What is the meaning of Job 24:20? The womb forgets them - This phrase highlights the complete severing of earthly ties for the wicked. When death comes, even the mother’s natural remembrance fades. - Psalm 58:3 reminds us, “The wicked are estranged from birth,” underscoring how sin marks their beginning; Job shows how it also marks their end. - Isaiah 49:15 says a mother may forget her nursing child, yet God does not forget His own. By contrast, the wicked do not have that covenant security. - The verse therefore stresses that once life ends, any claim to human compassion or familial attachment is gone for those who persist in evil. the worm feeds on them - The statement is literal: their bodies decay in the grave, returning to dust (Genesis 3:19). - Isaiah 66:24 pictures rebellious corpses “where their worm will not die,” and Jesus echoes it in Mark 9:48, showing the physical reality of decay and the moral seriousness of judgment. - Job counters the assumption that the wicked flourish forever by pointing to the inevitable moment when corruption overtakes their flesh. - Physical decay serves as a visible sermon: sin produces death (Romans 6:23). they are remembered no more - Earthly fame is fleeting. Ecclesiastes 1:11 observes, “There is no remembrance of former generations.” - Psalm 34:16 states, “The face of the LORD is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.” - Job insists that, in the long run, wickedness leaves no honorable legacy. Whatever monuments they built crumble, and public memory fades. - The verse answers any envy toward the temporary success of the unjust (Psalm 37:1-2). So injustice is broken like a tree - The image shifts from the individual to the system of oppression: injustice itself is snapped off. - Job 19:10 previously used the uprooted tree metaphor for his own life; here he applies it to evil. - Psalm 37:35-36 shows a wicked man “towering like a cedar… but he passed away.” Trees can appear immovable, yet one decisive stroke fells them. - Isaiah 14:12-15 pictures the fall of tyrannical Babylon as a toppled tree, illustrating God’s assurance that unchecked evil meets sudden ruin. - The point: God’s justice may appear delayed, but it is certain and thorough. summary Job 24:20 drives home that the wicked lose every refuge—family affection, physical well-being, social memory—and that the very structure of injustice collapses under God’s sure judgment. What looks secure now will be forgotten, consumed, and broken, while God’s righteousness stands forever. |
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