The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
The murderer riseth with the light; He killeth the poor and needy; And in the night he is as a thief.
He who is purposing death gets up before day, so that he may put to death the poor and those in need.
The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
The murderer riseth with the light, he killeth the poor and needy; and in the night he is as a thief.
The murderer rising with the light - Perhaps the words should be read as Mr. Good has done: -
With the daylight ariseth the murderer;
Poor and needy, he sheddeth blood.
This description is suitable to a highwayman; one who robs in daylight, and who has been impelled by poverty and distress to use this most unlawful and perilous mode to get bread; and for fear of being discovered or taken, commits murder, and thus adds crime to crime.
In the night is as a thief - Having been a highwayman in the daytime, he turns footpad or housebreaker by night; and thus goes on from sin to sin. There have been several instances like the case above, where poverty and distress have induced a man to go to the highway and rob, to repair the ruin of himself and family. I shall introduce an authentic story of this kind, which the reader may find at the end of this chapter.
The murderer - One of the instances, referred to in the previous verse, of those who perform their deeds in darkness.
Rising with the light - Hebrew לאור lā'ôr. Vulgate "Mane primo - in the earliest twilight." The meaning is, that he does it very early; by daybreak. It is not in open day, but at the earliest dawn.
Killeth the poor and needy - Those who are so poor and needy that they are obliged to rise early and go forth to their toil. There is a double aggravation - the crime of murder itself, and the fact that it is committed on those who are under a necessity of going forth at that early hour to their labor.
And in the night is as a thief - The same man. Theft is usually committed under cover of the night. The idea of Job is, that though these crimes cannot escape the notice of God, yet that he does not interpose to punish those who committed them. A striking incidental illustration of the fact stated here, occurred in the journey of Messrs. Robinson and Smith, on their way from Akabah to Jerusalem. After retiring to rest one night, they were aroused by a sudden noise; and they apprehended attack by robbers. "Our Arabs," says Dr. R. "were evidently alarmed. They said, if thieves, "they would steal upon us at midnight; if robbers they would come down upon towards morning." Bibl. Research. i. 270. It would seem, therefore, that there was some settled time or order in which they are accustomed to commit their various depredations.
24:14 Poor - Where he finds nothing to satisfy his covetousness, he exercises his cruelty.