Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 15:21
A dreadful sound [is] in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
21. A dreadful sound ] A sound of terrors; he continually thinks he hears the sound of coming destruction.
in prosperity the destroyer shall come ] A picture of the wicked man’s anticipations.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A dreadful sound is in his ears – Margin, A sound of fears. He hears sudden, frightful sounds, and is alarmed. Or when he thinks himself safe, he is suddenly surprised. The enemy steals upon him, and in his fancied security he dies. This sentiment might be illustrated at almost any length by the mode of savage warfare in America, and by the sudden attacks which the American savage makes, in the silence of the night, on his unsuspecting foes. The Chaldee renders this, the fear of the terrors in Gehenna are in his ears; when the righteous dwell in peace and eternal life, destruction comes upon him.
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him – When he supposes he is safe, and his affairs seem to be prosperous, then sudden destruction comes; see 1Th 5:3. The history of wicked people, who have encompassed themselves with wealth, and as they supposed with every thing necessary to happiness, and who have been suddenly cut off, would furnish all the instances which would be necessary to illustrate this sentiment of Eliphaz. See an exquisitely beautiful illustration of it in Psa 37:35-36 :
I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a green bay-tree.
Yet he passed away, and lo he was not;
Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
So, also, in Psa 73:18-20 :
Surely thou didst set them in slippery places;
Thou castedst them down into destruction.
How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
As a dream when one awaketh,
O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. A dreadful sound is in his ears] If he be an oppressor or tyrant, he can have no rest: he is full of suspicions that the cruelties he has exercised on others shall be one day exercised on himself; for even in his prosperity he may expect the destroyer to rush upon him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Even when he feels no evil, he is tormented with perpetual fears and expectations of it from the sense of his own guilt, and of Gods all-seeing eye and righteous judgment. See Lev 26:36; Deu 28:65.
Shall come upon him; or, shall invade and destroy him suddenly and unexpectedly; which is a great aggravation of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. An evil conscience conceivesalarm at every sudden sound, though it be in a time of peace(“prosperity”), when there is no real danger (Lev 26:36;Pro 28:1; 2Ki 7:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A dreadful sound [is] in his ears,…. Or “a voice”, or “sound of fears” t, of what causes fears; and which are either imaginary; sometimes wicked men, fear when there is no cause or occasion for it; they fancy an enemy at their heels, and flee, when none pursues them; they are a “Magormissabib”, or “terror on every side”, a fear to themselves and all about them, Jer 20:3; like Cain, who fancied and feared that every man that met him would slay him Ge 4:13; such is the effect of a guilty conscience: or real; and these either extraordinary sounds, such as were made in the ears of the Syrian host, which caused them to flee, and leave their tents, and all their substance in them, 2Ki 7:6; or ordinary, as the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, wars and rumours which are very terrible, especially to some persons; or sounds of fears, reports of one calamity after another, which cause fears; and so may respect Job’s troubles, and the dreadful sound of them in his ears, brought by one messenger of bad tidings after another: but there is a more dreadful sound than either of these, which is sometimes in the ears of wicked men; the terrors of the law of God broken by them, the menaces and curses of it, and a sound of hell and damnation, which continually rings in their ears, and fills the with horror and black despair; and so the Targum,
“the voice or sound of the fears in hell is in his ears;”
and among the rest of his fears what follows is one, and so some connect the words, that u
in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him; either God the lawgiver, whose law he has transgressed, and who is able, as to save his people, so to destroy the wicked, soul and body, in hell; and destruction from the Almighty, Job himself says, was a terror to him,
Job 31:23; or a destroying angel, such an one as went through the land of Egypt, and destroyed the firstborn, and into the camp of Israel, when they committed sin, and were destroyed of the destroyer; or some enemy, plunderer, and robber, such as the Sabeans and Chaldeans were, and to whom respect may be had; or even the devil himself, Apollyon, the destroyer of the souls of men, and who sometimes wicked men fear will come and carry them away, soul and body, to hell; or it may be death is meant, which kills and destroys all men; and wicked men are afraid that in the midst of all their peace and prosperity sudden destruction by death should come upon them, like a thief in the night, and remove them from all their enjoyments; and whether they are or no under any fearful apprehensions of this, it certainly will be their case.
t “sonitus timorum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius; to the same sense Codurcus, Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Schultens. u “Vastatorem invasurum eum”, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21. Dreadful sound Sound of terrors.
In prosperity In (time of) peace. The words of Horace ( Odes, Job 3:1) are in place: Post equitem sedet atra cura Behind the knight sits dark care.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 15:21 A dreadful sound [is] in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
Ver. 21. A dreadfid sound is in his ears ] Heb. A sound of fear and terror. Not one, but many at once, so that he is a Magormissabib, factus a corde sua fugitivus (Tertul.), as Cain, that wretch, and those Hivites, with their hornets of a clamorous conscience, worse to them than if their bodies had been tormented with stings or torn with stripes, Exo 23:28 . What a sound of terror in their ears frighted those Syrians! 2Ki 7:6 ; and those Persians and Saracens overcome by Theodosius! Panico terrore incusso, saith the historian, afraid of their own shadows, they desperately cast themselves into the river Euphrates, and there perished above a hundred thousand of them, A.D. 394. The wicked flee when none pursueth, Pro 28:1 ; the sound of a shaken leaf chaseth him, Lev 26:36 , when the righteous is bold as a lion, and not dismayed at evil tidings, Psa 112:7 . His heart is balanced with the fear of God; and thence it is that he floateth steadily; blow what wind it will, he sails to the port; storms and tempests do but beat him into it.
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
dreadful sound: Heb. sound of fears, Job 18:11, Gen 3:9, Gen 3:10, Lev 26:36, 2Ki 7:6, Pro 1:26, Pro 1:27
in prosperity: Job 1:13-19, Job 20:5-7, Job 20:22-24, Lev 26:36, 1Sa 25:36-38, Psa 73:18-20, Psa 92:7, Act 12:21-23, 1Th 5:3
the destroyer: 1Co 10:10, Rev 9:11
Reciprocal: Gen 43:18 – the men Gen 50:15 – Joseph Lev 26:16 – terror Jdg 7:21 – all the host 1Sa 25:37 – his heart 1Sa 28:5 – he was afraid 1Ki 1:41 – Wherefore 2Ki 19:7 – hear a rumour 2Ch 14:14 – the fear Est 7:6 – was afraid Job 20:25 – terrors Job 21:9 – safe from fear Job 27:20 – Terrors Job 33:22 – his life Psa 53:5 – There Psa 73:19 – they are Pro 10:24 – fear Isa 33:14 – sinners Isa 37:7 – I will Jer 49:5 – I will 1Jo 4:18 – fear hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 15:21-22. A dreadful sound is in his ears Even when he feels no evil, he is tormented with perpetual fears and expectations of it, from a consciousness of his own guilt, and a sense of Gods all-seeing eye and righteous judgment. In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him In the most peaceable and prosperous time, he is not in safety, nor does he think himself to be so, but he is always fearing some one or other will injure him as he has injured others; and that some enemy will invade and destroy him suddenly and unexpectedly. He knows both heaven and earth are incensed against him; and that he has done nothing to make his peace with either, and, therefore, thinks every one that meets him will slay him. A guilty conscience represents to the sinner a flaming sword turning every way, and himself inevitably running upon it. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness When he falls into trouble he despairs of deliverance, by reason of his guilty conscience. And he is waited for of the sword Besides the calamity which is upon him, he is in constant expectation of greater. The sword is used for any grievous affliction.