Job 24:2 | KingComments | STEP | Job continues his answer to Eliphaz. He knows that times are “not stored up by the Almighty” or, as it also can be translated “times are not hidden” from “the Almighty” ( ). By this he means that God is aware of what a person is going through, whether it be good times or bad times, which is what is meant in this part according to the context. God determines the time of everything ( ), just as He fixed a day in which He will judge the world ( ; cf. ). This knowledge causes Job to ask why those who know Him do not see His days. By this he means that those who know God do not see Him acting against evil. He hides from them and does nothing against evil. Evil can just take its course. Job gives a list of evil things that he observes and that God must also see. He keeps that list up to God, as it were. The first evil comes from people who “remove the landmarks” ( ). Removing landmarks means not respecting them. By moving the landmarks they steal land from someone else and thus enlarge their own area. In Israel this is a great crime, to which a curse is attached ( ; ). Even today, God’s landmarks are being broken. We can think of marriage and sexuality. Surely God must also see that an entire flock is robbed and that the new ‘owners’ devour that flock. They are not immediately punished for this evil. It seems that for them the saying ‘Ill-gotten gains never benefit anyone’ doesn’t apply. Their stolen property only benefits them. Here, just as in changing the landmarks, it’s about openly practiced evil. Not only is the flock robbed, but the stolen flock is also devoured. The “donkeys of the orphans” they drive away ( ). These children are powerless against these ruthless robbers. The donkey carried their merchandise to the market. They cannot carry that burden themselves. Now they have to stay at home and can’t earn anything. From “the widow” who has to borrow money, they take the ox for a pledge. As a result, she can no longer work the land, so she has no prospect of earning a living. So she can never pay back the money she borrowed and get back her ox. With these ‘orphans and widows’ it is about exploitation of socially weak people who enjoy extra protection with God ( ; ). “The needy” have nothing that can be stolen from them ( ). So they are chased away like troublesome flies. They are nothing more than hindrances, obstacles that stand in their way. “The poor” are miserable because they are despised. They have no courage to go against their oppressors. That’s why they hide. They seek a safe haven for these harsh people and seek support from each other. Job’s friends have insinuated that Job has behaved like one of those wicked people and that he is now being punished for it. The great question of Job and so many others who are suffering, the great mystery that occupies them, is how God can keep His eyes closed to these things and strike a man as faithful as Job instead of the evildoers. The point of Job in these examples is to show that people who do evil to others often do not bear the consequences of their actions in this life. Apparently, they can proceed unpunished. In Job speaks of the poor and wretched just mentioned. In these verses with “they” are not meant the evildoers, but their victims. This change is introduced by “behold” ( ). Job compares the poor and wretched with “wild donkeys in the wilderness”. They are unbound animals, people with no fixed abode or residence, the pariahs. They rush from one place to another for their work. In this way they search for their food and are diligent in it. By doing so, they want to take care of their families. They look for food on every field where something edible grows ( ). In this way they steal the harvest of the field from others, who bought and sowed the seed for it and took care of the field. A vineyard undergoes the same fate. They check the vineyard to see if there is anything left. It may give them some satisfaction that it is the vineyard of the wicked who treats them so disdainfully. Their misery is also evidenced by the fact that they have to spend the night ‘naked’ ( ). They have to spend the night without the protective warmth of an outer garment that is as a blanket at night. Due to the lack of a roof over their heads, they also have no protection against the rain gushing over them ( ). The cold and the rain make the cold penetrate their bodies down to their bones. Expelled from their homes and naked they are without refuge. All that remains for them is to hide in the caves and holes of a rock. The gang of robbers spares no one. Without compassion they kidnap an orphan and snatch it from a breast where it has still got some love ( ). They make these children slaves to themselves or to merchandise. And heaven is silent. From the poor, who already is so wretched, they take pledge, by which he is in their power. All who are in their power walk around naked ( ). They let their victims carry sheaves, without allowing them to eat anything to satisfy their hunger. Even the cattle get better treatment (cf. ). The same applies to the squeezing of oil and the treading of the grapes in the winepress ( ). They get nothing of their harvest and are not allowed to drink water, even though they are so thirsty. What physical and mental torment. And God does not intervene! How can the friends say that people only suffer because of their own sins? Not only in the fields, but also in the cities, the poor are abused and mistreated. It is not about bandits, but about rich people who oppress the poor. God allows all this ( ). Among the victims are “deadly wounded”. They cry out in pain. This is how these bandits sow fear and death and destruction. They cause enormous physical and mental suffering. And there is no one who stops them in their evil work or punishes them for it, not even God. He doesn’t seem to pay attention to the injustice done to the victims and remains seemingly unmoved. How can it be maintained that God “does not pay attention to folly”, for that is not compatible with justice, is it?