Job 20:27

The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) The heaven shall reveal his iniquity.—All nature shall combine to bring about his ruin, which is, in fact, decreed by God. We here take leave of Zophar, who does not reply again; he has exhausted himself, notwithstanding Job 20:2.

Benson Commentary

Job 20:27-28. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity — God shall be a swift witness against him by extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job’s case, and the fire from heaven. And the earth shall rise up against him — All creatures upon earth shall conspire to destroy him. If the God of heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will show him any kindness, but all the hosts of both are, and will be, at war with him. The increase of his house — יבול, jebul, proventus, his income, revenue, or his estate got by the labour, and employed for the use of his family; shall depart — Shall be lost or taken away from him: shall flow away — Like waters, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return no more: in the day of his wrath — That is, of God’s wrath; when God shall come to execute judgment upon him. The abundance of his house, Heath renders it, shall roll away like the torrents in the day of his fury.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:23-29 Zophar, having described the vexations which attend wicked practices, shows their ruin from God's wrath. There is no fence against this, but in Christ, who is the only Covert from the storm and tempest, Isa 32:2. Zophar concludes, This is the portion of a wicked man from God; it is allotted him. Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who intended to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explanation, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves, to stand in awe and sin not. One view of Jesus, directed by the Holy Spirit, and by him suitably impressed upon our souls, will quell a thousand carnal reasonings about the suffering of the faithful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The heaven shall reveal his iniquity - The meaning here is, that the whole creation would conspire against such a man. Heaven and earth would be arrayed against him. The course of events would be so ordered as to seem designed to bring his character out, and to show what he was. He would attempt to conceal his sin, but it would be in vain. He would hide it in his bosom, but it would be developed. He would put on the air of piety and innocence, but his secret sin would be known. This seems to be the general sense of the verse; and it is not necessary to attempt to show "how" it would be done - whether by lightning from heaven, as Noyes supposes, or whether by some direct manifestation from the skies. Probably the meaning is, that the divine dispensations toward such a man - the overwhelming calamities which he would experience, would show what he was. The word "heaven" is not unfrequently put for God himself. Daniel 4:23, "the heavens do rule." Luke 15:21, "I have sinned against heaven."

The earth shall rise up against him - Calamities from the earth. The course of events here. Want of success - sterility of soil - blight and mildew, would rise up against such a man and show what he was. His real character would in some way be brought out, and it would be seen that he was a wicked man; compare Judges 5:20.

They fought from heaven;

The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. All creation is at enmity with him, and proclaims his guilt, which he would fain conceal.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The heaven shall reveal his iniquity, i.e. God shall be a swift witness against him by some extraordinary judgments: still he reflects upon Job’s case, and the fire from heaven, Job 1.

The earth i.e. all creatures upon earth shall conspire with God to destroy him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The heaven shall reveal his iniquity,.... Either God the Maker and Possessor of heaven, who dwells there, and is sometimes so called, Daniel 4:25; who sees and knows all things, even those that are most secret, as well as more openly committed, and will make all manifest, sooner or later; or else the angels of heaven, the inhabitants of it, so the Targum; who in the last day will be employed in gathering out of Christ's kingdom all that offend, and do iniquity, Matthew 13:41; or the judgments of God descending from heaven, or appear there, and are owing to it; such as drowning the old world by opening the windows of heaven, Genesis 7:11; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone from thence, Genesis 19:24; and the destruction of persons by thunder, 2 Samuel 22:15, and lightning, 1 Samuel 2:10, and the like; which judgments falling upon men, show them to be guilty of crimes deserving of the wrath of God, see Romans 1:18;

and the earth shall rise up against him; when that becomes barren for the sins of men, and nothing but things hurtful to man rise up out of it; when it discloses the blood of murdered persons, and will at last give up the wicked dead that are buried in it; the Targum is,

"the inhabitants of the earth;''

and may be interpreted of their enmity, opposition, and hostility.

Geneva Study Bible

The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27. Heaven and earth conspire together against the sinner. There may be allusion to Job’s appeal to the earth, ch. Job 16:18, and his pretended assurance of having a witness in heaven, ch. Job 16:19, Job 19:25. Heaven “reveals” his iniquity in the chastisements, e.g. the fire of heaven, ch. Job 1:16, that fall on him; and earth rises up against him in the hostility of men, ch. Job 1:15; Job 1:17, cf. ch. Job 17:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. This is Zophar's reply to the appeal which Job made (in Job 16:18, 19) to heaven and earth to bear their witness in his favour. Heaven, he says, instead of testifying to his innocence, will one day, when the books are opened (Revelation 20:12), "reveal his iniquity;" and earth, instead of echoing his cry, will "rise up" in indignation "against him." He will have none either in heaven or earth to take his part, or give any testimony in his favour. Job 20:27

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

26 All darkness is reserved for his treasured things,

A fire that is not blown upon devoureth him;

It feedeth upon what is left in his tent.

27 The heavens reveal his iniquity,

And the earth riseth up against him.

28 The produce of his house must vanish,

Flowing away in the day of God's wrath.

. . . . . .

29 This is the lot of the wicked man from Elohim,

And the heritage decreed for him from God.

As in Psalm 17:14 God's store of earthly goods for the children of men is called צפוּן (צפין), so here the stores laid up by man himself are called צפוּניו. Total darkness, which will finally destroy them, is decreed by God against these stores of the godless, which are brought together not as coming from the hand of God, but covetously, and regardless of Him. Instead of טמוּן it might also have been צפוּן (Job 15:20; Job 21:19; Job 24:1), and instead of לצפוּניו also לטמוּניו (Deuteronomy 33:19); but טמוּן is, as Job 40:13 shows, better suited to darkness (on account of the ט, this dull-toned muta, with which the word begins). כּל־חשׁך signifies sheer darkness, as in Psalm 39:6, כל־הבל, sheer nothingness; Psalm 45:14, כל־כבודה, sheer splendour; and perhaps Isaiah 4:5, כל־כבוד, sheer glory. And the thought, expressed with somewhat of a play upon words, is, that to the θησαυρίζειν of the godless corresponds a θησαυρίζειν of God, the Judge (Romans 2:5; James 5:3): the one gathers up treasures, and the other nothing but darkness, to whom at an appointed season they shall be surrendered. The תּאכלהוּ which follows is regarded by Ges. as Piel instead of תּאכּלהוּ, but such a resolving of the characteristic sharpened syllable of Piel is unsupportable; by Hirz., Olsh. 250, b, and Pual instead of תּאכּלהוּ, but אכּל signifies to be eaten, not (so that it might be connected with an accusative of the obj.) to get to eat; by Ew., Hupf., as Kal for תּאכלהוּ, which is possible both from the letters and the matter (vid., on Psalm 94:20); but more correctly it is regarded as Poel, for such Poel forms from strong roots do occur, as שׁפט (vid., on Job 9:15), and that the Cholem of these forms can be shortened into Kametz-chatuph is seen from ודרשׁוּ, Psalm 109:10 (vid., Psalter in loc.).

(Note: Such a contraction is also presented in the readings תּרצחוּ, Psalm 62:4; מלשׁני, Psalm 101:5; and ויּחלקם, 1 Chronicles 23:6; 1 Chronicles 24:3. All these forms are not resolved forms of Piel (Ges., Berth., Olsh. 248, a), but contracted forms of Poel with Kametz-chatuph instead of Cholem. תּהתלּוּ, Job 13:9, is not a resolved form of Piel, but a non-syncopated Hiphil. It should be observed that the Chateph-Kametz in "wedorschu" above and at p. 328 is used as an unmistakeable sign of the ŏ. - Tr.])

The Poel is in the passage before us the intensive of Kal: a fire which is not blown upon shall eat him up. By this translation נפּח is equivalent to נפּחה, since attention is given to the gender of אשׁ in the verb immediately connected with it, but it is left out of consideration in the verbs נפח and ירע which stand further form it, which Olshausen thinks doubtful; there are, however, not a few examples which may be adduced in favour of it, as 1 Kings 19:11; Isaiah 33:9; comp. Ges. 147, rem. 1. Certainly the relative clause לא נפח may also be explained by supplying בּהּ: into which one has not blown, or that one has not blown on (Symm., Theod., ἄνευ φυσήματος): both renderings are possible, according to Ezekiel 22:20, Ezekiel 22:22; but since the masc. ירע follows, having undoubtedly אשׁ as its subject, we can unhesitatingly take the Synallage gen. as beginning even with נפח. A fire which needs no human help for its kindling and its maintenance is intended (comp. on לא ביד, Job 34:20); therefore "fire of God," Job 1:16. This fire feasts upon what has escaped (שׂריד, as Job 20:21; Job 18:19), i.e., whatever has escaped other fates, in his tent. yeera` (Milel) is fut. apoc. Kal; the form of writing ירע (fut. apoc. Niph.) proposed by Olsh. on account of the change of gender, i.e., it is devoured, is to be rejected for the reason assigned in connection with נפח. The correct interpretation has been brought forward by Schultens.

It is not without reference to Job 16:18-19, where Job has called upon earth and heaven as witnesses, that in Job 20:27 Zophar continues: "the heavens reveal his guilt, and the earth rises against him;" heaven and earth bear witness to his being an abhorrence, not worthy of being borne by the earth and shone upon by the light of heaven; they testify this, since their powers from below and above vie with one another to get rid of him. מתקוממה is connected closely with לו (which has Lamed raphatum) by means of Mercha-Zinnorith, and under the influence of the law, according to which before a monosyllabic accented word the tone is drawn back from the last syllable of the preceding word to the penultima (Ew. 73, 3), is accented as Milel on account of the pause.

continued...