Job 24:14

Job 24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

Ver. 14. The murderer rising with the light] Sometimes, while it is yet darkish; for here Job showeth how those that do evil hate the light, and take the fittest opportunities for a dispatch of the deeds of darkness, daily digging descents down to hell, and hastening thereto, as if they feared it would be full before they came thither. They spend, therefore, the whole day in wicked pranks and practices, prout videtur commodum, as shall seem best for their purposes, interdiu latrones, nocte fures agunt. By day they do what mischief they may in woods and deserts; at night they return into the city, and there play the thieves, hoping to do it unobserved. Thus every such one may better say than that ancient did, Totum tempus perdidi, quia perdite vixi, I have lost all my time, by spending it loosely and basely (Bernard). I have been too faithful a drudge to the devil, whom Christ calleth a murderer, Joh 8:44, and Tertullian calleth Furem veritatis, a thief of the truth. Two notable thieves of Naples (whereof one was called Paternoster, and the other Ave Maria) had murdered a hundred and sixteen different people, at different times and in various places (Rain. de Idol. Rom. praefat.). These were worthily put to a cruel death by the magistrate; who possibly might, by his connivance and slackness in doing his office, be himself guilty of some of those murders; since, to restrain justice is to support sin, and not to correct is to consent to the crime. Hemingius maketh mention of a felon, who was indicted from seven murders; while the judge was studying what grievous punishment should be inflicted upon such a bloody villain, an advocate steps to the bar, and pleading for him, proved, That the judge was guilty of six of the murders; for the felon was not put to death for the first offence.

Killeth the poor and needy] Without authority (such as magistrates have to kill malefactors, and soldiers in a lawful battle to kill their enemies. Sum Talbotti pro occidere inimicos meos; I am Talbot’s for to kill my enemies, this blunt boisterous sentence was written upon the renowned L. Talbot’s sword, while he warred in France), and without any present necessity for his own lawful defence, as Exo 2:22, when he must either kill or be killed; provided that he endeavour first to save himself by flight, if possibly he can (Speed.). For that tenet of Soto, a Popish casuist, is the most false, That it is lawful for a man in his own defence to kill another, because it is a shame to flee, Quia fuga est ignominiosa. And that also of Navarrus, that for a box on the ear it is not unlawful to kill another, for the recovering of his honour, Ad honorem recuperandum.

And in the night is as a thief] That is, is a very thief; for this as is magis expressivum veritatis, as Mercer speaketh, he would not seem to be, but yet is an arrant thief, ending the day with theft which he began with murder. How these two sins go commonly coupled, see Hos 4:2 Isa 13:16.

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 24:14-15. The murderer rising with the light — As soon as the light appears, using no less diligence in his wicked practices than labourers do in their honest and daily employments; killeth the poor and needy — Where he finds nothing to satisfy his covetousness, he exerciseth his cruelty. And in the night is as a thief — He is really a thief; the particle as being often used to express, not the resemblance, but the truth, of the thing. In the night they rob men secretly and cunningly, as in the day-time they do it more openly and avowedly. The adulterer waiteth for the twilight — Namely, for the evening twilight, which is his opportunity; saying — In his heart; No eye shall see me — Comforting himself with the thoughts of secrecy and impunity; and disguiseth his face — Hebrew, putteth his face in secret; covers it with a mask that he may not be discovered.

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

with the light--at early dawn, while still dark, when the traveller in the East usually sets out, and the poor laborer to his work; the murderous robber lies in wait then (Psa 10:8).

is as a thief--Thieves in the East steal while men sleep at night; robbers murder at early dawn. The same man who steals at night, when light dawns not only robs, but murders to escape detection.

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 14. The murderer rising with the light] Perhaps the words should be read as Mr. Good has done: -

With the daylight ariseth the murderer;

Poor and needy, he sheddeth blood.

This description is suitable to a highwayman; one who robs in daylight, and who has been impelled by poverty and distress to use this most unlawful and perilous mode to get bread; and for fear of being discovered or taken, commits murder, and thus adds crime to crime.

In the night is as a thief.] Having been a highwayman in the daytime, he turns footpad or housebreaker by night; and thus goes on from sin to sin.

There have been several instances like the case above, where poverty and distress have induced a man to go to the highway and rob, to repair the ruin of himself and family. I shall introduce an authentic story of this kind, which the reader may find at the end of this chapter. See Clarke on Job 24:25.

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

(14) With the light.—The mention of light as a moral essence suggests its physical analogue, so that by the contrast of the one with the violence done to the other, the moral turpitude of the wrong-doing is heightened. It seems impossible to interpret the light in the former case (Job_24:13) otherwise than morally, and if so, the mention of the “ways thereof” and the “paths thereof” is very remarkable. The order in which these crimes of murder, adultery, and theft are mentioned according, as it does, with that in the Decalogue, is, at all events, suggestive of acquaintance with it.

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

14. with the light] i. e. toward day-break, while it is still partially dark. At such an hour the murderer waylays the solitary traveller.

is as a thief] i. e. acts the thief, becomes a thief.

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.

The murderer rising with the light,.... The light of the morning, before the sun is risen, about the time the early traveller is set out on his journey, and men go to distant markets to buy and sell goods, and the poor labourer goes forth to his work; then is the time for one that is used to commit robbery and murder to rise from his bed, or from his lurking place, in a cave or a thicket, where he has lain all night, in order to meet with the above persons: and so

killeth the poor and needy; takes away from them the little they have, whether money or provisions, and kills them because they have no more, and that they may not be evidence against him; it may be meant of the poor saints and people of God, whom the wicked slay out of hatred to them:

and in the night is as a thief; kills privately, secretly, at an unawares, as the thief does his work; or the "as" here is not a note of similitude or likeness, but of reality and truth; and so Mr. Broughton renders the words, "and in the night he will be as a thief"; in the morning he is a robber on the highway, and a murderer; all the day he is in his lurking place, in some haunt or another, sleeping or carousing; and when the night comes on, then he acts the part of a thief; in the morning he not only robs, but murders, that he may not be detected; at night he only steals, and not kills, because men are asleep, and see him not.

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

The murderer - One of the instances, referred to in the previous verse, of those who perform their deeds in darkness.

Rising with the light - Hebrew לאור lā'ôr. Vulgate “Mane primo - in the earliest twilight.” The meaning is, that he does it very early; by daybreak. It is not in open day, but at the earliest dawn.

Killeth the poor and needy - Those who are so poor and needy that they are obliged to rise early and go forth to their toil. There is a double aggravation - the crime of murder itself, and the fact that it is committed on those who are under a necessity of going forth at that early hour to their labor.

And in the night is as a thief - The same man. Theft is usually committed under cover of the night. The idea of Job is, that though these crimes cannot escape the notice of God, yet that he does not interpose to punish those who committed them. A striking incidental illustration of the fact stated here, occurred in the journey of Messrs. Robinson and Smith, on their way from Akabah to Jerusalem. After retiring to rest one night, they were aroused by a sudden noise; and they apprehended attack by robbers. “Our Arabs,” says Dr. R. “were evidently alarmed. They said, if thieves, “they would steal upon us at midnight; if robbers they would come down upon towards morning.” Bibl. Research. i. 270. It would seem, therefore, that there was some settled time or order in which they are accustomed to commit their various depredations.

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

Thief. Oppressing the poor, (Ven. Bede) and taking away their bread, Ecclesiasticus xxxiv. 25.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

With the light; as soon as the light appears, using no less diligence in his wicked practices, than labourers do in their honest and daily employments.

Killeth the poor and needy; where he finds nothing to satisfy his covetousness, he exerciseth his cruelty.

Is as a thief, i.e. he is really a thief; the particle as being oft used to express, not the resemblance but the truth of the thing, as Num 11:1; Deu 9:10; Hos 4:4; Hos 5:10; Joh 1:14. In the night they rob men secretly and cunningly, as in the day-time they do it more openly and avowedly.

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

14. With the light — Literally, At the light. Toward daybreak, the time when travellers in the East, on account of the extreme heat of the day, pursue their journey.

In the night — The murderer of the dawn is the thief of the night. Dr. Robinson was aroused at night by a sudden alarm. “Our Arabs,” he says, (i, 270,) “were evidently alarmed. They said, if thieves, they would steal upon us at midnight; if robbers, they would come down upon us toward morning.”

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

The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy. The murderer rises at the first glimpse of dawn the time when mast men sleep most soundly. He cannot go about his wicked business in complete darkness. He has not the courage to attack the great and powerful, who might be well armed and have retainers to defend them, but enters the houses of a comparatively poor class, in which he is less afraid to risk himself. Here, in the night he is as a thief. He has not come into the house simply for murder. Theft is his main object. He will not take life unless he is resisted or discovered, and so, in a certain sense, driven to it.

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

Poor - Where he finds nothing to satisfy his covetousness, he exercises his cruelty.

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

Should one rise in daylight If they would rise by day, they would slay the wayfarers.

and at night he would be like a thief to dig under houses.

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.