Bible Commentaries
Job 27

Verse 1

Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

Parable — His grave and weighty discourse.

Verse 2

As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

Who — Though he knows my integrity, yet doth not plead my cause against my friends.

Verse 6

My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Reproach — With betraying my own cause and innocency.

Verse 7

Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Let — I am so far from practicing wickedness, that I abhor the thoughts of it, and if I would wish to be revenged of my enemy, I could wish him no greater mischief than to be a wicked man.

Verse 8

For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

Though — Though they prosper in the world. God, as the judge takes it away, to be tried, and determined to its everlasting state. And what will his hope be then? It will be vanity and a lie; it will stand him in no stead.

Verse 10

Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?

Delight — When he has nothing else to delight in? No: his delight is in the things of the world, which now sink under him. And those who do not delight in God, will not always, will not long, call upon him.

Verse 12

Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?

Have seen — I speak what is confirmed by your own, as well as others experiences.

Vain — To condemn me for a wicked man, because I am afflicted.

Verse 15

Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.

Remain — Who survive that sword and famine.

Widows — For they had many wives.

Weep — Because they also, as well as other persons, groaned under their tyranny, and rejoice in their deliverance from it.

Verse 16

Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;

As clay — In great abundance.

Verse 18

He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

A moth — Which settleth itself in a garment, but is quickly and unexpectedly dispossessed of its dwelling, and crushed to death.

A booth — Which the keeper of a garden or vineyard suddenly rears up in fruit-time, and as quickly pulls down again.

Verse 19

The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.

Lie down — In death.

Not gathered — Instead of that honourable interment with his fathers, his carcase shall lie like dung upon the earth.

One openeth his eyes — That is, while a man can open his eyes, in the twinkling of an eye. He is as if he had never been, dead and gone, and his family and name extinct with him.

Verse 20

Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.

Terrors — From the sense of approaching death or judgment.

Waters — As violently and irresistibly, as a river breaking its banks, or deluge of waters bears down all before it.

A tempest — God’s wrath cometh upon him like a tempest, and withal unexpectedly like a thief in the night.

Verse 21

The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.

East-wind — Some terrible judgment, fitly compared to the east-wind, which in those parts was most vehement, and pernicious.

Carrieth him — Out of his palace wherein he expected to dwell forever; whence he shall be carried either by an enemy, or by death.

Verse 22

For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

Cast — His darts or plagues one after another.

Would flee — He earnestly desires to escape the judgments of God, but in vain. Those that will not be persuaded to fly to the arms of Divine grace, which are now 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.

Verse 23

Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

Clap — In token of their joy at the removal of such a publick pest, by way of astonishment: and in contempt and scorn, all which this gesture signifies in scripture use.

His — In token of detestation and derision.