#659 Grains

“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his days?

2 Some move landmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

4 They thrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

the poor go out to their toil, seeking game;

the wasteland yields food for their children.

6 They gather their fodder in the field,

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains

and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.)

10 They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they carry the sheaves;

11 among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil;

they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

12 From out of the city the dying groan,

and the soul of the wounded cries for help;

yet God charges no one with wrong.

13 “There are those who rebel against the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways,

and do not stay in its paths.

14 The murderer rises before it is light,

that he may kill the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,

saying, ‘No eye will see me’;

and he veils his face.

16 In the dark they dig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18 “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;

their portion is cursed in the land;

no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does Sheol those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them;

the worm finds them sweet;

they are no longer remembered,

so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

21 “They wrong the barren, childless woman,

and do no good to the widow.

22 Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.

23 He gives them security, and they are supported,

and his eyes are upon their ways.

24 They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are cut off like the heads of grain.

25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar

and show that there is nothing in what I say?” Job 24 ESV

Have you ever wondered at how much sand is in the hour glass of heaven? I have, and have cried for God's justice, yet must confess that I myself have not wanted it against me. Even in a life that both openly and in the dark went against the laws of God, hated the instruction of my mother, chased the pleasures of those things that God called sin, I was like the thief who was angry with another thief. I was vengeful, whereas Job seems more contemplative. His friends suggest wrongs that Job will here confess also as wrong, but he will point out also that there are often those that prosper yet in their wrong, against his friend's assumptions he will present facts that they may easily know for themselves.

1. The donkey of the fatherless - these men go after the things of those who cannot easily defend themselves, they are predators, amassing the strength of numbers and preying on the weak.

2. The widow's ox - the weak should not inherit, in the mind of the extorter, she is not able to defend. When she runs out of the credit of the ox, what will you take then? The ox is more valuable to you than her person.

3. The poor off the road, like wild donkeys of the desert - they are highway robbers that teach their children to live this way too. They attack those who have come to trade, even the poor who have brought little for their journey, both wicked and good alike, their lives are all worth less than what they carry. Abraham's son Ishmael is described in this manner, some of Ephraim lived this way and even David fell into this temptation, to plunder. 

11The Angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction. 12He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” 13So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”…Genesis 16: 11-13

4. They snatch the fatherless child - Children can be seen in many ages, by even present cultures as a drain rather than the investment into the future. If we take the law of the jungle, the model of fallen nature, then men learn from the lion to eat the children that do not belong to him, so the mother can go back to work for him. Some would take the young man, who his mother would nurse and raise so that in turn he would be a strength and comfort to her in her old age, they would take him rather as a slave to the numbers of their war. 

5. The dying groan yet God charges no one with wrong - Job believes in God, but wonders at his timing, and what a good lesson this would be for men not to be wicked, if God did not delay so long with justice. The duality is not with God, but rather men, who refuse to either believe that what God calls sin is or believe in another who is not God, or believe that what they do in the dark is hidden somehow from His light, as if God were limited like men. 

Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. 10But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.…2 Peter 3:8-10

6. Those who rebel against the light - Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, but also becomes none seek the truth that would put them in a poor light. If it is generally spoken against then men will wait for the guise of dark, but as their arrogance grows they will eventually remove the speaker. Eventually men will congratulate themselves in their way, because like Job's friends, the measure of goodness is in what you have. If Job could be considered cursed by God in his present distress, then the wicked, who is rich, must be considered blessed. Job focuses on the behaviors and the fact that life does not always prove out our own sense of fairness. If we compare the rule of Job's friends and the wicked, sadly for both, it would say that the end justifies the means. Where is the integrity? Job goes on to describe sin, and paint the picture of both the murderer and the adulterer, the life based on impulse and feelings, "because I want what my neighbor has, and I have the means to take it." 

7. You say, "swift are they on the face of the waters" - maybe as though they live on the run, hiding in desolate places. Sure, some do live like this, but a portion that start out as such do gain in numbers, in might, in riches and then power. They teach this as a proper way and are held up by others in society, it becomes a norm, because they wear the clothing of what you consider the blessed. It is never personal to them, just business. They are even religious, thinking that if they do well in their plunder it is God's ok. Job wonders as do we all, God being sovereign, why does Your patience with them persist. I know they will come to the worm as all men do, but Job (I) would like to see it sooner, yet not when I was counted among them.