15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? 16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: 17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? 18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19 The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn. 20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.
Eliphaz, having endeavoured to convict Job, by setting his sins (as he thought) in order before him, here endeavours to awaken him to a sight and sense of his misery and danger by reason of sin; and this he does by comparing his case with that of the sinners of the old world; as if he had said, “Thy condition is bad now, but, unless thou repent, it will be worse, as theirs was–theirs who were overflown with a flood, as the old world (v. 16), and theirs the remnant of whom the fire consumed” (v. 20), namely, the Sodomites, who, in comparison of the old world, were but a remnant. And these two instances of the wrath of God against sin and sinners are more than once put together, for warning to a careless world, as by our Saviour (Luke xvii. 26, c.) and the apostle, 2Pe 2:52Pe 2:6. Eliphaz would have Job to mark the old way which wicked men have trodden (v. 15) and see what came of it, what the end of their way was. Note, There is an old way which wicked men have trodden. Religion had but newly entered when sin immediately followed it. But though it is an old way, a broad way, a tracked way, it is a dangerous way and it leads to destruction; and it is good for us to mark it, that we may not dare to walk in it. Eliphaz here puts Job in mind of it, perhaps in opposition to what he had said of the prosperity of the wicked; as if he had said, “Thou canst find out here and there a single instance, it may be, of a wicked man ending his days in peace; but what is that to those two great instances of the final perdition of ungodly men–the drowning of the whole world and the burning of Sodom?” destructions by wholesale, in which he thinks Job may, as in a glass, see his own face. Observe, 1. The ruin of those sinners (v. 16): They were cut down out of time; that is, they were cut off in the midst of their days, when, as man’s time then went, many of them might, in the course of nature, have lived some hundreds of years longer, which made their immature extirpation the more grievous. They were cut down out of time, to be hurried into eternity. And their foundation, the earth on which they built themselves and all their hopes, was overflown with a flood, the flood which was brought in upon the world of the ungodly, 2 Pet. ii. 5. Note, Those who build upon the sand choose a foundation which will be overflown when the rains descend and the floods come (Matt. vii. 27), and then their building must needs fall and they perish in the ruins of it, and repent of their folly when it is too late. 2. The sin of those sinners, which brought that ruin (v. 17): They said unto God, Depart from us. Job had spoken of some who said so and yet prospered, ch. xxi. 14. “But these did not (says Eliphaz); they found to their cost what it was to set God at defiance. Those who were resolved to lay the reins on the neck of their appetites and passions began with this; they said unto God, Depart; they abandoned all religion, hated the thoughts of it, and desired to live without God in the world; they shunned his word, and silenced conscience, his deputy. And what can the Almighty do for them?” Some make this to denote the justness of their punishment. They said to God, Depart from us; and then what could the Almighty do with them but cut them off? Those who will not submit to God’s golden sceptre must expect to be broken to pieces with his iron rod. Others make it to denote the injustice of their sin: But what hath the Almighty done against them? What iniquity have they found in him, or wherein has he wearied them? Mic 6:3; Jer 2:5. Others make it to denote the reason of their sin: They say unto God, Depart, asking what the Almighty can do to them. “What has he done to oblige us? What can he do in a way of wrath to make us miserable, or in a way of favour to make us happy?” As they argue, Zeph. i. 12. The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. Eliphaz shows the absurdity of this in one word, and that is, calling God the Almighty; for, if he be so, what cannot he do? But it is not strange if those cast off all religion who neither dread God’s wrath nor desire his favour. 3. The aggravation of this sin: Yet he had filled their houses with good things, v. 18. Both those of the old world and those of Sodom had great plenty of all the delights of sense; for they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, c. (Luke xvii. 27), so that they had no reason to ask what the Almighty could do for them, for they lived upon his bounty, no reason to bid him depart from them who had been so kind to them. Many have their houses full of goods but their hearts empty of grace, and thereby are marked for ruin. 4. The protestation which Eliphaz makes against the principles and practices of those wicked people: But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. Job had said so (<i>ch. xxi. 16) and Eliphaz will not be behind him. If they cannot agree in their own principles concerning God, yet they agree in renouncing the principles of those that live without God in the world. Note, Those that differ from each other in some matters of religion, and are engaged in disputes about them, yet ought unanimously and vigorously to appear against atheism and irreligion, and to take care that their disputes do not hinder either their vigour or unanimity in that common cause of God, that righteous cause. 5. The pleasure and satisfaction which the righteous shall have in this. (1.) In seeing the wicked destroyed, v. 19. They shall see it, that is, observe it, and take notice of it (Hos. xiv. 9); and they shall be glad, not to see their fellow-creatures miserable, or any secular turn of their own served, or point gained, but to see God glorified, the word of God fulfilled, the power of oppressors broken, and thereby the oppressed relieved–to see sin shamed, atheists and infidels confounded, and fair warning given to all others to shun such wicked courses. Nay, they shall laugh them to scorn, that is, they justly might do it, they shall do it, as God does it, in a holy manner, Psa 2:4; Pro 1:26. They shall take occasion thence to expose the folly of sinners and show how ridiculous their principles are, though they call themselves wits. Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; and see what comes of it, Ps. lii. 7. Some understand this of righteous Noah and his family, who beheld the destruction of the old world and rejoiced in it, as he had grieved for their impiety. Lot, who saw the ruin of Sodom, had the same reason to rejoice, 2Pe 2:7; 2Pe 2:8. (2.) In seeing themselves distinguished (v. 20): “Whereas our substance is not cut down, as theirs was, and as thine is; we continue to prosper, which is a sign that we are the favourites of Heaven, and in the right.” The same rule that served him to condemn Job by served him to magnify himself and his companions by. His substance is cut down; therefore he is a wicked man; ours is not; therefore we are righteous. But it is a deceitful rule to judge by; for none knows love or hatred by all that is before him. If others be consumed, and we be not, instead of censuring them and lifting up ourselves, as Eliphaz does here, we ought to be thankful to God and take it for a warning to ourselves to prepare for similar calamities.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(15) Hast thou marked the old way . . .?Rather, Dost thou keep the old way which the wicked men trod? Dost thou hold their tenets?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Hast thou marked Wilt thou keep.
The old way Hebrew, . He probably means the way of the antediluvians. A man’s faith, or voidness of faith, is a finger-pointer to the life he leads. The tenor of the argument is, that those who hold godless opinions must lead godless lives.
NOTE. The asterisk in the Hebrew Bible indicates that the middle of the book is now reached, the book consisting of 1,070 verses.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 22:15-20. Hast thou marked? &c. As the universal deluge was a most signal and memorable instance of God’s displeasure against wickedness and wicked men, Eliphaz takes occasion to enlarge upon it for five or six verses together, as a proper lesson (so he thought it) for his friend; and then closes it with the mention of another destruction by fire, either past or to be expected, which is described to be as general and as fatal to the wicked: and the remnant of them the fire consumeth, or shall consume: Job 22:20. This, indeed, some refer to the judgment of God upon Sodom and Gomorrah; but it is much more natural to understand it of the last general conflagration; for how could the destroying a little city or two be said with any propriety to consume the remnant?; i.e. the whole remainder of wicked men? when at the same time Chaldea, and perhaps the greater part of the world, was overrun with idolatry. The dissolution of the world by fire, is what St. Peter calls expressly, a day of judgment and perdition to ungodly men: 2Pe 3:7. And this St. Jude, Job 22:14 seems to say was prophesied of by Enoch before the flood; and if so, must be known to Noah, and by him, no doubt, transmitted to posterity; and so might be well known to Job and his friends. The righteous Noah and his family, who were so miraculously preserved, are very poetically introduced, Job 22:19 as triumphing over the wicked generation whom they had called in vain to repentance, and who had said unto God, depart from us; Job 22:17. And what can the Almighty do for them? defying him as it were, and contemning both his threatenings and his promises: Job 22:19-20. The righteous see it (i.e. see the destruction of this wicked race) and the innocent man naki, (singular) laugheth them to scorn; whereas our substance is not cut down. There is some difficulty in this clause. The Hebrew is literally, is not our rising cut off? Are not we overwhelmed and sunk, never to rise more? Or, is not our insurrection and rebellion against God (for so impiety and wickedness is often styled in Scripture) justly punished by this terrible excision? They seem to be the words of those wicked men who were cut down out of time, Job 22:16 but here put into the mouth of the innocent Noah and his family by way of derision; as it is common to repeat the words of another, or to make a speech for him upon such occasions, , as the rhetoricians speak, and without naming those whose words they are supposed to be. This gives a good sense to the passage, which is scarcely intelligible any other way; and thus it will be the same as if it were said, “The innocent mock them, saying, Are not these impious wretches justly punished? Is not our pride, may they say, and insurrection against our Maker, sadly humbled by this utter extirpation?” It follows, and the remnant of them the fire shall consume: which may be understood as the words of Eliphaz, or, perhaps, as a continuation of the speech of Noah; and then it will be as if he had said, “Though this judgment by water, extensive as it is, may not so thoroughly have purged the world but that wickedness and wicked men will again spring up, spread widely, and abound; yet, know, there shall come a time hereafter, when the world shall be consumed by fire; and then, the whole race and remainder of wicked men shall be delivered up, once for all, to such an absolute destruction, as that none shall ever spring from their ashes, nor shall the new world and its inhabitants know wickedness, or defection from God, any more.” We see then, from this remarkable passage, that the doctrine of the future dissolution of the world by fire, so plainly taught us, and so immediately connected with the doctrine of the resurrection in the New Testament, was not unknown in Job’s time; and, consequently, is a further confirmation of the point which we have endeavoured to establish, chap. Job 19:25 and elsewhere. The prophet Isaiah seems to handle this subject very copiously in the 24th and the two following chapters of his prophecy; and he uses an expression, chap. Job 26:11 very like to this of Eliphaz, The fire of thine enemies [which is prepared for thine enemies] shall consume them. Such an expression, I own, may be used in a metaphorical sense, and therefore little stress can be laid upon it, except the context favours, as here: but it is to be observed, that as the 24th chapter is taken up with a lively description of that utter dissolution and destruction which shall be brought upon the earth for the wickedness of its inhabitants; so the two following chapters contain hymns of praise to God on this occasion, both for his judgments on the wicked, and his mercies to the righteous. See those chapters, and Peters, p. 409.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 22:15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
Ver. 15. Hast thou, marked the old way ] Heb. The way of old. Broughton rendereth it, the way of the old world; of those ungodly ones before the flood. Hereby it appeareth, say our learned annotators, that Job lived before the deliverance out of Egypt, because he mentioneth the creation and the flood, but not the deliverance; which, had he known, it would have afforded him an excellent argument to prove that godly men might be in great affliction, as the Israelites were in Egypt; and his friends a plausible argument that God useth to destroy wicked men for their sin, as he did the Egyptians in the Red Sea.
Which wicked men have trodden?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the old way: Gen 6:5, Gen 6:11-13, Luk 17:26, Luk 17:27
Reciprocal: Gen 6:12 – for all Gen 7:21 – General Gen 7:23 – every living substance Job 13:21 – Withdraw Job 15:29 – neither shall Pro 10:27 – the years Mat 24:37 – General 2Pe 2:5 – spared
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 22:15-16. Hast thou marked the old way? Hebrew, , orach gnolam, the way of antiquity, that is, of men living in ancient times, or former ages. And, by their way, he either means their course, and common practice, or their end and success. Which were cut down out of time Before their time; who died a violent and untimely death. Whose foundation was overflown, &c. Who, together with their foundation the earth, and all their supports and enjoyments, were destroyed by a flood of waters. As the universal deluge was a most signal and memorable instance of Gods displeasure against wickedness and wicked men, and was, doubtless, very well known in those days, Eliphaz takes occasion to enlarge upon it, for five or six verses together, as a proper lesson (so he thought it) for his friend; and then closes it with the mention of another destruction by fire, either past or to be expected, which is described to be as general and as fatal to the wicked.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:15 Hast thou marked the old way {k} which wicked men have trodden?
(k) How God has punished them from the beginning?