Charles Ellicott Commentary


Charles Ellicott Commentary
"[God] giveth them to be in security, and they rest thereon; And his eyes are upon their ways." — Job 24:23 (ASV)
Though it be given. —“Indeed, he (that is, each of them) gives him tribute, and so on, so that he may be secure and stable.”
Yet his eyes —that is, the great tyrant’s eyes— are upon their ways. —They are exalted for a little while, but are soon gone and are taken out of the way like all others.
Some understand the subject of the first verb, “he gives him to be in security,” to be God, and that also makes very good sense. For while God allows him to be secure in this way, His eyes are on their ways —the ways of all of them.
In this case, however, Job 24:24 does not correspond so well with what Job has already said of the impunity with which the wicked are wicked, unless indeed the suddenness of their fate is the main point of his remarks, as in Job 24:19.