Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 34:20
In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
20. Display of God’s just rule over people and princes. According to the punctuation the verse is thus divided,
In a moment they die and at midnight;
The people are shaken and pass away,
And the mighty are taken away without hand.
The phrase at midnight means suddenly and without anticipation, comp. Job 34:25; Psa 119:62. Without hand, i. e. through no human agency, by an unseen power, the ruling hand of God; comp. ch. Job 20:26; Dan 2:34-35; Zec 4:6. The mighty are the princes, opposed to “the people” in the second clause.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
20 28. God’s strict justice may be seen in His government of the peoples and their princes alike. His justice is unerring, for it is guided by omniscient insight. Punishing oppression, it avenges the cause of the poor and afflicted.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In a moment shall they die – That is, the rich and the great. They pass suddenly off the stage of action. They have no power to compel God to favor them, and they have no permanency of existence here which can constitute a claim on his special favor. Soon they will lie undistinguished in the dust. All are in his hand; and when he wills it, they must lie down in the dust together. He exempts none from death; spares none on account of beauty, rank, wealth, talent, or learning, but consigns all indiscriminately to the grave-showing that he is disposed to treat them all alike. This is urged by Elihu as a proof that God has no partiality, but treats all people as being on the same level – and there is no more striking illustration of this than is furnished by death. All die. None are spared on account of title, wealth, rank, beauty, age, or wisdom. All die in a manner that shows that he has no favoritism. The rich man may die with a malady as painful and protracted as the poor man; the beautiful and accomplished with a disease as foul and loathsome as the beggar. The sad change that the body undergoes in the tomb is as repulsive in the one case as in the other; and amidst all the splendor of rank, and the magnificence of dress and equipage, God intends to keep the great truth before the minds of people, that they are really on a level, and that all must share at his hand alike.
And the people shall be troubled – They shall be shaken, agitated, alarmed. They dread impending danger, or the prospect of sudden destruction.
At midnight – The image here is probably taken from an earthquake, or from a sudden onset made by a band of robbers on a village at night. The essential thought is that of the suddenness with which God can take away the mighty and the mean together. Nothing can resist him, and as he has this absolute control over people, and deals with all alike, there is great impropriety in complaining of his government.
And the mighty – Margin, They shall take away the mighty. The idea is, that the great shall be removed – to wit, by sudden death or by overwhelming calamiiy. The argueat of Elihu in this passage Job 34:18-20 is, that it would be esteemed great presumption to arraign the conduct of a prince or king, and it must be much more so to call in question the doings of him who is so superior to princes and kings that he shows them no partiality on account of their rank, but sweeps them away by sudden calamity as he does the most humble of mankind.
Without hand – That is, without any human instrumentality, or without the use of any visible means. It is by a word – by an expression of his will – by power where the agency is not seen. The design is, to show that God can do it with infinite ease.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 34:20
And the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
Gods sovereignty viewed in relation to the death of His people
The text is part of the argument employed by Elihu to establish the principle of the Divine equity in the government of the universe. He insinuates that the suffering patriarch had at least implied certain reflections on the character of the Deity, and he remonstrates with him to show that the governor of the universe could not be unjust.
I. The sovereignty and impartiality of God. Sovereignty in the highest and most proper sense belongs exclusively to Jehovah. No bounds are set to His influence, and no department is free from His control. The originating cause of death is not Divine sovereignty, but our sin. In salvation we see Gods sovereignty as the originating cause; but in death mans guilt. Though death has not originated in sovereignty, yet all the circumstances of death are controlled by it. Death stands as a willing messenger at the footstool of Omnipotence.
1. God determines the hour of dissolution. The casualties which we sometimes speak of are casualties to us, but not to God. They are necessary parts of the general system which His wisdom regulates and His power controls. There is no confusion in what God does or permits to be done.
2. God determines or controls the instruments by which life shall be ended. Whether by long, lingering sickness, or by a sudden stroke. There are only two cases of (apparent) exemption–Enoch and Elijah.
3. God is uninfluenced by the consideration of merely present consequences. They are all foreseen by Him. Death is a penalty that must be universally rendered. While administering equitable government, that which is particular must not be permitted to impede the universal good.
II. The weakness and dependence of man. The contrast is tremendous between the feebleness of the creature and the majesty of the Creator. Man dieth and wasteth away. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. We ask the question, Where is he? Nature gives no answer. Philosophy gives no answer. Only revelation can. It flings its light upon the future, and as in one word utters eternity! (George Wilkins.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. In a moment shall they die] Both are equally dependent on the Almighty for their breath and being; the mighty as well as the poor. If the great men of the earth have abused their power, he sometimes cuts them off by the most sudden and unexpected death; and even at midnight, when in security, and least capable of defence, they are cut off by the people whom they have oppressed, or by the invisible hand of the angel of death. This appears to be spoken in reference to Eastern tyrants, who seldom die a natural death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In a moment; whensoever God doth but give the word, and send his summons for them.
Shall they, i. e. the rich and the prince, no less than the poor, must submit to the law of death, which God hath imposed upon all men, without exception, and they cannot charge God with injury therein.
The people; whole nations or people are no less subject to Gods power than any particular persons; their numbers cannot secure them from Gods hand.
Troubled, i.e. disturbed and terrified with those calamities which God shall bring upon them.
At midnight; suddenly, and when they are most secure.
Pass away; either,
1. Go into captivity, or run or flee away they know not whither for their lives. Or,
2. Perish or die, as he said before, and as this word is oft used, as Job 14:20; Psa 37:36; Ecc 1:4. So the same thing is said of the people, which in the first branch of the verse was said of the princes.
Taken away; either from their place or power, or out of this life.
Without hand; without any hand or help of man, by some secret and stupendous work and judgment of God; which he oft inflicts upon those who are out of the reach of men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. they“the rich”and “princes” who offend God.
the peoplenamely, ofthe guilty princes: guilty also themselves.
at midnightimage froma night attack of an enemy on a camp, which becomes an easy prey(Exo 12:29; Exo 12:30).
without handwithoutvisible agency, by the mere word of God (so Job 20:26;Zec 4:6; Dan 2:34).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In a moment shall they die,…. Princes as well as the common people, rich men as well as poor; all must and do die, great and small, high and low, kings and peasants, rich and poor men, and sometimes suddenly; are struck dead at once, and without any previous notice, that night, that hour, that moment their souls are required of them. The Targum interprets this of the men of Sodom. And Mr. Broughton, in his margin, refers to the history of them in Ge 19:1;
and the people shall be troubled at midnight; either the common people, when their kings and governors die; or the relations and friends of persons deceased; and this circumstance “at midnight” is added, which makes the scene more melancholy, awful, and shocking, when it happens at such a time. The above Targum understands it of the Egyptians, when their firstborn were slain, which was in the middle of the night; and Mr. Broughton refers in his margin to the same instance: but it is a question whether this affair ever came to the knowledge of Job and his friends, at least not so early as this controversy;
and pass away; not into another country, being taken and carried away captive; but pass away by death into their graves, and into another world. Sephorno interprets it of the destroying angel’s passing over the tents of the Israelites, and not entering into them to smite them when they smote the firstborn of Egypt. But the former sense is best, see Ps 37:36;
and the mighty shall be taken away without hand: without the hand of men, but by the immediate hand of God; not falling in battle, or in a common natural way by diseases, but by some judgment of God upon them: and the whole verse seems to be understood not of a natural death, or in the common way, but of sudden death in a way of judgment, from the immediate hand of God, and that upon the mighty and great men of the earth; which shows that he is no respecter of princes, see Da 8:25.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(20) In a moment shall they diei.e., they all alike die, rich and poor together; the hour of death is not hastened for the poor nor delayed for the rich. They all alike die.
Even at midnight the people are troubled. . . .It is hard to think that the writer did not know of Exo. 12:29. It is better to read these statements as habitual presents and not as futures: In a moment they die, even at midnightthe people are shaken and pass away, &c.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Shall they die Rather, they die.
Shall be troubled Literally, Are shaken, as by an earthquake, or smitten, as by the nocturnal attack of an enemy. Hengstenberg sees here an allusion to the destruction of the Egyptians at midnight, (Exo 11:5,) which also is the view of the Targum.
The mighty shall be taken away Literally, they take away the mighty they, the mysterious agents so often introduced in this book invisible and silent.
Without hand Literally, “not by hand;” as in Lam 4:6, “no hands attacked her,” that is, Sodom. (See note Job 7:3.) Compare Dan 8:25.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 34:20 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
Ver. 20. In a moment shall they die ] Be they mean or mighty, they are, when God pleaseth, suddenly swept away by the hand of death; as chess men are into the bag, without distinction of kings, dukes, bishops, or common people.
And the people shall be troubled at midnight
And pass away
And the mighty shall be taken away without hand
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
without hand. Compare Dan 2:34, Dan 2:45; Dan 8:25; and see 1Sa 26:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a moment: Psa 73:19, Isa 30:13, Isa 37:38, Dan 5:30, Luk 12:20, Act 12:23, 1Th 5:2, 2Pe 2:3
troubled: Exo 12:29, Exo 12:30, Isa 37:36, Mat 25:6, Luk 17:26-29
the mighty shall be taken away: Heb. they shall take away the mighty
without: 1Sa 25:37-39, 1Sa 26:10, Isa 10:16-19, Isa 30:30-33, Dan 2:34, Dan 2:44, Dan 2:45, Zec 4:6
Reciprocal: Exo 11:4 – About Exo 14:24 – and troubled Exo 33:5 – in a moment Job 34:25 – in the Job 36:19 – nor all Isa 40:23 – General Dan 8:25 – but 1Co 1:28 – to bring Rev 6:15 – the kings
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 34:20-21. In a moment shall they die Whensoever God doth but give the word, and send his summons for them. The rich and the prince, no less than the poor, must submit to the law of death, which God hath imposed upon all men without exception. And the people shall be troubled Hebrew, , jegognashu, concutientur, tremiscent, shall be shaken, shall tremble, at the approach of death, or through the calamities which God will bring upon them. Whole nations, or people, are no less subject to Gods power than any particular persons: their number cannot secure them from his hand. At midnight Suddenly or unexpectedly, when they are most secure. And the mighty shall be taken away From their place or power, or out of this life; without hand Without any hand or instrumentality of man; by some secret act or judgment of God, which he often inflicts upon those who are out of the reach of men. For his eyes are upon the ways of man There is no one passage of mans life but God is acquainted with it, and therefore cannot be suspected, through ignorance of their actions, (any more than through fear of their persons,) to overlook their crimes, or to do them any injustice. Patrick. God doth not destroy either prince or people unjustly, no, nor out of his mere pleasure, but for their sins, which he sees exactly, although they use all possible arts to hide them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
34:20 In a moment shall they die, {o} and the people shall be troubled at midnight, {p} and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
(o) When they look not for it.
(p) The messengers of visitation that God will send.