Which were cut down - Who were suddenly destroyed by a flood. On the word used here (קמט qâmaṭ) see the notes at Job 16:8. It occurs only in that place and this. Its primary notion is that of drawing together or contracting - as the feet of a lamb or calf are drawn together and tied preparatory to being killed; and the meaning here is, probably, "who were huddled together by the waters," or who were driven in heaps by the deluge, so rapidly and suddenly did it come upon them.

Out of time - Hebrew "And there was no time;" that is, it was done in a moment, or suddenly. No time was given them; no delay was granted. The floods rushed over them, and nothing could stay them.

Whose foundation was overflown - Margin, or, "a flood was poured upon their foundation." That is, all on which they relied was swept away. The word "foundation" refers to that on which their happiness and security rested, as a house rests on its foundation, and when that is swept away the house falls.

With a flood - Hebrew (נהר nâhâr) "river." The word is commonly applied to a river; and in the Scriptures, by way of eminence, to the Euphrates; see Isaiah 7:20, note; Isaiah 8:7, note. It may be used, however, to denote a river which is swollen, and then a flood - and it is several times rendered "flood" in the Scriptures; Job 14:11; Jonah 2:3 (where it means the sea); Joshua 24:2-3, Joshua 24:14-15; Psalm 66:6; Job 28:11; Psalm 24:2; Psalm 93:3; Sol 8:7. Prof. Lee supposes that the allusion here is to some overflowing of the Euphrates, but the reference seems to be decidedly to the deluge in the time of Noah. The "language" is such as would be used in referring to that, and the fact is just such an one as would be pertinent to the argument of Eliphaz. The fact was undoubtedly well known to all, so that a bare allusion to it would be enough.

Whose foundation was overflown with a flood - The unrighteous in the days of Noah, who appear to have had an abundance of all temporal good, (Job 22:18), and who surpassed the deeds of all the former wicked, said in effect to God, Depart from us. And when Noah preached unto them the terrors of the Lord, and the necessity of repentance, they rejected his preaching with, What can the Almighty do for us? Let him do his worst; we care not for him, Job 22:17. For למו lamo, to Them, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic have evidently read לנו lanu, to Us. This reading quotes their own saying; the former reading narrates it in the third person. The meaning, however, is the same.

Which were cut down out of time,.... Sent out of time into eternity, time being no more with men, and they no longer in time, when death seizes upon them; or "before time" (a), before the common term of life, which, according to the course of nature, and human probability, they might have arrived unto: as this is spoken of the men of the old world that lived before the flood, when the lives of men were very long, it is highly probable there, were many that were destroyed by the general deluge, who, had it not for that, might have lived many hundreds of years, according to the usual course: or "without time" (b), without any delay suddenly, at once, at an unawares; for, though they had notice of the flood, they did not regard it, but lived careless and secure; and it came upon them without any further warning, and swept them away, when they were "cut down", as trees by the axe laid to the root of them, to which wicked, men in great power and flourishing circumstances are sometimes compared, Psalm 37:35; or like grass by the scythe, which it is not able to resist, and to which all men are like for their numbers and weaknesses, and who are cut down by death as easily as the grass is by the mower, see Psalm 37:1. Some render it "wrinkled" (c), as in Job 16:8; as bodies when dead are, and especially such as are drowned, and have been long floating in the water, as those that perished by the flood were, for to such the words have respect, as appears by what follows:

whose foundation was overflown with a flood; either of water, or of fire and brimstone, as Jarchi observes; the former is most likely to be meant; for by the flood, or universal deluge, all that was thought firm and permanent, and might be called a foundation, was overflown and carried away, as houses, goods, furniture, wealth, and riches, and everything that men had a dependence upon for the support and comfort of life; yea, the earth itself, on which they dwelt, and was reckoned "terra firma", this being founded upon, and over the waters; or, as the Apostle Peter describes it, "it standing out of the water and in the water", 2 Peter 3:5; or "their foundation was a flood poured out" (d); what they thought were solid, and firm, and durable, and built their hopes of happiness upon, were like a flood of water, poured, dissipated, and scattered, and which disappeared and came to nothing: and such is every foundation that a man builds his hope, especially of eternal happiness, upon, short of Christ, the only sure foundation laid in Zion, his person, grace, blood, and righteousness; everything else, let it seem ever so firm, is as sand, yea, as water, as a flood of water that spreads itself, and quickly comes to nothing.

(a) "ante tempus suum", V. L. Mercerus; "ante tempus", Cocceius, Schultens. (b) "Sine mora", Cocceius; "in momento", Codurcus. (c) "corrugati sunt", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Bolducius, Cocceius. (d) "fundamentum eorum ut flumen diffluxit", Tigurine version; "fluvius effusus fundamentum eorum", Codurcus, Beza; to the same sense Drusius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schultens.

Which were {l} cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

(l) He proves God's providence by the punishment of the wicked, whom he takes away before they can bring their wicked purposes to pass.

22:16 Out of - Before their time. A flood - Who, together with their foundation, the earth and all their supports and enjoyments in it, were destroyed by the general deluge.

whose...: Heb. a flood was poured upon their foundation

16. cut down-rather, "fettered," as in Job 16:8; that is, arrested by death.

out of time-prematurely, suddenly (Job 15:32; Ec 7:17); literally, "whose foundation was poured out (so as to become) a stream or flood." The solid earth passed from beneath their feet into a flood (Ge 7:11).

22:15-20 Eliphaz would have Job mark the old way that wicked men have trodden, and see what the end of their way was. It is good for us to mark it, that we may not walk therein. But if others are consumed, and we are not, instead of blaming them, and lifting up ourselves, as Eliphaz does here, we ought to be thankful to God, and take it for a warning.