“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.
Job has been describing sin driven by greed. Now he turns to men who are not victims of the dark but at home in it. His picture raises the question that runs through the chapter: why does God leave such open evil alone?
Rebellion, not weakness
The verse marks a shift in the kind of sinner Job has in view. What he describes now is chosen on purpose.
Leslie M. GrantSurely Job's friends knew he could not be counted among those who "rebel against the light." This is not only sin driven by greed. It is sin driven by bold defiance of God. There was, and there still is, light that can bring great blessing to those who value it. But many choose darkness rather than light. They are not just giving in to their weaknesses. They are deliberately choosing the ways of wilful evil.
Whose ways they refuse
One rendering of the verse reads the pronoun as pointing to God, so that the ways these men refuse are His own:
William KellyThey are among the rebels against the light, They know not His ways, nor remain in His paths.
The two shapes of evil
Job names a murderer and then an adulterer. Read together, they cover the ground of what human wickedness does.
William KellyThen he describes a still worse class. That is a man of violence, the murderer — and it does not matter whether he is high or low. This is the man with a quarrel, the man whom nothing will satisfy but the life of his victim… The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, and he says that no eye will see him. He is the corrupt man. Violence and corruption are the two great characteristics of human evil… They cannot bear to have people know what they are and what they seek.
Night as their day
The verse says these men do not stay in the light's paths. What follows shows why: they cannot bear daylight.
Samuel RidoutHere are men who hate the light, because their deeds are evil. They choose the night for their works of darkness, which bear no fruit… By day they shut themselves up, and — how solemn this is — they do not know the light, because it exposes their shame and sin… One translation reads, "The depth of night is to them even as the dawn of the morning." They are at home in the night. It is their day.
The reason light becomes unbearable is not in the light but in the man:
Hamilton SmithThe evil deeds that men do lead them to hate the light that exposes their deeds and disturbs their conscience. An uneasy conscience makes the light unbearable. Anyone who puts the truth into practice will not fear the light.
Under God's eye, not yet under His hand
Job is not saying that God is blind. He answers his friends, who held that evil always meets its punishment in this life.
William KellyJob never doubted that everything is under the eye of God, even though His hand is not yet on the world, while death comes in to cut off the greatest men when they least expect it. He is sure that no one can contradict his account.
Where Job's argument lands
Commentators differ on where Job's own conclusion falls. One takes him to end the chapter with the problem still open:
Samuel RidoutThe general thought of this part of Job's reply is that in this life, and often right up to the end, men escape the penalties they deserve. He does not lift the curtain that hides the awful future. His purpose is to answer the arguments of his friends, and he answers them well.
Another sees him arriving at judgment after all: "At the end of the chapter Job, like the Psalmist, sees judgment coming upon them in the end" (F. B. Hole).
What a rebel needs
The crimes Job lists are not ancient history, and the modern remedy for them falls short of the problem.
Leslie M. GrantHas society changed since Job's time? Not at all! There are still such crimes committed every day. People keep on demanding more laws to combat such things, but laws do not change men's rebellious hearts. They need to be saved by the grace of God.
Summary
- Rebellion — this is not sin from weakness. It is deliberate defiance, men choosing darkness rather than light.
- Refusal — the rebel does not just miss the light's paths. He will not stay in them, and never learns the ways of the One who gives light.
- Ruin — violence and corruption are the two great marks of human evil. Both work by hiding, because neither can bear to be known.
- Reversal — an uneasy conscience makes light unbearable. So these men shut themselves up by day, and the night becomes their day.
- Remedy — God's hand is not yet on the world, but everything is under His eye. More laws will not change rebel hearts. Only His grace will.