Job 24:15

Verse 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

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

Job 24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth [his] face.

Ver. 15. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth] Observeth, expecteth, and longeth till it cometh. Ut videas illum non peccare infirmitate sed malitin, saith Vatablus. This showeth that he sinneth not of infirmity, but of forethought, malice, and wickedness; which he plotteth and plougheth, as the Scripture phraseth it, purveying for the flesh, Rom 13:14, putrefying alive, under a tabes of impure lusts, and daily perishing therein, as Tiberius, at Capreae, by his own confession, Quotidie perire me sentio (Suet.). This beast was not ashamed of his detestable filthiness; as being a most impure and impudent defiler of other men’s beds. But the adulterer here spoken of seeks the covert of the twilight, and another of a disguise. He putteth his face in a secret place, so the Hebrew hath it, wrapping it in his cloak, or getting on a vizard, which, saith he, shall render me unknown, and no eye shall see me. For as for God’s eye, either he conceits him blind or presumes him indulgent, not doubting an easy and speedy pardon. This is charged upon David, 2Sa 12:10, "because thou hast despised me," &c., viz. in thinking to sin secretly, not considering mine all seeing eye, not caring though I looked on, &c., therefore shall all come to light, Job 24:12. Sin secretly committed shall be strangely discovered; yea, perhaps the sinner himself shall confess his sins, as Judas. So, sooner or later, "God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing," Ecc 12:14; see also /Apc Sir 33:13-17

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.

By these particular vices and the licence thereunto, he would prove that God punished not the wicked, and rewardeth the just.

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

(Pro 7:9; Psa 10:11).

disguiseth--puts a veil on.

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

15. The adulterer waits for the “twilight,” i. e. of even. Then he disguises himself, or puts a cover on his face, that he may enter undetected the house of his neighbour.

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 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 Pro 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, Pe2 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, Sa2 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, Gen 35:10; and when Amnon intended to force his sister, he ordered all the men to be had out of the room, Sa2 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, Gen 38:14.

(t) De Virgin, Veland. c. 17.

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

The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight; - compare the description in Pro 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.

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

Face. Septuagint insinuate "with a mask." Protestants, "disguiseth his face."

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).

The eye of the adulterer, i.e. the adulterer; but he mentions his eye, because the eye discerns the difference between light and darkness.

The twilight, to wit, for the evening twilight, which is his opportunity.

Saying in his heart, comforting himself with the thoughts of secretness and impunity.

Disguiseth his face, Heb. putteth his face in secret; covers it with a vizard or cloak, that he may be undiscovered.

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

15. Disguiseth his face — Puts a veil over the face: Wetzstein thinks a woman’s veil. “In Syrian towns,” he says, “women’s clothing is always chosen for such nocturnal sin. The man disguises himself in an izar, which covers him from head to foot, takes the mendil, veil, and goes with a lantern (without which at night every person is seized by the street watchman as a suspicious person) unhindered into a strange house.” Juvenal speaks of the rank adulterer with his head muffled in a Gallic hood, 8:144.

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

The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me. There is an analogy between moral and physical light, and between moral and physical darkness. The class of men here spoken of (vers. 14-16), who have rebelled against moral light (ver. 13), and refused its ways, and rejected its paths, are no great lovers of physical light. Their deeds of darkness are only suited to be done in the dark, and they wait for the evening twilight or the dusk of dawn to engage in them. (comp. Joh_3:19-21, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." See also Joh_8:12 Joh 12:35 Rom_13:12 Eph_5:8-14, etc.) And he disguiseth his face. As a further precaution against discovery, the adulterer disguiseth, or covereth up, his face. The same is often done by thieves and murderers.

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

Connecting Statement:

Job continues speaking.

the eye of the adulterer

Here "eye" refers to the whole person. AT: "the adulterer" (See: Synecdoche)

for the twilight

"for the sunset"

No eye will see me

Here "eye" refers to the whole person. AT: "No one will see me" (See: Synecdoche)

wicked people dig into houses

They dig into the houses in order to steal from them. This can be stated explicitly. AT: "wicked people dig into houses to steal from them" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

they shut themselves up

"they hide inside"

For all of them, thick darkness is like the morning

The thick darkness is as comfortable for the wicked as light of the morning is for normal people. (See: Simile)

the terrors of thick darkness

"the scary things that happen at night"

translationWords

adultery

darkness

house

terror

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And the eye of the adulterer And the adulterer among them would wait until evening, saying...

a mask And he puts a mask on his face to commit a transgression, for the generation of the Flood was suspected of all these: of robbery, for it is stated (Gen. 6:11): “and the earth was filled with violence,” and of immorality, for it is stated (ibid. verse 12): “for all flesh had corrupted [its way on the earth].”

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.