Job 27:9

27:7-10 Job looked upon the condition of a hypocrite and a wicked man, to be most miserable. If they gained through life by their profession, and kept up their presumptuous hope till death, what would that avail when God required their souls? The more comfort we find in our religion, the more closely we shall cleave to it. Those who have no delight in God, are easily drawn away by the pleasures, and easily overcome by the crosses of this life.

Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh, upon him? No, he will not, he heareth not sinners, and such as regard iniquity in their hearts, Psalm 66:18 ; every man has trouble more or less in this life, even the best of men; and generally speaking they have the most, and wicked men the least; but when death comes, he is a king of terrors to them, and they find sorrow and trouble; and especially at the day of judgment, when they will cry for mercy; and hypocrites, as the foolish virgins, will cry, "Lord, Lord, open unto us", Matthew 25:11 ; but when they call for mercy, the Lord will not answer, but laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear cometh, Proverbs 1:26 ; but God hears the cries of his people when in, trouble, whether in, life, or, in death, and is a present help unto them; and when, strength and heart fail, he is their portion, and will be so for evermore; and though sometimes they think he does not hear them, as Job sometimes complains, yet he makes it appear that he does sooner or later, and so Job describes himself as one that "calleth upon God, and he answereth him", Job 12:4 ; and therefore might conclude he was no hypocrite.

Verse 9. - Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon Him? Can he expect that in the day of trouble, "when distress and anguish come upon him" ( Proverbs 1:27 ), God will hear his cry, and respond to it, and give him relief? No; conscious hypocrisy - living a lie - cuts off from God, severs between a man and his Maker, makes all prayers for help vain, until it is repented of and put away from us. The man who dies in it is in a desperate case. Job 27:9

A hypocrite doth not pray to God with comfort, or any solid hope that God will hear him, as I know he will hear me, though not in the way which you think. When trouble cometh upon him; when his guilty conscience will fly in his face, so as he dare not pray; and accuse him to God, so as God will not hear him.

Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? - Coverdale has rendered this Job 27:8-9 so as to make excellent sense, though not strictly in accordance with the original. "What hope hath the hypocrite though he have great good, and though God give him riches after his heart's desire? Doth God hear him the sooner, when he crieth unto him in his necessity?" The object of the verse is to show the miserable condition of a wicked man or a hypocrite. This is shown by the fact which Job asserts, that God will not hear his cry when he feels his need of aid, and when he is induced to call upon him. This is true only when his object in calling upon God is merely for help. If he has no relentings for his sin, and no real confidence in God; if he calls upon him in trouble, intending to return to his sins as soon as the trouble is over, or if such is the state of his mind that God sees that he would return to his sins as soon as his calamities cease, then he cannot be expected to hear him. But if he comes with a penitent heart, and with a sincere purpose to forsake his sins and to devote himself to God, there is no reason to doubt that he would bear him. The argument of Job is in the main sound. It is, that if a man wishes the favor of God, and the assurance that he will hear his prayer, he must lead a holy life. A hypocrite cannot expect his favor: compare the notes at Isaiah 1:15 .

8 For what is the hope of the godless, when He cutteth off, When Eloah taketh away his soul? 9 Will God hear his cry When distress cometh upon him? 10 Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, Can he call upon Eloah at all times? 11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God, I will not conceal the dealings of the Almighty. 12 Behold, ye have all seen it, Why then do ye cherish foolish notions? In comparing himself with the רשׁע, Job is conscious that he has a God who does not leave him unheard, in whom he delights himself, and to whom he can at all times draw near; as, in fact, Job's fellowship with God rests upon the freedom of the most intimate confidence. He is not one of the godless; for what is the hope of one who is estranged from God, when he comes to die? He has no God on whom his hope might establish itself, to whom it could cling. The old expositors err in many ways respecting Job 27:8, by taking בצע, abscindere (root בץ), in the sense of (opes) corradere (thus also more recently Rosenm. after the Targ., Syr., and Jer.), and referring ישׁל to שׁלה in the signification tranquillum esse (thus even Blumenfeld after Ralbag and others). נפשׁו is the object to both verbs, and בצע נפשׁ, abscindere animam, to cut off the thread of life, is to be explained according to Job 6:9; Isaiah 38:12. שׁלח נפשׁ, extrahere animam (from שׁלה, whence שׁליח Arab. salan, the after-birth, cogn. שׁלל .

Arab. sll, נשׁל Arab. nsl, nṯl, nšl), is of similar signification, according to another figure, wince the body is conceived of as the sheath (נדנה, Daniel 7:15) of the soul (Note: On the similar idea of the body, as the kosha (sheath) of the soul, among the Hindus, vid., Psychol. S. 227.) (comp. Arab. sll in the universal signification evaginare ensem). The fut. apoc. Kal ישׁל ( equals ישׁל) is therefore in meaning equivalent to the intrans. ישּׁל, Deuteronomy 28:40 (according to Ew. 235, c, obtained from this by change of vowel), decidere; and Schnurrer's supposition that ישׁל, like the Arab. ysl, is equivalent to ישׁאל (when God demands it), or such a violent correction as De Lagarde's (Note: Anm. zur griech. Uebers. der Proverbien (1863), S. VI.f., where the first reason given for this improvement of the text is this, that the usual explanation, according to which ישׁל and יבצע have the same subj. and obj. standing after the verb, is altogether contrary to Semitic usage. But this assertion is groundless, as might be supposed from the very beginning. Thus, e.g., the same obj. is found after two verbs in Job 20:19, and the same subj. and obj. in Nehemiah 3:20.) continued...

Then it is for thee to reject and to choose, and not me" [U MBREIT ]; or as M AURER , " For thou hast rejected God's way of recompensing; state therefore thy way, for thou must choose, not I, " that is, it is thy part, not mine, to show a better way than God's. 34, 35. Rather, "men … will say to me, and the wise man (Job 34:2, 10) who hearkens to me (will say), 'Job hath spoken,'" &c. 36. Margin, not so well, "My father," Elihu addressing God. This title does not elsewhere occur in Job. tried —by calamities. answers for wicked men —(See on Job 34:8). Trials of the godly are not removed until they produce the effect designed. 37. clappeth … hands —in scorn (Job 27:23; Ezekiel 21:17). multiplieth … words —(Job 11:2; 35:16). To his original "sin" to correct which trials have been sent, "he adds rebellion, " that is, words arraigning God's justice. ## Job 35:1-16. 2. more than —rather as in Job 9:2; 25:4: "I am righteous (literally, my righteousness is) before God." The English Version, however, agrees with Job 9:17; 16:12-17; 27:2-6. Job 4:17 is susceptible of either rendering. Elihu means Job said so, not in so many words, but virtually. 3. Rather, explanatory of "this" in Job 35:2, "That thou sayest (to thyself, as if a distinct person) What advantage is it (thy integrity) to thee? What profit have I (by integrity) more than (I should have) by my sin?" that is, more than if I had sinned (Job 34:9).

Arabic, "pressed together," as a mass of clay by the potter, in forming a vessel [U MBREIT ]. Hebrew, "cut off," as the portion taken from the clay to form it [M AURER ]. 7. hand —alluding to Job's words (Job 13:21). 8. thy words —(Job 10:7; 16:17; 23:11, 12; 27:5, 6; 29:14). In Job 9:30; 13:23, Job had acknowledged sin; but the general spirit of his words was to maintain himself to be "clean," and to charge God with injustice. He went too far on the opposite side in opposing the friends' false charge of hypocrisy. Even the godly, though willing to confess themselves sinners in general, often dislike sin in particular to be brought as a charge against them. Affliction is therefore needed to bring them to feel that sin in them deserves even worse than they suffer and that God does them no injustice. Then at last humbled under God they find, affliction is for their real good, and so at last it is taken away either here, or at least at death. To teach this is Elihu's mission. 9. clean —spotless. 10. occasions —for hostility; literally, "enmities" (Job 13:24; 16:9; 19:11; 30:21). 11. (Job 13:27). marketh —narrowly watches (Job 14:16; 7:12; 31:4). 12. in this —view of God and His government. It cannot be that God should jealously "watch" man, though "spotless," as an "enemy," or as one afraid of him as an equal. For "God is greater than man!" There must be sin in man, even though he be no hypocrite, which needs correction by suffering for the sufferer's good. 13. (Isaiah 45:9). his matters —ways.