Commentary for Job 27:24

Then Job again His friends refrained from answering as Elihu reprimanded them, for they stood and replied no more (32:3).

As God lives I swear that indeed He took away my right. From here Rabbi Joshua derived that Job served the Omnipresent out of love. No one swears by the king’s life unless he loves the king.

Though it is now his turn to make his final address, Zophar does not appear and so Job continues. Once again he protests his moral integrity, rejecting the suspicions his companions had raised in this matter

that I should justify you That I should say that you are right in condemning me.

I will not give up my innocence I will not concede to your words and say that I am not innocent.

I have maintained my righteousness To say that I am righteous.

my heart will not reproach me because of my days, i.e., because of any manner or trait with which I deported myself in my days. Therefore, perforce, my enemy shall be like a wicked man.

For what is the hope of a flatterer For why should I be a wicked man and a robber? What is the end of a wicked man who takes money by force?

Job refutes the interpretation his companions had put on God’s ways, regarding it as no more than cheap flattery. They had refused to face the truth about Him

when God casts off Heb. ישל. When the Omnipresent casts his soul off him. This is an expression of (Exod. 3:5), “Remove (של) your shoes”; (Deut. 19:5), “and the iron [head] slips off (ונשל).”

Or will he delight with the Almighty The double interrogative is like all double interrogatives. the first one is customarily prefixed by a “hey” and the second one by אִם ; e.g., (Amos 6:12), “Will horses run (הירצון) on the rock, or (אִם) will one plow with cattle?” (Job 6:30), “Is there (היש) injustice in my tongue, or (אִם) will my palate not understand wickedness?” Here, too, will God hearken to his cry...or will he delight with the Almighty? Will one who is a wicked man or a flatterer perhaps be able to delight and rely on the salvations of the Holy One, blessed be He, and call to Him in time of trouble? This is a question.

I will instruct you what the standard is that is in God’s hand, and the way... what is with the Almighty I will not conceal Like (above 23:10), “Because He knows the way that is with me.”

all of you have seen that this is the portion of a wicked man.

Job now turns on his companions accusing them of hypocrisy. Their contention that the wicked who prosper in this world receive their true deserts after their death is humbug and in their heart of hearts they know this. He dies happy, surrounded by his wealth. Whatever happens later is of little or no concern to him; he does not experience any of it.

now why do you become altogether vain? To be wicked and hypocritical.

If his sons increase they will increase for the sword. in death They will die amidst suffering and sicknesses, until his widows will be happy at their death and will not weep.

and He will distribute [his] money to the innocent The Holy One, blessed be He, will distribute the wicked man’s money to an innocent one.

He builds...as a moth As a moth, who builds his hole which does not endure, and like a booth that the watchman of the fig tree and the vineyard makes, which is not permanent. (Another explanation: that the watchman of the vineyard, who does not watch it at all times, made. I heard this. Absent in certain editions.)

He dies rich He will die with his riches, but sometimes he will not be gathered in to burial.

Terrors Demons.

The dead are dead: beyond feeling, reward or punishment. The wicked should be blighted during their lives.

a tempest snatches him away and casts him away in disgrace.

And he will cast upon him i.e., the one who casts evil upon him will show no compassion.

from his hand of the wicked man, and from his strength. from his place.

he will flee His counselor, who assisted him from the start, will flee from assisting him at the time of his downfall, as Charbonah did to Haman (Esther 7:9).

They clap their hands over them Those who knew [him] long ago and now see his ruin.