Job 15:23

Job 15:23 He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where [is it]? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

Ver. 23. He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?] He is hard put to it for necessaries, and would be glad of a piece of bread, as 1Sa 2:5; 1Sa 2:36. This was the case of Pythias, once so rich, that he entertained a million men (even Xerxes’ whole huge host) for three days’ time at his own proper charge; but afterwards so poor, that he died through hunger (Herodot.). And the like befell Gillimer, king of Vandals, of whom the story is told, that being overcome and beleaguered by Belisarius, he sent to him for a sponge to dry his tears, a cittern to ease his grief, and a piece of bread to save his life. Belisarius himself was afterwards glad to beg for his bread. And Henry IV, emperor of Germany, after ten years’ reign, was deposed and driven to the like exigent; whereupon he is said to have made use of those words of Job, Job 19:21, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me." And there is no doubt but Eliphaz glanceth at Job in all these expressions, as if he were the man whom he here describeth with much eloquence, but small charity.

He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand] His conscience telleth him that he is not yet at worst; he knows in himself, say the Septuagint, that further evil shall be upon him, that his misery is inevitable, and next door; and this knowledge being full of fear, is also full of torment; it is even hell aforehand, and above ground.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job_15:23

He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?

The cry for bread

There are certain things which if men want they will have. I have heard say that in the old bread riots, when men were actually starving for bread, no word had such a terrible threatening and alarming power about it as the word Bread, when shouted by a starving crowd. I have read a description by one who once heard this cry. He said he had been startled at night by a cry of Fire! but when he heard the cry of Bread! Bread! from those who were hungry, it seemed to cut him like a sword. Whatever bread had been in his possession he must at once have handed it out. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 15:23. He wandereth abroad for bread — His poverty is so great, that he is forced to wander hither and thither to seek for bread, and cannot find it, a just punishment for him that took away the bread and substance of others by violence. He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand — He is assured, from his own guilty conscience, that the time of his total, and irrecoverable, and everlasting destruction is ready to seize upon him, and arrest him, as an officer of justice arrests a criminal; that it is appointed to him and cannot be put by, that it is hastening on and cannot be put off. The Hebrew נכון בידו, nachon bejado, may be properly rendered, Is prepared by his own hand, that is, by his works or actions. So the sense is, He is conscious to himself that, by his wicked life, he hath prepared and treasured up calamities and destruction for himself. This day of darkness is something beyond death; it is that day of the Lord which, to all the wicked, will be darkness and not light, and in which they will be doomed to utter, endless darkness.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15:23 They wander around, saying, “Where can I find bread?”: Like the wicked (15:20), Job either experienced hunger (see 15:27) or (following the Greek Old Testament) had been “appointed to be food for a vulture,” which would parallel “marked for the sword” (15:22).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God doth not only impoverish the wicked oft times, but even in their prosperity he punisheth them with a greediness evermore to gather: which is as a beggary.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Wandereth in anxious search for bread. Famine in Old Testament depicts sore need (Isa 5:13). Contrast the pious man's lot (Job 5:20-22).

knoweth--has the firm conviction. Contrast the same word applied to the pious (Job 5:24-25).

ready at his hand--an Arabic phrase to denote a thing's complete readiness and full presence, as if in the hand.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 23. He wandereth abroad for bread] He is reduced to a state of the utmost indigence, he who was once in affluence requires a morsel of bread, and can scarcely by begging procure enough to sustain life.

Is ready at his hand.] Is בידו beyado, in his hand - in his possession. As he cannot get bread, he must soon meet death.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(23) He wandereth abroad for bread.—This is one of the points in which the picture seems inconsistent, because overdrawn, except that forage as well as plunder may be the object of marauding raids.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. He anticipates the time when he shall be a hungry wanderer, roving in search of bread and crying, Where is it? The picture of the rich oppressor tormented by visions of famine is very graphic.

ready at hand] Or, at his side; the dark day of calamity stands constantly beside him ready to envelop him in its shadows. Such is his own foreboding (“he knows”).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid,.... Either his present troubles shall frighten him, they being so very dismal, terrible, and distressing, and make him fear that others were coming on, more dreadful and formidable; or those troubles he fears will be his portion hereafter, these terrify him beyond measure, even that indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, that shall come upon every soul of man that doeth evil, Rom 2:8;

they shall prevail against him as a king ready to the battle; that is, trouble and anguish shall prevail against him; he will be no more able to resist them than a very inferior force, or even a single man, is able to resist a warlike king, attended with a numerous army, and these set in battle array; such a man's troubles will come upon him as an armed man, against which he cannot stand; the Targum is,

"they shall surround him as a king prepared for a footstool;''

who being taken by the enemy shall be used as a footstool to mount on horseback; and as the word has the signification of a globe or ball, see Isa 22:18; some think it has respect to the manner of kings, when taken captive, put into an iron cage, as Bajazet was by Tamerlane; or into an iron hoop, bound hand and foot, and hung up in chains; or, as Ben Gersom thinks, to the manner of drowning persons, who used to be tied hand and foot, as if rolled up in the form of a globe, and so cast into the water; but rather the reference is to an army, besieging a place all around in the form of a ball or globe, so that there is no escaping them; or rather it may be to a king drawing up his army in such a form, ready to engage in battle; or putting it in such a position when encamped or entrenched, waiting the motion of the enemy; see Sa1 26:5; and such are the troubles that surround and prevail against a wicked man, see Isa 29:3; the reasons of the wicked man being brought into such a woeful condition follow.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He wandereth abroad for bread - The Septuagint renders this, “he is destined to be food for vultures” - κατατέτακται δὲ εἰς σῖτα γυψίν katatetaktai de eis sitos gupsin. The meaning of the Hebrew is, simply, that he will be reduced to poverty, and will not know where to obtain a supply for his returning needs.

He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand - He is assured that the period of calamity is not far remote. It must come. He has no security that it will not come immediately. The whole design of this is to show that there is no calmness and security for a wicked man; that in the midst of apparent prosperity his soul is in constant dread.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

His poverty is so great, that he is forced to wander hither and thither to seek for bread, and cannot find it. A just punishment for him that took away the bread and substance of others by violence.

He knoweth; he is assured of it from his own guilty conscience.

The day of darkness, i.e. the time of his total, and irrecoverable, and everlasting destruction.

Is ready at his hand, i.e. ready to seize upon him, or take him by the hand or shoulder like a serjeant to arrest him. The words may well he rendered, was prepared by his hand, i.e. by his works or actions; which being most commonly done with the hand, are oft called by that name, as Exo 14:31; Jdg 9:16; Pro 10:4; 12:24. So the sense is, He is conscious to himself that by his wicked life he hath prepared and stored up calamities and destruction for himself, and therefore he expected nothing less.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. Where is it — אוה. This word, differently pointed, may signify vulture, (γρυψιν, Septuagint,) which leads Merx to render the passage, “He wanders about to be the food of vultures.” Better the text, with its outcry “where?” The one touch of the pencil paints the confusion and despair of famine. “He sees himself in the mirror of the future reduced to beggary.” — Delitzsch. The imagination — that faculty by which we form images, real or unreal — is a powerful agent which God uses for the punishment of men in this present life.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? This, again, might appropriately have been said of Cain, who was "a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth", (Gen_4:14) and may at times have had difficulty in procuring his daily bread. At any rate, it is the frequent experience of the wicked who lose their ill-gotten gains, and are brought down to abject poverty, and actual want of the necessaries of life. "He wanders abroad to be the food of vultures" is a translation of the passage suggested by some moderns (as Merx), and has the support of the Septuagint, katatetaktai eiv sita quqin . But it requires a slight change in the pointing. He knoweth that the day of darkness is nigh at hand. "The day of darkness" is probably the day of his decease: this he "knows," or at any rate, surmises, to be near.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Knoweth - From his own guilty conscience.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

He wanders i.e., he is assured of wandering.

He knows in fact.

that...is ready and prepared to come to his hand, i.e., to him, and with him is the day of darkness. at his hand Like (Gen. 32: 14), “from what came into his hand.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.