Job 27:15

Job 27:15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.

Ver. 15. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death] That is, shall be presently and privately buried (as some sense it), without any noise or notice. Or, they shall be so hated, that no man shall speak well of them when they are dead; but their name shall be buried, and shall rot with them: so others understand it. Or, they shall be buried alive; as was Zeno the emperor in a fit of an apoplexy. Sepelientur adhuc vivi moribundi (Vatab.). And when as he recovered of that fit in his sepulchre, and cried for help, his wife, Ariadne, was so kind as to deny it him. The like is recorded of Scotus, the great school man. Diodati saith, that by this being buried in death is meant that the wicked dying are plunged into everlasting death, which only is the true death, εν θανατω τελευτησουσι (Sept.). Agreeable whereunto is that phrase, Rev 2:23, "I will kill her children with death." It is one thing to die, and another thing to be killed with death; this last is the time when death proves a harbinger to hell, when it haleth hell at the heels of it. This is a woeful death indeed.

And his widows shall not weep] Mors mea ne careat lacrimis, saith one. Tears are one of the dews of the dead; but some men, as they have lived undesired (their friends and whole neighbourhood being sick of them, and even longing for a vomit), so they die unlamented by their own widows (for in those days men took many wives, as now the Turks do so many as they are able to maintain, and very coarsely they use them), who are glad that they are thus rid of them, who were wont to lay upon them with their unmanly fists, or otherwise to abuse them. Of King Edwin it is said, that he lived wickedly, died wishedly. And of Henry II, that hearing that his son and successor, John, had conspired against him, he fell into a grievous passion, both cursing his sons and the day wherein himself was born, and in that distemper departed the world which so often he himself had distempered, and had now every man’s good word to be gone hence. See Jer 22:18.

Cum mors crudelem rapuisset saeva Neronem,

Credibile est multos Romanam agitasse iocos.

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.

None shall lament him.

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

Those that escape war and famine (Job 27:14) shall be buried by the deadly plague--"death" (Job 18:13; Jer 15:2; Rev 6:8). The plague of the Middle Ages was called "the black death." Buried by it implies that they would have none else but the death plague itself (poetically personified) to perform their funeral rites, that is, would have no one.

his--rather, "their widows." Transitions from singular to plural are frequent. Polygamy is not implied.

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 15. Those that remain of him] שרידיו seridaiv, his remains, whether meaning himself personally, or his family.

Shall be buried in death] Shall come to utter and remediless destruction. Death shall have his full conquest over them, and the grave its complete victory. These are no common dead. All the sting, all the wound, and all the poison of sin, remains: and so evident are God's judgments in his and their removal, that even widows shall not weep for them; the public shall not bewail them; for when the wicked perish there is shouting.

Mr. Good, following the Chaldee, translates: Entombed in corruption, or in the pestilence. But I see no reason why we should desert the literal reading. Entombed in corruption gives no nervous sense in my judgment; for in corruption are the high and the low, the wicked and the good, entombed: but buried in death is at once nervous and expressive. Death itself is the place where he shall lie; he shall have no redemption, no resurrection to life; death shall ever have dominion over him. The expression is very similar to that in Lu 16:22, as found in several versions and MSS.: The rich man died, and was buried in hell; and, lifting up his eyes, being in torment, he saw, &c. See my note there.

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

(15) Those that remain of him shall be buried in death.—That is, as the context shows, it shall be obscure, and excite no sympathy; their very death shall be as it were a burial, and shall consign them to oblivion.

His widows.—That is, those commonly hired for the purpose of making lamentation for the dead, or the widows of those that remain of him.

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

15. buried in death] “Death” is here, as often (Jer_15:2; Jer_18:21; Jer_43:11) pestilence. Those that sword and famine spare (Job_27:14) become the prey of the pestilence, and their burial shall be such as those so dying receive, without funeral rites and with no accompaniment of lamenting women. This idea is more distinctly expressed in the next clause, “his widows shall not weep”; comp. Psa_78:64. Comp. Job’s previous words as to the “burial” of the wicked, ch. Job_21:32.

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.

Though he heap up silver as the dust,.... Which, as it denotes the great abundance of it collected together, so it expresses the bias and disposition of such a man's mind, that he cannot be content without amassing great quantities of it, and also his diligence and success therein, see Kg1 10:27;

and prepare raiment as the clay; not merely, for use, but pomp and show, to fill his wardrobes with; and formerly, raiment was part of the treasure of great men: the phrase signifies that he might have such a variety of raiment, and such large quantities of it, that he would value it no more than so much clay; or else that his riches, consist of what it would, would be both polluting and troublesome to him; the Septuagint version reads "gold" instead of "raiment", as in Zac 9:3, where like expressions are used of Tyre.

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

Those that remain of him - Those that survive him.

Shall be buried in death - Hebrew “shall be buried BY death” (במות bamâveth), that is. “Death shall be the grave-digger” - or, they shall have no friends to bury them; they shall be unburied. The idea is highly poetical, and the expression is very tender. They would have no one to weep over them, and no one to prepare for them a grave; there would be no procession, no funeral dirge, no train of weeping attendants; even the members of their own family would not weep over them. To be unburied has always been regarded as a dishonor and calamity (compare the notes at Isa 14:19), and is often referred to as such in the Scriptures; see Jer 8:2; Jer 14:16; Jer 16:4, Jer 16:6. The passage here has a striking resemblance to Jer 22:18-19 -

“They shall not lament for him, saying,

Ah! my brother! or, Ah! sister!

They shall not lament for him, saying,

Ah! lord! or, Ah! his glory!

With the burial of an ass shall he be buried,

Drawn out and east beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

And his widows shall not weep - The plural here - “widows” - is a proof that polygamy was then practiced. It is probable that Job here alludes to the shrieks of domestic grief which in the East are heard in every part of the house among the females on the death of the master of the family, or to the train of women that usually followed the corpse to the grave. The standing of a man in society was indicated by the length of the train of mourners, and particularly by the number of wives and concubines that followed him as weepers. Job refers to this as the sentiment of his friends, that when a wicked man died, he would die with such evident marks of the divine displeasure, that even his own family would not mourn for him, or that they would be cut off before his death, and none would be left to grieve.

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

In death; without honour. (Sanctius) --- Weep for him. Septuagint, "his widows no one shall lament, or pity." (Haydock) (Psalm lxxvii. 63.) (Menochius)

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).

Those that remain of him; who survive and escape that sword and famine.

Shall be buried in death; either,

1. Shall die, and so be buried. Or,

2. Shall be buried as soon as ever they are dead, either because their relations or dependents feared lest they shored come to themselves again, and trouble them and others longer; or because they were not able to bestow any funeral pomp upon them, or thought them unworthy of it. Or,

3. Shall be in a manner utterly extinct in or by death; all their hope, and glory, and name, and memory (which they designed to perpetuate to all ages) shall be buried with them, and they shall never rise again to a blessed life: whereas a good man hath hope in his death, and leaves his good name alive and flourishing in the world, and rests in his grave in assurance of redemption from it, and of a glorious resurrection to a happy and eternal life.

His widows; for they had many wives, either to gratify their lust, or to increase and strengthen their family and interest.

Shall not weep; either because they durst not lament their death, which was entertained with public joy; or because they were overwhelmed and astonished with the greatness and strangeness of the calamity, and therefore could not weep; or because they also, as well as other persons, groaned under their tyranny and cruelty, and rejoiced in their deliverance from it.

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

15. Buried in death — Or, by death. They who escape war and famine shall fall by some fell pestilence that precludes even a burial. Death himself shall administer the last sad rites — no funeral cortege, save wild beasts from the desert — no dirge; even their “widows shall not weep,” “corruption alone shall be their tomb.” A startling personification. Comp. Jer_16:4. The pestilence, in the Middle Ages, was called black death. The reader will recall painful allusions to the death of Job’s children which stained the speeches of the friends.

His widows shall not weep — Comp. Jer_22:18. The plural form “widows” points to polygamy as a common practice of Job’s times, and consequently to a remote age for the writing of this book.

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

Those that remain of him shall be buried in death. Not simply "shall die," but shall "be buried," i.e. lost sight of, and forgotten, "in death." And his widows shall not weep. (Psa_78:64) The deaths of his offspring shall not be lamented by their widows a very grievous omission in the eyes of Orientals.

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

Remain - Who survive that sword and famine. Widows - For they had many wives. Weep - Because they also, as well as other persons, groaned under their tyranny, and rejoice in their deliverance from it.

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

Those who survive him

This refers to the wicked man's children. This can be stated clearly. AT: "Those who continue to live after their wicked father dies" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

will be buried by plague

Here "be buried" represents dying. AT: "will die by plague" (See: Metonymy)

their widows ... them

The words "their" and "them" refer to "Those who survive him," that is, the children of the wicked man.

heaps up silver like the dust

Here "heaps up" is a metonym meaning "gathers much." Job speaks as if the silver were as easy to get as dust. AT: "gathers large piles of silver" or "gathers silver as easily as he could gather dust" (See: Simile)

heaps up clothing like clay

Here "heaps up" is a metonym meaning "gathers much." Job speaks as if the clothing were as easy to get as clay. AT: "gathers large piles of clothing" or "gathers clothing as easily as he could gather clay" (See: Simile)

translationWords

bury

plague

lament

silver

righteous

innocent

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