TEXT [Commentary]

  2.   Meaningless thoughts (27:7-23)

7 “May my enemy be punished like the wicked,

my adversary like those who do evil.

8 For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off

and takes away their life?

9 Will God listen to their cry

when trouble comes upon them?

10 Can they take delight in the Almighty?

Can they call to God at any time?

11 I will teach you about God’s power.

I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.

12 But you have seen all this,

yet you say all these useless things to me.

13 “This is what the wicked will receive from God;

this is their inheritance from the Almighty.

14 They may have many children,

but the children will die in war or starve to death.

15 Those who survive will die of a plague,

and not even their widows will mourn them.

16 “Evil people may have piles of money

and may store away mounds of clothing.

17 But the righteous will wear that clothing,

and the innocent will divide that money.

18 The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web,[*]

as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.

19 The wicked go to bed rich

but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.

20 Terror overwhelms them like a flood,

and they are blown away in the storms of the night.

21 The east wind carries them away, and they are gone.

It sweeps them away.

22 It whirls down on them without mercy.

They struggle to flee from its power.

23 But everyone jeers at them

and mocks them.

NOTES

27:8 takes away their life. The translation “takes away” assumes one of two possibilities for the obscure Heb. yeshel [TH7953, ZH8923]: it may be an abbreviated orthography for (1) the verb “ask, demand” (sha’al [TH7592, ZH8626]; omission of the aleph; cf. 6:14) or (2) the verb “have peace [in death]” (shalah [TH7951, ZH8922]; cf. 3:26). Neither of these requires a modification, but the form is unusual.

27:11 about God’s power. The Heb. says “in the hand of God,” most commonly a metaphor for divine power, as expressed in most translations. However, Job had never been concerned about God’s power but rather his justice (Gordis 1978:289). Job was responding to Eliphaz’s claim that he spoke for God in instructing Job (22:26-27), a connection already made by the translator of the LXX (see comment below). Job protested that he had received the word of God and that he would not hide it—the same claim he had made earlier (6:10). Thus we should read that Job was their teacher “on behalf of (be‘ad [TH1157, ZH1237]) God,” which is a close phonetic equivalent of “in the hand (beyad [TH3027, ZH3338]) of God.” (The use of beyad for be‘ad is found in the Amarna letters of Canaan and is also probable at 8:4.) The second line confirms this interpretation.

concerning the Almighty. This clause, lit., “what is with the Almighty” (RSV, NASB), is a way of referring to that which God is thinking. Job would not conceal the divine truth God had revealed to him—anything concerning the thoughts of the Almighty.

27:13 receive from God. The Heb. text says this is the destiny of the wicked “with God.” The prepositional phrase is the same as in 27:11b, where it was noted that it expresses what is in the mind of God. In this verse it indicates the plans God has in mind for the wicked. Many commentators regard this as a textual error (Fohrer 1989:387; Pope 1965:172; BHS), and emend the phrase to say “from God,” making it formally parallel with the second line of v. 13 (so NLT). This is preferable for poetic parallelism; the emendation involves the removal of one letter, which may have been accidentally copied twice.

27:18 fragile as a spider’s web. The Heb. word (‘ash [TH6211, ZH6931]) normally means “moth,” an insect not noted for house-building. The use of the word in related Semitic languages suggests it may mean other insects (Grabbe 1977:90), or an insect at the larva stage while it is in its cocoon (NIV). The ancient versions all indicate some type of insect. Other translations relate this to another Semitic word (‘ushun) meaning “nest” (NRSV, REB).

27:19 but wake to find. The Heb. word ye’asep could be from the root ’asap [TH622, ZH665] and mean “gather” (KJV), which might be taken as a reference to burial—i.e., the wicked will not receive a proper burial. The following line, however, suggests the word is a variant spelling of yasap [TH3254, ZH3578] (continue); this is also how the LXX takes it. The resulting idea is that their “riches will not continue” (cf. “wealth is gone”; NLT, RSV, NIV, REB, NJB); those who go to bed rich will one day open their eyes and find nothing remains.

27:20 Terror overwhelms them like a flood. The Heb. has “waters,” probably meant in the sense of floodwaters (cf. RSV, NIV, REB), but other versions change this to “terror assails him in broad daylight” (NJB), so as to form a parallel with “night” in the next line.

COMMENTARY [Text]

In this section, Job points out the preposterous logic of his friends. They were false accusers, as is evident in their empty and vain ideas (27:12). They claimed that Job was the enemy of God; he was a sinner and therefore was being punished accordingly. At the same time, Eliphaz had urged Job to get his peace from God (22:21), to find his delight in God (22:26), to pray to God (22:27) and fulfill all his vows. But can an enemy of God pray to God and find delight in God (27:10)? The very idea of telling an enemy under divine judgment to pray is preposterous. When the time of judgment comes, the time for prayer will have passed; at that point, the punishment can no longer be averted. Job could wish that his enemies were the wicked, that all his enemies were the enemies of God; he would then be assured of their fate, for they would have no hope under God’s judgment. Life comes from God, and God recalls the life of the wicked. He will not hear their cry of distress when the day of judgment comes upon them.

Now the friends must listen. Their thinking is nothing but empty rationalization; their logic is completely useless. Job would now teach them on behalf of God. The friends had presumed they would teach Job about God’s ways; Eliphaz in particular had instructed Job how to bring light back into his life (22:26-28). This connection to the words of Eliphaz was evidently recognized long ago by the Greek translator, who used the same paraphrase in both instances (22:26-27; 27:10) for the same Hebrew words. Eliphaz claimed to know about the justice of God, but he made a fool of himself in trying to apply his ideas to Job. Job knew about the justice of God, and he understood retribution. Once retribution comes upon the enemy of God, the time of reconciliation is past, as Job eloquently explained in his description of the wicked (27:13-23). If Job was such an enemy, there was no point in his friends telling him to find divine favor. And if Job was not such an enemy, there was no point in accusing him of being a sinner under judgment. Either way, the friends were wrong. Understanding the mind of God must mean that bad things can happen to good people.

Judgment upon the wicked is swift and sure, as Job had said previously (24:18-24), in spite of his observations that the wicked often go unpunished in the present time (21:17-34; 24:1-17). Life may seem to drag on forever for the sufferer, but the wicked are living in a fool’s world. God has a plan for them; before they know it, their fate will have been executed. No one escapes war, famine, and plague, which sweep away whole families. A wicked man may have had the luxury of many wives and children, but his widows (the Heb. is plural, though, implying that a rich man is being described) will be too stunned too weep at the loss of their children. Polygamy was always confined to the rich for both economic and biological reasons. However, a large family was no protection in times of war and disease. Amos described just such a time in pronouncing judgment against the wealthy of Israel (Amos 6:9-10); war would decimate their cities, so there would scarcely be anyone left to gather them for burial.

The wealth and the homes of the rich are no better than a spider’s web or a temporary shelter in a field (27:18); one day the wealthy will wake up to find everything is gone. If it is not war, then natural disaster will strike without warning (27:21-22). It happens so quickly that others whistle in amazement. When wealth is all a person has in this world, then its sudden destruction means the loss of everything. No matter how long the wicked may live, this will be their fate.

Wealth was not all that Job had in this world. Job had devotion to God, a devotion that was loyal throughout his distress (27:2-5). Though it seemed to Job that God had regarded him as an enemy, he was sure that his Redeemer lived (19:25). True wisdom kept him from accepting false explanations for his suffering. Such wisdom is hard to find. Even the best of the wise, represented in his friends, had missed the mark and become fools. Humans can be clever yet fail to understand what they really need to know about life.