What is the meaning of Job 27:15? His survivors - Job has just affirmed, “This is the wicked man’s portion from God” (Job 27:13). In that flow, “his survivors” points to any children, relatives, or followers still alive after God’s first waves of judgment. - Scripture consistently warns that evil choices carry generational fallout. Psalm 109:13 says, “May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out in the next generation.” Jeremiah 16:4 echoes, “They will die by deadly disease; they will not be mourned or buried.” - The term stresses that even those who manage to escape an initial calamity are not really safe; divine justice pursues the wicked to the very last person connected to him. Will be buried by the plague - The verse moves quickly from mere survival to a grim end: God ordains a fatal epidemic to finish what remains of the wicked man’s line. - This is not an honorable burial but a disposal forced by overwhelming disease. The image mirrors Psalm 91:6, “the plague that stalks in darkness,” and Ezekiel 14:19, “If I send a plague into that land and pour out My wrath upon it in bloodshed…” - Burial by plague also suggests absence of proper funeral rites, reinforcing the shame God attaches to persistent rebellion (Jeremiah 22:18-19). Their widows - The spotlight shifts to the women left behind. In ancient society a widow’s status and security depended heavily on male relatives, so the loss of husband and sons stripped her of protection and provision. - Psalm 78:64 laments a similar scene: “Their priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.” Jeremiah 18:21 points to the same crushing aftermath, “Deliver their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows.” - The text implies that the judgment extends to the social and emotional trauma borne by the family structure of the wicked. Will not weep for them - In Israel, mourning was expected and public. For a widow not to weep signals either utter devastation—grief too deep for tears—or a societal breakdown where normal funeral customs become impossible. - Jeremiah 16:5-6 records such a moment: “No one will lament for them; no one will cut himself or shave his head for them.” Amos 8:10 adds, “I will make it like mourning for an only son.” - The silence of these widows therefore highlights how completely God’s judgment has inverted life’s most basic expectations, leaving no energy, resources, or community support for mourning. summary Job 27:15 paints a sober portrait of God’s justice on persistent wickedness: even the last survivors will fall to a divinely sent plague, and the shattered families left behind will be too overwhelmed to observe the most basic acts of mourning. The verse assures believers that God sees, remembers, and ultimately judges sin, while also reminding us of His sovereign power to protect those who walk in righteousness. |
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