Job 34:20

Job 34:20 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.

Ver. 20. In a moment shall they die] Be they mean or mighty, they are, when God pleaseth, suddenly swept away by the hand of death; as chess men are into the bag, without distinction of kings, dukes, bishops, or common people.

And the people shall be troubled at midnight] As were the Egyptians, when their firstborn were slain in their dead sleep, Exo 12:29, not without much terror and tumult; and as were the army of Sennacherib, 2Ki 19:35, and Belshazzar with his Babylon, Dan 5:30-31. "The people shall be troubled," they shall be shaken as leaves in a great wind, or be carried away as by a mighty torrent; when they were most secure, and dreamed of no such danger. Neither in all these alterations and various occurrences is God unrighteous, since he is debtor to none, neither doth he anything without reason and right.

And pass away] Praeteribunt, id est, peribunt; they shall pass into the grave, as Ecc 1:4, "One generation passeth, and another cometh"; or they shall perish, as when it is said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away." The Vulgate hath it, Pertransibunt. It is not transibunt, they shall pass, saith Gregory; but pertransibunt, they shall pass through, because the wicked are always passing on to perdition throughout all their lives.

And the mighty shall be taken away without hand] That is, without seeing the hand that smiteth them; which is, saith one, a Divine force, invisibly cutting asunder the thread of their lives in a moment: Psa 76:12, The Lord cutteth off the spirit of princes. The Hebrew importeth, that he slips them off, as ono should slip off a flower between his finger; or as one should slip off a bunch of grapes, &c. The original here is, They shall take away the mighty, that is, the angels shall {as Luk 12:20} hurry them out of the world without hand, that is, without man’s help, without human violence.

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_34:20

And the mighty shall be taken away without hand.

Gods sovereignty viewed in relation to the death of His people

The text is part of the argument employed by Elihu to establish the principle of the Divine equity in the government of the universe. He insinuates that the suffering patriarch had at least implied certain reflections on the character of the Deity, and he remonstrates with him to show that the governor of the universe could not be unjust.

I. The sovereignty and impartiality of God. Sovereignty in the highest and most proper sense belongs exclusively to Jehovah. No bounds are set to His influence, and no department is free from His control. The originating cause of death is not Divine sovereignty, but our sin. In salvation we see Gods sovereignty as the originating cause; but in death mans guilt. Though death has not originated in sovereignty, yet all the circumstances of death are controlled by it. Death stands as a willing messenger at the footstool of Omnipotence.

1. God determines the hour of dissolution. The casualties which we sometimes speak of are casualties to us, but not to God. They are necessary parts of the general system which His wisdom regulates and His power controls. There is no confusion in what God does or permits to be done.

2. God determines or controls the instruments by which life shall be ended. Whether by long, lingering sickness, or by a sudden stroke. There are only two cases of (apparent) exemption--Enoch and Elijah.

3. God is uninfluenced by the consideration of merely present consequences. They are all foreseen by Him. Death is a penalty that must be universally rendered. While administering equitable government, that which is particular must not be permitted to impede the universal good.

II. The weakness and dependence of man. The contrast is tremendous between the feebleness of the creature and the majesty of the Creator. Man dieth and wasteth away. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. We ask the question, Where is he? Nature gives no answer. Philosophy gives no answer. Only revelation can. It flings its light upon the future, and as in one word utters eternity! (George Wilkins.)

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

Job 34:20-21. In a moment shall they die — Whensoever God doth but give the word, and send his summons for them. The rich and the prince, no less than the poor, must submit to the law of death, which God hath imposed upon all men without exception. And the people shall be troubled — Hebrew, יגעשׁו, jegognashu, concutientur, tremiscent, shall be shaken, shall tremble, at the approach of death, or through the calamities which God will bring upon them. Whole nations, or people, are no less subject to God’s power than any particular persons: their number cannot secure them from his hand. At midnight — Suddenly or unexpectedly, when they are most secure. And the mighty shall be taken away — From their place or power, or out of this life; without hand — Without any hand or instrumentality of man; by some secret act or judgment of God, which he often inflicts upon those who are out of the reach of men. For his eyes are upon the ways of man — “There is no one passage of man’s life but God is acquainted with it, and therefore cannot be suspected, through ignorance of their actions, (any more than through fear of their persons,) to overlook their crimes, or to do them any injustice.” — Patrick. God doth not destroy either prince or people unjustly, no, nor out of his mere pleasure, but for their sins, which he sees exactly, although they use all possible arts to hide them.

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

The messengers of visitation that God shall send.

When they look not for it.

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

they--"the rich" and "princes" who offend God.

the people--namely, of the guilty princes: guilty also themselves.

at midnight--image from a night attack of an enemy on a camp, which becomes an easy prey (Exo 12:29-30).

without hand--without visible agency, by the mere word of God (so Job 20:26; Zac 4:6; Dan 2:34).

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 20. In a moment shall they die] Both are equally dependent on the Almighty for their breath and being; the mighty as well as the poor. If the great men of the earth have abused their power, he sometimes cuts them off by the most sudden and unexpected death; and even at midnight, when in security, and least capable of defence, they are cut off by the people whom they have oppressed, or by the invisible hand of the angel of death. This appears to be spoken in reference to Eastern tyrants, who seldom die a natural death.

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

(20) In a moment shall they die—i.e., “they all alike die, rich and poor together; the hour of death is not hastened for the poor nor delayed for the rich. They all alike die.”

Even at midnight the people are troubled. . . .—It is hard to think that the writer did not know of Exo_12:29. It is better to read these statements as habitual presents and not as futures: “In a moment they die, even at midnight—the people are shaken and pass away,” &c.

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

20. Display of God’s just rule over people and princes. According to the punctuation the verse is thus divided,

In a moment they die and at midnight;

The people are shaken and pass away,

And the mighty are taken away without hand.

The phrase at midnight means suddenly and without anticipation, comp. Job_34:25; Psa_119:62. Without hand, i. e. through no human agency, by an unseen power, the ruling hand of God; comp. ch. Job_20:26; Dan_2:34-35; Zec_4:6. The mighty are the princes, opposed to “the people” in the second clause.

20–28. God’s strict justice may be seen in His government of the peoples and their princes alike. His justice is unerring, for it is guided by omniscient insight. Punishing oppression, it avenges the cause of the poor and afflicted.

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.

For his eyes are upon the ways of man,.... Which denotes the omniscience of God, which reaches to every man, to every individual, and to all men in general; and to their ways, to every step taken by them, to the whole of their lives and conversations, and every action of them; to all their internal and external ways and goings; perhaps the former may be meant in this, and the latter in the following clause. This may denote all their inward thoughts, the workings of their mind, the imaginations of their heart; all their secret purposes, designs, and schemes; and all the desires and affections of their soul; and all these, whether good or bad:

and he seeth all his goings; the whole of his walk and conversation, conduct and behaviour; all his external ways, works, and actions; and these whether of good or bad men, see Psa 139:1.

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

In a moment shall they die - That is, the rich and the great. They pass suddenly off the stage of action. They have no power to compel God to favor them, and they have no permanency of existence here which can constitute a claim on his special favor. Soon they will lie undistinguished in the dust. All are in his hand; and when he wills it, they must lie down in the dust together. He exempts none from death; spares none on account of beauty, rank, wealth, talent, or learning, but consigns all indiscriminately to the grave-showing that he is disposed to treat them all alike. This is urged by Elihu as a proof that God has no partiality, but treats all people as being on the same level - and there is no more striking illustration of this than is furnished by death. All die. None are spared on account of title, wealth, rank, beauty, age, or wisdom. All die in a manner that shows that he has no favoritism. The rich man may die with a malady as painful and protracted as the poor man; the beautiful and accomplished with a disease as foul and loathsome as the beggar. The sad change that the body undergoes in the tomb is as repulsive in the one case as in the other; and amidst all the splendor of rank, and the magnificence of dress and equipage, God intends to keep the great truth before the minds of people, that they are really on a level, and that all must share at his hand alike.

And the people shall be troubled - They shall be shaken, agitated, alarmed. They dread impending danger, or the prospect of sudden destruction.

At midnight - The image here is probably taken from an earthquake, or from a sudden onset made by a band of robbers on a village at night. The essential thought is that of the suddenness with which God can take away the mighty and the mean together. Nothing can resist him, and as he has this absolute control over people, and deals with all alike, there is great impropriety in complaining of his government.

And the mighty - Margin, “They shall take away the mighty.” The idea is, that the great shall be removed - to wit, by sudden death or by overwhelming calamiiy. The argueat of Elihu in this passage Job 34:18-20 is, that it would be esteemed great presumption to arraign the conduct of a prince or king, and it must be much more so to call in question the doings of him who is so superior to princes and kings that he shows them no partiality on account of their rank, but sweeps them away by sudden calamity as he does the most humble of mankind.

Without hand - That is, without any human instrumentality, or without the use of any visible means. It is by a word - by an expression of his will - by power where the agency is not seen. The design is, to show that God can do it with infinite ease.

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

They, the wicked, whatever may be their station in life. (Haydock) --- God takes off the tyrant (Calmet) when he least expects it, as well as the poor. (Haydock) --- Troubled, or make an insurrection. (Calmet) --- This often proves the ruin of tyrants. (Haydock) --- Hand, by the destroying angel. (Calmet)

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).

In a moment; whensoever God doth but give the word, and send his summons for them.

Shall they, i. e. the rich and the prince, no less than the poor, must submit to the law of death, which God hath imposed upon all men, without exception, and they cannot charge God with injury therein.

The people; whole nations or people are no less subject to God’s power than any particular persons; their numbers cannot secure them from God’s hand.

Troubled, i.e. disturbed and terrified with those calamities which God shall bring upon them.

At midnight; suddenly, and when they are most secure.

Pass away; either,

1. Go into captivity, or run or flee away they know not whither for their lives. Or,

2. Perish or die, as he said before, and as this word is oft used, as Job 14:20; Psa 37:36; Ecc 1:4. So the same thing is said of the people, which in the first branch of the verse was said of the princes.

Taken away; either from their place or power, or out of this life.

Without hand; without any hand or help of man, by some secret and stupendous work and judgment of God; which he oft inflicts upon those who are out of the reach of men.

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

20. Shall they die — Rather, they die.

Shall be troubled — Literally, Are shaken, as by an earthquake, or smitten, as by the nocturnal attack of an enemy. Hengstenberg sees here an allusion to the destruction of the Egyptians at midnight, (Exo_11:5,) which also is the view of the Targum.

The mighty shall be taken away — Literally, they take away the mighty — they, the mysterious agents so often introduced in this book — invisible and silent.

Without hand — Literally, “not by hand;” as in Lam_4:6, “no hands attacked her,” that is, Sodom. (See note Job_7:3.) Compare Dan_8:25.

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

-In a moment shall they die. All lie under the same law of death"Pallida Mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres. (Horace,"Od.," 1:4, 11. 13, 14.) "In a moment," whenever God wills, they pass from life and disappear, the rich equally with the needy, the powerful prince as much as the outcast and the beggar. And the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away. (comp. Exo_12:29 2Ki_19:35) Such sudden catastrophes are infrequent; but it is within the power of God to produce them at any time. When they occur, they strikingly exemplify the equality of his dealings with all classes of men, since none escape. (Exo_11:5 Exo_12:29) And the mighty shall be taken away without hand; i.e. without human agency. (comp. Dan_2:34)

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

In a moment, they die when He wishes.

and at midnight as He did to the Egyptians,

an [entire] people quakes in a moment and passes away.

it is not in their hands it is not in their hands, and they have no strength.

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.