Job 27:23

Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Job 27:23. Men — Who shall see and observe these things; shall clap their hands at him — In token of their joy, at the removal of such a public pest and tyrant; and by way of astonishment, as also in contempt and scorn; all which this action signifies in Scripture. And shall hiss him out of his place — In token of detestation and derision.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:11-23 Job's friends, on the same subject, spoke of the misery of wicked men before death as proportioned to their crimes; Job considered that if it were not so, still the consequences of their death would be dreadful. Job undertook to set this matter in a true light. Death to a godly man, is like a fair gale of wind to convey him to the heavenly country; but, to a wicked man, it is like a storm, that hurries him away to destruction. While he lived, he had the benefit of sparing mercy; but now the day of God's patience is over, and he will pour out upon him his wrath. When God casts down a man, there is no flying from, nor bearing up under his anger. Those who will not now flee to the arms of Divine grace, which are stretched out to receive them, will not be able to flee from the arms of Divine wrath, which will shortly be stretched out to destroy them. And what is a man profited if he gain the whole world, and thus lose his own soul?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Men shall clap their hands at him - That is, they shall combine to drive him out of the world, and rejoice when he is gone. The same sentiment was also expressed by Bildad, Job 18:18 :

"He shall be driven fromm light into darkness,

And chased out of the world."

There can be no doubt, I think, that Job alludes to that sentiment, and that his object in quoting it is to show its incorrectness. He does not indeed go into a formal reply to it in the following chapters, but he seems to consider that he had already replied to it by the statements which he had made, and which showed the incorrectness of the views which his friends had taken. He had demonstrated in the previous chapters that their main position was incorrect, and he asks (in Job 27:12 of this chapter), how it was possible that they could hold such sentiments as these, in the midst of all the facts which surrounded them? The whole current of events was against their opinion, and in the close of this chapter he enumerates the sentiments which they had advanced, which he regarded as so strange, and which he felt that he had now shown to be erroneous. In deed, they seem to have regarded themselves as confuted, for they were silent. Job had attacked and overthrown their main position, that people were treated according to their character in this life, and that consequently extraordinary sufferings were proof of extraordinary guilt, and, that being overthrown, they had nothing more to say. Having silenced them, and shown the error of the opinions which he has here enumerated, be proceeds in the following chapters to state his own views on important topics connected with the providence of God, mainly designed to show that we are not to expect fully to comprehend the reason of his dispensations.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. clap … hands—for joy at his downfall (La 2:15; Na 3:19).

hiss—deride (Jer 25:9). Job alludes to Bildad's words (Job 18:18).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Men, who shall see and observe these things,

shall clap their hands; partly, in token of their joy at the removal of such a public pest and tyrant; and partly, by way of astonishment; and partly, in contempt, and scorn, or derision; all which this gesture signifies in Scripture use; of which see Lamentations 2:15 Ezekiel 25:6 Nahum 3:19.

Shall hiss him, in token of their amazement, detestation, and derision. See 1 Kings 9:8 2 Chronicles 29:8 Jeremiah 25:9 Micah 6:16.

Out of his place; now that he is out of his place and power, which they durst not do whilst he was in his place. Or, the men of his place, that lived with him or near him, and daily felt the effects of his tyranny.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Men shall clap their hands at him,.... In a way of joy and triumph, scorn and derision, see Lamentations 2:15; either at the time of his death, being glad they are rid of him, Psalm 52:5; or rather hereafter, to all eternity, while the wrath and vengeance of God is pouring on him; and this will be done by all righteous men evermore; not pleasing themselves with the shocking scene, nor indulging any evil passion in them, from which they will be entirely free; but rejoicing in the glory of divine justice, which will be displayed in the everlasting destruction of wicked men, see Revelation 18:20; and this need not be restrained to good men only, but ascribed to angels also; for it may be rendered impersonally, "hands shall be clapped at him"; or joy be expressed on this occasion by all in heaven, angels and saints, who will all approve and applaud the divine procedure against wicked men as right and just; yea, this may express the glorying of divine justice, and its triumph in the condemnation and destruction of sinners;

and shall hiss him out of his place; from the bar and tribunal of God, where he stood and was condemned; and, as he goes to everlasting punishment, expressing abhorrence and detestation of him and his crimes, and as pleased with the righteous judgment of God upon him. Now this is the wicked man's portion, and the heritage he shall have of God at and after death, though he has been in flourishing circumstances in life; all which Job observes, to show that he was no friend nor favourer of wicked men, nor thought well of them and their ways, though he observed the prosperity they are attended with in their present state; and as for himself, he was not, and would not, be such a wicked man, and an hypocrite, on any account whatever, since he was sure he must then be miserable hereafter, to all intents and purposes.

Geneva Study Bible

Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23. men shall clap their hands] Clapping the hands is a token of malignant gladness, Lamentations 2:15, and “hissing” a token of scorn and dislike, Jeremiah 49:17. See ch. Job 18:18, Job 20:27. Comp. what Job says of his own treatment by men, ch. Job 17:6, Job 30:9-14.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 23. - Men shall clap their hands at him. Applauding, i.e. the just judgment of God upon him. And shall hiss him out of his place. Accompany with hisses his final ruin and downfall - hissing him, while they applaud the action of God in respect to him.



Job 27:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

19 He lieth down rich, and doeth it not again,

He openeth his eyes and-is no more.

20 Terrors take hold of him as a flood;

By night a tempest stealeth him away.

21 The east wind lifteth him up, that he departeth,

And hurleth him forth from his place.

22 God casteth upon him without sparing,

Before His hand he fleeth utterly away.

23 They clap their hands at him,

And hiss him away from his place.

The pointing of the text ולא יאסף is explained by Schnurr., Umbr., and Stick.: He goes rich to bed and nothing is taken as yet, he opens his eyes and nothing more is there; but if this were the thought intended, it ought at least to have been ואין נאסף, since לא signifies non, not nihil; and Stickel's translation, "while nothing is carried away," makes the fut. instead of the praet., which was to be expected, none the more tolerable; also אסף can indeed signify to gather hastily together, to take away (e.g., Isaiah 33:4), when the connection favours it, but not here, where the first impression is that רשׁע is the subj. both to ולא יאסף and to ואיננו. Bttcher's translation, "He lieth down rich and cannot be displaced," gives the words a meaning that is ridiculed by the usage of the language. On the other hand, ולא יאסף can signify: and he is not conveyed away (comp. e.g., Jeremiah 8:2; Ezekiel 29:5; but not Isaiah 57:1, where it signifies to be swept away, and also not Numbers 20:26, where it signifies to be gathered to the fathers), and is probably intended to be explained after the pointing that we have, as Rosenm. and even Ralbag explain it: "he is not conveyed away; one opens his eyes and he is not;" or even as Schlottm.: "he is not conveyed away; in one moment he still looks about him, in the next he is no more;" but the relation of the two parts of the verse in this interpretation is unsatisfactory, and the preceding strophe has already referred to his not being buried. Since, therefore, only an unsuitable, and what is more, a badly-expressed thought, is gained by this reading, it may be that the expression should be regarded with Hahn as interrogative: is he not swept away? This, however, is only a makeshift, and therefore we must see whether it may not perhaps be susceptible of another pointing. Jerome transl.: dives cum dormierit, nihil secum auferet; the thought is not bad, but מאוּמה is wanting, and לא alone does not signify nihil. Better lxx (Ital., Syr.): πλούσιος κοιμηθήσεται καὶ ου ̓ προσθήσει. This translation follows the form of reading יאסף equals יוסיף, gives a suitable sense, places both parts of the verse in the right relation, and accords with the style of the poet (vid., Job 20:9; Job 40:5); and accordingly, with Ew., Hirz., and Hlgst., we decide in favour of this reading: he lieth down to sleep rich, and he doeth it no more, since in the night he is removed from life and also from riches by sudden death; or also: in the morning he openeth his eyes without imagining it is the last time, for, overwhelmed by sudden death, he closes them for ever. Job 27:20 and Job 27:20 are attached crosswise (chiastisch) to this picture of sudden destruction, be it by night or by day: the terrors of death seize him (sing. fem. with a plur. subj. following it, according to Ges. 146, 3) like a flood (comp. the floods of Belial, Psalm 18:5), by night a whirlwind (גּנבתּוּ סוּפה, as Job 21:18) carrieth him away. The Syriac and Arabic versions add, as a sort of interpolation: as a fluttering (large white) night-moth, - an addition which no one can consider beautiful.

Job 27:21 extends the figure of the whirlwind. In Hebrew, even when the narrative has reference to Egyptian matters (Genesis 41:23), the קדים which comes from the Arabian desert is the destructive, devastating, and parching wind κατ ̓ εξοχὴν.

(Note: In Syria and Arabia the east wind is no longer called qadı̂m, but exclusively sharqı̂ja, i.e., the wind that blows from the rising of the sun (sharq). This wind rarely prevails in summer, occurring then only two or three days a month on an average; it is more frequent in the winter and early spring, when, if it continues long, the tender vegetation is parched up, and a year of famine follows, whence in the Lebanon it is called semûm (שׂמוּם), which in the present day denotes the "poisonous wind" ( equals nesme musimme), but originally, by alliance with the Hebr. שׁמם, denoted the "devastating wind." The east wind is dry; it excites the blood, contracts the chest, causes restlessness and anxiety, and sleepless nights or evil dreams. Both man and beast feel weak and sickly while it prevails. Hence that which is unpleasant and revolting in life is compared to the east wind. Thus a maid in Hauran, at the sight of one of my Damascus travelling companions, whose excessive ugliness struck her, cried: billâh, nahâr el-jôm aqshar (Arab. 'qšr), wagahetni (Arab. w-jhṫnı̂) sharqı̂ja, "by God, it is an unhealthy day to-day: an east wind blew upon me." And in a festive dance song of the Merg district, these words occur:

wa rudd lı̂ hômet hodênik

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