Job 40:13

Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

40:6-14 Those who profit by what they have heard from God, shall hear more from him. And those who are truly convinced of sin, yet need to be more thoroughly convinced and more humbled. No doubt God, and he only, has power to humble and bring down proud men; he has wisdom to know when and how to do it, and it is not for us to teach him how to govern the world. Our own hands cannot save us by recommending us to God's grace, much less rescuing us from his justice; and therefore into his hand we must commit ourselves. The renewal of a believer proceeds in the same way of conviction, humbling, and watchfulness against remaining sin, as his first conversion. When convinced of many evils in our conduct, we still need convincing of many more.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hide them in the dust together; - compare Isaiah 2:10. The meaning seems to be, that God had power to prostrate the wicked in the dust of the earth, and he calls upon Job to show his power by doing the same thing.

And bind their faces in secret - The word "faces" here is probably used (like the Greek πρίσωπα prisōpa to denote "persons." The phrase" to bind them," is expressive of having them under control or subjection; and the phrase "in secret" may refer to some secret or safe place - as a dungeon or prison. The meaning of the whole is, that God had power to restrain and control the haughty and the wicked, and he appeals to Job to do the same.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. (Isa 2:10). Abase and remove them out of the sight of men.

bind … faces—that is, shut up their persons [Maurer]. But it refers rather to the custom of binding a cloth over the faces of persons about to be executed (Job 9:24; Es 7:8).

in secret—consign them to darkness.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Kill every one of them (as he said, Job 40:12) at one blow, as I can do, and bring them all to their graves, that they may sleep in the dust, and never offend thee nor trouble others more.

Bind their faces, i.e. condemn or destroy them. He alludes to the manner of covering the faces of condemned persons, Esther 7:8, and of dead men, John 11:44 20:7. See Poole "Job 9:21".

In secret; either in a secret place, bury them in their graves; or secretly, with a secret and invisible stroke, that it may appear it comes from the hand of a God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Hide them in the dust together,.... Either in the dust of death, that they may be seen no more in this world, in the same place and circumstances where they showed their pride and haughtiness; or in the dust of the grave, and let them have an inglorious burial, like that of malefactors thrown into some common pit together; as, when multitudes are slain in battle, a large pit is dug, and the bodies are cast in together without any order or decency; or it may be rendered "alike" (b), let them be treated equally alike, no preference given to one above another;

and bind their faces in secret; alluding, as it is thought, to malefactors when condemned and about to be executed, whose faces are then covered, as Haman's was, Esther 7:8; or to the dead when buried, whose faces are bound with napkins, as Lazarus's was, John 11:44; the meaning of all these expressions is, that Job would abase and destroy, if he could, every proud man he met with, as God does, in the course of his providence, sooner or later. There had been instances of divine power in this way before, or in the times of Job, which might come to his knowledge; as the casting down of the proud angels out of heaven, 2 Peter 2:4; and of casting proud Adam out of paradise, Genesis 3:24; the drowning the proud giants of the old world, Genesis 7:23; and of dispersing the proud builders of Babel, Genesis 11:8; and of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, Genesis 19:24, one of whose reigning sins was pride, Ezekiel 16:49; and of drowning proud Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, Exodus 15:4, which last seems to have been done much about the time Job 54ed.

(b) "pariter", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens.

Geneva Study Bible

Hide them in the dust together; and bind {c} their faces in secret.

(c) Cause them to die if you can.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. bind their faces in secret] lit. bind up their faces in the hidden place, that is, shut them up in the darkness of the prison-house of Death.

Job 40:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

10 Deck thyself then with pomp and dignity,

And in glory and majesty clothe thyself!

11 Let the overflowings of thy wrath pour forth,

And behold all pride, and abase it!

12 Behold all pride, bring it low,

And cast down the evil-doers in their place;

13 Hide them in the dust together,

Bind their faces in secret:

14 Then I also will praise thee,

That thy right hand obtaineth thee help.

He is for once to put on the robes of the King of kings (עדה, comp. עטח, to wrap round, Psalm 104:2), and send forth his wrath over pride and evil-doing, for their complete removal. הפיץ, effundere, diffundere, as Arab. afâda, vid., Job 37:11. עברות, or rather, according to the reading of Ben-Ascher, עברות ,rehcsA, in its prop. signif. oversteppings, i.e., overflowings. In connection with Job 40:11, one is directly reminded of the judgment on everything that is high and exalted in Isaiah 2, where beטמנם בּעפר also has its parallel (Isaiah 2:10). Not less, however, does Job 40:14 recall Isaiah 59:16; Isaiah 63:5 (comp. Psalm 98:1); Isaiah I and II have similar descriptions to the book of Job. The ἁπ. λεγ. הדך is Hebraeo-Arab.; hadaka signifies, like hadama, to tear, pull to the ground. In connection with תמוּן (from טמן; Aram., Arab., טמר), the lower world, including the grave, is thought of (comp. Arab. mat-murât, subterranean places); חבשׁ signifies, like Arab. ḥbs IV, to chain and to imprison. Try it only for once - this is the collective thought - to act like Me in the execution of penal justice, I would praise thee. That he cannot do it, and yet venture with his short-sightedness and feebleness to charge God's rule with injustice, the following pictures of foreign animals are now further intended to make evident to him: -