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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 27:11-23

Job's friends had seen a great deal of the misery and destruction that attend wicked people, especially oppressors; and Job, while the heat of disputation lasted, had said as much, and with as much assurance, of their prosperity; but now that the heat of the battle was nearly over he was willing to own how far he agreed with them, and where the difference between his opinion and theirs lay. 1. He agreed with them that wicked people are miserable people, that God will surely reckon with cruel... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 27:18

He buildeth his house as a moth ,.... Which builds its house in a garment by eating into it, and so destroying it, and in time eats itself out of house and home, and however does not continue long in it, but is soon and easily shook out, or brushed off; so a wicked man builds himself an house, a stately palace, like Arcturus F12 כעש "quasi Arcturi", Junius & Tremellius; so Aben Ezra. ; so some render the words from Job 9:9 , a palace among the stars, an heavenly palace and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 27:18

He buildeth his house as a moth - With great skill, great pains, and great industry; but the structure, however skillful, shall be dissolved; and the materials, however costly, shall be brought to corruption. To its owner it shall be only a temporary habitation, like that which the moth makes in its larve or caterpillar state, during its change from a chrysalis to a winged insect. As a booth that the keeper maketh - A shed which the watchman or keeper of a vineyard erects to cover him... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 27:1-23

This chapter divides itself into three distinct portions. In the first, which extends to the end of Job 27:6 , Job is engaged in maintaining, with the utmost possible solemnity (verse 2), both his actual integrity (verse 6) and his determination to hold fast his integrity as long as he lives (verses 4-6). In the second (verses 7-10) he implicates a curse upon his enemies. In the third (verses 11-23) he returns to the consideration of God's treatment of the wicked, and retracts the view... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 27:1-23

Job a victor in the controversy. After the last speech of Job the friends appear to be completely overcome and silenced, and the third of them does not venture to renew the attack. The sufferer therefore continues, in a speech of high poetic beauty, to instruct the friends, while once more insisting on his own innocence. I. INNOCENCE MAINTAINED . (Verses 2-10.) 1 . Conscious rectitude of resolve. (Verses 2-4.) In the profoundest sense that his thoughts are open to the eye of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 27:11-23

It is impossible to deny that this passage directly contradicts Job's former utterances, especially Job 24:2-24 . But the hypotheses which would make Job irresponsible for the present utterance and fix on him, as his steadfast conviction, the opposite theory, are unsatisfactory and have no solid basis. To suppose that Zophar is the real speaker is to imagine the absolute loss and suppression of two entire verses—one between verses 10 and 11, assigning the speech to him, and another at the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 27:11-23

Job's first parable: 2. The portion of a wicked man with God. I. JOB 'S LANGUAGE EXPLAINED . The lot, or earthly inheritance, of the ungodly Job exhibits in three particulars. 1 . The wicked man ' s family. However numerous the children that gather round a sinner's hearth, they will all be overwhelmed in eventual destruction. 2 . The wicked man's wealth. This also shall be dissipated. 3 . The wicked man ' s person. Equally with his family and possessions,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 27:13-23

The reward of iniquity. Job's eye had been open to behold the ways of God with men. He had seen the effects of righteous living and of wickedness. His own suffering, coupled with his consciousness of integrity, would quicken his inquiries and his observations on the relative results of these two methods of living. He now pronounces his judgment on the fruits of ungodly living: "This is the portion of a wicked man." Whatever may be the temporary prosperity of the wicked (and of such... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 27:13-23

The portion of a wicked man. Job seems to be echoing the teaching of his friends which he has previously repudiated. Now he urges that the wicked man does meet with trouble as the wages of his misdeeds. But Job looks further than his friends. He does not associate particular and immediate troubles with guilt as they do; he takes a large view of life; he embraces the whole career; and from that he draws his conclusions. The striking thing about this picture is that success is converted into... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 27:18

He buildeth his house as a moth . The moth is the symbol of fragility, decay, and weakness. The wicked man's attempt to build himself up a house, and establish a powerful family, is no better than a moth's attempt to make itself a permanent habitation. As moths do not construct dwellings for themselves, it has been proposed (Merx) to read כעכבישׁ , "as a spider," for מעשׁ , "as a moth;" but the change is too great to be at all probable. May not the cocoon, from which the moth issues as.... read more

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