Job 24:1 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

JOB CHAPTER 24 The practice and prosperity of the wicked, Job 24:1-16. Their punishment and curse in the end, Job 24:17-25. The sense of the words according to this translation is this, Why, (how comes it to pass,) seeing times (i.e. the several times of every man's life, how long he shall live, or the fittest seasons and opportunities (which are oft called times, as Genesis 24:11 Psalms 31:15 Psalms 119:126 Acts 1:6,7) for every action, and particularly for the punishment of wicked men, about which the present controversy was) are not hidden from or unknown to the almighty God, (i.e. seeing all times, and men that live, and things that are done, or to be done, in their tines and seasons, are exactly known to God,) do they that know him (i.e. who love and obey him, as that word is oft used, as, Psalms 9:10, Psalms 36:10 91:14, or they who observe and regard his ways and works done in the world) not see (whence is it that they cannot discern) his (i.e. God's) days, i.e. his times and seasons which he takes for the punishment of ungodly men? which if they were constant and fixed in this life, as you pretend they are, they would not be unknown to good men, to whom God useth to reveal his secrets, and they could not be unobserved by so many good men, who make it their business to mind and study the works of God, and especially the course and methods of his providence towards good and bad men. The times or days of God's executing judgments upon sinners are frequently called the days of the Lord, as Isaiah 2:12 Isaiah 13:6 Jeremiah 46:10; compare Job 20:28 Proverbs 6:34 Acts 2:20; as the time of man's judging is called man's day, 1 Corinthians 4:3. But this verse is in part, and may very agreeably to the Hebrew text be rendered and interpreted thus, Why or how are not times (i.e. the times and seasons appointed for the punishment of evil-doers, about which the dispute was) hidden or reserved by or with God, (i.e. kept as a secret in his own breast, and concealed from the knowledge of mankind. How can you say or think with any colour that these times are fixed and manifest to all men, and that sinners are constantly punished in this life, and that so notoriously that all good men see it, as was said, Job 22:15-19) seeing (as the particle you is rendered, Job 19:28; or for, as it is frequently used) they that know him (that give themselves to understand and consider his doings in the world, who of all men are most likely to know this, if it were true and certain) do not see his days, to wit, of punishing the wicked in this life? as was said before. And this he mentions as a fit preface to usher in the following discourse concerning the manifold wickedness of men, and withal their present impunity.