Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Job continues to express his perplexity at the ways of Providence in the ordering of the world. The poor and the weak suffer; violence and wrong go unpunished.’
Back in Job 21, Job tried to prove that the wicked do prosper; now, he is going to speak about the other side of the same argument, that is, the suffering of the righteous.
Job hopes to prove his friends wrong in their thinking about righteousness, Job 24:1. Job says there are those who move boundary stones and they pasture flocks they have stolen, Job 24:2 / Proverbs 22:28 / Proverbs 23:10.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The law of Moses denounces curses on those who remove their neighbours’ landmarks, Deuteronomy 19:14 / Deuteronomy 27:17.’
Job says they drive away the orphans’ donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge, Job 24:3 / Job 22:6 / 1 Samuel 12:3.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Of the orphan, who cannot protect himself, and whose only property may consist in this useful animal. Injury done to an orphan is always regarded as a crime of special magnitude, for they are unable to protect themselves, Job 22:9 / Job 22:6. The widow was dependent on her ox to till the ground, and hence, the crime of taking it away in pledge for the payment of a debt.’
They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding, Job 24:4. Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labour of foraging food, and the wasteland provides food for their children, Job 24:5.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘They obtain subsistence for themselves and their families by plundering the caravans of the desert. The idea of Job is that they are seen by God, and yet that they are suffered to roam at large.’
They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked, Job 24:6. Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked, and they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold, Job 24:7.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The robbers drive them away from their homes, or plunder them of their tents, and leave them to find a shelter from the storm, or at night, beneath a rock.’
They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter, Job 24:8. The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, and the infant of the poor is seized for a debt, Job 24:9.
The Pulpit Commentary says the following concerning.
‘Other oppressors, not of the marauding class, but dwellers in towns, Job 24:12, are so cruel that they tear the unweaned child of the debtor from the mother’s breast, as satisfaction for a debt, and carry him off into slavery. And take a pledge of the poor, literally, take in pledge that which is on the poor, in other words, their clothing. They will not lend to them on any other terms, and so force them to part with their garments and go about naked. Even Hebrew creditors seem to have done this, Exodus 22:26 / Deuteronomy 24:12 / Deuteronomy 24:13, and the Mosaic Law did not forbid the practice, but only required the creditor to let the debtor have his garment at night, that he might sleep in it, Exodus 22:27 / Deuteronomy 24:13.’
Lacking clothes, they go about naked, and they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry, Job 24:10.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning Job 24:10.
‘The meaning of this is that the hungry are compelled to bear the sheaf for the rich without being allowed to satisfy their hunger from it. Moses commanded that even the ox should not be muzzled that trod out the grain, Deuteronomy 25:4, but here was more aggravated cruelty than that would be, in compelling men to bear the sheaf of the harvest without allowing them even to satisfy their hunger. This is an instance of the cruelty which Job says was actually practised on the earth, and yet God did not interpose to punish it.’
They crush olives among the terraces, and they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst, Job 24:11. Job says there are many injustices inflicted upon the righteous that God apparently does nothing to stop, Job 24:2-11.
If his friend’s arguments are correct, then that would mean that God would visibly respond to those who oppress others. In other words, God should make it known when He sits in judgment in order to hand down judgments.
However, the oppressed continue to endure many evils at the hands of wicked people. And so, with all this happening, God doesn’t pay any attention, Job 24:12. The good news is that Job doesn’t believe this for one moment, Job 24:2-11.
If his friends’ theology is correct, then this is the only explanation for why the righteous suffer; God simply doesn’t see it. Job argues that God has greater reasons for allowing the righteous to suffer, reasons not always clearly seen by men.
Job goes on to elaborate his argument by showing that the wicked aren’t restrained in their evil plans. He recognises that evil exists throughout the world and he recognised there are those who oppose the light, Job 24:13 / John 3:20.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘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 wicked make their evil plans at night, Job 24:14, and believe that even God won’t see what they do under the cover of darkness, Job 24:15 / Proverbs 7:8-9 / Romans 13:12-14 / Ephesians 5:8 / Ephesians 5:11 / 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5.
In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in because they want nothing to do with the light, Job 24:16. For all of them, midnight is their morning and they make friends with the terrors of darkness, Job 24:17 / John 3:19. Yet they are foam on the surface of the water and their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards, Job 24:18.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning the portion of the land that is cursed.
‘Their way of obtaining a livelihood is deserving of execration. The result of humble toil and honest labour may be said to be blessed, but not the property which they acquire.’
As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned, Job 24:19. The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them and the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree, Job 24:20 / Job 17:14. They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness, Job 24:21 / 1 Samuel 1:5-8 / 1 Samuel 3:1-10.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He shall die and be buried in the usual manner. He shall lie quietly in the grave, and there return to his native dust. He shall not be suspended on a gibbet, or torn and devoured by wild beasts, but his death and burial shall be peaceful and calm, Job 21:26 / Job 19:26. The woman who has no children to comfort or support her. He increases her calamity by acts of cruelty and oppression. To be without children, as is well known, was regarded, in the patriarchal ages, as a great calamity.’
Ultimately, God will punish the wicked; however, He may choose to delay His punishment, Job 24:22. Job says that some people seem to be singled out by God, Job 24:22. He prolongs the life of those individuals for a period, but eventually, they too are consumed by death, Job 24:23-24.
The fact was that the wicked continue in life, they prosper and often live a good life, but their prosperity in life didn’t prove that they were righteous. Job is saying that his suffering doesn’t prove that he was unrighteous, Job 24:25.
Job intends to demonstrate to his friends that he does have a balanced view concerning the wicked. He hasn’t argued that the wicked are never punished in this life; he’s only tried to point out the inconsistencies in the treatment of the wicked. He acknowledges that there are more wicked people in the world than righteous believers.
Hesser, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The big thing that Job objected to was Eliphaz’s theory that the wicked are punished at once. Job admits that if one looks at the whole picture, he will see that wickedness leads to suffering and that righteousness leads to rewards, but what puzzles Job is the exceptions, which are obviously quite numerous. Job is pointing out that in the course of things, crime brings misery to the criminal, but that God has not ordered that each crime shall bring immediate retribution.’