Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Hide them in the dust together - Blend the high and the low, the rich and the poor, in one common ruin. Show them that thou art supreme, and canst do whatsoever thou pleasest.

Bind their faces in secret - This seems to refer to the custom of preserving mummies: the whole body is wrapped round with strong swathings of linen or cotton cloth. Not only the limbs, but the very head, face, and all, are rolled round with strong filleting, so that not one feature can be seen, not even the protuberance of the nose. On the outside of these involutions a human face is ordinarily painted; but as to the real face itself, it is emphatically bound in secret, for those rollers are never intended to be removed.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Hide them in the dust together; - compare Isaiah 2:10. The meaning seems to be, that God had power to prostrate the wicked in the dust of the earth, and he calls upon Job to show his power by doing the same thing.

And bind their faces in secret - The word “faces” here is probably used (like the Greek πρίσωπα prisōpa to denote “persons.” The phrase” to bind them,” is expressive of having them under control or subjection; and the phrase “in secret” may refer to some secret or safe place - as a dungeon or prison. The meaning of the whole is, that God had power to restrain and control the haughty and the wicked, and he appeals to Job to do the same.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Hide them in the dust together,.... Either in the dust of death, that they may be seen no more in this world, in the same place and circumstances where they showed their pride and haughtiness; or in the dust of the grave, and let them have an inglorious burial, like that of malefactors thrown into some common pit together; as, when multitudes are slain in battle, a large pit is dug, and the bodies are cast in together without any order or decency; or it may be rendered "alike"^F2יחד "pariter", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens. , let them be treated equally alike, no preference given to one above another;

and bind their faces in secret; alluding, as it is thought, to malefactors when condemned and about to be executed, whose faces are then covered, as Haman's was, Esther 7:8; or to the dead when buried, whose faces are bound with napkins, as Lazarus's was, John 11:44; the meaning of all these expressions is, that Job would abase and destroy, if he could, every proud man he met with, as God does, in the course of his providence, sooner or later. There had been instances of divine power in this way before, or in the times of Job, which might come to his knowledge; as the casting down of the proud angels out of heaven, 2 Peter 2:4; and of casting proud Adam out of paradise, Genesis 3:24; the drowning the proud giants of the old world, Genesis 7:23; and of dispersing the proud builders of Babel, Genesis 11:8; and of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, Genesis 19:24, one of whose reigning sins was pride, Ezekiel 16:49; and of drowning proud Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, Exodus 15:4, which last seems to have been done much about the time Job lived.

Geneva Study Bible

(c) Cause them to die if you can.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

(Isaiah 2:10). Abase and remove them out of the sight of men.

bind  …  faces — that is, shut up their persons [Maurer]. But it refers rather to the custom of binding a cloth over the faces of persons about to be executed (Job 9:24; Esther 7:8).

in secret — consign them to darkness.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.

Hide — Kill every one of them at one blow.

Bind — Condemn or destroy them. He alludes to the manner of covering the faces of condemned persons, and of dead men.

In secret — In a secret place, bury them in their graves.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Job 40:13 Hide them in the dust together; [and] bind their faces in secret.

Ver. 13. Hide them in the dust together] Make a hand of them all at once, as God can do his enemies, by raking them all into the grave; yea, turning into hell whole nations that forget God, a whole rabble of rebels that fight against heaven; he can soon lay them low enough, even in that slimy valley, where are many already like them, and more shall come after them, Job 21:31-32. Now when God biddeth Job do all this, who was himself lying in the dust, full of sores and sorrows, how could he but be greatly ashamed and affected with grief for his former follies?

And bind their faces in secret] As Haman’s face was covered when the king had sentenced him, Esther 7:8; {See Trapp on "Esther 7:8"} Or rather, as dead men’s faces use to be bound up and covered; for we like not to look on death’s face. Abraham was desirous to bury his dead out of his sight, Genesis 23:4, though she had once been the desire of his eyes, Ezekiel 24:16. Lazarus came out of his grave with his face bound about with a napkin, John 11:44. See the like done to our Saviour, John 20:6-7, though there was as little need to have done it as was of those sweet spices brought by the good women to anoint his body, which could not see corruption, Mark 16:1.

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Job 40:13. And bind their faces in secret— Shut up their faces in the secret place. Heath. Overwhelm their faces with darkness.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Kill every one of them (as he said, Job 40:12) at one blow, as I can do, and bring them all to their graves, that they may sleep in the dust, and never offend thee nor trouble others more.

Bind their faces, i.e. condemn or destroy them. He alludes to the manner of covering the faces of condemned persons, Esther 7:8, and of dead men, John 11:44 20:7. See Poole "Job 9:21".

In secret; either in a secret place, bury them in their graves; or secretly, with a secret and invisible stroke, that it may appear it comes from the hand of a God.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

13.The dust is used for the grave, as in Job 17:16. Compare Psalms 22:15; Psalms 30:9.

Bind their faces — Clarke and Carey think there is here an allusion to the bandaging of mummies. Pettigrew (in his work on Mummies, p. 89) speaks of such, in whose preparation more than one thousand yards of cloth were used. The bandaging of the head prior to burial was quite common among Oriental nations, so that there is no need of confining the allusion to the mummy. Job is challenged to exert the power of death as God exerts it; to send forth that unseen, baleful, and omnipresent spirit of destruction which is ever removing our race to the hidden realms of the dead.

In secret — Some suppose to refer to sheol. Job must have been reminded of his outrageous charge against Deity, that he “covereth the faces of the judges” of the earth, Job 9:24.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Gristle. Hebrew again, "bones." (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "back-bone, like cast iron."

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.

(Isaiah 2:10.) Abase and remove them out of the sight of men.

Bind ... faces - i:e., shut up their persons (Maurer). But it refers rather to the custom of binding a cloth over the faces of persons about to be executed (Job 9:24; Esther 7:8).

In secret - consign them to darkness. Umbreit translates, 'Veil their face in concealment' or 'darkness.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Hide

14:13; Psalms 49:14; Isaiah 2:10

bind

36:13; Esther 7:8; John 11:44