1 ¶
Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know
him not see his days? 2 Some remove the
landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. 3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless,
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. 4
They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide
themselves together. 5 Behold, as wild
asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey:
the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children. 6 They reap every one his corn in the field:
and they gather the vintage of the wicked. 7
They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no
covering in the cold. 8 They are wet
with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the
breast, and take a pledge of the poor. 10
They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the
sheaf from the hungry; 11 Which make oil
within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. 12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul
of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
Job expands on
his former argument that the wicked are not always punished in this life and we
often don’t see what happens to them. It is incorrect to say that good always
wins and bad is always punished. People are aware of God’s standards and
judgment and still continue to do great evil.
Job lists some
things that were issues in a world of herds and flocks and land.
Deuteronomy 19:14 ¶ Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s
landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou
shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
Proverbs 23:10 ¶ Remove not the old landmark; and enter not
into the fields of the fatherless:
Taking
something that was put up as a guarantee against a loan from a poor person, if
it was his or her livelihood or needed for their survival, was wrong by God’s
standard.
Deuteronomy 24:6 No man shall take the nether or the upper
millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge…12 And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep
with his pledge: 13 In any case thou
shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep
in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee
before the LORD thy God.
The point is of
this passage in Job that wicked men do all of these wicked things and often get
away with it, or seem to, as, “God layeth not folly to them.” It is naïve and
foolish to have a old-fashioned Saturday morning children’s television show
view of the world in thinking that the good always win and the bad are always
punished in this world.
13 ¶ They are of those that rebel
against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths
thereof. 14 The murderer rising with the
light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. 15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the
twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. 16 In the dark they dig through houses, which
they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. 17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow
of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
No further
explanation is needed of this passage from a literal standpoint. Many verses
throughout the Bible speak of how the wicked lay in wait for the poor. The
wicked person often makes his fortune by deceiving and manipulating the poor.
Sometimes he just commits outright murder. One characteristic of both the
murderer and the adulterer is believing that under the cover of darkness no one
sees them.
Psalm 10 is a
plea for judgment against these people.
1
¶ Why standest thou afar off, O LORD?
why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? 2
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in
the devices that they have imagined. 3
For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the
covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. 4 The
wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is
not in all his thoughts. 5 His ways are
always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his
enemies, he puffeth at them. 6 He hath
said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and
deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. 8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the
villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are
privily set against the poor. 9 He lieth
in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he
doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. 10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the
poor may fall by his strong ones. 11 He
hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never
see it.
18 ¶ He is swift as the waters;
their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the
vineyards. 19 Drought and heat consume
the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. 20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall
feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be
broken as a tree. 21 He evil entreateth
the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. 22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he
riseth up, and no man is sure of life. 23
Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes
are upon their ways. 24 They are exalted
for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way
as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. 25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a
liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Like a flood
the wicked descend on their prey. They hold in contempt the honest labor of the
vineyard. They do no one any good. Even the mighty are drawn into his influence
and no one’s life is certain or safe when he is about. Here, Job remembers the
eventual demise of the wicked who profit for a short time but then descend into
the grave. Job knows the things that his friends have been telling him and does
not deny that even though the wicked seem to prosper for a time they will all
come to the same fate. If Job is not speaking truth he dares his friends to
argue with him.
We have, in these
verses, many interesting things to note about the mark of a wicked man. He
cares nothing for honest labor and is always seeking an advantage over others
which is something forbidden to the Christian. He does no good to those who are
lacking as the Christian is called to do good. No one is safe in his presence
which is the opposite of how people should feel around a Christian. The
Christian does not care to influence the powerful but by the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
It has been
said that life on earth is about power. We are fascinated by the boxer with the
most knockouts, the baseball player with the most home runs, who is the
wealthiest, the most influential, the power-broker in politics, the nation with
the mightiest army. In our personal relationships there often appears to be a
struggle for who gets the most attention, who gets what they want, who is in
charge.
Wicked people
want to control others. They want to be in charge. They have a pathological
need, a lust, to tell others what to do and how to do it. They can disguise
their wickedness by saying that it is for a good cause, even for Christ. They
will exploit and manipulate those around them. The Christian does not seek to
control others. He seeks to be an example, a testimony of faith, and submission
to God’s will. He leads by example and draws
others to Christ. He does not drive
them like a slave overseer with a whip.
Here, Job is
expressing what we all know, that wicked people do great harm with seeming
impunity, and go to their graves without fear. Often, their wickedness is
forgotten after them and we remember them as being good, even as
philanthropists or Godly men and women.
History is
replete with great men who were incredibly evil men who abused the weak and the
poor, which God repeatedly says He hates, and yet are called into public memory
as great political leaders, generous philanthropists, brilliant generals,
captains of industry, captivating thinkers, and men of renown. These
individuals are burning in a sinner’s Hell now for their rejection of Christ
and worship of Self but we remember them as great ones. They exist at every
level of humanity, on every layer of success, and in every government office
building, every school, every church, and in every family. And they seem to get
away with their wickedness.
A famous quote
made about leadership in history was; “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men
are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not
authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of
corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office
sanctifies the holder of it.” (29)
(29) John
Dalberg-Acton, “Letter to
Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887” published in Historical
Essays and Studies, edited by J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (London:
Macmillan, 1907).
Job will go on,
after he is interrupted, to lift up his own righteousness and to proclaim that
he is not one of the wicked but a just man, sorely treated.
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