Job 24:4














I. A COMMON PRACTICE. The Old Testament rings with denunciations of this evil, showing that it was rife in the days of ancient Israel. The New Testament repeats the denunciations of the Old. John the Baptist and Christ himself had to speak against unjust exactions. St. James suggests that the practice was even found in Christian Churches (James 5:4). It has not disappeared in our own day, though it often assumes subtle and deceptive forms. Many things contribute to an unfair treatment of the poor.

1. Their ignorance. They do not always know their rights, nor perceive where cunning men have an advantage over them. Thus they are not able to protect themselves fairly.

2. Their obscurity. It is difficult for a poor person who has been wronged to attract attention. Nobody knows him. He has no influential friends.

3. Their inability to obtain legal redress. Theoretically the law is equal in its treatment of rich and poor. Practically it is nothing of the kind. For the law is proverbially costly, and a poor man cannot afford to put its machinery in motion.

4. Their prejudiced position. People look askance at shabby clothes. If a man is low in the social scale, a certain stigma attaches to him in the eyes of money-worshippers. His poverty is a reproach. Our own day has seen the emancipation of labour. The organized working classes can exact their rights. But the very poor are beneath the help of the new trades union machinery. The tendency of the sweating system and of other forms of selfishness is to grind down and oppress the most helpless and needy.

II. A GREAT SIN. The commonness of the practice does not lessen its guilt. Because many of the well-to-do people who manage affairs combine to get as much as they can for themselves out of the less fortunate people beneath them, they are not individually innocent. The law regards combination to do a wrong as conspiracy, and therefore as an aggravated offence; and conspiracy to oppress the poor is an aggravated offence in the sight of God.

1. Against justice. Poor men have their rights, even if the law cannot help them to exact them. A right is not the less morally inviolable because means cannot be found to put it in force. This may not be recognized now. But the righteous government of God cannot ignore the sin of trampling on the just claims of the helpless.

2. Against Christian brotherhood. Christ has taught us to rise above the plea of Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?" He has shown that we are not to regard ourselves as self-contained, or as having no interest in our neighbours. The parable of "the good Samaritan" has set before us for all time the pattern of the conduct that he approves of. All who need have claims upon us - claims springing directly out of their need and our neighbourhood in regard to them. Christ's own life and work teach us that the helpless are our brothers. To oppress them is to commit an outrage against members of our own family. It is the mission of Christianity to spread the spirit of brotherhood among men, and so to substitute brotherly kindness for heartless oppression. - W.F.A.

Yet His eyes are upon thy ways.
to call them to account for them. We have here a threefold act of providence about wicked oppressors, whom yet God suffereth to prosper.

1. That God's eye is upon them, to mark all their debordings.

2. That after their exaltation for a little while, they are cut off.

3. That yet this is done but in an ordinary way, as befalls all others. As the tops of the ripe ears of corn are cut down and gathered in.Learn —

1. Outward safety is in itself a mercy. Therefore men ought to improve this mercy aright, and should be sensible of their ill-improvement thereof, when they are deprived of it.

2. Safety is from God, and gifted by Him. No man can secure himself without God.

3. God in His long suffering and indulgence may set the wicked in safety for a time, for a snare upon them.

4. It is a plague upon the wicked that they rest and secure in the enjoyment of outward mercies.

5. It is, in particular, a plague upon the wicked, that their outward security and safety quiets all their fears, so that they have no doubt of God's favour, or of their own good estate, so long as they are in such a condition.

6. God does not give safety to wicked men because He approves of them or seeth not their wickedness; but He hath an eye upon them all the while, and particularly notices how they abuse these providences.

7. Albeit the Lord be not still punishing the wicked, yet this is sad, that He is still observing and marking all their ways, to call them to account for them in a day of reckoning.

(George Hutcheson.).

Dominion and fear are with Him.
Homilist.
I. MOST EXALTED IDEAS OF GOD. He speaks of Him —

1. As the head of all authority. "Dominion and fear are with Him."

2. As the maintainer of all peace. "He maketh peace in His high places." Who maintains the order of the stellar universe? He is peaceful in His own nature, and peaceful in all His operations.

3. As the commander of all forces. "Is there any number of His armies?" What forces there are in the universe, material, mental, moral!

4. As the Fountain of all light. "Upon whom doth not His light arise?" He is the Father of lights.

5. As the perfection of all holiness. "How then can man be justified with God?" In this chapter Bildad gives —

II. MOST HUMBLING IDEAS OF MAN. He represents him —

1. As morally degenerate. "How can he be clean that is born of a woman?"

2. As essentially insignificant. He is a "worm." How frail in body! He is crushed before the moth. How frail his intellectual powers! Morally he is "without strength." Conclusion —

1. The glorious light of nature. There is no reason to believe that Bildad had any special revelation from God.

2. The unsatisfactoriness of religious controversy. What has been the effect of all the arguments on Job? Not correction of mistakes, but great irritation and annoyance.

(Homilist.)

People
Job
Places
Uz
Topics
Afflicted, Altogether, Aside, Crushed, Force, Hid, Hide, Hiding, Needy, Path, Poor, Push, Road, Secret, Themselves, Thrust, Turn
Outline
1. Wickedness often goes unpunished
17. There is a secret judgment for the wicked

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Job 24:1-4

     5448   poverty, attitudes to
     9210   judgment, God's

Job 24:1-12

     5339   home
     5554   status

Job 24:2-4

     5975   violence

Job 24:2-11

     8715   dishonesty, and God

Job 24:2-12

     5972   unkindness

Job 24:3-4

     5480   protection

Job 24:4-5

     5230   beggars

Job 24:4-10

     5169   nakedness

Library
Whether the Husband Can on his Own Judgment Put Away his Wife on Account of Fornication?
Objection 1: It would seem that the husband can on his own judgment put away his wife on account of fornication. For when sentence has been pronounced by the judge, it is lawful to carry it out without any further judgment. But God, the just Judge, has pronounced this judgment, that a husband may put his wife away on account of fornication. Therefore no further judgment is required for this. Objection 2: Further, it is stated (Mat. 1:19) that Joseph . . . being a just man . . . "was minded to put"
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether to be Eternal Belongs to God Alone?
Objection 1: It seems that it does not belong to God alone to be eternal. For it is written that "those who instruct many to justice," shall be "as stars unto perpetual eternities [*Douay: 'for all eternity']" (Dan. 12:3). Now if God alone were eternal, there could not be many eternities. Therefore God alone is not the only eternal. Objection 2: Further, it is written "Depart, ye cursed into eternal [Douay: 'everlasting'] fire" (Mat. 25:41). Therefore God is not the only eternal. Objection 3: Further,
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether in Hell the Damned are Tormented by the Sole Punishment of Fire?
Objection 1: It would seem that in hell the damned are tormented by the sole punishment of fire; because Mat. 25:41, where their condemnation is declared, mention is made of fire only, in the words: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire." Objection 2: Further, even as the punishment of purgatory is due to venial sin, so is the punishment of hell due to mortal sin. Now no other punishment but that of fire is stated to be in purgatory, as appears from the words of 1 Cor. 3:13: "The fire
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether the Old Law Set Forth Suitable Precepts About the Members of the Household?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Old Law set forth unsuitable precepts about the members of the household. For a slave "is in every respect his master's property," as the Philosopher states (Polit. i, 2). But that which is a man's property should be his always. Therefore it was unfitting for the Law to command (Ex. 21:2) that slaves should "go out free" in the seventh year. Objection 2: Further, a slave is his master's property, just as an animal, e.g. an ass or an ox. But it is commanded (Dt.
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Degrees of Sin
Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous? Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. He that delivered me unto thee, has the greater sin.' John 19: 11. The Stoic philosophers held that all sins were equal; but this Scripture clearly holds forth that there is a gradual difference in sin; some are greater than others; some are mighty sins,' and crying sins.' Amos 5: 12; Gen 18: 21. Every sin has a voice to speak, but some
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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