Job 27:20 Commentary and Bible Study

Terrors, which were lurking in the background but not manifesting themselves in a definable way, suddenly come fully into view, and there is no hope that he will be able to resist them. Man is by his mortality put in a position where he knows he is vulnerable and that he faces powers which he cannot cope with. He lives with this knowledge and it is a warning which should teach him to come to God before it is too late, but because he delays dealing with his sin and seeking forgiveness, that day overtakes him as a thief. This threat is compared to a flash flood which suddenly rises before the individual has time to escape. He should have known he lived in an area subject to these floods but he did not move or build any defences. It is also compared to a tempest which comes with great ferocity and strikes when men are least ready to deal with it. The confusion it causes by coming at night is terrible. The terror-stricken inhabitant is vaguely aware of what is happening but he cannot see well enough to escape. So in death the wicked man who has refused the light of God’s truth all his life, is left in the darkness of his ignorance to fend for himself against the violence of the last enemy. Finally the hot dry east wind from the desert, the most violent wind, different to the tempest, bears down on him and sweeps him out of his place. This third metaphor emphasises the man’s inability to protect himself, for God brings destruction on him by one disaster after another so that there is no possibility that he can avoid destruction. So the hypocrite is carried into hell.Men shall clap their hands at him by way of derision and disapproval. ‘This’, says Gill, ‘is either at the time of death, being glad they are rid of him, Psalm 52:5, 6, or rather, hereafter to all eternity, while the wrath and vengeance of God is pouring on him.’ The righteous acquiesce in the justice of God. The wicked have no friends among the righteous, none they can appeal to from hell. Any attempt to re-establish past acquaintances will be rejected, ‘Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (Matthew 7:22-23)'By this Job shows (Gill) that he was no friend or favourer of wicked men. Nothing that he had said before should be interpreted to mean that he did not believe that the wicked would face justice from God.