Chapter 24 is a continuation of Iyov's response to Eliphaz. Until now, Iyov refuted Eliphaz's view regarding the suffering of the righteous, and now he returns to refute his view regarding the tranquility of the wicked. But before he embarks on the argument itself, he provides a sharp, fundamental premise: as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not exercise providence at all over the deeds performed down here.
מַדּוּעַ מִשַּׁדַּי לֹא־נִצְפְּנוּ עִתִּים וְיֹדְעָו לֹא־חָזוּ יָמָיו׃ - Why are times not hidden from the Almighty, and why do those who know Him not behold His days?
The argument is a philosophical one: the Holy One, blessed be He, is above time, and whoever is above time cannot know what occurs under the dominion of time. His knowledge is beyond time. And this is the meaning of "Why are times not hidden from the Almighty" - why would you state so definitively that times and moments are not hidden and concealed from Hashem, as though He also knows the occurrences that unfold in time? For "those who know Him not behold His days": the philosophical investigators, those who delve deeply into and contemplate the Divine to understand It, cannot at all fathom that the Holy One, blessed be He, could be subject to the dominion of time and days.
We do not readily grasp the connection between these things, because we lack this philosophical approach. Whoever wishes to understand this perspective must study the *Moreh Nevuchim* (Guide for the Perplexed), and *Chovot HaLevavot* in Sha'ar HaBitachon and Sha'ar HaEmunah. The philosophical view is a strictly logical one: based on logical deductions, one determines, for example, that the First Cause must be singular and indivisible. These were logical axioms that were widely accepted in their time. Today, we do not necessarily view it that way, for today we understand that the Holy One, blessed be He, is above time and yet simultaneously knows everything that occurs within time. But according to their philosophical premise, one who is above time cannot know temporal, changing events, since Above everything is unchanging while down here things are constantly changing, and His knowledge is identical with His Essence - and so, presumably, it would not be fitting that He "know" what happens down here.
This is the opening: Iyov begins with the notion that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not involve Himself in what happens down here. What does he mean by this? He is pointing to an argument he already raised previously, that man has no free will: whatever Hashem knows man will do, man is compelled to do, and the Creator's foreknowledge dictates his actions. What, then, determines events down here? The forces that the Holy One, blessed be He, appointed to govern here below under time - the celestial spheres and the constellations, the heavenly bodies that influence and determine under which astrological sign (*mazal*) a person is born and what will happen to him. But this is neither the concern nor the involvement of the Holy One, blessed be He, who is above time while this world is under time, like two separate planets with no communication between them.
After this introduction, Iyov comes and argues as follows: Eliphaz asserted that it is impossible for the wicked to be punished immediately for their deeds in this world, because doing so would eliminate free will. For if the wicked were punished immediately, who would ever be tempted to do evil? If a person knew that driving on Shabbat would immediately cause him to have a car accident, Heaven forbid, who would ever drive on Shabbat? Yet the Divine goal is not simply to empty the highways of Shabbat driving, but rather that a person should choose of his own free will not to anger Hashem and instead to perform His will. If Hashem holds a gun to someone's head and he complies, nothing has been gained; that is not the purpose.
To this, Iyov responds: There are circumstances in which the Holy One, blessed be He, could eradicate the wicked without infringing upon free will in the slightest. Which wicked people? Those who dwell in remote locations - across coastal islands, in deserts, and in hidden caves - where if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to wipe them out, no one would ever know. Many of them terrorize and embitter the lives of the entire civilized population. Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, not destroy them in their dens? In their case, no one could point and say, "Look what happened to that wicked person," for the event would be hidden from human eyes. If so, why does the Holy One, blessed be He, not exact retribution from them - if indeed there is individual Divine Providence as you claim, Eliphaz?
גְּבֻלוֹת יַשִּׂיגוּ עֵדֶר גָּזְלוּ וַיִּרְעוּ׃ - They displace boundary markers; they seize a flock and pasture it.
There are wicked people who rob the fields of the poor and encroach upon their boundaries; they steal a flock and pasture it upon those very stolen fields.
חֲמוֹר יְתוֹמִים יִנְהָגוּ יַחְבְּלוּ שׁוֹר אַלְמָנָה׃ - They drive away the donkey of orphans; they seize the ox of a widow as a pledge.
And not only that, but they commit the greatest injustices, for the greatest injustice of all is harming orphans and widows, and they have no restraint. "They drive away the donkey of orphans" - they take and lead it away, meaning they rob the orphans of their donkey. "They seize the ox of a widow as a pledge" - from the expression "you shall not take a widow's garment as a pledge"; even the ox of a widow does not serve as any barrier to them.
יַטּוּ אֶבְיֹנִים מִדָּרֶךְ יַחַד חֻבְּאוּ עֲנִיֵּי־אָרֶץ׃ - They turn the needy off the path; the poor of the land are forced into hiding together.
There is another type of wicked people: bandits who stand at crossroads to rob travelers. They stand as highwaymen upon the roads and turn even the destitute off the path - for even though a destitute person possesses nothing, he is already terrified to travel along that path on account of the bandits. To such an extent that even the poor of the land hide in their dwellings out of fear of these robbers. See how much extra terror these wicked people cast upon the world.
הֵן פְּרָאִים בַּמִּדְבָּר יָצְאוּ בְּפׇעֳלָם מְשַׁחֲרֵי לַטָּרֶף עֲרָבָה לוֹ לֶחֶם לַנְּעָרִים׃ - Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their work, seeking prey; the wilderness yields bread for him and for his youths.
There is a type of wicked people who do not live in settled areas or cities at all, but rather in the desert. "Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert" - like predatory beasts of the wilderness, and like them, they seek prey at dawn: at every dawn they go out to search for prey, and that prey is human beings, to rob them and pillage them. "The wilderness yields bread for him and for his youths" - the wilderness is like bread for him, for his youths, and for his children; meaning, their permanent dwelling is in the wilderness. He does not dwell in settled civilization at all, but only in the desert and the wilderness.
בַּשָּׂדֶה בְּלִילוֹ יִקְצוֹרוּ וְכֶרֶם רָשָׁע יְלַקֵּשׁוּ׃ - In the field they reap his fodder, and they glean the late grapes of the wicked man's vineyard.
Now Iyov describes the evil of their deeds. "In the field they reap his fodder" - his workers harvest his produce in the field; "blilo" is related to crop yield, or related to mixed fodder prepared for animals, as in the phrase "and he gave fodder to the donkeys." "And they glean the late grapes of the wicked man's vineyard" - they also harvest his vineyard, including the late crop, the late vintage. Everything is done by his laborers.
עָרוֹם יָלִינוּ מִבְּלִי לְבוּשׁ וְאֵין כְּסוּת בַּקָּרָה׃ - Naked they spend the night without clothing, and they have no covering in the cold.
And how does he treat those youths, his laborers who harvest his field and gather the grapes of his vineyard? These unfortunate workers are made to spend the night naked in the field, without clothing to cover their skin, nor are they given any garment with which to cover their bodies in the bitter cold.
מִזֶּרֶם הָרִים יִרְטָבוּ וּמִבְּלִי מַחְסֶה חִבְּקוּ־צוּר׃ - They are drenched by mountain torrents, and lacking shelter, they embrace a rock.
They are drenched by the rain and by the torrents cascading from the mountains, lacking any shelter, and all that remains for them is to embrace the rock to suffer as little harm as possible from the winds, the rains, and the floodwaters rushing over them.
יִגְזְלוּ מִשֹּׁד יָתוֹם וְעַל־עָנִי יַחְבֹּלוּ׃ - They snatch the orphan from the breast, and seize pledges against the poor.
They tear the orphan from his mother's breast, and against the poor they seize collateral ("yachbolu" - from the same root as "no man shall take a mill or an upper millstone as a pledge" [lo yachavol rechayim varechev]). They take the pauper himself as collateral for his debts, forcing him into servitude to cultivate their fields and vineyards.
עָרוֹם הִלְּכוּ בְּלִי לְבוּשׁ וּרְעֵבִים נָשְׂאוּ עֹמֶר׃ - They go about naked, without clothing, and while famished they carry sheaves.
These destitute orphans and paupers carry sheaves of the wicked men's harvest while they themselves are starving. Yet the Torah commanded, "Do not muzzle an ox while it threshes" - when the ox is threshing, allow it to eat from the grain it threshes! Come and see how these men treat their laborers: naked and without clothing, carrying sheaves while famished. They work them through starvation, never permitting them even a taste of the produce they carry.
בֵּין־שׁוּרֹתָם יַצְהִירוּ יְקָבִים דָּרְכוּ וַיִּצְמָאוּ׃ - Between their rows they press oil; they tread winepresses and go thirsty.
"Yatzhiru" derives from the word *yitzhar*, olive oil: even as they produce oil between the rows of olive groves, and even as they tread the winepresses, despite all this "they go thirsty," for they are not permitted to drink even a drop of the oil they produced or the wine they trod. This is cruelty of the most egregious kind, directed even toward their own workers and laborers.
מֵעִיר מְתִים יִנְאָקוּ וְנֶפֶשׁ־חֲלָלִים תְּשַׁוֵּעַ וֶאֱלוֹהַּ לֹא־יָשִׂים תִּפְלָה׃ - From the city the dying groan, and the soul of the slain cries out, yet God imputes no wrongdoing.
Thus far describes their deeds in the wilderness and the open fields; now come their deeds within the cities. "From the city men (*metim*) groan" - *metim* with a sheva, referring to the weak and vulnerable. From the cities, the vulnerable cry out from the robbery, violence, and extortion inflicted by these wicked men. "And the soul of the slain cries out" - the blood of the murdered victims who were robbed and despoiled cries out to the heavens. "Yet God does not impute wrongdoing (*tiflah*)" - and this is Iyov's bitter complaint: God does not punish them or strike them down, even as they ravage the world. The word *tiflah* appears in the verse "nor did he attribute *tiflah* to God." As the Malbim explains, he did not utter *tiflah* to disparage God's providence, as if to claim He does not govern justly and that His ways are unseasoned (*tafel*), devoid of salt and purpose. Here too: the Holy One, blessed be He, does not condemn their behavior, does not halt their evil deeds, and does not strike them dead in their dens, the hiding places where they conceal themselves.
הֵמָּה הָיוּ בְּמֹרְדֵי־אוֹר לֹא־הִכִּירוּ דְרָכָיו וְלֹא יָשְׁבוּ בִּנְתִיבֹתָיו׃ - They are among those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways, nor abide in its paths.
And what might you suggest - that Hashem spares them to preserve free will, as Elifaz argued? To this Iyov responds: "They are among those who rebel against the light." Typically, a person loves light and flees darkness, but these individuals rebel against the light and run from it. Who flees the light? One who seeks to perform his deeds in the dark. Who loves darkness? Thieves, whose working hours are at night, since light presents a problem: there are cameras, and they can be seen. Therefore, they are always in darkness, in hidden recesses, in burrows and dens. "They do not know its ways" - they do not know the broad highways of light; "nor abide in its paths" - not even in its narrow paths. That is, they do not remain even in dim light, but seek absolute darkness. If so, what would prevent God from striking them down right there in their dens? Doing so would not compromise free choice in the eyes of the world! The challenge therefore remains: why does "God impute no wrongdoing"? Why does Hashem not condemn the deeds of the wicked and put an end to them?
On the surface, there is a difficulty in Iyov's claim: How do you know that Hashem does not kill them? After all, I see that they return and come again and again. And if Hashem were to kill them - they would no longer come; and if they no longer came, we would know they died; and if we knew they died, free choice would once again be eliminated! But this is not necessarily so: If there were bandits here and they stopped coming, did they necessarily die? No. It is possible they found another place. Likewise, if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to kill them in their dens - we do not know where they hide, and no one goes searching for their bones. Consequently, no one would know that these bandits paid a heavy price for their deeds and that this was how the Holy One, blessed be He, saved the community. Therefore, this defense does not hold: even if He were to destroy them, free choice would be preserved, since we would not have witnessed their punishment and destruction, and we could simply assume they moved elsewhere and set up their business there, since they had already cleared everything out here.
And the root of the dispute is this: Iyov claims that there must be a state of "so that they hear and fear," whereas Elifaz contends that this would undermine free choice. Hashem does not want people to see and fear; rather, He wants you to see that it is possible to be wicked and prosper, and nevertheless choose to be righteous. For if one sees punishment immediately - what accomplishment is there in that? Does a person receive a reward for not thrusting his hand into fire? That is not fortitude, but instinct. But if they promise me wealth in exchange for sticking my hand into a place where no harm will come to me, and nevertheless I overcome the urge and say that Hashem does not desire it - that is genuine righteousness.
לָאוֹר יָקוּם רוֹצֵחַ יִקְטׇל־עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן וּבַלַּיְלָה יְהִי כַגַּנָּב׃ - At dawn the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy, and at night he is like a thief.
"At dawn the murderer rises" - during daylight he murders in the field, and there he kills only the poor and needy, for the wealthy do not venture into dangerous places, into the deserts and open fields that are the haunts of killers. "And at night he is like a thief" - at night he comes and steals in the homes of the wealthy.
וְעֵין נֹאֵף שָׁמְרָה־נֶשֶׁף לֵאמֹר לֹא־תְשׁוּרֵנִי עָיִן וְסֵתֶר פָּנִים יָשִׂים׃ - And the eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, saying, "No eye will see me," and he masks his face.
He hates the light for another reason, as he engages in adultery. The eye of the adulterer watches and awaits twilight, the onset of night, for at twilight "no eye will see me" - people will not be able to observe his actions - and then "and he masks his face," concealing and disguising his face so that he will not be recognized. And such is the way of one who seeks to commit adultery: he waits for the night, for the hour when the husband will not see and when the deed is concealed from sight.
חָתַר בַּחֹשֶׁךְ בָּתִּים יוֹמָם חִתְּמוּ־לָמוֹ לֹא־יָדְעוּ אוֹר׃ - In the dark he digs into houses; by day they marked them for themselves; they know not the light.
Moreover, he needs the darkness, for in the dark he tunnels into the houses that "by day they marked for themselves" - by day they designated the house for themselves, saying: Tonight I will come here. The Gemara explains that this is what they would do: he would spot a certain place during the day, and so as not to become confused at night regarding which exact house it was, he would make a mark on the house, and at night he would return to handle the matter. The Gemara relates that they would smear the house with balsam oil, and at night he would find the location by the scent. And even in our days it is similar: when forces want to bomb a specific house, they place a targeting device on it so that the bomb strikes that exact point with one hundred percent accuracy without missing and hitting elsewhere; today there are more sophisticated methods with laser beams, but in earlier times they used this technique. "They know not the light" - they do not want to know the light, because the light is harmful to them.
כִּי יַחְדָּו בֹּקֶר לָמוֹ צַלְמָוֶת כִּי־יַכִּיר בַּלְהוֹת צַלְמָוֶת׃ - For morning is to all of them as the shadow of death, when one recognizes the terrors of the shadow of death.
Morning seems to them like tzalmavet, the shadow of death. When morning arrives, they hide like people terrified of death, and just as a person flees from death, so they flee from the light of day. And why? "When one recognizes the terrors of the shadow of death" - through the morning, people recognize the terrors that were committed under cover of night: what they stole and what adulteries they committed. Everything becomes evident only in the morning, and then search parties are sent out to hunt them down. Therefore, morning is to them like the dread of death itself.
קַל־הוּא עַל־פְּנֵי־מַיִם תְּקֻלַּל חֶלְקָתָם בָּאָרֶץ לֹא־יִפְנֶה דֶּרֶךְ כְּרָמִים׃ - He is swift upon the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.
After describing the deeds of robbers, thieves, murderers, and adulterers on land and in the deserts - stealing fields, stealing houses, stealing wives from their husbands - Iyov begins to describe pirates, the robbers of the sea. They, too, keep far away from human society, for they destroy civilized settlement and cannot afford to dwell among people lest they be captured. "He is swift upon the face of the waters" - his craft is to sail upon the sea, and the Malbim explains that he travels in reed vessels, light boats that allow him to move swiftly from place to place to plunder seafarers. "Their portion is cursed in the land" - they have abandoned their portion on dry land, for they do not come here at all. "He does not turn by the way of the vineyards" - he never turns toward settled civilization, toward the fields and vineyards. They are even further removed from humanity than desert bandits, keeping away from the company of people in both summer and winter.
צִיָּה גַם־חֹם יִגְזְלוּ מֵימֵי־שֶׁלֶג שְׁאוֹל חָטָאוּ׃ - Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so Sheol those who have sinned.
During the time of drought and heat, which is summer, they plunder seafaring ships. And at the time of "snow waters", when the sea freezes over and no ships pass by, "Sheol, they have sinned" - they dwell in the netherworld, in deep caves on remote islands where no humans reach. And what is the sin they commit there in winter? After all, there is no one there to rob; rather, there they sin in immorality, as will be explained further in the following verses.
יִשְׁכָּחֵהוּ רֶחֶם מְתָקוֹ רִמָּה עוֹד לֹא־יִזָּכֵר וַתִּשָּׁבֵר כָּעֵץ עַוְלָה׃ - The womb shall forget him; sweetness deceived her; he shall be remembered no more; and unrighteousness shall be broken like a tree.
The verse describes: he seduces a young maiden for immorality, and after satisfying his lust with her, he despises her and takes another. He gives the new one a potion of sterilization so that her beauty will not diminish - for childbirth diminishes a woman's beauty - and she will remain forever youthful, while the first woman sits like a living widow, desolate and sorrowful. This is the meaning of "the womb forgets him": he no longer remembers that woman he seduced. "Womb" is a crude term for a woman, used when her role is reduced to immorality, as if that were her entire essence. "Sweetness deceived her" [metako rimah] - with the sweetness of his tongue he deceived her; "rimah" here does not mean worms and maggots, but deceit (rema'ut). "He shall be remembered no more" - he forgets her entirely. "And unrighteousness shall be broken like a tree" - "unrighteousness" (avlah) refers to that maiden, related to "evil" (a foolish youth acting improperly) and "ol yamim" (young in days); she is broken like a tree that has dried up and snapped, for he harbors no sentiment toward her, hating her and abandoning her.
וּמָשַׁךְ אַבִּירִים בְּכֹחוֹ יָקוּם וְלֹא־יַאֲמִין בַּחַיִּין׃ - He drags away the mighty with his power; he rises up, and no one is sure of life.
After describing their actions in winter, the verse returns to describe their deeds in summer, of which it was said, "Drought and heat snatch away" - for during the hot season, he goes out and plunders ships. And how? "He drags away the mighty with his power" - he drags the strong and large ships to his domain, succeeding in steering them, overtaking them, and plundering them. "And no one is sure of life" - he brings them into a place of mortal peril, where one cannot trust in life, where a ship has no chance of surviving and remaining intact. There he takes the vessel and robs it, and typically they would sink the ships afterward so that no trace or memory would remain.
יִתֶּן־לוֹ לָבֶטַח וְיִשָּׁעֵן וְעֵינֵיהוּ עַל־דַּרְכֵיהֶם׃ - It grants him security, and he relies upon it; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
Even though that location is treacherous and ships are afraid to approach it, from there he stands securely and leans in confidence, waiting in ambush for them, with his eyes on their ways - watching which path they take so he can pursue them, drag them to his lair, plunder them, and then sink them.
רוֹמּוּ מְּעַט וְאֵינֶנּוּ וְהֻמְּכוּ כַּכֹּל יִקָּפְצוּן וּכְרֹאשׁ שִׁבֹּלֶת יִמָּלוּ׃ - They are exalted for a little while, and are gone; they are brought low and gathered in like all others, and cut off as the top of an ear of grain.
"They are exalted for a little while" - if the noble, wealthy shipowners rise up a bit to look around, they would be able to spot him in his hiding place where he lays an ambush for them, but then "and he is gone" - he immediately ducks his head and hides from them. "And they are brought low" - and when they lower their gaze, bowing their heads, or when they reach a place where the water is low and shallow, "they are drawn in like all others," for he brings them to a place where they plunge headlong into shallow waters and peril. "And like the head of an ear of grain [or whirlpool]" - *shibolet* means a whirlpool or a surge, as in the prayer of Yonah: "A whirlpool swept over me, reeds were wrapped around my head," and like the current of the water at the Jordan, which the Ephraimites could not pronounce, saying *sibolet*. He leads them into a place of whirlpools and surging waves or into shallow waters, and through this the ship sinks; "they wither" - they are cut off, as in Hallel: "They surrounded me like bees, they were extinguished like a fire of thorns; in the Name of Hashem, I will surely cut them down (*amilam*)," meaning to destroy them, from the root of *milah*, which is the cutting off of the foreskin. And in this way, he robs them, plunders them, and murders them.
וְאִם־לֹא אֵפוֹ מִי יַכְזִיבֵנִי וְיָשֵׂם לְאַל מִלָּתִי׃ - And if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?
And if things are not as I have said, who will prove me a liar (*yachziveni*, from the word *kazav*, falsehood) - who can say that my words are untrue? Who can reduce my word to nothing, nullifying what I have said? If so, I have powerful arguments regarding Divine Providence: Why does the Holy One, Blessed be He, not strike down these wicked men where they stand? After all, they do not approach settled areas, and they are located where their deaths would not compromise anyone's free will, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, would thereby save all civilized society from them. If so, why does the Holy One, Blessed be He, not exact retribution from them?
Chapter 24 is the continuation of Iyov's response to Eliphaz concerning the tranquility of the wicked. Iyov opens with a philosophical premise that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is beyond time and therefore, as it were, does not perceive what unfolds within time, and consequently there is neither Providence nor free will. He then builds his central claim: he enumerates the land-robbers who encroach on boundaries and seize the donkey of orphans and the ox of a widow; the highwaymen who terrorize travelers until the poor of the land are forced to hide; the wild men of the wilderness scavenging for prey; their cruel abuse of their destitute, starving, and thirsty laborers; the murderers, thieves, and adulterers who love the dark and flee from the morning as from the shadow of death; and the pirates who plunder in summer and indulge in depravity during the winter in caves on desolate islands. All of these dwell in hidden places known to no one, and therefore Iyov argues that had the Holy One, Blessed be He, destroyed them there, free will would not have been compromised in the slightest, since no one would have witnessed their punishment. Hence his lament: "Yet God does not impute it as unseemly" - why does the Holy One, Blessed be He, not punish them and rescue civilization from their grasp?