to drive forth (a person · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
ass
חֲמ֣וֹרcha.Mor
H2543
a male ass (from its dun red) · noun, common both genders singular construct
fatherless
יְתוֹמִ֣יםye.to.Mim
H3490
a bereaved person · noun, common masculine plural absolute
take
יַ֝חְבְּל֗וּyach.be.Lu
H2254
to wind tightly (as a rope) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
widow’s
אַלְמָנָֽה'al.ma.Nah
H490
a widow · noun, common feminine singular absolute
ox
שׁ֣וֹרShor
H7794
a bullock (as a traveller) · noun, common masculine singular construct
pledge
חָבַלchâbal
H2254
to wind tightly (as a rope)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 24:6 No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.
Deuteronomy 24:10-13 When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.
Deuteronomy 24:17-21 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:
1 Samuel 12:3 Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom ha…
Job 22:6-9 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
Job 31:16-17 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 24:1-12
Job's friends had been very positive in it that they should soon see the fall of wicked people, how much soever they might prosper for a while. By no means, says Job; though times are not hidden from the Almighty, yet those that know him do not presently see his day, Job 24:1. 1. He takes it for granted that times are not hidden from the Almighty; past times are not hidden from his judgment (Ecc 3:15), present times are not hidden from his providence (Mat 10:29), future times are not hidden from his prescience, Act 15:18. God governs the world, and therefore we may be sure he takes cognizance of it. Bad times are not hidden from him, though the bad men that make the times bad say one to anot…
pledge--alluding to Job 22:6. Others really do, and with impunity, that which Eliphaz falsely charges the afflicted Job with.
John Gill on Job 24:3
They drive away the ass of the fatherless,.... Who are left destitute of friends, and have none to take care of them, and provide for them; and who having one ass to carry their goods for them from place to place, or to ride upon, which though a creature of no great worth, yet of some usefulness, this they drove away from its pasture, or however from its right owner; and who having but one, it was the more cruel and inhuman to take it from him, see, 2 Samuel 12:3;
they take the widow's ox for a pledge; or oxen, the singular for the plural, with which her lands were ploughed, for a single ox could be but of little service: some render it "a cow" (h), by the milk of which she and her family w…
1 Wherefore are not bounds reserved by the Almighty,
And they who honour Him see not His days?
2 They remove the landmarks,
They steal flocks and shepherd them.
3 They carry away the ass of the orphan,
And distrain the ox of the widow.
4 They thrust the needy out of the way,
The poor of the land are obliged to slink away together.
The supposition that the text originally stood מדּוּע לרשׁעים משּׁדּי is natural; but it is at once destroyed by the fact that Job 24:1 becomes thereby disproportionately long, and yet cannot be divided into two lines of comparatively independent contents. In fact, לרשׁעים is by no means absolutely necessary. The usage of the language assumes it, according to which…
The Church Fathers
They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. Whom do we understand by the fatherless in this place, but the Elect of God, who are set in tenderness of mind, are nourished with the efficacious grace of faith, and do not yet see the face of their Father, Who has already died in their behalf. And there are very many in the Church, who see certain persons aiming at the things of heaven, having all earthly things in contempt, and though they themselves are toiling with all their strength in this world's labours, yet to those whom they see panting after heavenly things, from the goods which they possess in this world, they bring this life's aid and support. And though they cannot themselves follow a spiritual life, yet to those reaching forth to the things above they gladly yield means of support. For an ass is used to bear the burthens of men. He then is as it were a kind of ass of the Elect, who whilst yielding himself to earthly courses, carries loads for the uses of men. And often when Heretics turn aside any such person from the bosom of Holy Church, they are as it were driving off the ass of the fatherless, in that when they force him into their own misbelief, they drive him away from tendance on the good. But who is to be understood by the 'widow' saving Holy Church, who is bereft in the mean seas out of the sight of her slain Husband? Now 'the ox' of this 'widow' is every individual preacher. And it often chances that Heretics by their perverted tenets draw over even those very persons that appeared to be preachers. And so they 'take the widow's ox,' when they carry off from Holy Church even a person preaching. And it is rightly added here for a pledge. For when a pledge is taken away, one thing indeed is held in our hands, but another yet further is sought for. And very often Heretics for this reason try to carry off those that preach, that they may draw to them their followers likewise. Thus 'the widow's ox is taken away for a pledge,' when the same person that practised preaching is for this reason carried off, that others may follow after him. By whose downfall it is very often brought about, that they also go forth from the bosom of Holy Church, who, imbued with godly habits in her, seemed to be meek and humble.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Creditor · OPPRESSIONS OF — OPPRESSIONS OF
Creditors · Often cruel in exacting debts — Often cruel in exacting debts
Dishonesty · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Fatherless · The wicked: Oppress — The wicked: Oppress
Homicide · 24:22; — 24:22;
Orphan · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Ox, The · The wicked often took, in pledge from the poor — The wicked often took, in pledge from the poor
Pawn · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Widows · The wicked: Take pledges from — The wicked: Take pledges from
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The law did not allow seizing necessary belongings as security or collateral for a loan (22:6-9; Deut 24:6, 10-13, 17-21).
Rashi on Job 24:3
They lead away the orphan’s donkey and commit all the evils stated in the chapter. The end of the matter is that “God does not impute it for unseemliness” (verse 12), to let them know their iniquity and to furnish them with their recompense.
