Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

He shall not depart out of darkness -

1. He shall be in continual afflictions and distress.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

He shall not depart out of darkness - He shall not escape from calamity; see Job 15:22. He shall not be able to rise again, but shall be continually poor.

The flame shall dry up his branches - As the fire consumes the green branches of a tree, so shall punishment do to him. This comparison is very forcible, and the idea is, that the man who has been prospered as a tree shall be consumed - as the fire consumes a tree when it passes through the branches. The comparison of a prosperous man with a tree is very common, and very beautiful. Thus, the Psalmist says,

I have seen the wicked in great power,

And spreading himself like a green bay tree. Psalm 37:35.

Compare Psalm 92:12-13. The aged Skenandoah - a chief of the Oneida tribe of Indians, said,” I am an aged hemlock. The winds of an hundred winters have whistled through my branches. I am dead at the top. My branches are falling,” etc.

And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away - That is, by the breath of the mouth of God. God is not indeed specified, but it is not unusual to speak of him in this manner. The image here seems to be that of the destruction of a man by a burning wind or by lightning. As a tree is dried up, or is rent by lightning, or is torn up from the roots by a tempest sent by the Deity, so the wicked will be destroyed.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

He shall not depart out of darkness,.... Out of the darkness of poverty, calamity, and distress he comes into, and, indeed, he despairs of it himself, as in Job 15:22; and in a spiritual sense he departs not out of the darkness of sin, out of the dark state of unregeneracy; nor will he depart out of the blackness and darkness reserved for him hereafter, when he is once come into it:

the flame shall dry up his branches; alluding either to a violent drought and heat, which dries up pastures, herbs, and trees, and the branches of them; or to a wind, as the Septuagint, a burning wind, in the eastern countries, which consumed all green things; or to a flash of lightning, which shatters, strips, and destroys branches of trees: here it may signify the wrath of God, like a flame of fire consuming the wealth and substance, and families, of wicked men; whose children particularly may be compared to branches, and so respect may be had to Job's children, who were suddenly destroyed by a violent wind, which threw down the house in which they were:

and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away; out of the world, a phrase expressive of death; either because of the breath of his own mouth, as some in Jarchi, because of his blasphemies against God and his people, because of his cursing and swearing his mouth is full of, and the many vain, foolish, and idle words which come out of it, and for which he will be condemned; or rather

"by the breath of the mouth of God,'

as the Targum; either according to his purpose and decree, and by his order, and the word that goes out of his mouth; the wicked man shall be obliged to depart out of the world at once, being struck dead by him, as Ananias and Sapphira were; or by his powerful wrath and vengeance, whose breath is as a stream of brimstone, and with which he will slay the wicked of the earth, and particularly will consume the wicked one, antichrist, even with the spirit of his mouth, and with the brightness of his coming, Isaiah 11:4.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

depart — that is, escape (Job 15:22, Job 15:23).

branches — namely, his offspring (Job 1:18, Job 1:19; Psalm 37:35).

dry up — The “flame” is the sultry wind in the East by which plants most full of sap are suddenly shriveled.

his mouth — that is, God‘s wrath (Isaiah 11:4).

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

Depart — His misery shall have no end.

Flame — God's anger and judgment upon him.

Branches — His wealth, and power, and glory, wherewith he was encompassed, as trees are with their branches.

His mouth — And this expression intimates, with how much ease God subdueth his enemies: his word, his blast; one act of his will is sufficient.

Go — Heb. go back: that is, run away from God faster than he ran upon him, verse26. So it is a continuation of the former metaphor of a conflict between two persons.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Job 15:30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

Ver. 30. He shall not depart out of darkness] But be held under remediless misery, being ever blasted and benighted, till God at last breathe forth upon him his final displeasure. When God hath brought wicked men into straits, there he holdeth them; not so the godly, Psalms 34:19, they are sure of deliverance in due season. And as before the morning light is the thickest darkness, so before help hardest trials. Post tenebras lux, After the darkness, light, is the Christian’s motto; not so the ungodly, they are ex tenebris in tenebras, infelieiter exclusi, infelicius excludendi, as Austin hath it, to pass out of one darkness into another, till they be cast into utter darkness (Hom. 16).

The flame shall dry up his branches] That ventus urens et exsiccans of God’s wrath shall blast and consume, not his offspring only, but all his beauty and bravery; he shall be as a tree that is thunder struck, Zechariah 11:16.

And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away] God will blow him to destruction, his very breath shall leave him breathless, Isaiah 11:4, Psalms 18:15, Job 4:9; {See Trapp on "Isaiah 11:4"} {See Trapp on "Psalms 18:15"} {See Trapp on "Job 4:9"} Others understand it to be the wicked man’s mouth, and take this to be the sense, He shall be so choleric and impatient in his trouble, that he shall send out his last breath suddenly in a passionate fit. So did Nerva, the emperor, likewise Valentinian, Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, and our Henry II.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

He shall not depart out of darkness; his misery shall have no end.

The flame; God’s anger and judgment upon him.

His branches; either,

1. His children; or,

2. Wealth, and power, and glory, wherewith he was encompassed, and adorned, and secured, as trees are with their branches.

Of his mouth, i.e. of God’s mouth, as appears both by comparing this with Job 15:25, where God is expressed as the adversary with whom this wicked wretch contendeth; and by the nature of the thing, and the whole context, all this man’s calamities being manifestly the effects of God’s anger; and by other places of Scripture, where the breath of God’s mouth or lips are mentioned as that whereby he destroyeth wicked men; as Job 4:9 Isaiah 11:4 2 Thessalonians 2:8. And this expression intimates to us with how much facility God subdueth his enemies; he needs no arms or instruments; his word, his blast, one act of his will, is more than sufficient to do it.

Shall he go away, Heb. go back, i.e. retreat and run away from God faster than he did run towards and upon him, Job 15:26. So it is a continuation of the former metaphor of a battle or conflict between two persons.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

30.Dry up his branches — The figure is of a lofty tree which has been scathed by fire.

By the breath of his mouth — The breath of God’s mouth gave him life. God breathes in his wrath and it gives him death — he goes away. Where?

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

Job 15:30. He shall not depart out of darkness — His misery shall have no end. The flame — God’s anger and judgment upon him. Shall dry up his branches — His wealth, and power, and glory, wherewith he was encompassed, as trees are with their branches. By the breath of his mouth, &c. — This expression intimates, with how much ease God subdueth his enemies: his word, his blast, one act of his will, is sufficient. Shall he go away — Hebrew, go back: that is, run away from God faster than he ran upon him, Job 15:26. So it is a continuation of the former metaphor of a conflict between two persons.

Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible

Darkness will overtake him, fire will destroy his crops, and he will be blown away by the anger of God"s breath. Their prosperity will vanish, "like flames that reduce a forest to ashes" (Strauss p. 149).

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

breath. Hebrew. Ruach.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

Depart - i:e., escape calamity (Job 15:22-23).

Branches - namely, his offspring (Job 1:18-19, Job's sons and daughters slain; Psalms 37:35).

Dry up. The "flame" is the sultry wind in the East, by which plants most full of sap are suddenly shrivelled.

His mouth - i:e., God's wrath (Isaiah 11:4, "With the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips, shall He slay the wicked").

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) He shall not depart out of darkness.—See Job 15:22. “By the breath of his mouth shall he go away.” What this means is not very clear: probably as in Job 11:20; or, “When he expires it shall be the end of him; he shall leave nothing permanent that is destined to last;” or, “He shall pass away suddenly and completely, like his own breath.”

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

depart

22; 10:21,22; 18:5,6,18; Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 1:13

the flame

20:26; Isaiah 30:33; Ezekiel 15:4-7; 20:47,48; Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:43-49; 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9

by the breath

4:9; Isaiah 11:4; Revelation 19:15