Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Guzik • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • Kelly • King • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) Job 27:16-18. Prepare raiment as the clay — In great abundance. But the just shall put it on — Either because it shall be given to him by the magistrate, to recompense him for those injuries which he had received from the oppressor; or because the right of it is, in some other way, transferred upon him by divine providence. He buildeth his house as a moth — Which settleth itself in a garment, but is quickly and unexpectedly dispossessed of its dwelling, and crushed to death. And as a booth, &c. — Which the keeper of a garden or vineyard suddenly rears up in fruit-time, and as quickly pulls down again.27:11-23 Job's friends, on the same subject, spoke of the misery of wicked men before death as proportioned to their crimes; Job considered that if it were not so, still the consequences of their death would be dreadful. Job undertook to set this matter in a true light. Death to a godly man, is like a fair gale of wind to convey him to the heavenly country; but, to a wicked man, it is like a storm, that hurries him away to destruction. While he lived, he had the benefit of sparing mercy; but now the day of God's patience is over, and he will pour out upon him his wrath. When God casts down a man, there is no flying from, nor bearing up under his anger. Those who will not now flee to the arms of Divine grace, which are stretched out to receive them, will not be able to flee from the arms of Divine wrath, which will shortly be stretched out to destroy them. And what is a man profited if he gain the whole world, and thus lose his own soul?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 life, that when he died he was found possessed of an hundred complete suits of clothes, two hundred shirts, and five hundred turbans. compare Ezra 2:69, and Nehemiah 7:70 see Bochart IIieroz. P. II. Lib. iv. c. xxv. p. 617. This species of treasure is mentioned by Virgil; Dives equom, dives pictai vestis et auri. Aeneid ix. 26. The reason why wealth consisted so much in changes of raiment, is to be found in the fondness for display in Oriental countries, and in the fact that as fashions never change there, such treasures are valuable until they are worn out. In the ever-varying fashions of the West such treasures are comparatively of much less value. As the clay - As the dust of the streets; or as abundant as mire. 16. dust … clay—images of multitudes (Zec 9:3). Many changes of raiment are a chief constituent of wealth in the East. i.e. In great abundance.Though he heap up silver as the dust,.... Which, as it denotes the great abundance of it collected together, so it expresses the bias and disposition of such a man's mind, that he cannot be content without amassing great quantities of it, and also his diligence and success therein, see 1 Kings 10:27; and prepare raiment as the clay; not merely, for use, but pomp and show, to fill his wardrobes with; and formerly, raiment was part of the treasure of great men: the phrase signifies that he might have such a variety of raiment, and such large quantities of it, that he would value it no more than so much clay; or else that his riches, consist of what it would, would be both polluting and troublesome to him; the Septuagint version reads "gold" instead of "raiment", as in Zechariah 9:3, where like expressions are used of Tyre. Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) 16. The “dust” and “clay” or mire are images that express extreme abundance, Zechariah 9:3, 1 Kings 10:27. Great wardrobes of costly garments are a usual element of Oriental wealth, Genesis 24:53, Joshua 7:21, 2 Kings 7:8, Matthew 6:19.Verse 16. - Though he heap up silver as the dust. The city of Tyro, we are told by Zechariah, "heaped up silver as the dust" (Zechariah 9:3), i.e. in vast quantities, beyond count. So might the wicked man do. He might also prepare raiment as the clay; i.e. fill his house with rich dresses, partly for his own wear, partly to be given as robes of honour to his friends and boon companions (setup. Genesis 45:22; 2 Kings 5:22; 2 Kings 10:22, Matthew 6:19; James 5:2). Robes of honour are still kept in store by Eastern monarchs, and presented as marks of favour to visitors of importance, Job 27:1613 This is the lot of the wicked man with God, And the heritage of the violent which they receive from the Almighty: 14 If his children multiply, it is for the sword, And his offspring have not bread enough. 15 His survivors shall be buried by the pestilence, And his widows shall not weep. 16 If he heapeth silver together as dust, And prepareth garments for himself as mire: 17 He prepareth it, and the righteous clothe themselves, And the innocent divide the silver among themselves. 18 He hath built as a moth his house, And as a hut that a watchman setteth up. We have already had the combination אדם רשׁע for אישׁ רשׁע in Job 20:29; it is a favourite expression in Proverbs, and reminds one of Job 27:15 (common to our poet and the psalm of Asaph, 78:64, which likewise belongs to the Salomonic age) is also to be correspondingly interpreted: the women that he leaves behind do not celebrate the usual mourning rites (comp. Genesis 23:2), because the decreed punishment which, stroke after stroke, deprives them of husbands and children, prevents all observance of the customs of mourning, and because the shock stifles the feeling of pity. The treasure in gold which his avarice has heaped up, and in garments which his love of display has gathered together, come into the possession of the righteous and the innocent, who are spared when these three powers of judgment sweep away the evil-doer and his family. Dust and dirt (i.e., of the streets, חוצות) are, as in Zechariah 9:3, the emblem of a great abundance that depreciates even that which is valuable. The house of the ungodly man, though a palace, is, as the fate of the fabric shows, as brittle and perishable a thing, and can be as easily destroyed, as the fine spinning of a moth, עשׁ (according to the Jewish proverb, the brother of the סס), or even the small case which it makes from remnants of gnawed articles, and drags about with it; it is like a light hut, perhaps for the watchman of a vineyard (Isaiah 1:8), which is put together only for the season during which the grapes are ripening. continued... Links Job 27:16 InterlinearJob 27:16 Parallel Texts Job 27:16 NIV Job 27:16 NLT Job 27:16 ESV Job 27:16 NASB Job 27:16 KJV Job 27:16 Bible Apps Job 27:16 Parallel Job 27:16 Biblia Paralela Job 27:16 Chinese Bible Job 27:16 French Bible Job 27:16 German Bible Bible Hub |
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