"They" Job 24

Job 24:1 "Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?"

Why as in "Y". Job states the fact that the Almighty (God) sees all, so those who know God ought to know that.

Here is a verse for our day.

v2"Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof."

In our day, this could encompass changing history to eliminate the role God and Christianity had in the development of our nations and all nations for that matter. Take away the landmarks and the truth in history and future generations will believe the half-truth that is left. Few will do difficult research to find the whole truth.

From here we have many verses with the term "They". It refers in some cases to those who are out for number one at the expense of the helpless. In other verses it refers to the victims.

The bad guys:

v4 "They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together."

The needy:

v8 "They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter."

Nowadays, it is often alleys and concrete staircases and tunnels but the picture is the same. Many people are without help and are hungry.

v12 "Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them."

My large print Bible shows a reference to Ecclesiastes 8:11 for the last part of the verse:

v11 "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."

It is not God who causes these troubles for people but those of the darkness who turn from the light and conduct their evil in darkness.

v13 "They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof."

Job could have preached this sermon today and it would be current.

v16 "In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light."

Like the vampires in the old black and white movies. The evildoers settle their evil deeds before the morning and scurry off to hide.

v17 "For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death."

Evildoers will have their day in judgment. It seems often that they will go on forever but their day will come.

v24 "They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low, they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn."

Back on the farm we would sit for hours shucking corn and brushing away the husk. We used a big butcher's knife. The very first thing we did was take a whack at the top couple of inches of the ear of corn where it is brownish and good for nothing. The knife swiftly went almost through with practice and then the top was bent over and pulled down to the other end and discarded in a swift easy motion.

Job as given us the plight of the needy and the tactics of the evildoers, then he lays out a challenge: Prove me wrong if you can. v25 "And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?"

Philippians 2:14-15 "Do all things without murmurings and disputings; That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, with out rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;"

Job preaches on the needy and the evil who cause their plight.

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