Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 24:15

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 24:15. The eye also of the adulterer — This is another sin particularly of the city. The adulterer has made his assignation; he has marked the house of her into whose good graces he has insinuated himself, called digging through the house; he waits impatiently for the dusk; and then goes forth, having muffled or disguised his face, and spends a criminal night with the faithless wife of another man. The morning dawns: but it is to him as the shadow of death, lest he should be detected before he can reach his own home. And if one know him - if he happen to be recognized in coming out of the forbidden house; the terrors of death seize upon him, being afraid that the thing shall be brought to light, or that he shall be called to account, a sanguinary account, by the injured husband.

This seems to be the general sense of the very natural picture which Job draws in the 15th, 16th, and 17th verses. Job 24:15-17

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job’s reply to Eliphaz (23:1-24:25)

Again Job says that he is not rebelling against God or running away from him as his friends claim. On the contrary he wants to meet God, so that he can present his case to him and listen to God’s answer (23:1-5). He is confident that God will declare him innocent of the charges people have made against him (6-7).
No matter where Job has searched for God, he has not found him. He cannot see God, but God can see him. God knows he is upright, and one day, when this time of testing has proved him true, God will announce his righteousness to others (8-12). But until that day arrives, Job must bear his suffering. Nothing will change God’s mind, and Job is terrified as he thinks of what God may yet require him to go through (13-17).
Job wishes there were set times when God the judge was available for the downtrodden to bring their complaints to him and obtain justice (24:1). The poor and helpless are oppressed by the rich and powerful. Driven from their homes they are forced to wander like animals in the wilderness, eating whatever food they can find and sleeping under trees and rocks (2-8). If caught they are forced to sell their children as slaves or become slaves themselves. Yet God ignores their cries for help (9-12). Meanwhile murderers, sex perverts and thieves, who rely on the cover of darkness to carry out their evil deeds, seem to escape unpunished (13-17).
The friends say that these wicked people will quickly be swept away in judgment (18-20), but from Job’s observations, God allows them to go on living in comfort and security. When they die, their deaths are no different from the deaths of others (21-24). Job challenges his friends to prove him wrong in what he says (25).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

REGARDING MURDERERS, ADULTERERS, AND THIEVES

"These are of them that rebel against the light; They know not the ways thereof, Nor abide in the paths thereof. The murderer riseth with the light; He killeth the poor and needy; And in the night he is a thief. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, Saying, No eye shall see me; And he disguiseth his face. In the dark they dig through houses: They shut themselves up in the day time; They know not the light For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness; And they know the terrors of the thick darkness."

This whole paragraph identifies the gross wickedness of evil men as generally being perpetrated at night. This is in full harmony with the New Testament references to such sins as, "the works of darkness" (Romans 13:12), "the hidden things of darkness" (1 Corinthians 4:5), and "the unfruitful works of darkness" (Ephesians 5:11). Like certain animals of prey, such men sleep in the daytime and operate their nefarious business at night. Christians are everywhere referred to in the New Testament as the "Children of light."

"The morning is to all of them as thick darkness" "This means that they dread the morning as much as ordinary people dread the night."Ibid., op. cit., p. 211.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight; - compare the description in Proverbs 7:8-9, “He went the way to her house; in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.”

And disguiseth his face - Margin, “setteth his face in secret.” The meaning is, that he put a mask on his face, lest he should be recognized. So Juvenal, Sat. viii. 144, as quoted by Noyes:

- si nocturnus adulter

Tempora Santonico velas adoperta cucullo.

These deeds of wickedness were then performed in the night, as they are still; and yet, though the eye of God beheld them, he did not punish them. The meaning of Job is, that people were allowed to commit the blackest crimes, but that God did not come forth to cut them off.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 24

Now, why, seeing the times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? Some [now you've accused me of these things, but there are some] that remove the landmarks; and violently take away another man's flocks. And they drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. Behold, as the wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children. They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, they have no covering for the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for the want of a shelter. They pluck the fatherless from the breast, they take a pledge of the poor. They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and they suffer thirst. [They allow others to go thirsty.] Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God lays not folly to them. [They are doing these horrible things but] they are those that rebel against the light; and they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and the needy, and in the night is as a thief. The eye also of the adulterer waits for twilight, saying, No one will see me: and he disguises his face. And in the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked in the daytime: they know not the light. For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one knows them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death ( Job 24:1-17 ).

They do all their dirty work at night. They won't go out in the daytime. It's fearful for them to go out in the light. As Jesus said, "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil" ( John 3:19 ).

He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholds not the way of the vineyards. Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him ( Job 24:18-20 );

As your body's decaying there in the ground.

he shall be no more remembered; the wickedness shall be broken as a tree. He evil entreateth the barren that bears not: and does not good to the widow ( Job 24:20-21 ).

And so forth. So Bildad has had it. I mean, he really doesn't have much more to say to Job. In fact, all of the guys are sort of just phasing out at this point. They really can't argue much against Job's logic. He really has pretty much proved his case. "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,.... Not of the morning, which would not give him time enough to satiate his lust, but of the evening, that he may have the whole night before him to gratify his impure desires, and that these may be indulged in the most private and secret manner; and having fixed the time in the evening with his adulteress, he waits with impatience, and earnestly wishes and longs for its coming, and diligently looks out for the close of day, and takes the first opportunity of the darkness of the evening to set out on his adventure, see Proverbs 7:7; and the "eye" is particularly observed, not only because that is the instrument by which the twilight is discerned, and is industriously employed in looking out for it, but is full of adultery, as the Apostle Peter expresses it, 2 Peter 2:14; it is what is the inlet to this sin, the leader on to it, the caterer for it, and the nourisher, and cherisher of it, see

Job 30:1;

saying, no eye shall see me; no eye of man, which such an one is careful to guard against; and especially the eye of the husband of the adulteress, whose raging jealousy will not spare the adulterer, but take revenge on him by an immediate dispatch of him. And few care to have it known by any that they are guilty of this sin, because it brings dishonour and reproach upon them, which cannot be wiped off: the fact of Absalom going in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel, 2 Samuel 16:21, and lying with them in the face of the sun, is the most notorious instance of this kind to be read; usually both sexes choose the utmost secrecy. Potiphar's wife took the opportunity to tempt Joseph when none of the men of the house were within,

Genesis 35:10; and when Amnon intended to force his sister, he ordered all the men to be had out of the room, 2 Samuel 13:9: and moreover, the adulterer foolishly fancies that God sees him not, or at least is not concerned about that; though there is no darkness where such workers of iniquity can hide themselves from his all seeing eye, the darkness and the light are both alike to him. These men are like the ostrich, which thrusting its head into a thicket, as Tertullian t observes, fancies it is not seen; so children cover their faces, and, because they see none, think that nobody sees them; and as weak and childish a part do such act, who imagine that their evil deeds, done in the dark, are not seen by him, before whom every creature is made manifest, and all things are naked and open:

and disguiseth [his] face; puts a mask upon it, that he may not be known by any he meets, when upon his amorous adventure, as harlots used to cover themselves with a vail, Genesis 38:14.

t De Virgin, Veland. c. 17.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.   14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.   15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.   16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.   17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

      These verses describe another sort of sinners who therefore go unpunished, because they go undiscovered. They rebel against the light,Job 24:13; Job 24:13. Some understand it figuratively: they sin against the light of nature, the light of God's law, and that of their own consciences; they profess to know God, but they rebel against the knowledge they have of him, and will not be guided and governed, commanded and controlled, by it. Others understand it literally: they have the day-light and choose the night as the most advantageous season for their wickedness. Sinful works are therefore called works of darkness, because he that does evil hates the light (John 3:20), knows not the ways thereof, that is, keeps out of the way of it, or, if he happen to be seen, abides not where he thinks he is known. So that he here describes the worst of sinners,--those that sin wilfully, and against the convictions of their own consciences, whereby they add rebellion to their sin,--those that sin deliberately, and with a great deal of plot and contrivance, using a thousand arts to conceal their villanies, fondly imagining that, if they can but hide them from the eye of men, they are safe, but forgetting that there is no darkness or shadow of death in which the workers of iniquity can hide themselves from God's eye, Job 34:22; Job 34:22. In this paragraph Job specifies three sorts of sinners that shun the light:-- 1. Murderers, Job 24:14; Job 24:14. They rise with the light, as soon as ever the day breaks, to kill the poor travellers that are up early and abroad about their business, going to market with a little money or goods; and though it is so little that they are really to be called poor and needy, who with much ado get a sorry livelihood by their marketings, yet, to get it, the murderer will both take his neighbour's life and venture his own, will rather play at such small game than not play at all; nay, he kills for killing sake, thirsting more for blood than for booty. See what care and pains wicked men take to compass their wicked designs, and let the sight shame us out of our negligence and slothfulness in doing good.

      2. Adulterers. The eyes that are full of adultery (2 Peter 2:14), the unclean and wanton eyes, wait for the twilight,Job 24:15; Job 24:15. The eye of the adulteress did so, Proverbs 7:9. Adultery hides its head for shame. The sinners themselves, even the most impudent, do what they can to hide their sin: si non caste, tamen caute--if not chastely, yet cautiously; and after all the wretched endeavours of the factors for hell to take away the reproach of it, it is and ever will be a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret,Ephesians 5:12. It hides its head also for fear, knowing that jealousy is the rage of a husband, who will not spare in the day of vengeance,Proverbs 6:24; Proverbs 6:25. See what pains those take that make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it, pains to compass, and then to conceal, that provision which, after all, will be death and hell at last. Less pains would serve to mortify and crucify the flesh, which would be life and heaven at last. Let the sinner change his heart, and then he needs not disguise his face, but may lift it up without spot. 3. House-breakers, Job 24:16; Job 24:16. These mark houses in the day-time, mark the avenues of a house, and on which side they can most easily force their entrance, and then, in the night, dig through them, either to kill, or steal, or commit adultery. The night favours the assault, and makes the defence the more difficult; for the good man of the house knows not what hour the thief will come and therefore is asleep (Luke 12:39) and he and his lie exposed. For this reason our law makes burglary, which is the breaking and entering of a dwelling-house in the night time with a felonious intent, to be felony without benefit of clergy.

      And, lastly, Job observes (and perhaps observes it as part of the present, though secret, punishment of such sinners as these) that they are in a continual terror for fear of being discovered (Job 24:17; Job 24:17): The morning is to them even as the shadow of death. The light of the day, which is welcome to honest people, is a terror to bad people. They curse the sun, not as the Moors, because it scorches them, but because it discovers them. If one know them, their consciences fly in their faces, and they are ready to become their own accusers; for they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. Shame came in with sin, and everlasting shame is at the end of it. See the misery of sinners--they are exposed to continual frights; and yet see their folly--they are afraid of coming under the eye of men, but have no dread of God's eye, which is always upon them: they are not afraid of doing that which yet they are so terribly afraid of being known to do.