Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 24:13
They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
13. They are of those ] Rather, these are of them that rebel. The speaker introduces a new class of malefactors. The “light” here is of course the light of day, with the implication, however, that he that is righteous “cometh to the light.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
13 17. The outrages perpetrated by a different class of wrongdoers, the murderer ( Job 24:14), the adulterer ( Job 24:15), and the robber ( Job 24:16). Those described in former verses pursued their violent course openly, they had law or at least custom on their side, and their cruelties did no more than illustrate the rights of property; those now mentioned are “rebels against the light” and operate under cover of the darkness.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They are of those that rebel against the light – That is, they hate the light: compare Joh 3:20. It is unpleasant to them, and they perform their deeds in the night. Job here commences a reference to another class of wicked persons – those who perform their deeds in the darkness of the night; and he shows that the same thing is true of them as of those who commit crimes in open day, that God does not interpose directly to punish them. They are suffered to live in prosperity. This should be rendered, Others hate the light; or, There are those also who are rebellious against the light. There is great force in the declaration, that those who perform deeds of wickedness in the night are rebels against the light of day.
They know not the ways thereof – They do not see it. They work in the night.
Nor abide in the paths thereof – In the paths that the light makes. They seek out paths on which the light does not shine.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 24:13
Rebel against the light.
Light used figuratively
Light may be considered in two ways. Either properly or figuratively.
1. We may understand the text of light in a proper sense, and some insist chiefly on that. They rebel against the very light of the sun, or the ordinary daylight. Wicked men love darkness; they hate even natural light, the light of the sun, because it seldom serves, but often hinders, their occasions.
2. Take light figuratively for the light of knowledge. So it is more true that wicked men rebel against it. The light rebelled against is rather an internal light, that light which shines into the soul, than that which shines to the eye; and there is a two-fold internal light, against which wicked men may be said to rebel.
(1) The light of nature, or natural internal light; there is a light of the natural conscience, which every man carrieth about him, concerning good and evil, or what is to be done and what is to be left undone.
(2) There is a light of Divine revelation, which shines into the soul from the Scriptures or written Word of God. Divine truths inspired and dictated by the Spirit of God are there written as with the beams of the sun. Yet the wicked man rebels against the clearest and fullest discoveries of the mind of God.
3. Some understand by the light here, God Himself, who is light. The very reason why the light of nature and the light of reason are rebelled against, is because the former hath somewhat of God in it, and the latter much of God in it. For as God is light, so all light is of God. (Joseph Caryl.)
Rebelling against the light
These evidently had the light, and this should be esteemed as no small privilege, since to wander on the dark mountains is a terrible curse. Yet this privilege may turn into an occasion of evil. Most of us have received light in several forms, such as instruction, conscience, reason, revelation, experience, the Holy Spirit. The degree of light differs, but we have each received some measure thereof. Light has a sovereignty in it, so that to resist it is to rebel against it. God has given it to be a display of Himself, for God is light; and He has clothed it with a measure of His majesty and power of judgment. Rebellion against light has in it a high degree of sin. It might be virtue to rebel against darkness, but what shall be said of those who withstand the light? resisting truth, holiness, and knowledge?
I. Detect the rebels. Well-instructed persons, who have been accustomed to teach others, and yet turn aside to evil; these are grievous traitors. Children of Christian parents who sin against their early training; upon whom prayer and entreaty, precept and example are thrown away. Hearers of the Word, who quench convictions deliberately, frequently, and with violence. Men with keen moral sense, who rush on, despite the reins of conscience which should restrain them. Lewd professors who, nevertheless, talk orthodoxy and condemn others, thereby assuredly pronouncing their own doom.
II. Describe the forms of this rebellion. Some refuse light, being unwilling to know more than would be convenient; therefore they deny themselves time for thought, absent themselves from sermons, neglect godly reading, shun pious company, avoid reproof, etc. Others scoff and fight against it, calling light darkness, and darkness light, Infidelity, ribaldry, persecution, and such like, become their resort and shelter. Persons run contrary to it in their lives; of set purpose, or through wilful carelessness. Walking away from the light is rebelling against it. Setting up your own wishes in opposition to the laws of morality and holiness, is open revolt against the light. Many presume upon their possession of light, imagining that knowledge and orthodox belief will save them. Many darken it for others, hindering its operations among men, hiding their own light under a bushel, ridiculing the efforts of others, etc. All darkness is a rebellion against light. Let us have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
III. Denounce the punishment of this rebellion. To have the light removed. To lose eyes to see it even when present. To remain unforgiven, as culprits blindfolded for death, as those do who resist the light of the Holy Spirit. To sin with tenfold guilt, with awful wilfulness of heart. To descend forever into that darkness which increases in blackness throughout eternity.
IV. Declare the folly of this rebellion. Light is our best friend, and it is wisdom to obey it; to resist it is to rebel against our own interest. Light triumphs still. Owls hoot, but the moon shines. Opposition to truth and righteousness is useless; it may even promote that which it aims to prevent. Light would lead to more light. Consent to it, for it will be beneficial to your own soul. Light would lead to heaven, which is the centre of light. Light even here would give peace, comfort, rest, holiness, and communion with God. Let us not rebel against light, but yield to its lead; yea, leap forward to follow its blessed track. Let us become the allies of light, and spread it. It is a noble thing to live as light bearers of the Lord and Giver of Light. Let us walk in the light, as God is in the light; and so our personal enjoyment will support our life work. Light must be our life if our life is to be light. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Hatred of the light
The devil fears the light, and this is one reason why we should keep it always burning. A governor of the Bahamas, who was about to return to England, promised to do his best to procure from the Home Government any favour the Colonists might desire. And what think you was their unanimous reply: Tell them to tear down the lighthouses–they are ruining the Colony. The men were wreckers, and they hated the light! And the devil so hates the light that he would tear down every spiritual lighthouse in the land if he only could. (Sunday Circle.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. They – rebel against the light] Speaking of wicked men. They rebel against the light of God in their consciences, and his light in his word. They are tyrants in grain, and care neither for God nor the poor. They know not the ways thereof – they will not learn their duty to God or man. Nor abide in the paths thereof – if brought at any time to a better mind, they speedily relapse; and are steady only in cruelty and mischief. This is the character of the oppressors of suffering humanity, and of sinners audacious and hardened.
This whole verse Mr. Good translates in the following manner: –
They are indignant of the light;
They respect not its progress;
And will not return to its paths.
They hate good; they regard not its operation; they go out of the way of righteousness, and refuse to return.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is added as the general character of the persons before mentioned, and as a great aggravation of their wickedness, that they were not modest sinners, which were ashamed of their evil ways, and therefore sinned in the dark, and in secret, as some who here follow; but sinned impudently in the face of the sun, and in spite of all their light, as well the light of reason and conscience, which abhors and condemns their wicked actions, as the light of Divine revelation, which was then in good measure imparted to the church and people of God in this time, and shortly after was committed to writing; all which they set at defiance, sinning with manifest contempt of God, and of men, and of their own consciences.
They know not; either,
1. They do not desire or care to know them; they are willingly ignorant of them. Or,
2. They do not approve, nor love, nor choose them; as knowing frequently signifies in the Scripture use.
The ways thereof, i.e. of the light, or in such ways and courses as are agreeable to the light. Or, in his ways, i.e. in the ways of God, who is oft understood in this book where he is not expressed.
Nor abide in the paths thereof; if they do some good actions, yet they do not persevere in well-doing, they are not constant and fixed in a good course of life.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. So far as to openlycommitted sins; now, those done in the dark. Translate: “Thereare those among them (the wicked) who rebel,” c.
lightboth literal andfigurative (Joh 3:19 Joh 3:20;Pro 2:13).
paths thereofplaceswhere the light shines.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They are of those that rebel against the light,…. The light of nature, acting contrary to the dictates of their own consciences, in being guilty of the inhumanity, barbarity, and cruelty they were chargeable with in the above instances; or the light of the law, as the Targum; though as yet the law of the ten commandments was not in being; or however was not known to these persons; or against God himself, who is light, and in him no darkness at all, is clothed with it, and is the Father of lights unto his creatures, the Light of lights, and the Light of the world, from whom all light, natural, spiritual, and eternal, springs, 1Jo 1:5; which is the sense of most of the Jewish commentators s; and every sin is a rebellion against God, and betrays the enmity of the carnal mind to him, is an act of hostility against him, and shows men to be enemies in their minds to him:
they know not the ways thereof; the ways of light, but prefer the ways of darkness to them; or the ways of God, the ways of his commandments, which he has prescribed for men, and directed them to walk in; these they know not, are wilfully ignorant of, desire not the knowledge of them, and will be at no pains to get any acquaintance with them; or they approve not of them, they are not pleasing to them, and they choose not to walk in them:
nor abide in the paths thereof; if at any time they are got into the paths of light, truth, and righteousness, or in the ways of God’s commandments, and do a few good actions, they do not continue therein, but quickly go out of the way again, leave the paths of righteousness to walk in the ways of darkness, Pr 2:13. Some interpreters understand these words entirely of natural light, and of men who are like owls and bats that flee from the light, who are authors of the works of darkness, and do what they do in the dark secretly, and hate the light, and do not choose to come unto it, that their deeds may not be reproved; and so now Job enters upon the account of another set of men different from the former, who did what they did openly, in the face of the sun, and before all men; but these he is now about to describe are such who commit iniquity secretly and privately, and instances in the murderer adulterer, and thief, in Job 24:14.
s Aben Ezra, Ben Gersom, Sephorno, Bar Tzemach.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13 Others are those that rebel against the light,
They will know nothing of its ways,
And abide not in its paths.
14 The murderer riseth up at dawn,
He slayeth the sufferer and the poor,
And in the night he acteth like a thief.
15 And the eye of the adulterer watcheth for the twilight;
He thinks: “no eye shall recognise me,”
And he putteth a veil before his face.
With begins a new turn in the description of the moral confusion which has escaped God’s observation; it is to be translated neither as retrospective, “since they” (Ewald), nor as distinctive, “they even” (Bttch.), i.e., the powerful in distinction from the oppressed, but ”those” (for corresponds to our use of “those,” to “these”), by which Job passes on to another class of evil-disposed and wicked men. Their general characteristic is, that they shun the light. Those who are described in Job 24:14 are described according to their general characteristic in Job 24:13; accordingly it is not to be interpreted: those belong to the enemies of the light, but: those are, according to their very nature, enemies of the light. The Beth is the so-called Beth essent.; (comp. Pro 3:26) affirms what they are become by their own inclination, or as what they are fashioned, viz., as (Symm.); (on the root , vid., on Job 23:2) signifies properly to push one’s self against anything, to lean upon, to rebel; therefore signifies one who strives against another, one who is obstinate (like the Arabic marid , merd , comp. mumari , not conformable to the will of another). The improvement (not with Makkeph, but with Mahpach of mercha mahpach. placed between the two words, vid., Br’s Psalterium, p. x.) assumes the possibility of the construction with the acc., which occurs at least once, Jos 22:19. They are hostile to the light, they have no familiarity with its ways ( , as Jos 22:17, Psa 142:5; Rth 2:19, to take knowledge of anything, to interest one’s self in its favour), and do not dwell ( , Jer. reversi sunt , according to the false reading ) in its paths, i.e., they neither make nor feel themselves at home there, they have no peace therein. The light is the light of day, which, however, stands in deeper, closer relation to the higher light, for the vicious man hateth , Joh 3:20, in every sense; and the works which are concealed in the darkness of the night are also , Rom 13:12 (comp. Isa 29:15), in the sense in which light and darkness are two opposite principles of the spiritual world. It need not seem strange that the more minute description of the conduct of these enemies of the light now begins with . It is impossible that this should mean: still in the darkness of the night (Stick.), prop. towards the light, when it is not yet light. Moreover, in biblical Hebrew, does not signify evening, in which sense it occurs in Talmudic Hebrew ( Pesachim 1 a, Seder olam rabba, c. 5, , vespera septima ), like (= ) in Talmudic Aramaic. The meaning, on the contrary, is that towards daybreak (comp. , Gen 44:3), therefore with early morning, the murderer rises up, to go about his work, which veils itself in darkness (Psa 10:8-10) by day, viz., to slay (comp. on … , Ges. 142, 3, c) the unfortunate and the poor, who pass by defenceless and alone. One has to supply the idea of the ambush in which the waylayer lies in wait; and it is certainly inconvenient that it is not expressed.
The antithesis , Job 24:14, shows that nothing but primo man e is meant by . He who in the day-time goes forth to murder and plunder, at night commits petty thefts, where no one whom he could attack passes by. Stickel translates: to slay the poor and wretched, and in the night to play the thief; but then the subjunctivus ought to precede (vid., e.g., Job 13:5), and in general it cannot be proved without straining it, that the voluntative form of the future everywhere has a modal signification. Moreover, here does not differ from Job 18:12; Job 20:23, but is only a poetic shorter form for : in the night he is like a thief, i.e., plays the part of the thief. And the adulterer’s eye observes the darkness of evening (vid., Pro 7:9), i.e., watches closely for its coming on ( , in the usual signification observare , to be on the watch, to take care, observe anxiously), since he hopes to render himself invisible; and that he may not be recognised even if seen, he puts on a mask. is something by which his countenance is rendered unrecognisable (lxx ), like the Arab. sitr , sitareh , a curtain, veil, therefore a veil for the face, or, as we say in one word borrowed from the Arabic mascharat , a farce (masquerade): the mask, but not in the proper sense.
(Note: The mask was perhaps never known in Palestine and Syria; is the mendl or women’s veil, which in the present day (in Hauran exclusively) is called sitr , and is worn over the face by all married women in the towns, while in the country it is worn hanging down the back, and is only drawn over the face in the presence of a stranger. If this explanation is correct the poet means to say that the adulterer, in order to remain undiscovered, wears women’s clothes comp. Deu 22:5; and, in fact, in the Syrian towns (the figure is taken from town-life) women’s clothing is always chosen for that kind of forbidden nocturnal undertaking, i.e., the man disguises himself in an zar , which covers him from head to foot, takes the mendl , and goes with a lantern (without which at night every person is seized by the street watchman as a suspicious person) unhindered into a strange house. – Wetzst.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Present Impunity of Transgressors. | B. C. 1520. |
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. 14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. 15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. 16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. 17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
These verses describe another sort of sinners who therefore go unpunished, because they go undiscovered. They rebel against the light, v. 13. Some understand it figuratively: they sin against the light of nature, the light of God’s law, and that of their own consciences; they profess to know God, but they rebel against the knowledge they have of him, and will not be guided and governed, commanded and controlled, by it. Others understand it literally: they have the day-light and choose the night as the most advantageous season for their wickedness. Sinful works are therefore called works of darkness, because he that does evil hates the light (John iii. 20), knows not the ways thereof, that is, keeps out of the way of it, or, if he happen to be seen, abides not where he thinks he is known. So that he here describes the worst of sinners,–those that sin wilfully, and against the convictions of their own consciences, whereby they add rebellion to their sin,–those that sin deliberately, and with a great deal of plot and contrivance, using a thousand arts to conceal their villanies, fondly imagining that, if they can but hide them from the eye of men, they are safe, but forgetting that there is no darkness or shadow of death in which the workers of iniquity can hide themselves from God’s eye, ch. xxxiv. 22. In this paragraph Job specifies three sorts of sinners that shun the light:– 1. Murderers, v. 14. They rise with the light, as soon as ever the day breaks, to kill the poor travellers that are up early and abroad about their business, going to market with a little money or goods; and though it is so little that they are really to be called poor and needy, who with much ado get a sorry livelihood by their marketings, yet, to get it, the murderer will both take his neighbour’s life and venture his own, will rather play at such small game than not play at all; nay, he kills for killing sake, thirsting more for blood than for booty. See what care and pains wicked men take to compass their wicked designs, and let the sight shame us out of our negligence and slothfulness in doing good.
| Ut jugulent homines, surgunt de nocte latrones, Tuque ut te serves non expergisceris?– Rogues nightly rise to murder men for pelf; Will you not rouse you to preserve yourself? |
2. Adulterers. The eyes that are full of adultery (2 Pet. ii. 14), the unclean and wanton eyes, wait for the twilight, v. 15. The eye of the adulteress did so, Prov. vii. 9. Adultery hides its head for shame. The sinners themselves, even the most impudent, do what they can to hide their sin: si non caste, tamen caute–if not chastely, yet cautiously; and after all the wretched endeavours of the factors for hell to take away the reproach of it, it is and ever will be a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret, Eph. v. 12. It hides its head also for fear, knowing that jealousy is the rage of a husband, who will not spare in the day of vengeance,Pro 6:24; Pro 6:25. See what pains those take that make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it, pains to compass, and then to conceal, that provision which, after all, will be death and hell at last. Less pains would serve to mortify and crucify the flesh, which would be life and heaven at last. Let the sinner change his heart, and then he needs not disguise his face, but may lift it up without spot. 3. House-breakers, v. 16. These mark houses in the day-time, mark the avenues of a house, and on which side they can most easily force their entrance, and then, in the night, dig through them, either to kill, or steal, or commit adultery. The night favours the assault, and makes the defence the more difficult; for the good man of the house knows not what hour the thief will come and therefore is asleep (Luke xii. 39) and he and his lie exposed. For this reason our law makes burglary, which is the breaking and entering of a dwelling-house in the night time with a felonious intent, to be felony without benefit of clergy.
And, lastly, Job observes (and perhaps observes it as part of the present, though secret, punishment of such sinners as these) that they are in a continual terror for fear of being discovered (v. 17): The morning is to them even as the shadow of death. The light of the day, which is welcome to honest people, is a terror to bad people. They curse the sun, not as the Moors, because it scorches them, but because it discovers them. If one know them, their consciences fly in their faces, and they are ready to become their own accusers; for they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. Shame came in with sin, and everlasting shame is at the end of it. See the misery of sinners–they are exposed to continual frights; and yet see their folly–they are afraid of coming under the eye of men, but have no dread of God’s eye, which is always upon them: they are not afraid of doing that which yet they are so terribly afraid of being known to do.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The lovers of darkness (Job. 24:13-17)
TEXT 24:1317
13 These are of them that rebel against the light;
They know not the ways thereof,
Nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer riseth with the light;
He killeth the poor and needy;
And in the night he is as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,
Saying, No eye shall see me:
And he disguiseth his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses:
They shut themselves up in the day-time;
They know not the light.
17 For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness;
For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
COMMENT 24:1317
Job. 24:13Why do these wicked people escape divine retribution? Earlier he describes those who steal because of the circumstances of their poverty; but here Job describes those who are dominated by a wicked heart. The sin described here is more than an act of unrighteousness; it is that the sinner does not abide in the light of Gods moral universe.
Job. 24:14The first violator of the light is the murderer. The destitute condition of the social structure in which one finds this kind of rebel is clear from the type of persons they prey on. Why the needy and poor; why not more profitable prey? Job is not describing the affluent part of society. The same type of person kills in the daylight and steals in the darkness of the nightJob. 24:16.
Job. 24:15As the prostitute seeks the double protection of disguise and darknessPro. 7:9here the adulterer also seeks the hiding power of darkness. These violators of light seek only to perform transgressions in secretRth. 3:14.
Job. 24:16Generally a thief would gain entrance by digging through the wall of the house (Exo. 22:1), not an adultererMat. 6:19. The first verb he digs is in the singular; but the second verb is in the plural, they shut themselves up. The reference in the plural refers to all three groups who commit their dark deeds hiding from the day. The verb here means to set a seal upon night and suggests that the thief had marked the house that he would enter come nightfall. But more probably, the seal identifies the person. The purpose of the seal is to keep unauthorized persons from opening or identifying something. The image conveys a search for security. Perhaps Job is saying that these criminals are as secure as if they were sealed. God does nothing about their malignant evil deeds. None (they) of the groups discussed know the light. All wicked people hide from the light because it terrorizes themEze. 8:8; Eze. 12:5; Eze. 12:7. In the Code of Hammurabi, digging is the thiefs mode of entry (No. 21).
Job. 24:17Just as ordinary people fear the darkness of the night, the wicked dread the day light. This is every mans long days journey into night.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(13) They are of those that rebel against the light.A very remarkable expression, which seems to anticipate the teaching of St. John (Job. 1:9, &c.).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Second half GROSSEST MALEFACTORS AGAINST THE LIGHT AND AGAINST GOD, WHOM ON ACCOUNT OF THE SECRECY OF THEIR CRIMES HEAVEN ALONE CAN PUNISH EVEN THESE ESCAPE FROM ALL EARTHLY RETRIBUTION, BY AN OPPORTUNE DEATH, Job 24:13-25.
First strophe Blackest miscreants rebel against the light and burrow in the night, defying the God who professedly sees in secret, while they say, “No eye shall see me,” 13-17.
13. Those that rebel against the light Job now introduces another class of evildoers, the workers in the dark murderers, thieves, adulterers. He has thus far spoken of the lawless who practice evil in the broad daylight, and those, too, whom law, “as yet unmitigated by the Mosaic code,” may have seemed to shield, such as usurers, tyrants, and rich, heartless employers. He will now speak of greater monsters, those who “have become rebels against the light,” and who undermine all institutions, human and divine. The light of the day is a fit emblem of a higher and purer essence shining within the soul of man. All sin begins in rebellion against the light. Its very essence is hatred of the light. Joh 3:20. The ways of light it eschews, and its paths it abhors, until the soul, perverted and stunted, becomes one with the darkness. Man makes for himself the moral world wherein he shall dwell. And this, a sky of light or of darkness, has its reflex influences upon the soul. Under these it becomes a child of light, (1Th 5:5,) and eventually light itself, (Eph 5:8,) or it becomes a “child of the night.” and is in like manner transformed into darkness. Eph 5:8.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 24:13. They are of those that rebel, &c. Heath, supposing this to allude to the people who lived before the flood, whose violence and oppression are recorded in several parts of the sacred scriptures, renders this clause, They are of those who were thrown headlong from the light.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 476
REBELLING AGAINST THE LIGHT
Job 24:13. They are of those that rebel against the light.
WE cannot understand any part of the Book of Job aright, unless we continually keep in mind the subject in dispute between Job and his friends; they labouring incessantly to convince him, that the judgments with which he was visited were marks of Gods indignation against him, on account of some secret wickedness he had practised; and he endeavouring to prove to them, that Gods dealings with men in this world were no proper tests of their character; since even the most abandoned of mankind, in many instances, prospered in this world, and passed through life without any visible marks of Gods displeasure. Amongst persons of this character, he mentions those who rebel against the light; who form, indeed, a very large portion of the community in every age and in every country under heaven.
We shall find it not unprofitable to inquire,
I.
Who they are that are obnoxious to this charge
The expression, rebelling against the light, may be taken both in a literal and a figurative sense. Accordingly, we must comprehend under this description those who rebel,
1.
Against the light of day
[This, in fact, is the primary import of the expression in my text: for Job himself goes on to illustrate his meaning by the conduct of murderers and adulterers, both of whom shun the light of day, which would expose them to observation, and affect the darkness of night, as more favourable to their pursuits. The murderer, says he, rising with the light, killeth the poor and needy: and in the night is as a thief. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and disguiseth his face. In the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the day-time: they know not the light: for the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terros of the shadow of death [Note: Job 24:14; Job 24:17.]. Hence such persons are called children of the night and of darkness, in opposition to the godly, who are termed children of the light and of the day [Note: 1Th 5:5-7.]; the one choosing the night as the season for their wicked transactions, and the other the day for their labours which affect the light. The truth is, that God has given the light of day on purpose that his people may be enabled to serve and honour him in their different vocations: but the persons here spoken of discard the light, denying to it their acknowledgment of its superiority, and giving a decided preference to darkness, which alone is suited to such a conduct as they pursue. This is rebellion against the light, inasmuch as it is a withholding from it those services which the Creator himself has assigned it, and which its peculiar properties demand.]
2.
Against the light of conscience
[Conscience is Gods vicegerent in the soul of man. Under its direction and government all, without exception, are placed. The heathen, who have no written law to regulate their conduct, and are therefore a law unto themselves, are under the control of this faculty; which either accuses or excuses them, according as they demean themselves in accordance with the law of their minds, or as they oppose and violate its dictates [Note: Rom 2:14-15.]. And whoever disobeys its motions is altogether inexcusable before God [Note: Rom 1:20-21.]. True indeed, many, whilst following their conscience, sin grievously against God, as Paul did, when he persecuted the followers of Christ. But his sin consisted, not in following the dictates of his conscience, but in not having his conscience better informed. The obeying of the voice of conscience, so far as that alone it considered, is always right; and to rebel against it is always wrong. And who is there that has not transgressed in this way? Who is there that, having known what was evil, has not committed it; and, having known what was good, has not neglected to perform it? St. James tells us plainly, that to rebel thus against the light is sin: To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin [Note: Jam. 14:17.].]
3.
Against the light of revelation
[God has given us his word to be a light to our feet, and a lantern to our paths: and he requires that we obey it without reserve. But where has it its legitimate control? Where does it reign with unrestricted sway? Alas! whether amongst Jews or Christians, its influence is very limited: any worldly interest, any carnal gratification, is quite sufficient to overpower it. Not even the Gospel itself, with all the wonders of redeeming love, can operate so as to subject men to its dominion. See, I pray you, and consider, Who regards the Law as a rule of life? who yields himself to the Gospel, so as to have his soul cast into it as into a mould, and so as to be formed by it into the image of our God? Look round the world, and see how few are really in subjection to it. Even where the Gospel is preached in its utmost simplicity, the great mass of those who hear it rebel against the light, and walk on still in darkness.]
But, not to speak of others, let us consider,
II.
How far we ourselves are implicated in it
In order to bring it home to ourselves, let us call to mind particularly,
1.
Our indulgence of secret sins
[Let us look at those who are yet in a state of childhood, and see what frequent deviations from truth and honesty are to be found amongst them; insomuch, that it is almost a miracle if a single individual be found who cannot call to mind some violations of his duty in these respects. Let us trace our lives up to manhood, and see what each successive year has brought forth; in how many instances we have harboured thoughts which we could not have dared to express in words; yea, and uttered in words, to a fellow-creature, what we should not have dared to utter in the hearing of a man of God; yea, perhaps I may say, have carried also into effect, when, if an intelligent and pious friend had been present, it would have been impossible for us to have acted as we did. As for Gods presence, we thought not of it. It was sufficient for us that we were not seen by man. If we have had reason to fear that our sin was discovered, we have been filled with shame and sorrow: but, if we have eluded human observation, we have thought little of the eye of God. In a word, to a sense of our own honour and credit in the world we have been all alive; but, to the approbation of our God we have been indifferent.
In speaking on this subject, I may fitly mention the artifices of trade and commerce, which, in fact, constitute the great art of rising in the world, and without which it is scarcely possible for a man to gain a livelihood. Yet, all these arts of adulteration and deceit are practised in secret, without any regard to God or conscience. I wish all of you, Brethren, from the oldest to the youngest, in whatever rank you move, and whatever office in life you fill, to examine whether the sins incident to your age and station are not indulged by you, so far as the habits of the world will sanction them, without any fear of God. Truly, there is not one amongst us, who, if he will suffer conscience to speak the truth, must not acknowledge, that he has rebelled against the light in instances without number, yea, and it is to be feared, in instances too which he could not endure to have published to the world at large.]
2.
Our neglect of acknowledged duties
[Who, that has ever heard the Gospel, does not know the two great leading requirements of it; namely, repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ? Yet, who complies with them? Who calls his ways to remembrance, and mourns over all the evils of his former life, and humbles himself before God in dust and ashes? Who goes to God from day to day, imploring mercy at his hands in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and wrestling with him, as it were, in prayer, till he obtains an answer of peace? Who lives altogether by faith in the Lord Jesus, receiving out of his fulness those supplies of grace and strength which are necessary for him, and goes forth in dependence upon Christ to glorify his God in all holy obedience? Alas! alas! we acknowledge readily enough what the light of the Gospel requires; but we rebel against it. And this, as our Lord says, is the very point which so greatly offends our God: This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil [Note: Joh 3:19.]. In fact, it is this which renders men so averse to be told in private what they are accustomed to hear in public: for every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved: whereas, he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God [Note: Joh 3:20-21.]. Let us, then, only look at the daily habit of our minds, in relation to these things, and we shall see how deeply we all, without exception, are implicated in the guilt which is imputed to those who rebel against the light.]
Behold, then,
1.
How amazing has been the forbearance of God towards us!
[God has seen all our wickedness, however secret, whether it has been in a way of commission, or of omission. The darkness has been no darkness with him; but the night and the day to him are both alike. How wonderful then is it, that he has borne with us, and not taken us away in the midst of our sins: when, if I may so say, he might have cut us off to advantage, and made us most distinguished monuments of his displeasure! How wonderful, too, that when he has seen the whole world, and all the iniquity that has been perpetrated in it, he has borne with us so long, and not consumed us utterly, as Sodom and Gomorrha! Let us, then, acknowledge this long-suffering of God to be salvation [Note: 2Pe 3:15.]: and let it convince us, that he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and live [Note: 2Pe 3:9.] ]
2.
What a mercy is it that the light is yet continued to us!
[From many churches God has removed the candlestick, when those who enjoyed the light persisted in rebellion against it. But we, Brethren, have the light continued to us, the light of day; being preserved in life, when so many have been taken away long before they attained to our age; the light of conscience, too, which so many have been left to scar as with a hot iron; and the light of revelation, which yet sounds in our ears, and invites us to accept of mercy through the Redeemers blood. O Brethren! how little a while ye will have the light with you, God alone knows: but whilst you have the light, walk in the light, that ye may be the children of light [Note: Joh 12:35-36,]. Beg of God that the word ye hear may not be a savour of death to your death and condemnation, but a savour of life to your eternal life and happiness.]
3.
How thankful should we be if conscience have in any measure its proper influence upon us!
[Does conscience smite you, Brethren? Be not in haste to close the wound: yea, beg of God that it may never be healed, but by the blood of Jesus Christ. Conviction is the very first work of the Spirit of God: and the deeper that is, the richer will be your consolations. And, when you have obtained peace with God, still let conscience sit enthroned in your soul, to regulate your every act, and every word, and every thought, according to the mind and will of God. Entreat of God to make your conscience tender as the apple of your eye: and, if but a mote offend it, let it never rest there, but weep it out with tears of penitential sorrow, and get the guilt of it also washed away in the blood of Christ. In a word, endeavour to walk in the light, as God is in the light; and then shall God and you have fellowship one with the other; and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, shall cleanse you from all sin [Note: 1Jn 1:7.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Job 24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
Ver. 13. They are of those that rebel against the light ] Against the common light of the sun, say some, which they are ready to curse (as the Atlantes, a people of Ethiopia, are said to do), and could wish extinct, that they might sin unseen (Herodot.). Others more fitly understand it of the light of nature and Scripture; against which wicked atheists rise up and rebel; as malcontents and mutineers do against lawful authority. In the poor blind Ethnics it is to be seen that some few principles and notions of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falsehood, are yet to be found in corrupt nature; like as when cities and great buildings are overthrown by war, some towers, some pinnacles, survive the violence. Now some desperate sinners against their own souls take the boldness to tear out these principles, that might any way disturb their course in sin; and to take an order with their natural consciences, clapping up those prophets from God, close prisoners, Rom 1:18 , till at length all that little light is lost, that rush candle quite extinct. When wine is poured out of a cup the sides are yet moist. But when it is rinsed and wiped, then remaineth not the least taste. Even so that glimmering of divine light left in the natural man is so defaced by obstinace in sin, that not the least spark thereof remaineth. These bats have flown so long against that light, that at length they have put it out. And whereas to those that live under the ordinances there is another light risen, viz. that of God’s word and works, graceless wretches shut their windows, lest this light should come in upon them, as the Pharisees did, Joh 3:18 . They hate it because their deeds are evil, saith our Saviour; they spurn and scorn at it, saith Solomon, Pro 1:7 .; they are willingly ignorant, saith Peter; they wink wilfully, saith Austin, martyr; Ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, saith Bernard, they rebel against the light, as Balaam did when he set his face toward the wilderness, and would needs curse howsoever. Or as Pharaoh, who sat not down under the miracle Moses wrought, but sent for the magicians. How many are there in this day, who, after conviction, get the bit between their teeth, like unruly horses, and run away!
They know not the ways thereof
Nor abide in the paths thereof
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
GOD. There is a pause between Job 24:12 and Job 24:13. “They” is emphatic = These. Note the three stages of the 1awless: (1) avoiding the light (Job 24:16. Joh 3:20); (2) consequent ignorance; (3) final result.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 24:13-17
Job 24:13-17
REGARDING MURDERERS; ADULTERERS; AND THIEVES
“These are of them that rebel against the light;
They know not the ways thereof,
Nor abide in the paths thereof.
The murderer riseth with the light;
He killeth the poor and needy;
And in the night he is a thief.
The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,
Saying, No eye shall see me;
And he disguiseth his face.
In the dark they dig through houses:
They shut themselves up in the day time;
They know not the light
For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness;
And they know the terrors of the thick darkness.”
This whole paragraph identifies the gross wickedness of evil men as generally being perpetrated at night. This is in full harmony with the New Testament references to such sins as, “the works of darkness” (Rom 13:12), “the hidden things of darkness” (1Co 4:5), and “the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph 5:11). Like certain animals of prey, such men sleep in the daytime and operate their nefarious business at night. Christians are everywhere referred to in the New Testament as the “Children of light.”
“The morning is to all of them as thick darkness” (Job 24:17). “This means that they dread the morning as much as ordinary people dread the night.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 24:13-14. This paragraph should take the comments on Job 24:2-10.
Job 24:15-17. The New Testament has this teaching on the attitude of unrighteous men toward light (Joh 3:19-21). The burglar observes the conditions while he has the light to assist him, then uses the cover of darkness to help in his wicked action.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
rebel: Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48, Joh 3:19, Joh 3:20, Joh 9:39-41, Joh 15:22-24, Rom 1:32, Rom 2:17-24, Jam 4:17
they know: Pro 4:19, Joh 12:35, Joh 12:40, Rom 3:11-17, 2Th 2:10-12
nor abide: Job 23:11, Job 23:12, Joh 8:31, Joh 8:44, Joh 15:6, 2Pe 2:20-22, 1Jo 2:19, Jud 1:6
Reciprocal: 1Sa 28:8 – disguised 1Ki 3:20 – midnight Neh 6:10 – in the night Job 24:16 – they know Job 30:3 – solitary Job 38:13 – the wicked Psa 104:22 – General Pro 2:13 – walk Pro 7:9 – the twilight Isa 29:15 – and their works Jer 23:24 – hide Eze 8:12 – in the Joh 1:5 – General Joh 13:30 – it Rom 2:8 – and do not Eph 5:11 – works
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 24:13. Those that rebel against the light Who sin impudently, in the face of the sun, and obstinately, in spite of all their light, as well the light of reason and conscience, which abhors and condemns their wicked actions, as the light of divine revelation, which was then, in good measure, imparted to the people of God, and shortly after committed to writing; all which they set at defiance, sinning with manifest contempt of God, and of men, and of their own consciences. They know not the ways thereof
That is, of the light, or such ways and courses as are agreeable to the light; they do not approve, love, or choose them. Nor abide in the paths thereof If they begin to walk in those paths: and do some good actions, yet they do not persevere in well-doing: they are not constant and fixed in a good course of life.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24:13 They are of those that rebel against the {p} light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
(p) That is, God’s word, because they are reproved by it.