Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 9:24

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 9:24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked — Is it not most evident that the worst men possess most of this world's goods, and that the righteous are scarcely ever in power or affluence? This was the case in Job's time; it is the case still. Therefore prosperity and adversity in this life are no marks either of God's approbation or disapprobation.

He covereth the faces of the judges thereon — Or, The faces of its decisions he shall cover. God is often stated in Scripture as doing a thing which he only permits to be done. So he permits the eyes of judgment to be blinded; and hence false decisions. Mr. Good translates the verse thus: -

"The earth is given over to the hand of INJUSTICE;

She hoodwinketh the faces of its judges.

Where every one liveth is it not so?"

And vindicates the translation in his learned notes: but I think the Hebrew will not bear this rendering; especially that in the third line.

Where, and who is he? — If this be not the case, who is he that acts in this way, and where is he to be found? If God does not permit these things, who is it that orders them?

Coverdale translates, As for the worlde, he geveth it over into the power of the wicked, such as the rulers be wherof all londes are full. Is it not so? Where is there eny, but he is soch one? This sense is clear enough, if the original will bear it. The last clause is thus rendered by the Syriac and Arabic, Who can bear his indignation?

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job’s reply to Bildad (9:1-10:22)

While agreeing with Bildad that God is just, Job argues that ordinary people are still at a disadvantage. They cannot present their side of the case satisfactorily, because God always has the wisdom and power to frustrate them. He can ask a thousand questions that they cannot answer (9:1-4). He can do what he wishes in the heavens or on the earth (5-9). He can work miracles and no one can resist him (10-12). If God overthrows those with supernatural power such as the mythical monster Rahab, what chance does a mere human like Job have (13-14)?
Job knows he has not committed great sins, but he also knows that if he tried to argue his case before God he would still lose (15-16). He would surely say something wrong and so be proved guilty. God would crush him then as he crushes him now (17-20).
Although he is blameless, Job sees no purpose in living, since God destroys the innocent and the guilty alike. There seems to be no justice (21-24). Life may be short, but it is full of pain and suffering (25-28). He can see no purpose in trying to bear suffering gladly or act uprightly, because God still condemns him as a sinner (29-31). Job feels that because God is God and he is only a man, the battle is unequal. He wants an umpire, a mediator, someone to bridge the gap by bringing the two parties together and settling the case (32-33). By himself Job cannot plead his case satisfactorily, because he is overwhelmed by the suffering God has sent him (34-35).
In bitterness Job asks God why he makes the innocent suffer, yet at the same time blesses the wicked (10:1-3). Is he like an unjust judge who punishes a person even though he knows the person is innocent (4-7)? Did God create Job simply to destroy him (8-9)? Has he kept him alive merely to torment him (10-13)? It seems to Job that it makes no difference whether he is good or bad. God’s purpose seems to be to hunt him mercilessly and heap punishment upon him for even the smallest sins (14-17).
Job wishes he had never been born into a world of such injustice and suffering (18-19). He asks only for the briefest period of happiness before he dies and goes to the gloomy comfortless world of the dead (20-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JOB DECLARES THAT GOD DESTROYS GOOD AND BAD ALIKE

"God will not withdraw his anger; The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him. How much less shall I answer him, And choose out my words to reason with him? Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer; I would make supplication to my judge. If I had called, and he had answered me, Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice. For he breaketh me with a tempest, And multiplieth my wounds without cause. He will not suffer me to take my breath. But filleth me with bitterness. If we speak of strength, lo, he is mighty! Who will, saith he, summon me? Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me: Though I be perfect, it shall prove me perverse. I am perfect; I regard not myself; I despise my life. It is all one; therefore I say He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. If the scourge slay suddenly, He will mock at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covereth the faces of the judges thereof: If it is not he, who then is it?"

If one accepts the ancient view that whatever happens is God's will, because he allows it; and reasons from this view that God actually does all things that are done, then Job was profoundly correct in his statement here that God had turned the world over to the wicked, that the crooked judges had no regard for justice, and that the innocent and the guilty alike perish together in the great scourges that have plagued humanity. A flood, an earthquake, a deadly epidemic, a tornado, or the wholesale destructive bombing of a great city - all of these are bona fide examples of the innocent and guilty perishing together without discrimination. With this observation, Job completely destroyed the basic argument of his friends. What is wrong with the theory? It is false.

Modern men, as well as did Job, have trouble accepting such facts as those just cited. And the definitive answer to the problem lies in the existence and malignant activity of Satan. The evil one was responsible for what happened to Job; and there's many a disaster today that must be laid squarely at the feet of him who is viciously angry with mankind, "Knowing that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12). It is amazing to us that so few of the writers we have consulted take any account of the true source of Job's wretchedness.

"The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him" The reference here is to an ancient Babylonian myth. "Rahab here, like the dragon in Isaiah 51:9 is the ancient mythological name of Tiamat, the original Chaos, whom God conquered in the Creation."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 353. In Hebrew literature it was sometimes used as a synonym for Egypt. However, "Ancient allusions to mythology by the sacred writers no more implies their acceptance of such myths than does John Milton's allusions to classical mythology imply his acceptance of it."New Century Bible Commentary, p. 78.

Job's argument here is that, in spite of his certainty that it is not his wickedness that has resulted in his distress, he nevertheless feels that he is too weak to contend with God about the matter. `If great dragons like the helpers of Rahab were utterly crushed and destroyed by God, how could any mortal man hope to contend with God, regardless of the justice of his case'?

"In his heart, Job is still convinced that he has wrought no evil; but he will not say so."The Expositor's Bible, Job, p. 143. The great marvel is that even in the bitterness of his bewilderment, he nevertheless clings to that integrity from which Satan was powerless to remove him. Job must be hailed indeed as that faithful man who trusted where he could not see.

Van Selms wrote that, "God, yes, God is the cause of all these wretched conditions. If he is not, then what is he? A God who cannot rule the world? Are not all things that happen on earth the effects of his will"?A. Van Selms, Job, A Practical Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985). p. 49. Philosophical observations such as this betray a fundamental ignorance. God gave unto men the freedom of the will; and therefore, when evil men will to do that which is contrary to God's will, they are, of course, permitted to do it. It was that freedom of the human will that led to Adam's election to forsake the government of God and accept in the place of it the government of the devil. The scholars who do not understand that, will never be able to make any sense out of Job. Due to Satan and to wicked men who follow him, countless things contrary to God's will occur constantly. Yes, God could prevent such things, but not within the context of the freedom of the human will.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked - This is evidently designed as an illustration of the sentiment that Job was maintaining - that there was not a distribution of rewards and punishments in this life according to character. In illustration of this, he says that the wicked are raised to places of trust and power. They exercise a wide dominion over the earth, and the world is under their control. Of the truth of this there can be no doubt. Rulers have been, in general, eminent for wickedness, and the affairs of nations have thus far been almost always under the control of those who are strangers to God. At the present time there is scarcely a pious man on any throne in the world, and the rulers of even Christian nations are in general eminent for anything rather than for personal religion.

He covereth the faces of the judges thereof - There has been considerable variety in the exposition of this expression. Some suppose that it refers to the wicked, meaning that they cover the faces of the judges under them so that they connive at and tolerate crime. Others, that it means that God blinds the eyes of wicked rulers, so that they connive at crime, and are partial and unjust in their decisions. Others, that it means that God covers the faces of the judges of the earth with shame and confusion, that though he admits them to prosperity and honor for a time, yet that he overwhelms them at length with calamities and sorrows. Dr. Good supposes it to mean that the earth is given over into the hands of injustice, and that this hoodwinks the faces of the judges. The phrase properly means, to hoodwink, to blind, to conceal the face. It seems to me that the true sense is not expressed by either of the views above. The parallelism requires us to understand it as meaning that while the wicked had dominion over the earth, the righteous were in obscurity, or were not advanced to honor and power. The word “judges,” therefore, I think, is to be understood of the righteous judges, of those who are qualified to administer justice. Their face is covered. They are kept in concealment. The wicked have the sway, and they are doomed to shame, obscurity, and dishonor. This interpretation accords with the tenor of the argument, and may be sustained by the Hebrew, though I have not found it in any of the commentaries which I have consulted.

If not, where, and who is he - If this is not a just view, who is God? What are his dealings? Where is he to be seen, and how is he to be known? Or, it may mean, “if it is not God who does these strange things, who is it that does them?” Rosenmuller. But I prefer the former interpretation. “Tell me who and what God is, if this is not a fair and just account of him. These things in fact are done, and if the agency of God is not employed in them, who is God? And where is his agency seen?

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 9

So Job answers him and he said, I know it is true ( Job 9:1-2 ):

What? That God is fair. That God is just. Now that is something that we need to all know. That is true. God is righteous. God is just. Though the justice of God is often challenged. One of the first challenges that Satan made even to Eve was in the fairness of God. Satan was declaring God wasn't fair. "God doesn't want you to eat of the fruit of that tree because He knows that when you do, you're going to be just as wise as He is." He was challenging the fairness, the justice of God. And Satan is quite often still challenging the justice of God. I hear people say, "How can a God of love send a man to hell? Is that really fair? How can a God of love allow children to starve to death? How can a God of love allow wars to maim so many people?" The thought behind each of the questions is, "Is God... " Well, the intimation behind the question is God isn't fair. God isn't just. "How could God allow this to happen to me? Surely, God, You're not fair to me."

Now Job assures, "I know what you say is true. I know God is just. I know God." And you need to know that because there are going to be issues you're not going to understand. How could a God condemn a man to hell who never had a chance to hear about Jesus Christ? Who grew up in some village in Africa where the gospel never came and he lives and dies and has never heard the name of Jesus Christ. How could God send that man to hell forever? Let me first of all say I don't know that the scripture does say that God does send him to hell, the person who has never heard. I will tell you that the scripture does say that God will be fair when He judges that man who has never heard. Now just what God is going to do I don't know. But when He does it and I see it, I'm going to say, "Right on." That's so fair because God is just, though the justice of God is constantly being challenged by the enemy.

Job's saying, "I know what you say is true. But that's not my problem. My problem is how can I stand before God to plead my case? How can I bring my cause before God to be justified by Him? For God is so vast. His wisdom is so great. If He should start asking me questions, if He would ask me a thousand questions I couldn't even answer one. I am so puny in relationship to God. I am just nothing and God is infinite. So how can I, this little speck of dust on the planet Earth hope to ever touch God or reach God or plead my case to God or say, 'Hey God, what are You doing? Why have You done this?'" For he speaks of the fact that God has created the universe--Orion, the Pleiades, Arcturus. God causes the mountains to disappear. Mount Saint Helens. In building a new section of highway in Washington, it took them five months, twenty-four hours a day, with the most modern earth-moving equipment to move one million cubit yards of that base salt material. Five months, twenty-four hours a day, day and night, the crews were working to remove one million cubit yards. In twenty-seven minutes, from Mount Saint Helens, the same type of base salt material, there was removed five billion three hundred and fifty million cubit yards of material pulverized and spread all over the northern part of the United States in twenty-seven minutes. Now you begin to see the best efforts of man and what is man compared with what God can do?

He shakes the earth. He has set the constellations. He spread out the heavens with His hands. Who am I that I could come before this kind of a God? Because I can't even see Him. Though I know He surrounds me I don't see Him. I can't perceive Him. I can't touch Him. I reach out, but He's not there. So how can man ever stand before God to plead his case? You tell me get right with God, everything is going to be okay. Just go before God, plead my case. How can I do that? It's true, what you say is right. God is fair. God is just. But I don't know how I can plead my case before Him because of the vastness and the greatness of the infinite God and this gap that exists between us.

In the eighth psalm, David saw much the same problem looking at it from a little different direction. He began with the heavens. "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?" ( Psalms 8:3-4 ) Starting from the heavens coming down to man. He saw the great gap from that direction. Job is standing in this direction looking up and seeing the same thing. "When I consider me, who I am, what am I that I could stand before God? That I could justify myself before God. That I could plead my case so as to justify myself before God."

If I speak of strength, [hey,] he is so strong: if I speak of judgment, who will set my time for my case? And if I justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it will prove me perverse. Though I were perfect, yet I would not know my soul: I would despise my life. This is the one thing, therefore I said it, He destroys the perfect and the wicked ( Job 9:19-22 ).

In other words, being good does not give me any immunity from problems. God destroys both the perfect and the wicked. I've said it. You may castigate me for saying it, but I said it.

He then speaks of his friends and he said,

If I would wash myself with snow water, and make my hands ever so clean; Yet you would plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes would abhor me ( Job 9:30-31 ).

What can I say? I can't say how righteous I am or how, you know, innocent I am. You would throw me in a ditch. Even if I had cleansed myself.

And then he said concerning God,

For he is not a man, as I am ( Job 9:32 ),

Now, remember that. How often we're trying to pull God down to our level. How often we fall in the category of those in Romans, chapter 1, of which Paul wrote, "For the wrath of God shall be revealed from heaven against the ungodly and the unrighteous, who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness. For when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful; but they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts was darkened. And professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and they began to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever and ever" ( Romans 1:18 , Romans 1:21 , Romans 1:22 , Romans 1:25 ).

You see, they sought to bring man down to their level. They did not glorify Him as God. And for me to try to order Him around is to fail to glorify Him as God. For me to come and demand that, "You've got to do this now, God. I command in Jesus' name." Or, "I confess this is what You've got to do, God." And begin to lay demands upon God that He's got to do a certain thing, that's not glorifying Him as God. That's trying to reduce Him even below your level. That's trying to make Him a genie that comes out of a lamp and grants you your three requests.

God is not a genie. He's not some magic amulet. Nor is the purpose of prayer to get your will done. The purpose of prayer is to get God's will done. And He knows so much better than I will ever know. That the wisest prayer I could ever offer is, 'Father, Thy will be done in my life, in these situations, Lord. Your will be done." I never worry when I don't know how to pray, because I don't know how to pray half the time. But I have great confidence, because when I don't know how to pray because I don't know what is the will of God concerning this particular situation, I can always just say, "Lord, Your will be done." And I know that's best. I have that kind of confidence in God because He is so much greater than I am. His wisdom is... there's no comparison. There's no basis for comparison. There's no way that you can compare the finite with the infinite. There isn't even a basis for a comparison. You can't even draw any comparisons.

All right, you tell me to get right with God. That's great help, thanks a lot. Who's going to set the time for me to come and plead my case? And how can I, here I am, how can I ever plead my case before God anyhow? If He starts His cross-examination, ask me a thousand questions, I can't answer a single one. If you can't answer a single question out of a thousand, you'll be thrown out of court as an unreliable witness. He's not a man like I am that I could come and say, "Hey, hey, what are You doing here? What's going on?" He's not a man like I am.

Neither is there any daysman between us, that might lay his hand upon us both ( Job 9:33 ).

My situation is hopeless. God is so vast. There's no way I can touch Him. I can't see Him. I know He's there. I know He's just. But I have no way of pleading my cause. I'm just a man. He is the infinite God. The only way this could ever be is that somehow there would be between us a daysman, one who could lay his hand on us both. But there isn't any. There's no mediator, no daysman.

Oh, how I thank God for the revelation of the New Testament. For Paul the apostle tells us, "There is one God, and there is one mediator" ( 1 Timothy 2:5 ). There is one daysman between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. "Who was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God: yet He emptied Himself, and took on the form of man" ( Philippians 2:6-7 ). And so He touches God, but He came down and He touched me. As a man, in all points He was tempted even as I am, in order that He might be able to help me when I am in my hour of temptation. "For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But the Word was made flesh, and He dwelt [tabernacled, made His home] among us, (and we beheld His glory, as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" ( John 1:1 , John 1:14 ). For, "That which was from the beginning, [which John said] we have seen, we have touched, we have heard, we declare, we saw" ( 1Jn 1:1 , 1 John 1:3 ). Job said, "He's around me I can't see Him." John said, "I've seen Him. The One who existed from the beginning, I've seen Him." Job said, "I can't touch Him." John said, "I've touched Him."

For though man could never build a bridge to God, God in His mercy built the bridge to man. And there is the vast difference between every religious system and Christianity. For in every religious system, you have man's endeavor to build this bridge to God. Man trying to climb the ladder to reach God. Man trying to reach out and touch God, find God, discover God. But in Christianity, you have God reaching down to man. Therefore, Christianity is reasonable and logical, whereas every other religious system is illogical and unreasonable. Because it is illogic and unreasonable to think that the finite could reach the infinite. However, it is very logical and reasonable to believe that the infinite could reach and touch the finite. And that's exactly what Christianity is. The infinite God reaching down to touch the finite man. "God so loved the world that He gave" ( John 3:16 ). He built the bridge by sending His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but know and experience the eternal life of God.

Job cried out. A man stripped of everything and now you have one of the basic cries of man, a cry of man after God, and it exists down deep in every heart.

Sir Henry Drummond in his brilliant scientist in his book, The Nature and the Supernatural, said there is within the very protoplasm of man's cells those little tentacles that are reaching out for God. You see, when you leave the subject of spaghetti or tacos, which shall it be? And you really get down to the real issues of life. Not, "We need to get some gasoline before we get home," or, "We ought to buy a new Ford," or, "Maybe we should move." Or these mundane things with which we are constantly occupying our lives. When you get to the real issues of life, when you're stripped of these other things and you're down now to basic issues of life, the basic need of man is to somehow touch God. How can I reach Him? How can I know Him? How can I touch Him? There's no one between us who can touch us both. That's the only way it can happen. That's the only way it can be, but it doesn't exist. Oh, but Job, there is One who has come, who stands between God and man. Who is one with the Father and lays His hand upon the Father, but He has become one with me and He puts His arm around me and He touches me. And through the touch of Jesus Christ I am brought in touch with God, the glorious daysman. And the basic need of my life is satisfied. That clamant cry from within is met. And I have an experience of knowing God, of touching God, and of being touched by God through Jesus Christ.

Now you may look at me and say, "Oh, you poor soul, you actually think you've touched God. My! That's all right for you." And you may feel sorry for me and look upon me sort of with pity. But let me tell you something, the pity that you may feel for me is nothing like the pity I feel for the man who cannot say, "I've touched God." The man who doesn't know what it is to have the touch of God upon his life, that's the man to pity and feel sorry for. The man who has never heard the voice of God. The man who has never felt the flush and the joy of the presence of God. That's the man to pity. Don't pity me. I'm in good shape. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The arbitrary actions of God 9:13-24

Rahab (lit. pride, Job 9:13) was a name ancient Near Easterners used to describe a mythical sea monster that was symbolic of evil. Such a monster, also called Leviathan (Job 7:12), was a major character in the creation legends of several ancient Near Eastern peoples, including the Mesopotamians and the Canaanites. The Israelites also referred to Egypt as Rahab because of its similarity to this monster (cf. Job 26:12; Psalms 87:4; Psalms 89:10; Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9).

"Far from being arrogant, Job is subdued, even to the point of self-loathing (Job 9:21 b)." [Note: Andersen, p. 148.]

Job came to the point of concluding that it did not matter whether he was innocent since God destroys both the guiltless, like himself, and the wicked (Job 9:22). Further evidences of His injustice include the facts that innocent people die in plagues (Job 9:23) and the wicked prosper in the earth (Job 9:24).

". . . in Exodus 23:8 bribery is condemned because it covers the eyes of officials so that they cannot see where justice lies. Job here says it is God who blinds the judges to the truth. All the injustice that prevails in the world is laid at his door." [Note: Rowley, pp. 80-81.]

Job rebutted his friends’ contention that God consistently blesses the good and blasts the evil with examples that he drew from life generally, not just from his own experiences. [Note: See James L. Crenshaw, "Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel," Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 82:3 (1970):380-95.] In this he showed sensitivity to Bildad’s respect for tradition.

"The friends had condemned Job that God might be righteous-according to their standard. Job, defending himself against their unjustified insinuations, is driven to condemn God that he himself might be righteous (cf. Job 40:8)." [Note: Kline, p. 470.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The earth is given into the hands of the wicked,.... Either the wicked one, Satan, as Jarchi and Bar Tzemach, who is the god of this world; or some wicked tyrant, as Nimrod, or some other known by Job in his time, to whom he may have respect; or wicked men in general, who for the most part have the greatest share of the earth, and earthly things, and of power, dominion, and authority in it; and this they have of God, the powers that be are ordained by him, and therefore to be obeyed; and what any have of the earth, and the fulness of it, they have it from him, whose it is, and who has a right to dispose of it, and therefore being given by him, they have a proper right unto it; but then it is only the things of this world which are given them; they have their portion here, and that is their all; wherefore, as the giving of these is no proof of a man's goodness, so the taking of them away is no evidence of his wickedness; love or hatred are not to be known by these things; this is Job's scope and drift in this and Job 9:23:

he covereth the face of the judges thereof; not Satan, who blinds the minds of such, that they should not understand justice, and do it, as the above Jewish writers interpret it; nor the wicked man that is possessed of riches and wealth, power and authority, who by his substance bribes the judges, and blinds their eyes, or by his power and authority awes them, keeps them from executing true judgment, or discourages persons fit for such an office, and will not advance them, but lets them lie in, and covers them with, obscurity; or such who are honest and faithful, and are not to be bribed and browbeaten, these he either removes from their post, and covers their faces with shame, or takes them away by death, condemns and executes them as malefactors; it being usual in former times, as well as in ours, to cover the faces of such as are executed: but rather this is to be understood of God, who delivers the earth into the hands of the wicked, suffers them to have the rule over it, and permits such things to be done, as already observed; and besides, gives up the judges of the earth to judicial blindness, so that they cannot discern what is right and just, and do it, see Isaiah 29:10;

if not, where [and] who [is] he? if it is not so as I say, where is the man, and who is he, that can disprove me, and make me a liar? as Aben Ezra; let him come forth and appear, and confute me, and teach me otherwise if he can; or name the place of his abode, and say who he is; or if God does not do this, give the earth into the hands of wicked men, and cover the faces of the judges of it, and suffer wicked men to prevail, and the causes of good men to be subverted, the one to flourish, and the other to be crushed; who does do it? where is the man that has done or can do it? certain it is, that it is done; and who but that God that superintends all things, sits in the heavens, and does whatsoever he pleases, can do such things as these? or could they be done without his will and permission? by such mediums Job proves his assertion, that God destroys the perfect and the wicked; and therefore, by the face of things in providence, no judgment is to be had of a man's character, good or bad, and then instances in himself in the following verses.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.   23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.   24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

      Here Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute between him and his friends. They maintained that those who are righteous and good always prosper in this world, and none but the wicked are in misery and distress; he asserted, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. This is the one thing, the chief thing, wherein he and his friends differed; and they had not proved their assertion, therefore he abides by his: "I said it, and day it again, that all things come alike to all." Now, 1. It must be owned that there is very much truth in what Job here means, that temporal judgments, when they are sent abroad, fall both upon good and bad, and the destroying angel seldom distinguishes (though once he did) between the houses of Israelites and the houses of Egyptians. In the judgment of Sodom indeed, which is called the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 1:7), far be it from God to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked (Genesis 18:25); but, in judgments merely temporal, the righteous have their share, and sometimes the greatest share. The sword devours one as well as another, Josiah as well as Ahab. Thus God destroys the perfect and the wicked, involves them both in the same common ruin; good and bad were sent together into Babylon, Jeremiah 24:5; Jeremiah 24:9. If the scourge slay suddenly, and sweep down all before it, God will be well pleased to see how the same scourge which is the perdition of the wicked is the trial of the innocent and of their faith, which will be found unto praise, and honour, and glory,1 Peter 1:7; Psalms 66:10.

      Let this reconcile God's children to their troubles; they are but trials, designed for their honour and benefit, and, if God be pleased with them, let not them be displeased; if he laugh at the trial of the innocent, knowing how glorious the issue of it will be, at destruction and famine let them also laugh (Job 5:22; Job 5:22), and triumph over them, saying, O death! where is thy sting? On the other hand, the wicked are so far from being made the marks of God's judgments that the earth is given into their hand,Job 9:24; Job 9:24 (they enjoy large possessions and great power, have what they will and do what they will), into the hand of the wicked one (in the original, the word is singular); the devil, that wicked one, is called the god of this world, and boasts that into his hands it is delivered, Luke 4:6. Or into the hand of a wicked man, meaning (as bishop Patrick and the Assembly's Annotations conjecture) some noted tyrant then living in those parts, whose great wickedness and great prosperity were well known both to Job and his friends. The wicked have the earth given them, but the righteous have heaven given them, and which is better--heaven without earth or earth without heaven? God, in his providence, advances wicked men, while he covers the faces of those who are fit to be judges, who are wise and good, and qualified for government, and buries them alive in obscurity, perhaps suffers them to be run down and condemned, and to have their faces covered as criminals by those wicked ones into whose hand the earth is given. We daily see that this is done; if it be not God that does it, where and who is he that does it? To whom can it be ascribed but to him that rules in the kingdoms of men, and gives them to whom he will? Daniel 4:32. Yet, 2. It must be owned that there is too much passion in what Job here says. The manner of expression is peevish. When he meant that God afflicts he ought not to have said, He destroys both the perfect and the wicked; when he meant that God pleases himself with the trial of the innocent he ought not to have said, He laughs at it, for he doth not afflict willingly. When the spirit is heated, either with dispute or with discontent, we have need to set a watch before the door of our lips, that we may observe a due decorum in speaking of divine things.