1 Wickedness goes often unpunished. 17 There is a secret judgment for the wicked.
Job 24:1 “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
These “times” seem to refer to special occasions when God exhibits Himself in action, vindicating the righteous and judging sinners. Job, in his perplexity, fails to see evidence of such seasons of retribution on the part of God.
Those who know him. That is, “Why do they that know him not see his days?” meaning, of course, days of retribution.
Job 24:2 There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.
Job begins a recital of what appears to him to be evidence that God neither rewards the righteous nor punishes the wicked. Regarding landmarks see Deut. 19:14; 27:17; Prov. 22:28; 23:10; Hosea 5:10.
Where neighboring properties were not divided by fences of any kind, as in the East generally, the only way of distinguishing between one man’s land and another’s was by landmarks, which were generally low stones placed at intervals on the boundary line. An easy form of robbery was to displace these marks, locating them farther back on the neighbor’s land.
They steal the flocks of others and pasture them with their own.
Job 24:3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
On the natural tendency of selfish men to be unkind to orphans and widows, and the regulations designed to curb this tendency see Ex. 22:22; Deut. 24:17; 27:19; Ps. 94:6; Isa. 1:23; 10:2; Jer. 5:28; Zech. 7:10. The ass of the orphan and the yoke ox of the widow are among the most valuable possessions of these unfortunates.
Job 24:4 They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
Job 24:5 Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.
Job’s concern for the plight of the common people reflects his righteous character.
Job 24:6 They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
Job 24:7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
Job 24:8 They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter
A graphic description of homeless wanderers, seeking shelter from the storm.
Job 24:9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
This is a reference to the vicious custom of taking children into slavery in satisfaction of their father’s debt (see Neh. 5:5; cf. 2 Kings 4:7).
Job 24:10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
A picture of a hungry man carrying sheaves of grain, but not permitted to satisfy his hunger from them, is a graphic portrayal of oppression in every age. Yet God does not seem to interpose to punish those who are responsible for such cruelty, but rather to let them pursue their evil course without let or hindrance.
Job 24:11 They crush olives among the terraces; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
The same unfortunates are employed on the estates of their oppressors to extract oil from the olives and wine from the grapes. They are tormented with unceasing thirst but are not allowed to satisfy their carving with the products near at hand.
Job 24:12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.
Job’s object was to show, in opposition to the mistaken doctrine of his friends, that God does not hastily punish every evil work or reward every good one. Vice often remains long unpunished and virtue unrewarded; therefore, a man’s character must not be judged by his prosperity or adversity. Herein lay the basic fault in the philosophy of Job’s would-be friends, and, in fact, in that of the Jews as a nation.
Job 24:13 “There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.
This verse begins a new section, which covers vs. 13–17, dealing with murderers, adulterers, and thieves. This type of iniquity thrives under cover of darkness. Its devotees “rebel against the light”—not only the light of day but also the light of reason, conscience, and law. They observe no moral restraints.
Job 24:14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.
Job 24:15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.
He also waits for darkness to come to seek his prey. Stealthily he disguises himself that he may not be apprehended. (see Prov. 7:8, 9).
Job 24:16 In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.
In ancient times burglary often took this form. Windows were few and high on the walls. Doors were strongly fastened with bolts and bars, but the walls, being of clay or rubble or sundried brick, were weak and easily broken down.. These criminals hate the light and love darkness.
Job 24:17 For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.
When the deepest darkness of the night begins, these people enter upon their day’s work. The drawing on of night is to them what daybreak is to others. This verse completes the section beginning with v. 13, which stresses the way in which the violators of the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments love darkness and hate light.
Job 24:18 “Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards.
This vivid phrase may suggest the figure of a light boat, or a piece of flotsam, or any other light object that moves noiselessly along the surface of the water. The quiet, rapid movements of a thief are compared with these.
Their portion. That is, their manner of life, their way of obtaining a livelihood is deserving of execration.
The vineyards. Their vineyards will not produce. They have lived by plunder, and they deserve no subsistence from their wine presses.
Job 24:19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
Job 24:20 The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.
To be forgotten even by one’s own mother, to be food for worms, to be cut down like a tree, was the conventionally accepted idea of the fate of the wicked. In the verses preceding this section (vs. 18–20), and in the verses following, Job observes that the reality of life does not conform to this pattern.
Job 24:21 They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness.
In this new section, Job returns to his description of the oppression of the weak. Barrenness was considered one of the greatest possible misfortunes (see 1 Sam. 1:5–8). The oppression of one that was barren indicated extreme cruelty. The barren woman was an especially helpless victim of oppression, because she had no son to defend her rights. Her barrenness was commonly thought to be the result of sin and divine displeasure.
Job 24:22 But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
Job 24:23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways.
Job 24:24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.
This is Job’s conclusion regarding God’s dealing with the wicked. His friends affirm that they are punished for their sins in this life, and that great crimes would soon meet with great calamities. This Job denies and says that the fact is they are exalted. Yet he knows the time will come when they will be rewarded for their evil deeds. He maintains, however, that their death may be tranquil and easy and that no extraordinary proof of divine displeasure may accompany their departure.
Job 24:25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”
Job challenges his friends to disprove his proposition. He feels that he has the backing of human experience that his friends cannot refute.