Job 27:8

For what [is] the hope of the hypocrite,.... In religion, who seems to be what he is not, a holy and righteous man; professes to have what he has not, the grace of God; pretends to do what he does

For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? 'What hope hath the hypocrite, notwithstanding all his gains, when?' etc.

There is no reason why I should envy or desire the portion of wicked men; for though they ofttimes prosper in the world, as I have said, and seem to be great gainers, yet death, which hasteneth to all men, and to me especially, will show that they are far greater losers, and die in a most wretched and desperate condition; having no hope either of continuing in this life, which they chiefly desire, or of enjoying a better life, which they never regarded. But I have a firm and well-grounded hope, not of that temporal restitution which you promised me, but of a blessed immortality after death, and therefore am none of these hopeless hypocrites, as you account me. Taketh away; or, expelleth, or plucketh up; which notes violence, and that he died unwillingly; compare ; when good men are said freely and cheerfully to give themselves or their souls unto God.

Job 27:8 For what [is] the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?Ver. 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, &c.] Here Job proveth himself to be no hypocrite, by his and their different character and carriage, especially under affliction. Though God kill Job, yet he will trust in him; but "what is the hope of the hypocrite?" &c. He that maketh a bridge of his own shadow must needs fall into the brook. The common hope thinks it takes hold of God; but it is but as a child that catcheth at the shadow on the wall, which he thinks he holdeth fast in his hand, but soon finds it otherwise; so shall the hypocrite at death, his hope shall be then as the giving up of the ghost, and that is but cold comfort. While he was in health, and had all well about him, he nourished strong hopes of God’ s favour, and the rather because he gained and gathered wealth apace. So bladder like is the soul that is filled with earthly vanities, though but wind, it grows great, and swells in high conceitedness; but if pricked with the least pin of piercing grief (how much more when struck with death’ s dart!) it shriveleth to nothing, and is ready to say, as one rich wretch did on his death bed, Spes et fortuna valete, Life and hope, adieu to you both at once. Though he hath gained] Or, When he hath been covetous; raking together Rem, rem, quocunque modo rem. See this notably exemplified in that rich fool, Luke 12:20, whose life and hopes ended together. When God taketh away his soul?] Extrahet, Shall pull it out by violence, as a sword out of his sheath; when God shall make a breach upon their citadel, come upon them by forcible entry, turn them out of their cottages of clay, by a firmae eiectione, cut them in twain, as he did that evil servant, Matthew 24:50-51, tear their bodies and souls asunder, as a man teareth the bark from the tree, or the shell from the fish, leaving it naked. Where, then, shall be the high hopes of the hypocrite? And oh what a dreadful shriek giveth his guilty soul then, to see itself launching into an infinite ocean of scalding lead, and to consider that it must swim naked in it for ever!

(8) What is the hope?—Better, What is the hope of the godless, though he get him gain, when God taketh away his soul?

Verse 8. What is the hope of the hypocrite] The word חנף chaneph, which we translate, most improperly, hypocrite, means a wicked fellow, a defiled, polluted wretch, a rascal, a knave, a man who sticks at nothing in order to gain his ends. In this verse it means a dishonest man, a rogue, who by overreaching, cheating, c., has amassed a fortune. When God taketh away his soul?] Could he have had any well grounded hope of eternal blessedness when he was acquiring earthly property by guilt and deceit? And of what avail will this property be when his soul is summoned before the judgment-seat? A righteous man yields up his soul to God the wicked does not, because he is afraid of God, of death, and of eternity. God therefore takes the soul away - forces it out of the body. Mr. Blair gives us an affecting picture of the death of a wicked man. Though well known, I shall insert it as a striking comment on this passage: - "How shocking must thy summons be, O death! To him that is at ease in his possessions; Who, counting on long years of pleasures here; Is quite unfurnished for that world to come! In that dread moment how the frantic soul Raves round the walls of her clay tenement; Runs to each avenue, and shrieks for help, But shrieks in vain! How wishfully she looks On all she's leaving, now no longer hers! A little longer, yet a little longer, O, might she stay, to wash away her stains, And fit her for her passage! Mournful sight! Her very eyes weep blood; and every groan She heaves is big with horror. But the foe, Like a stanch murderer, steady to his purpose, Pursues her close, through every lane of life, Nor misses once the track, but presses on; Till, forced at last to the tremendous verge, At once she sinks to everlasting ruin." THE GRAVE. The Chaldee has, What can the detractor expect who has gathered together (ממון דשקר mamon dishkar, the mammon of unrighteousness) when God plucks out his soul? The Septuagint: Τιςγαρεστινετιελπιςασεβει, ὁτιεπεχει;ΜηπεποιθωςεπιΚυριονειαρασωθησεται; "For what is the hope of the ungodly that he should wait for? shall he, by hoping in the Lord, be therefore saved?" Mr. Good translates differently from all the versions: - "Yet what is the hope of the wicked that he should prosper, That God should keep his soul in quiet?" I believe our version gives as true a sense as any; and the words appear to have been in the eye of our Lord, when he said, "For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26.

8. The verse most probably means, For what is the hope of the godless man when God cutteth off, When he taketh away his soul? lit. when He cutteth off, when God draweth out his soul. The comfortless state of the ungodly man (A. V. hypocrite, see on ch. Job 8:13), who has no trust in God, is described in three conditions of his history, first, when he is at the moment of death, when God “cutteth (him) off” and “draweth out his soul” (Job 27:8); second, when calamity overtakes him (Job 27:9); and in general, in his whole life (Job 27:10).

For what is the hope of the hypocrite? - The same sentiment which Job here advances had before been expressed by Bildad; see it explained in the notes at Job 8:13 following It had also been expressed

8. For — Job appeals to the want of religious experience on the part of the ungodly to show that he cannot be accounted such. Gained (unjustly) — Thus the Syriac, Chaldee, Vulgate, Arnheim, Gesenius, Furst, etc.