Jun 02, 2023
Ti sei mai chiesto: "Dov'è la giustizia?" (Lavoro 24)
کبھی سوچیں، "انصاف کہاں ہے؟" (ایوب 24)
Você já se perguntou: “Onde está a Justiça?” (Trabalho 24)
Haben Sie sich jemals gefragt: „Wo ist Gerechtigkeit?“ (Aufgabe 24)
Vous êtes-vous déjà demandé « Où est la justice ? » (Travail 24)
Alguna vez se preguntó, "¿Dónde está la justicia?" (Trabajo 24)
Вы когда-нибудь задумывались: «Где справедливость?» (Работа 24)
Scripture reading - Job 24
Eliphaz, the third of Job’s friends to argue Job’s troubles were like those of the wicked, evoked a response from Job that began in chapter 23 and continued to chapter 24. Having slandered Job’s character, Eliphaz accused him of some great evil and urged him to repent promising God would restore him (Job 22:23-27)
Nevertheless, though he suffered overwhelming afflictions and felt abandoned by God, Job maintained his innocence (Job 23). He lamented, if God would give him a hearing, he would maintain his troubles were greater than his sins (Job 23:1-7). Yet, though he was wrongly accused by his friends, Job was confident God knew he was a man of integrity, who desired to walk according to His commandments (Job 23:8-12).
Job 24
Accused of gross wrongdoing, the accusations brought against Job by his “friends” left him wondering why he suffered, when the wicked prospered and went unpunished? Job’s reflections on the sins of the wicked was recorded in Job 24:2-17.
Tyrannical Thieves (Job 24:2-8)
Job first considered the company of thieves, and their wiles, deceptions, and effronteries against God and humanity. (Remember, as you read verses 2-8, the setting was an agrarian society, and the perspective was rural and agricultural. Of course, thievery and robbery are the same, though the coveted objects of the thief change with the culture). Times have changed, but the nature of man is as wicked as ever!
Before making an application to 21st century society, let’s consider Job’s observations. The first were land thieves who removed “landmarks,” essentially physical stakes, that designated the boundaries of a family’s lands (Job 24:2a). Not surprising, but the same criminal activity continues in our day. (Note Deuteronomy 19:14; 27:17; Proverbs 23:10-11). There were thieves who would seize a neighbor’s sheep, and move them to graze in his pastures, thus robbing a man of his livelihood (Job 24:2b).
Tragically, the wicked have always preyed upon the most vulnerable of a society, the poor and the weak (Job 24:3-8). In Job’s day, evil men would steal the donkey of an orphan (Job 24:3a), and demand a widow’s ox for surety or collateral (Job 24:3b). They would abuse the poor, and mislead them (Job 24:4), and leave them to forage for food and shelter like wild beasts (Job 24:5-8).
Cruel Oppressors of the Weak and Defenseless (Job 24:9-17)
Job described children taken from their mothers (Job 24:9) as collateral for debt (tragically, the 21st century has revived this abuse with “human trafficking,” and the mass movement of humanity across international borders). The wicked would take the robes of the poor (a symbol of the bare necessities for life) as collateral for debt (Job 24:10). Such is the way of the wicked. While a farmer would reward an ox with the grain he treads, the wicked would leave the poor destitute, hungry, and thirsty (Job 24:11-12; Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9; 1 Timothy 5:18).
Murderers and Adulterers (Job 24:14-17)
The rise of violent crimes and murder in 21st century society is akin to the observations of Job. He observed murderers who plotted and preyed upon the poor and needy (Job 24:14). Numbered among the wicked were adulterers who disguised their faces to avoid recognition (Job 24:15). Rounding out the society of the wicked were thieves who marked houses in the day, and enjoyed the guise of darkness to break into them and steal at night (Job 24:16-17).
The Character and Fate of the Wicked (Job 24:18-25)
Having considered the character and sins of the wicked, Job agreed with his friends, for the wicked will not go unpunished. The wicked are swift to steal the fruits of other men’s labor, because they are unwilling to toil in their own vineyards (Job 24:18). Nevertheless, the end of the wicked is akin to “drought and heat [thatconsumes] the snow;” they will go the way of all sinners, to “the grave” (Job 24:19).
Closing thoughts (Job 24:20-25) – Describing the fate and destiny of the wicked, Job graphically detailed his end, writing: “The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; He shall be no more remembered; And wickedness shall be broken as a tree” (Job 24:20).
Rich or poor, famous or infamous, powerful or weak, the bodies of the dead eventually become the diet of worms. While the most stately of trees will eventually be broken and fall, the bodies of the powerful will inevitably decay in their graves. We might ponder with Job, why the LORD is patient with the wicked, and his pernicious ways; however, we are assured, “His eyes are upon their ways” (Job 24:23).
Warning: “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).
Copyright © 2023 – Travis D. Smith
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