1 Wherefore from the Mighty One Times have not been hidden, And those knowing Him have not seen His days.
and he said unto them, `It is not yours to know times or seasons that the Father did appoint in His own authority;
and the present heavens and the earth, by the same word are treasured, for fire being kept to a day of judgment and destruction of the impious men. And this one thing let not be unobserved by you, beloved, that one day with the Lord `is' as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day;
I said in my heart, `The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time `is' to every matter and for every work there.'
for as they were, in the days before the flood, eating, and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, till the day Noah entered into the ark,
which in His own times He shall shew -- the blessed and only potentate, the King of the kings and Lord of the lords,
And the Spirit expressly speaketh, that in latter times shall certain fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons,
but, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou dost treasure up to thyself wrath, in a day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
He made also of one blood every nation of men, to dwell upon all the face of the earth -- having ordained times before appointed, and the bounds of their dwellings --
because these are days of vengeance, to fulfil all things that have been written. `And wo to those with child, and to those giving suck, in those days; for there shall be great distress on the land, and wrath on this people; and they shall fall by the mouth of the sword, and shall be led captive to all the nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by nations, till the times of nations be fulfilled.
for after other seven days I am sending rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and have wiped away all the substance that I have made from off the face of the ground.'
And that day `is' to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts A day of vengeance, To be avenged of His adversaries, And the sword hath devoured, and been satisfied, And it hath been watered from their blood, For a sacrifice `is' to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, In the land of the north, by the river Phrat.
Righteous `art' Thou, O Jehovah, When I plead towards thee, Only, judgments do I speak with Thee, Wherefore did the way of the wicked prosper? At rest have been all treacherous dealers. Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root, They go on, yea, they have made fruit, Near `art' Thou in their mouth, And far off from their reins. And Thou, O Jehovah, Thou hast known me, Thou seest me, and hast tried my heart with Thee, Draw them away as sheep to slaughter, And separate them for a day of slaughter.
For a day `is' to Jehovah of Hosts, For every proud and high one, And for every lifted up and low one,
I have turned so as to see under the sun, that not to the swift `is' the race, nor to the mighty the battle, nor even to the wise bread, nor even to the intelligent wealth, nor even to the skilful grace, for time and chance happen with them all. For even man knoweth not his time; as fish that are taken hold of by an evil net, and as birds that are taken hold of by a snare, like these `are' the sons of man snared at an evil time, when it falleth upon them suddenly.
And I think to know this, Perverseness it `is' in mine eyes, Till I come in to the sanctuaries of God, I attend to their latter end. Only, in slippery places Thou dost set them, Thou hast caused them to fall to desolations. How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended -- consumed from terrors.
Draw out Thy kindness to those knowing Thee, And Thy righteousness to the upright of heart.
In Thy hand `are' my times, Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from my pursuers.
And Jehovah saith, `The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah -- because great; and their sin -- because exceeding grievous: I go down now, and see whether according to its cry which is coming unto Me they have done completely -- and if not -- I know;'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 24
Commentary on Job 24 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 24
Job having by his complaints in the foregoing chapter given vent to his passion, and thereby gained some ease, breaks them off abruptly, and now applies himself to a further discussion of the doctrinal controversy between him and his friends concerning the prosperity of wicked people. That many live at ease who yet are ungodly and profane, and despise all the exercises of devotion, he had shown, ch. 21. Now here he goes further, and shows that many who are mischievous to mankind, and live in open defiance to all the laws of justice and common honesty, yet thrive and succeed in their unrighteous practices; and we do not see them reckoned with in this world. What he had said before (ch. 12:6), "The tabernacles of robbers prosper,' he here enlarges upon. He lays down his general proposition (v. 1), that the punishment of wicked people is not so visible and apparent as his friends supposed, and then proves it by an induction of particulars.
Job 24:1-12
Job's friends had been very positive in it that they should soon see the fall of wicked people, how much soever they might prosper for a while. By no means, says Job; though times are not hidden from the Almighty, yet those that know him do not presently see his day, v. 1.
For the proof of this, that wicked people prosper, Job specifies two sorts of unrighteous ones, whom all the world saw thriving in their iniquity:-
Job 24:13-17
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 (Jn. 3:20), 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. 34:22. In this paragraph Job specifies three sorts of sinners that shun the light:-
Job 24:18-25
Job here, in the conclusion of his discourse,