Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 20:26
All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
26. All darkness is laid up for his treasures;
A fire not blown shall consume him,
It shall devour him that is left in his tent.
“Darkness” is a figure for calamity; cf. ch. Job 15:22-23. “Laid up,” i. e. reserved, destined, for. “Him that is left” may also mean “that which is left,” Job 20:21. A fire “not blown” by mortal breath or man’s mouth, but the fire of God, consumes him; or, it may be a fire which kindles itself, an allusion to the self-avenging nature of sin; cf. ch. Job 15:34.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places – The word darkness here, as is common, means evidently calamity. The phrase is hid, means is treasured up for him. The phrase in his secret places, may mean for his treasures, or instead of the great treasures which he had laid up for himself. The Apostle Paul has a similar expression, in which, perhaps, he makes an allusion to this place. Rom 2:5, but, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath. Treasures formerly were laid up in secret places, or places of darkness, that were regarded as inaccessible; see the notes at Isa 45:3.
A fire not blown – A fire unkindled. Probably the meaning is, a fire that man has not kindled, or that is of heavenly origin. The language is such as would convey the idea of being consumed by lightning, and probably Zophar intended to refer to such calamities as had come upon the family of Job, Job 1:16. There is much tact in this speech of Zophar, and in the discourses of his friends on this point. They never, I believe, refer expressly to the calamities that had come upon Job and his family. They never in so many words say, that those calamities were proof of the wrath of heaven. But they go on to mention a great many similar cases in the abstract; to prove that the wicked would be destroyed in that manner; that when such calamities came upon people, it was proof that they were wicked, and they leave Job himself to make the application. The allusion, as in this case, was too broad to be misunderstood, and Job was not slow in regarding it as intended for himself. Prof Lee (in loc.) supposes that there may be an allusion here to the fire that shall not be quenched, or to the future punishment of the wicked. But this seems to me to be foreign to the design of the argument, and not to be suggested or demanded by the use of the word. The argument is not conducted on the supposition that people will be punished in the future world. That would at once have given a new phase to the whole controversy, and would have settled it at once. The question was about the dealings of God in this life, and whether men are punished according to their deeds here. Had there been a knowledge of the future world of rewards and punishments, the whole difficulty would have vanished at once, and the controversy would have been ended.
It shall go ill with him in his tabernacle – Hebrew yara saryd – It shall be ill with whatever survives or remains in his tent. That is, all that remains in his dwelling shall be destroyed. Prof Lee renders it, In his tent shall his survivor be broken – supposing that the word yara is from raa – to break. But it is more probably from rua – to be evil; to suffer evil; to come off ill: and the sense is, that evil, or calamity, would come upon all that should remain in his dwelling.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 26. A fire not blown shall consume him] As Zophar is here showing that the wicked cannot escape from the Divine judgments; so he points out the different instruments which God employs for their destruction. The wrath of God – any secret or supernatural curse. The iron weapon – the spear or such like. The bow, and its swift-flying arrow. Darkness – deep horror and perplexity. A fire not blown – a supernatural fire; lightning: such as fell on Korah, and his company, to whose destruction there is probably here an allusion: hence the words, It shall go ill with him who is left in his tabernacle. “And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. Get ye up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Depart from the tents of these wicked men. There came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense;” Nu 16:20, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
All darkness, i.e. all sorts of miseries, both of soul, and body, and estate.
Shall be hid, or, is hid, or laid up, to wit, by God for him. This phrase may note, that though it be not actually upon him, yet it is reserved and treasured up for him, and is kept as in a sure place, and shall infallibly overtake him.
In his secret places; either,
1. In his hid treasures, as this very word signifies, Psa 17:14. He treasures up wealth, and with Gods wrath and curse. Or,
2. In those places where he confidently hopes to hide and secure himself from all evils and enemies; yet even there God shall find him out. Or, for, or instead of, (or with, for both ways the prefix lamed is oft used,) his hid treasures.
A fire not blown, to wit, by man, but kindled by God himself, as that was, Job 1:16. He thinks by his might and violence to secure himself from men, but God by his own immediate hand, or in some unknown and unexpected manner, will find him out. Some understand it of hell-fire; of which see Isa 30:33.
With him that is left in his tabernacle, i.e. with his posterity or family, who shall inherit his curse as well as his estate.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. All darknessthat is,every calamity that befalls the wicked shall be hid (in storefor him) in His (God’s) secret places, or treasures(Jdg 1:13; Deu 32:34).
not blownnot kindledby man’s hands, but by God’s (Isa30:33; the Septuagint in the Alexandrian Manuscript reads”unquenchable fire,” Mt3:12). Tact is shown by the friends in not expressly mentioning,but alluding under color of general cases, to Job’s calamities; here(Job 1:16) UMBREITexplains it, wickedness, is a “self-igniting fire”;in it lie the principles of destruction.
ill . . . tabernacleEverytrace of the sinner must be obliterated (Job18:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places,…. In such places of secrecy, where he may promise himself safety, he shall find more calamities of all sorts; or every kind of judgments shall find him out, and come upon him, sometimes signified by darkness, see Isa 8:22; or utter darkness, the blackness of darkness; everlasting wrath, ruin, and destruction, are laid up and reserved in God’s secret places for him, and lie hid among his treasures of vengeance, which he in due time will bring forth from thence, and punish the guilty sinner with, Jude 1:13; or all this shall be because of secret sins, as Ben Gersom interprets it; and so Mr. Broughton renders the words, “for his store”; that is, for the store of his sins, as he explains it, which, however privately and secretly committed, shall be brought into judgment; and there the hidden things of darkness will be brought to light, and sentence pass upon men for them:
a fire not blown shall consume him; not blown by man, but by God himself; which some understand of thunder and lightning, such as fell on Job’s sheep and servants, and consumed them, and which may be glanced at; and others of some fiery distemper, a burning fever, hot ulcers, carbuncles, c. such as were at this time on Job’s body but the Targum, better, of the fire of hell; and so many of the Jewish commentators g, as well as Christian; the Septuagint version renders it, “unquenchable fire”; and so Mr. Broughton; and such the fire of hell is said to be, Mt 3:12, c. and which is a fire kindled by the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, Isa 30:33
it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle; not only it shall go ill with the wicked man himself, but with those he leaves behind him, that dwell in the house he formerly lived in, with his posterity; God sometimes punishing the iniquities of the fathers upon the children.
g Jarchi, Sephorno, and others.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
26 All darkness is reserved for his treasured things,
A fire that is not blown upon devoureth him;
It feedeth upon what is left in his tent.
27 The heavens reveal his iniquity,
And the earth riseth up against him.
28 The produce of his house must vanish,
Flowing away in the day of God’s wrath.
. . . . . .
29 This is the lot of the wicked man from Elohim,
And the heritage decreed for him from God.
As in Psa 17:14 God’s store of earthly goods for the children of men is called ( ), so here the stores laid up by man himself are called . Total darkness, which will finally destroy them, is decreed by God against these stores of the godless, which are brought together not as coming from the hand of God, but covetously, and regardless of Him. Instead of it might also have been (Job 15:20; Job 21:19; Job 24:1), and instead of also (Deu 33:19); but is, as Job 40:13 shows, better suited to darkness (on account of the , this dull-toned muta, with which the word begins). signifies sheer darkness, as in Psa 39:6, , sheer nothingness; Psa 45:14, , sheer splendour; and perhaps Isa 4:5, , sheer glory. And the thought, expressed with somewhat of a play upon words, is, that to the of the godless corresponds a of God, the Judge (Rom 2:5; Jam 5:3): the one gathers up treasures, and the other nothing but darkness, to whom at an appointed season they shall be surrendered. The which follows is regarded by Ges. as Piel instead of , but such a resolving of the characteristic sharpened syllable of Piel is unsupportable; by Hirz., Olsh. 250, b, and Pual instead of , but signifies to be eaten, not (so that it might be connected with an accusative of the obj.) to get to eat; by Ew., Hupf., as Kal for , which is possible both from the letters and the matter (vid., on Psa 94:20); but more correctly it is regarded as Poel, for such Poel forms from strong roots do occur, as (vid., on Job 9:15), and that the Cholem of these forms can be shortened into Kametz-chatuph is seen from , Psa 109:10 (vid., Psalter in loc.).
(Note: Such a contraction is also presented in the readings , Psa 62:4; , Psa 101:5; and , 1Ch 23:6; 1Ch 24:3. All these forms are not resolved forms of Piel (Ges., Berth., Olsh. 248, a), but contracted forms of Poel with Kametz-chatuph instead of Cholem. , Job 13:9, is not a resolved form of Piel, but a non-syncopated Hiphil. It should be observed that the Chateph-Kametz in “ wedorschu ” above and at p. 328 is used as an unmistakeable sign of the o . – Tr.])
The Poel is in the passage before us the intensive of Kal: a fire which is not blown upon shall eat him up. By this translation is equivalent to , since attention is given to the gender of in the verb immediately connected with it, but it is left out of consideration in the verbs and which stand further form it, which Olshausen thinks doubtful; there are, however, not a few examples which may be adduced in favour of it, as 1Ki 19:11; Isa 33:9; comp. Ges. 147, rem. 1. Certainly the relative clause may also be explained by supplying : into which one has not blown, or that one has not blown on (Symm., Theod., ): both renderings are possible, according to Eze 22:20, Eze 22:22; but since the masc. follows, having undoubtedly as its subject, we can unhesitatingly take the Synallage gen. as beginning even with . A fire which needs no human help for its kindling and its maintenance is intended (comp. on , Job 34:20); therefore “fire of God,” Job 1:16. This fire feasts upon what has escaped ( , as Job 20:21; Job 18:19), i.e., whatever has escaped other fates, in his tent. yeera` ( Milel) is fut. apoc. Kal; the form of writing ( fut. apoc. Niph.) proposed by Olsh. on account of the change of gender, i.e., it is devoured, is to be rejected for the reason assigned in connection with . The correct interpretation has been brought forward by Schultens.
It is not without reference to Job 16:18-19, where Job has called upon earth and heaven as witnesses, that in Job 20:27 Zophar continues: “the heavens reveal his guilt, and the earth rises against him;” heaven and earth bear witness to his being an abhorrence, not worthy of being borne by the earth and shone upon by the light of heaven; they testify this, since their powers from below and above vie with one another to get rid of him. is connected closely with (which has Lamed raphatum ) by means of Mercha-Zinnorith, and under the influence of the law, according to which before a monosyllabic accented word the tone is drawn back from the last syllable of the preceding word to the penultima (Ew. 73, 3), is accented as Milel on account of the pause.
(Note: This mode of accentuation, which is found in Codd. and is attested by grammarians (vid., Norzi), is grammatically more intelligible than that of our editions, which have the Mercha with the final syllable. For while , as Milel, is the pausal-form of the fem. part. Hithpalel for ( ) with a pausal instead of , it ought to be as Milra, a passive form; but the Hithpalal has no meaning here, and is in general not firmly supported within the range of biblical Hebrew.)
In Job 20:28, Ges., Olsh., and others translate: the produce of his house, that which is swept together, must vanish away in the day of His wrath; corrasae ( opes ), Niph. from . But first, the suff. is wanting to ; and secondly, has no natural connection in what precedes. The Niph. in the signification diffluentia , derived from morf devire , to flow away (comp. Arab. jry , to flow), is incomparably better suited to the passage (comp. 2Sa 14:14, where Luther transl.: as water which glides away into the earth). The close of the description is similar to Isa 17:11: “In the day that thou plantedst, thou causedst it to increase, and with the morning thy seed was in flowera harvest-head in the day of deep wounding and deadly sorrow.” So here everything that the evil-doer hoards up is spoken of as ”vanishing in the day of God’s wrath.”
The speech now closes by summing up like Bildad’s, Job 18:21: “This is the portion or inheritance of, i.e., the lot that is assigned or falls to, the wicked man ( , a rare application of , comp. Pro 6:12, instead of which is more usual) from Elohim, and this the heritage of his (i.e., concerning him) decree from God.” ( ) with an objective suff., which also occurs elsewhere of the almighty word of command of God (vid., on Hab 3:9), signifies here God’s judicial arrangement or order, in this sense just as Arabic as Hebraic, for also in Arab. amr (plur. awamir ) signifies command and order.
The speech of Zophar, Job 20, is his ultimatum, for in the third course of the controversy he takes no part. We have already seen from his first speech, Job 11, that he is the most impassioned of the friends. His vehemence is now the less excusable, since Job in his previous speech has used the truly spiritual language of importunate entreaty and earnest warning in reply to the friends. The friends would now have done well if they had been silent, and still better if they had recognised in the sufferer the tried and buffeted servant of God, and had withdrawn their charges, which his innermost nature repudiates. But Zophar is not disposed to allow the reproach of the correction which they received to rest upon him; in him we have an illustration of the fact that a man is never more eloquent than when he has to defend his injured honour, but that he is also never more in danger of regarding the extravagant images of natural excitement as a higher inspiration, or, however, as striking justifications coming from the fulness of a superior perception. It has been rightly remarked, that in Zophar the poet described to us one of those hot-heads who pretend to fight for religion that is imperilled, while they are zealous for their own wounded vanity. Instead of being warned by Job’s threat of judgment, he thrusts back his attempt at producing dismay be a similar attempt. He has nothing new to bring forward in reply to Job; the poet has skilfully understood how to turn the heart of his readers step by step from the friends, and in the same degree to gain its sympathy for Job. For they are completely spent in their one dogma; and while in Job an endless multitude of thoughts and feelings surge up one after another, their heart is as hermetically closed against every new perception and emotion. All that is new in the speech of Zophar, and in those of the friends generally, in this second course of the controversy, is, that they no longer try to lure Job on to penitence by promises, but endeavour to bring him to a right state of mind, or rather to weaken his supposedly-mad assault upon themselves, by presenting to him only the most terrible images. It is not possible to illustrate the principle that the covetous, uncompassionate rich man is torn away from his prosperity by the punishment God decrees for him, more fearfully and more graphically than Zophar does it; and this terrible description is not overdrawn, but true and appropriate-but in opposition to Job it is the extreme of uncharitableness which outdoes itself: applied to him, the fearful truth becomes a fearful lie. For in Zophar’s mind Job is the godless man, whose rejoicing does not last long, who indeed raises himself towards heaven, but as his own dung must he perish, and to whom the sin of his unjust gain is become as the poison of the viper in his belly. The arrow of God’s wrath sticks fast in him; and though he draw it out, it has already inflicted on him a deservedly mortal wound! The fire of God which has already begun to consume his possessions, does not rest until even the last remnant in his tent is consumed. The heavens, where in his self-delusion he seeks the defender of his innocence, reveal his guilt, and the earth, which he hopes to have as a witness in his favour, rises up as his accuser. Thus mercilessly does Zophar seek to stifle the new trust which Job conceives towards God, to extinguish the faith which bursts upwards from beneath the ashes of the conflict. Zophar’s method of treatment is soul-destroying; he seeks to slay that life which germinates from the feeling of death, instead of strengthening it. He does not, however, succeed; for so long as Job does not become doubtful of his innocence, the uncharitableness of the friends must be to him the thread by which he finds his way through the labyrinth of his sufferings to the God who loves him, although He seems to be angry with him.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(26) All darkness shall be hid in his secret places.Rather, All darkness, every kind of disaster, is laid up for his secret treasures.
A fire not blown.By human hands, &c.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. His secret places All darkness shall be hid in his treasures. Darkness is used for dark fate, calamity. He bides ( tsaphan) his treasures; God hides ( taman) with them his darkness. The fate of each sinner embodies the “divine irony in the Nemesis of history.” Compare Pro 1:24-31; Psa 2:2-4. “Each time the wicked lays his unjust goods by, God lays something by till at last the time of exchange comes, treasure for treasure.” Hengstenberg.
A fire not blown The Septuagint has, “fire that burns not out,” . A fire that God has kindled, and not man, therefore said to be, not blown.
Deu 32:22
It shall go ill It shall destroy that which survives in his tent. Others read as in the text, (A.V.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 20:26. All darkness shall be hid in his secret place All manner of calamity is laid up in store for him: an unquenchable fire shall consume him: it shall devour all that remaineth in his stead. Heath; see Joe 2:3. Houbigant renders it, Every secret thing which lay hid in his treasures, though no one bloweth it, a fire shall devour. If any one remaineth in his tent, it shall go ill with him. The beautiful images of the store-houses, or magazines, wherein are reserved distress and calamity for the wicked, is again repeated; chap. Job 38:22-23.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 20:26 All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
Ver. 26. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places ] That is, saith Diodati, wheresoever he shall think to find a place of safeguard there shall he meet with some horrible mischance. Men that are proscribed, and sought for to death, usually hide themselves, as various Jews did in privies at the last destruction of Jerusalem, and were thence drawn out to the slaughter. The duke of Buckingham, in Richard III’s time, was betrayed by his servant Bannister. Appian telleth of a Roman hid by his wife, and then exposed by his wife to the murderer, to whom she soon after also was married (De Bell. Civ. Rom.). Others render and sense the words thus, The wicked shall come into darkness, propter abscondita, for his secret sins. And others thus, All darkness is laid up for his hid treasures; that is, God or men have taken order that he shall lose his riches as well as his life, though he hide them never so secretly.
A fire not blown shall consume him
It shall go ill with him that is left
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
not blown. Not blown up, or produced by man.
tabernacle = tent.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
darkness: Job 18:5, Job 18:6, Isa 8:22, Mat 8:12, Jud 1:13
a fire: Psa 21:9, Psa 120:4, Isa 30:33, Mat 3:12
it shall go: Job 18:19, Psa 109:9-15, Isa 14:20-22
Reciprocal: Job 15:30 – the flame Job 22:20 – the fire Pro 14:11 – house Zec 5:4 – and it shall remain
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 20:26. All darkness All sorts of miseries, of soul, and body, and estate; shall be hid Or laid up by God for him. They are reserved and treasured up for him, and kept as in a sure place, and shall infallibly overtake him: in his secret places In those places where he confidently hoped to hide and secure himself from all evils and enemies; yet even there God shall find him out. A fire not blown By man, but kindled by God himself; shall consume or destroy him He thinks, by his might and violence, to secure himself from men; but God, by his own immediate hand, or in some unknown and unexpected manner, will find him out. It may be understood of the fire of hell; see Isa 30:33. It shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle With his family, or posterity, who shall inherit his curse, as well as his estate. Heath translates this verse, All manner of calamity is laid up in store for him: an unquenchable fire shall consume him: it shall devour all that remaineth in his stead.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:26 {o} All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places: a fire not {p} blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
(o) All fear and sorrow will light on him when he thinks to escape.
(p) That is, fire from heaven, or the fire of God’s wrath.