and beside which קם (קום, 2Ki 16:7) does not occur in the book, we here find the more usual form מתקוממי (comp. Job 20:27).[1]
The description of the misfortune of the ungodly which now follows, beginning with כי, requires no connecting thought, as for instance: My enemy must be accounted as ungodly, on account of his hostility; I abhor ungodliness, for, etc.; but that he who regards him as a רשׁע is himself a רשׁע, Job shows from the fact of the רשׁע having no hope in death, whilst, when dying, he can give no confident hope of a divine vindication of his innocence.
Verses 8-12
Job 27:8-12 8 For what is the hope of the godless, when He cutteth off,
When Eloah taketh away his soul? 9 Will God hear his cry
When distress cometh upon him? 10 Or can he delight himself in the Almighty,
Can he call upon Eloah at all times? 11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God,
I will not conceal the dealings of the Almighty. 12 Behold, ye have all seen it,
Why then do ye cherish foolish notions?
In comparing himself with the רשׁע, Job is conscious that he has a God who does not leave him unheard, in whom he delights himself, and to whom he can at all times draw near; as, in fact, Job's fellowship with God rests upon the freedom of the most intimate confidence. He is not one of the godless; for what is the hope of one who is estranged from God, when he comes to die? He has no God on whom his hope
- ↑ In Beduin the enemy is called qômâni (vid., supra, on Job 24:12, p. 505), a denominative from qôm, Arab. qawm, war, feud; but qôm has also the signification of a collective of qômâni, and one can also say: entum wa-ijânâ qôm, you and we are enemies, and bênâtna qôm, there is war between us. - Wetzst.
