Job 8:13

So [are] the paths of all that forget God,.... Who forget that there is a God; he is not in all, and scarce in any of their thoughts, and they live without him in the world; who forget the works of

So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: Paths - so ways (Proverbs 1:19). All that forget God - the distinguishing trait of the godless.

Of all that forget God, i.e. of wicked men, who are branded with this same character, 50:22; or hypocrites, as the next words explain it, who are described by their first and fundamental miscarriage, which is, that they forget, i.e. neglect, forsake, and despise, (for so this phrase is commonly understood, as 8:11 32:18 23:27) God, i.e. his presence, and commands, and worship, and providence; and therefore break forth into manifold sins. But by their paths he doth not understand the course of their actions, or manner of their living; but the events which befall them, called their paths objectively, because they are the paths of God, or the methods of his providence, or manner of his dealing with them. Now this may be accommodated to the foregoing similitude in this manner: Such is the prosperity of wicked men, because it wants the solid foundation of their piety, and of God’ s promise and blessing consequent thereupon, it quickly vanisheth into nothing. The hypocrite’ s hope shall perish, i.e. he shall lose what he hoped for (hope being oft put for its object,) even uninterrupted and abiding felicity, and with it all hope of restitution.

Job 8:13 So [are] the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’ s hope shall perish:Ver. 13. So are the paths of all that forget God] To remember God is as necessary as to draw breath, saith Chrysostom. This the wicked man doth not, Psalms 9:17. He will neither have God in his head, Psalms 10:4, nor heart, Psalms 14:1, nor words, Psalms 12:2, nor ways, Titus 1:16. What wonder then though his paths wither, though his life, health, wealth, power, perish, since he is in such a posture of distance from, and defiance with, the fountain of living waters, the Father of all mercy and consolation; by whose favour such flourish for a time, sed exoriuntur, ut exurantur? And the hypocrite’ s hope shall perish] Every wicked man is a hypocrite; and if there were nothing else to evince it, yet his very hope and groundless confidence in the mercies of God without warrant of promise, would undoubtedly prove it. Praesumendo sperat, et sperando petit, saith an ancient; he presumptuously hopeth, and by hoping perisheth; he lays his own shadow for a bridge, and so must needs fall into the brook. Trust thou in the Lord and do good, saith David, Psalms 37:3. But this man, though he cannot tell of one tear for sin, nor one hour spent in the practice of mortification; yet he affirmeth deeply of going to heaven, and is ready to rap, yea, bounce at heaven’ s gate with Lord, Lord, open unto us: but what saith the psalmist? "As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways" (though they do it never so slily, as if they would steal a passage to hell, and the world never the wiser), "the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity," with gross offenders, Psalms 125:5, as malefactors are led forth to execution; and when the filthy sinner (so the word here rendered hypocrite signifieth) goes damned to hell, what shall become of the zealous professor, with all his fair hopes and possibilities? Surely God rejecteth their confidences; they shall not prosper in them, Jeremiah 2:37.

Verse 13. So are the paths] The papyrus and the rush flourish while they have a plentiful supply of ooze and water; but take these away, and their prosperity is speedily at an end; so it is with the wicked and profane; their prosperity is of short duration, however great it may appear to be in the beginning. Thou also, O thou enemy of God, hast flourished for a time; but the blast of God is come upon thee, and now thou art dried up from the very roots. The hypocrite's hope shall perish] A hypocrite, or rather profligate, has no inward religion, for his heart is not right with God; he has only hope, and that perishes when he gives up the ghost. This is the first place in which the word hypocrite occurs, or the noun חנף chaneph, which rather conveys the idea of pollution and defilement than of hypocrisy. A hypocrite is one who only carries the mask of godliness, to serve secular purposes; who wishes to be taken for a religionist, though he is conscious he has no religion. Such a person cannot have hope of any good, because he knows he is insincere: but the person in the text has hope; therefore hypocrite cannot be the meaning of the original word. But all the vile, the polluted, and the profligate have hope; they hope to end their iniquities before they end life; and they hope to get at last to the kingdom of heaven. Hypocrite is a very improper translation of the Hebrew.

13. Application of the simile. When men forget God, and His sustaining grace is withdrawn from them, they sink down suddenly and perish like the luxuriant water-reed. the hypocrite] This word is difficult to translate, it means rather the godless, or, profane, cf. Jeremiah 23:11; hypocrisy in the ordinary sense is not at all the idea of the term. The verb is rendered in the English Version mostly “defile” or “pollute,” but “profane” would suit most of the passages.

So are the paths of all that forget God - This is clearly a part of the quotation from the sayings of the ancients. The word “paths” here means ways, acts, doings. They who forget God are like the paper-reed.

13. Forget God — Ingratitude is a burning wind that dries up the fountains of piety and the streams of love. (St. Bernard.) The hypocrite — çðŠ.