John Gill Commentary Job 27:19

"He lieth down rich, but he shall not be gathered [to his fathers]; He openeth his eyes, and he is not." — Job 27:19 (ASV)

The rich man will lie down, but he will not be gathered ,
&c.] That is, the wicked rich man; and the sense is, either he will lie down upon his bed, but will not be gathered to rest, will get no sleep, the abundance of his riches, and the fear of losing them, or his life for them, will not suffer him to compose himself to sleep; or else it expresses his sudden loss of them, he "lies down" at night to take his rest, "and it is not gathered", his riches are not taken away from him, but remain with him:

he opens his eyes :
in the morning, when he awakes from sleep:

and it [is] not ;
by one providence or another he is stripped of all substance; or rather this is to be understood of his death, and of what befalls him at that time: death is often in Scripture signified by lying down, sleeping, and taking rest, as on a bed, see (Job 14:10Job 14:12) ; rich men die as well as others; their riches cannot profit them, or be of any avail to them to ward off the stroke of death, and their death is miserable;

he is "not gathered", or "will not gather" ^F13 , he cannot gather up his riches, and carry it with him, (Psalms 49:15Psalms 49:16) (1 Timothy 6:7) ; "he opens his eyes" in another world, "and it is not", his riches are not with him; or, as the Vulgate Latin version, "he shall find nothing"; or rather the meaning is, he is "not gathered"; to his grave, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom; and so Mr. Broughton, "he is not taken up", that is, as he interprets it, to be honestly buried.

He is not buried in the sepulchres of his ancestors, which is often in Scripture signified by a man being gathered to his people, or to his fathers; but here it is suggested, that, notwithstanding all his riches, he should have no burial, or, what is worse than that, when he dies he should not be gathered to the saints and people of God, or into God's garner, into heaven and happiness:

"but he opens his eyes"; in hell, as the rich man is said to do, and finds himself in inexpressible torment: "and he is not"; on earth, in his palace he built, nor among his numerous family, friends, and acquaintance, and in the possession of his earthly riches, but is in hell in the most miserable and distressed condition that can be conceived of. Some think this last clause respects the suddenness of his death, one "opens his eyes", and looks at him, "and he is not"; he is dead, in the twinkling of an eye, and is no more in the land of the living; but the former sense is best.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (Poayw) "nihil secum auferet", V. L.