Job 27

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:14

If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword - That is, they shall be slain in war. The first calamities which it is here said would come upon a man, relate to his family Job 27:14-18; the next are those that would come upon himself, Job 27:19-23. All the sentiments here expressed are found in the various speeches of the friends of Job, and, according to the interpretation suggested above, this is designed to represent their sentiments. They maintained that if a wicked man was blessed... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:15

Those that remain of him - Those that survive him.Shall be buried in death - Hebrew “shall be buried BY death” (במות bamâveth), that is. “Death shall be the grave-digger” - or, they shall have no friends to bury them; they shall be unburied. The idea is highly poetical, and the expression is very tender. They would have no one to weep over them, and no one to prepare for them a grave; there would be no procession, no funeral dirge, no train of weeping attendants; even the members of their own... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:16

Though he heap up silver as the dust - That is, in great quantities - as plenty as dust; compare 1 Kings 10:27, “And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones.”And prepare raiment - Oriental wealth consisted much in changes of raiment. Sir John Chardin says that in the East it is common to gather together immense quantities of furniture and clothes. According to D’Herbelot, Bokteri, an illustrious poet; of Cufah in the ninth century, had so many presents made him in the course of his... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:17

The just shall put it on - The righteous shall wear it. It shall pass out of the hands of him who prepared it, into the hands of others. The meaning is, that the wicked, though they become rich, would not live to enjoy their ill-gotten gains. These two verses contain a beautiful illustration of what Dr. Jebb calls the introverted parallelism - where the fourth member answers to the first, and the third to the second:“Though he heap up silver as the dust,And prepare raiment as the clay,The just... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:18

He buildeth his house as a moth - The house which the moth builds is the slight fabric which it makes for its own dwelling in the garment which it consumes. On this verse compare Job 8:14. The dwelling of the moth is composed of the materials of the garment on which it feeds, and there may be an allusion here not only to the fact that the house which the wicked reared for themselves would be temporary, and that it would soon pass away like the dwelling of the moth, but that it was obtained -... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:19

The rich man - That is, the rich man who is wicked.Shall lie down - Shalt die - for so the connection demands.But he shall not be gathered - In an honorable burial. The slain in battle are gathered together for burial; but he shall be unburied. The expressions “to be gathered,” “to be gathered to one’s fathers,” frequently occur in the Scriptures, and seem to be used to denote a peaceful and happy death and an honorable burial. There was the idea of a happy union with departed friends; of being... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:20

Terrors-take hold on him as waters - That is, as suddenly and violently as angry floods; compare the notes at Job 18:14.A tempest stealeth him away - He is suddenly cut off by the wrath of God. A tempest comes upon him as unexpectedly as a thief or robber comes at night. Death is often represented as coming upon man with the silence of a thief, or the sudden violence of a robber at midnight; see the note at Job 21:17; compare Matthew 24:42-44. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:21

The east wind carrieth him away - He is swept off as by the violence of a tempest. Severe storms are represented in this book as coming from the East; compare the notes at Job 15:2. The ancients believed that people might be carried away by a tempest or whirlwind; compare Isaiah 41:16; see also Homer, Odyssey xx. 63ff:“Snatch me, ye whirlwinds far from human race,Test through the void illimitable space;Or if dismounted from the rapid cloud,Me with his whelming wave let Ocean shroud!”PopeCompare... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:22

For God shall cast upon him - That is, God shall bring calamities upon him, or cast his thunderbolts upon him, and shall not pity him.He would fain flee - He would gladly escape from the wrath of God, but he is unable to do it. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 27:23

Men shall clap their hands at him - That is, they shall combine to drive him out of the world, and rejoice when he is gone. The same sentiment was also expressed by Bildad, Job 18:18 :“He shall be driven fromm light into darkness,And chased out of the world.”There can be no doubt, I think, that Job alludes to that sentiment, and that his object in quoting it is to show its incorrectness. He does not indeed go into a formal reply to it in the following chapters, but he seems to consider that he... read more

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