Job 24:1

The tension between power, justice, and care is the question in Job’s brain. The first phrase is a question of God's character. The second is a question of timing. Job is saying he doesn’t understand how God balances it all together, if He does, and His timing on it all.

Job 24:2-8

Because Job does not understand, he lists a series of evils that don’t make sense. Property evils, evils against the most vulnerable of society, evils against the poor. Job is saying he sees oppression against the poor. He sees them as vulnerable and that their vulnerability is exploited.

Job 24:9-11

This reminds people that the poor are not poor for no reason. They are poor because they are snatched from their parents. This is fundamentally an act of rhetoric. Job points out the irony, the poor are working around food all day long and they are still hungry.

Job 24:12

The poor are everywhere, and they are being tremendously afflicted. The word wounded has the idea of pierced, one who is morally wounded, one who has an incredibly torturous kind of wound.

Job 24:13-17

Job’s problem is it seems like God doesn’t do anything. This world is filled with evil and hurt. Job’s question is: does God even care, or is He even just, and if so, why isn’t He doing anything? Day and night evil goes around the clock.

Job 24:18-21

If you look at it carefully it will sound really weird, because Job switches to talk about how the wicked will be annihilated. This doesn’t match what Job has been saying. He keeps talking about injustices and how people get away with them. These are Job’s words. In verses eighteen and nineteen Job is being sarcastic against his friends. Job continues to remind you who the wicked are.

Job 24:22-24

God is the “He” because He does stuff in His strength. Job’s two questions were “Does God balance care, just, and power?” and “Does God even know what is going on with the planet, and if so, what is up with His timing?” A little while here means for their whole life. Job says the Divine Retribution Principle is wrong because the timing is wrong, and if you have the timing wrong, you will view God as wrong. Job says it cannot be in this life. It has to be something eschatological. Job is right here, but he needs divine revelation to prove it. This shows, even based on Job’s principle, that God is always right.