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Job
Chapter
24
{Chapters
22-31: The Third Debate}
{Chapters
22-24: Third Debate with Eliphaz -
Job's response Continues}
{Chapter
24: The Chapter of the Impatience of Job with God}
1~~{Job
Continues}
"Why
does the Almighty not set a time for judgement?
{meaning 'Why doesn't he put my case on the docket?'}
Why
must those who know Him {mature believers like Job},
look
in vain for such days?
{Verses
2 and following: Job Lists Some of the Injustices of Life}
2~~Men
move boundary stones
{boundary stones indicated the property lines}.
They pasture flocks they have stolen.
3~~They
drive away
the
'orphan's transportation'/'ass of the fatherless'.
They take the widow's ox in pledge.
4~~They thrust the needy from the paths/'out of the way'.
And, force all the poor of the earth into hiding.
{Note: Job was accused of not helping the poor. Here is one example of Job's compassion for the poor.}
5~~Like
a wild jackass in the desert,
they
{the poor} go about their labor of foraging food.
The wasteland provides food for them and for their children.
6~~They
{the poor} 'gather fodder in the fields'/
'reap
every one his corn in the field'.
And
glean the vineyards of the evil.
{'to glean' means to follow around the men harvesting and picking
up any grains of wheat/olives/etc. they can pick up}
7~~Lacking clothes, they spend the night in nakedness.
They have nothing to protect themselves against the chill/cold.
8~~They
are drenched by mountain rains
and
hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
9~~The
fatherless child is snatched from the breast,
and
seized {to be a slave} for the debt of the poor.
10~~Lacking clothes, they go about naked.
They
carry sheaves {food - work in the fields}
but
they still go hungry.
11~~They
'crush olives'/'make oil' within the terraces/walls,
and
tread the wine presses, yet they suffer thirst.
12~~The groan of {dying} men rise from the city.
And the souls of the wounded cry out {for help}.
But
God/'Elowahh charges no one with wrong doing
{these things are not on the docket in the Supreme Court in
heaven}.
13~~There
are those who rebel against the Light . . .
who
do not know its Ways or stay in its Paths
{this is the rejection of God's laws of Establishment -
God's laws for all mankind - believers and unbelievers}.
14~~When
daylight is gone, the murderer comes out
and
kills the poor and needy.
In the night, he steals forth like a thief.
15~~The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk.
He thinks, "No eye will see me and he keeps his face concealed.
16~~
In the dark, men break into houses,
but
by day they shut themselves in.
They
want nothing to do with the Light
{means they want nothing to do with establishment here}.
17~~For all of them, deep darkness is their morning.
They make friends with the terrors of darkness.
18~~Yet they foam on the surface of the waters.
Their
portion of the land is cursed
so
that no one goes to their vineyards.
19~~As
heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
so
the grave-snatchers are like those who sinned.
20~~The womb forgets them.
The worm feasts on them.
They
{evil men} are no longer remembered,
but
are broken like a tree.
21~~The evil men prey on barren and childless women.
And, to the widow, show no kindness.
22~~But He {God} drags away the mighty by His power.
Though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
23~~He
may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but
His eyes are on their Ways
{even those who are criminal eventually are on God's docket of
justice}.
24~~For
a little while, they are exalted,
and
then they are gone.
They are brought low and gathered up like others.
They are cut off as 'heads of grain'/'tops of the ears of corn'.
25~~If this is not so, who can prove me false/'a liar'?
And reduce my words to nothing?"
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