Job 20:29

This [is] the portion of a wicked man from God,.... All before related, and which is very different from the portion of a good man, which is God himself, both here and hereafter; the wicked man has

This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. Appointed - not as a matter of chance, but by the divine 'decree' (margin) and settled principle (cf. Job 18:21).

From God; who like a wise master of a feast gives to every man his proper portion, and as a just judge distributes to him according to his deserts. The heritage appointed unto him by God, Heb. the heritage (i.e. the portion, as before; called here a heritage; partly to note the stability and assurance of it, that it is as firm as an inheritance to the right heir; and partly in opposition to that inheritance which he had gotten by fraud and violence) of his word; either, 1. Of God’ s word, i.e. which is allotted to him by the word or sentence of God. Or, 2. Of the wicked man’ s word, the reward of his speeches; which, like his actions, are and may well be presumed to be wicked and blasphemous, and many ways offensive to God: and he instanceth in his speeches rather than his actions, to meet with Job, who, though he had made some colourable excuses for his actions, yet was manifestly guilty of hard and sinful speeches against God, which he would hereby intimate that they were not such harmless and excusable things as Job pretended, as appeared by these severe judgments which they brought upon wicked men.

Job 20:29 This [is] the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.Ver. 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God] A portion God alloweth the wicked in this life, Psalms 17:14; as a king, when he reprieveth a traitor, alloweth him a subsistence, prisoner’ s pittance at least. Yea, the worst of men divide the wealth and honours of the world between them for a time. Nebuchadnezzar had Tyre as pay for his pains in Egypt. And the whole Turkish empire is nothing else but a crust cast to his dogs by the great housekeeper of the world, saith Luther. But besides this, God hath provided a far other portion for them (saitb one), and that by way of inheritance, never to be parted from them; viz. all the forementioned miseries, and many more, all torments here, and tortures in hell. This is the inheritance, Quam nunquam deserere, non magis quam seipsos, poterunt, which will stick to them as close as the skin to the fesh or the flesh to the bones; it falls to them as the inheritance doth to the heir, Job 27:13; Job 31:2, or as the mess of meat doth to the invited guest. Misery is the heritage of the wicked, as they are children of disobedience; and their wages, as they are workers of iniquity; their present prosperity also is a piece of their punishment, Isaiah 1:5 Proverbs 1:32. The words of Zophar are ended. Let others reply as they please, but he hath done. Praestat herbam dare, quam turpiter pugnare. No surer sign of an evil cause than a powerless pertinace.

Verse 29. This is the portion] As God has dealt with the murmuring Israelites, and with the rebellious sons of Korah, so will he deal with those who murmur against the dispensations of his providence, and rebel against his authority. Instead of an earthly portion, and an ecclesiastical heritage, such as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram sought; they shall have fire from God to scorch them, and the earth to swallow them up. Dr. Stock, bishop of Killala, who has noticed the allusion to the quails, and for which he has been most unmeritedly ridiculed, gives us the following note on the passage:- "Here I apprehend is a fresh example of the known usage of Hebrew poets, in adorning their compositions by allusions to facts in the history of their own people. It has escaped all the interpreters; and it is the more important, because it fixes the date of this poem, so far as to prove its having been composed subsequently to the transgression of Israel, at Kibroth Hattaavah, recorded in Numbers 11:33-34. Because the wicked acknowledges not the quail, that is, the meat with which God has filled his stomach; but, like the ungrateful Israelites, crammed, and blasphemed his feeder, as Milton finely expresses it, he shall experience the same punishment with them, and be cut off in the midst of his enjoyment, as Moses tells us the people were who lusted." If I mistake not, I have added considerable strength to the prelate's reasoning, by showing that there is a reference also to the history of the manna, and to that which details the rebellion of Korah and his company; and if so, (and they may dispute who please,) it is a proof that the Book of Job is not so old as, much less older than, the Pentateuch, as some have endeavoured to prove, but with no evidence of success, at least to my mind: a point which never has been, and I am certain never can be, proved; which has multitudes of presumptions against it, and not one clear incontestable fact for it. Mr. Good has done more in this case than any of his predecessors, and yet Mr. Good has failed; no wonder then that others, unmerciful criticisers of the bishop of Killala, have failed also, who had not a tenth part of Mr. Good's learning, nor one-hundredth part of his critical acumen. It is, however, strange that men cannot suffer others to differ from them on a subject of confessed difficulty and comparatively little importance, without raising up the cry of heresy against them, and treating them with superciliousness and contempt! These should know, if they are clergymen, whether dignified or not, that such conduct ill becomes the sacerdotal character; and that ante barbam docet senes cannot be always spoken to the teacher's advantage.

29. Like all the speakers in this second round of debate Zophar concludes by pointing with an impressive gesture to the picture he has drawn. Job should see himself there. He finishes by saying “from God.” This forces Job into the arena; he has no help, however unwilling he may be, but face this argument (ch. Job 21:27), and he shews that that which comes “from God” (ch. Job 21:22) is something very different.

This is the portion of a wicked man - This conclusion is similar to that which Bildad drew at the close of his speech, Job 18:21.

29. The closing verse, for the greater emphasis, lies outside of the strophic arrangement as in Job 5:27. Appointed unto him — Literally, And the heritage of his word from God. Word, in the sense of appointment.