Jó 24
Olympiodorus of Alexandria
Jó 24:9
"They have snatched the fatherless from the breast." They have lamentably and mercilessly taken away the child who still nursed and hanged from his mother's breast. "And they have deprived the outcast," that is, they have also deprived the outcast of his properties by taking away what he had. — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:9-12
Jó 24:10
"They have wrongfully caused others to sleep without clothing." By wrongfully stripping others, who owed them nothing, they have caused them to love rest. "They have taken away the morsel of the hungry." They have reduced them to extreme poverty and starvation. — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:9-12
Jó 24:11
"They have unjustly laid ambush in narrow places." They have laid ambush in hidden places; in fact, in larger places and roads they wait in ambush for those who have no chance to escape. "And they," that is, all the impious persons, "have not known the righteous way." "They have been cast forth from their cities and their houses." This refers to those who wantonly sleep without clothing. They [the fatherless] have, in fact, suffered these things from these criminals, after being driven out of their city and their houses. — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:9-12
Jó 24:12
"And the soul of the children has groaned aloud." From the bottom of their heart [they groaned], because they had no parents any longer who provided them with food. — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:9-12
Jó 24:12-13
He says this again to his friends with a bit of hesitation, If afflictions entirely derive from sins, why did he who observes all that happens on earth allow them to go without being visited by him? "And they took no notice," that is, the iniquitous took no notice of the fact that they were not visited. Indeed it is believed and taught about divine visitation, "The Lord reproves the one he loves, as a father checks a well-loved son." — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:12-13
Jó 24:21-22
"He has not treated the barren woman well," that is, the woman who is without help because of her lack of children. And notice again how ill treatment is considered an act of impiety. "Keep away from evil," the divine psalmist says, "and practice good." "And he had no pity on a feeble woman," that is, on a woman who needs help because of her feeble nature. "And in wrath he has overthrown the helpless." In fact he did not overthrow the feeble and the helpless for any rational cause, but because of the impulse of his wild soul, while being inflamed with his wrath; and he reduced them to extreme poverty. — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:20-22
Jó 24:22
"Therefore when he has risen, he will not feel secure of his own life." For these reasons the impious, after rising every day not really believing that he will live, remains in fear and is frightened. As the wise Solomon stated, "Fear, indeed, is nothing other than the abandonment of the supports offered by reason." — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:22-24
Jó 24:23
"When he has fallen sick, let him not hope to recover, but let him perish by disease." The diseases of the body, in fact, often occur because of sin. "Let him not hope," that is, the lack of hope is due to the consciousness of his sins. "Let him perish" by disease, that is, by the blows of calamity. — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:22-24
Jó 24:24
"For his exaltation has hurt many." For this reason, "let him perish," because his exaltation has hurt many. "But he has withered as mallows in the heat or as an ear of corn falling off of itself from the stalk." Other examples [from the Greek Bible] read "like grass." In a similar way, the psalmist also says, "Quick as the grass they wither, fading like the green in the field." And he rightly says, "falling off of itself," indeed, for everybody sin itself becomes a punisher. — COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:22-24