Job 27
OGCTODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION
1-2 I swear by the living Almighty God,
who refuses me justice and makes my life bitter
3 as long as God gives me breath 4 my lips will never say anything evil,
and my tongue will never speak a lie.
5 I will never say that you men are right;
as long as I live I will insist I am innocent.
6 I will never give up my claim to be right;
my conscience is clear.
7 May all who oppose me and fight against me
be punished like wicked, unrighteous men.
8 What hope is there for godless men
in the hour when God demands their life?
9 When trouble comes, will God hear their cries? 10 They should have wanted the joy he gives and should have constantly prayed to him. 11 Let me teach you how great is God’s power,
and explain what Almighty God has planned.
12 But no, after all, you have seen for yourselves;
so why do you talk such nonsense?
[Zophar]
13 Here is how Almighty God punishes wicked, violent men. 14 They may have many sons, but all are killed in war;
their children never have enough to eat.
15 Those who survive will die from disease,
and their widows will not mourn their death.
16 The wicked may have too much silver to count,
and more clothes than anyone needs.
17 But some good man will wear the clothes,
and some honest man will get the silver.
18 The wicked build houses that will not last;
they are like a spider’s web,
or the hut of a slave guarding the fields.
19 One last time they will lie down rich,
and when they wake up they will find their wealth gone.
20 Terror will strike like a sudden flood;
a wind in the night will blow them away;
21 the east wind will sweep them from their homes; 22 it will blow down on them without pity,
while they try their best to escape.
23 The wind howls at them as they run,
frightening them with destructive power.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 27:1-23
Chapter twenty-six contains a powerful section on the constant Lordship of God over nature. The verbs in Job 27:5-11 emphasize this. How so?
What is meant by the expression took up his parable?
Job takes the most solemn oath possible. What is it? What does it suggest?
Does Job refer to the fact that he is yet alive? Or is this the thought?
Is Job saying that he will speak the truth on all subjects or on just the subject of his innocence? Discuss.
Job declares the guilt of his friends in the declaration of his innocence. Why?
How is the term heart used in the O.T.?
Show how we can ascribe verse seven to Job.
The term get gain in verse eight means more than mere acquiring of possessions. What is added?
Job presents his friends with a devastating theological dilemma. Explain.
There is a grand lesson of the proper attitude toward God in verse ten. What is it?
Job actually charges God with immoral behavior. Discuss. Cf. Job 27:11-12.
The portion of the wicked man in Job 27:13-15 is very much like what happened to Job. Is there a relationship? Discuss.
Aren-’t most of these comments idle dreaming about what should happen to the wicked rather than what really happens? Discuss.
The moth of Job 27:18 is a man. Explain.
What is described in Job 27:19?
The wicked are lonely and haunted by terrors night and day. Why? Is this always true?
What was unusual about the east wind?
Who is throwing what at whom in Job 27:22?
Men clap their hands at the wicked. When? Why?
Job 27:1-6
IV. THE LONELINESS AND ISOLATION OF JOB (Job 27:1, Job 31:40)
A. THE AFFIRMATION OF INNOCENCE (Job 27:1-6)
TEXT 27:1-6
**27 And Job again took up his parable and said,
2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my right, And the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul
3 (For my life is yet whole in me,
And the spirit of God is in my nostrils);
4 Surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness,
Neither shall my tongue utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me that I should justify you:
Till I die I will not put away mine integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast,
and will not let it go:
My heart shall not reproach **me so long as I live.
COMMENT 27:1-6
**Job 27:1**The preceding chapter contains the most powerful cosmological section in the dialogue for insight and scope of expression. All the verbs in Job 27:5-11 are participles or the imperfect describing God’s constant Lordship over nature. Now Job resumes his response to Bildad by his inflexible protestation of innocenceJob 27:1-6. Job continues his parable (masal[276]not always a parable, mesalimcollections in Book of Proverbs; brief saying1 Samuel 10:12; longer sayingIsa 14:4; taunt or mockDeu 28:37), preferably discourse, taunt, or mock here. Masai is often associated in parallel with hidahriddle or dark saying as in Psalms 49:5; Ezekiel 17:2; Habakkuk 2:6. It also appears in contexts with words of derision such as Deuteronomy 28:37; 1 Samuel 10:12; Isaiah 14:4; Jeremiah 24:9; and Habakkuk 2:6. Clearly masal covers a wide variety of literary compositions, thus we should not be alarmed that Job is not uttering a parable.
[276] For examination of the meaning of masal and extensive bibliography, see A. R. Johnson, Vetus Testamentum, Supplement, 1955, pp. 162ff; also F. Hauck, Parabole, TWNT, Vol. 5, 744-761, esp. 747-751.
**Job 27:2**The verse is introduced by an oath formula as God lives1 Samuel 14:39 and 1 Samuel 2:27. The tension, still unresolved, is present here as Job swears by the God (Elsee my theological essay Is Job’s God in Exile? in this commentary),[277] who has wronged him, i.e., made my soul bitterJob 7:11; Job 10:1; Job 21:25. The fact that Job made his vow in God’s name suggests that he loved Him. Near Eastern custom would suggest this. From this curious tension the ancient rabbis deduced that Job served God out of loveJob 7:11; Job 10:1; Job 21:25; Job 34:5; Job 36:6; and Rth 1:20.
[277] See M. Pope, El in the Ugaritic Texts, Supplement, Vetus Testamentum II, 1955, esp. 12-15, 104; that this is the most solemn oath possible see I. Guillet, L-‘homme devant Dieu (Paris, 1964), pp. 19-20.
**Job 27:3**Job is affirming that though he is suffering, he still has control over his mental faculties. The conviction of this battered giant remains unshaken. The use of first person pronoun (12 occurrences) in Job 27:2-6 is our assurance that Job has introspectively searched out his past and does not remember a single unrighteous act. He will maintain his integrity (tummahJob 2:3) until his death. As long as my life (nepheshderives from GodGen 2:7; and returns to GodJob 34:14) is intact and God’s ruah enlivens me, I will swear loyal allegiance to Him.
**Job 27:4**He contends that all along he has spoken the truth. This is the content of the oath. He swears in El’s name to speak only the truth in defending his innocence. The A. V. rendering of utter derives from a verb which means moanIsa 38:14; meditatePsa 1:2; devisePsa 2:1; and here speakPsa 71:24; deceit is the same word found in Job 13:7.
**Job 27:5**As long as Job lives, he will not grant his friends the right to assert his guilt. The formula used, far be it from me, implies that there is something profane in the idea which he is rejecting2 Samuel 20:20. So long as he lives, he could not deny his own integrity before God. I could never justify you (the pronoun is plural), i.e., admit that you are correct regarding my righteousness; the A. V. rendering of will not put away comes from a word meaning withhold and also appears in verse two.
**Job 27:6**The heart is the Hebrew seat of intelligence, reasonJob 2:9; 1 Samuel 24:6. Job denies any awareness of sins such as his consolers had charged to himJob 22:6-9. Nothing new is advanced in this speech, but he continues to scorn Bildad’s defense of God, and to affirm his own innocence.
Job 27:7-23
B. NO BELIEVERS ANONYMOUS,
I.E., NO UNIVERSAL SALVATION (Job 27:7-23)
TEXT 27:7-23
7 **Let mine enemy be as the wicked,
And let him that riseth up against me be as the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the godless, though he get him gain,
When God taketh away his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry,
When trouble cometh upon him?
10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty,
And call upon God at all times?
I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it;
Why then are ye become altogether vain?
13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
And the heritage of oppressors,
which they receive from the Almighty:
14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword;
And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death,
And his widows shall make no lamentation.
16 Though he heap up silver as the dust,
And prepare raiment as the clay;
17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on,
And the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He buildeth his house as the moth,
And as a booth which the keeper maketh.
19 He lieth down rich, but he shall not be gathered to his fathers;
He openeth his eyes, and he is not.
20 Terrors overtake him like waters;
A tempest stealeth him away in the night.
21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth;
And it sweepeth him out of his place.
22 For Godshall hurl at him, and not spare:
He would fain flee out of his hand.
23 Men shall clap their hands at him,
And shall hiss him out of his place.**
COMMENT 27:7-23
**Job 27:7**In this present text, Zophar gives no response. Some affirm that Job 27:7-23 are inappropriate on Job’s lips, and ascribe the verses to Zophar. The lot of the wicked, i.e., those without God and hope, is inevitable punishment. Though the words are strong, they are not vindictive but rather express the author’s abhorrence of evil.
**Job 27:8**The verb rendered get gain means gain by violence, cut off, break offEze 22:27. Note that Job 27:9 speaks of God’s deafness to the prayers of the wicked. The verse is relating how lonely and isolated the wicked are, even in this life. The ultimate fate of the wicked is again death. Only the godly man can pray to God; all ears are deaf to the ungodly (Heb. hanephas a class of men). Why do his friends implore him to pray for forgiveness, if God does not hear the prayers of the hanephungodly?
**Job 27:9**The verse continues the point from Job 27:8If I am unrighteous, God will not hear my prayer for forgiveness. Job presents them with a theological dilemma of their own making. How devastating.
**Job 27:10**The same verb rendered delight himself has already appeared in Job 22:26. It is useless to pray to God in times of trouble if we have ignored Him in all other circumstances (at all times).
**Job 27:11**He here launches on a new theological theme that of God’s immoral behavior in governing the universe. The you is again plural. Both Job and his friends claim superior knowledge.
**Job 27:12**How can you be uninformed concerning the universal phenomenon of God’s injustice, if you are so wise? He charges them with intense futility, i.e., lit. become vain with a vain thing.
**Job 27:13**These words are almost identical with Zophar’s in Job 20:29. The wicked man is singular, but oppressors is in the plural. The preposition -im should be translated from and not with (as in the A. V.[278]) Shaddai, the almighty. The portion or judgment is from God.
[278] M. Dahood, UgariticHebrew Philology (Rome, 1965), p. 32.
**Job 27:14**Numerous children were thought to be a great blessing; here they are for destructionJob 5:4; Job 18:19; and Job 21:8; Job 21:11. The sword is to break (pssshatter, scatter) his offspring.
**Job 27:15**His survivors, i.e., children, not destroyed by the sword will be left to the fate of death by pestilenceJer 15:2; Jeremiah 18:2. The Hebrew text literally says His survivors will be buried in death by death, a death which befits the ungodly. Not to be buried2 Kings 9:10; Jeremiah 8:2; Jeremiah 14:6; Jeremiah 22:19or mournedPsa 78:64; Jeremiah 22:10was a disaster. The strange phrase above could perhaps yield better sense by taking de Vaux’s suggestion that bamotrather thanbammawetis a cultic word for tomb.[279] Contrast with Job 21:32 where Job declares that the wicked often have a large funeral.
[279] R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1 vol. E. T.), p. 287.
**Job 27:16**The image here suggests abundanceZec 9:3. After the family is destroyed, their possessions follow the same fate. Silver and elaborate garments are greatly valued, see Genesis 24:53; Joshua 7:21; 2 Kings 5:22 ff; and Zechariah 14:14.
**Job 27:17**The only ones who will prosper are the righteous. What the ungodly accumulate will be divided by the godlyPsa 39:6; Proverbs 13:22.
**Job 27:18**The A. V. rendering of asas mothis inappropriate since moths do not build houses. The imagery here comes from the harvest season when a watchman or guard builds temporary shelter from which to watch over unharvested crop. One could hardly derive this since from the A. V. the verbs (banahhe builds, -asahhe makes) are not parallel. The verb he makes refers to the flimsy shelter (sukkah) which the watchman constructs.[280]
[280] See M. Pope, Job, p. 193, for thorough discussion.
**Job 27:19**The rich lie down, but for the last time. The swiftness of the destruction of the wicked is here vividly expressed. The rendering of the A. V., he shall not be gathered to his fathers, expresses the Hebrew will do so no more. The second line containing the phrase and he is not is an attempt at rendering the Hebrew, which can be either it is not or he is not and expresses the fact that a dying man is conscious of his own demise.
**Job 27:20**Dahood renders this verse terrors will overtake him like a flood, night will kidnap him like a tempest[281]Job 22:11. As in Job 27:19, calamity calls him from his night chambers. The wicked man is haunted by terrors night and dayIsa 28:17; Hosea 5:10; and Amos 5:24.
[281] M. Dahood, Biblica, 1969, p. 342.
**Job 27:21**The east wind causes restless and sleepless nights; thus it signifies all that is unpleasant. This sirocco wind is scorching and violent, destroying man’s peaceJob 15:2. Even the climatic conditions crash in on the ungodly.
**Job 27:22**The A. V. makes little sense. There is neither subject nor object to hurl (word God is not in the text) in the text, but the implication is that of a deadly missile.
**Job 27:23**The ambiguities of this verse largely stem from the unexpressed subject of the verbs of Job 27:22-23, which may be God, east wind, or one man. The metaphors here convey derisive mockery and contemptLam 2:15. The rendering of the A. V. men shall clap their hands at him, understands the text as an indefinite third person one claps or men clap. When death and destruction come to the wicked, men scornfully clap their hands, while hissing (a gesture of horror) at the very thought of themJer 49:17; Ezekiel 27:36; Zephaniah 2:15.