Job 24:2
Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
Original Language Analysis
Cross References
Deuteronomy 19:14Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.Proverbs 23:10Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:Deuteronomy 27:17Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.Proverbs 22:28Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Historical Context
Landmark removal was a serious crime in the ancient Near East, where stone markers defined family inheritance. In agrarian societies without modern surveying, these boundary stones were sacred—many bore curses against those who moved them. Israel's land allotment system made this particularly grievous: families held land as covenant trust from Yahweh, making theft of boundaries both property crime and theological offense. The Mosaic law's prohibition reveals how foundational property rights were to covenant community.
Questions for Reflection
- How do modern forms of 'landmark removal'—predatory lending, eminent domain abuse, financial manipulation—violate God's concern for property rights?
- Why does Job begin his catalogue of oppression with property crime rather than violence against persons?
- What does God's silence in the face of blatant injustice teach about His timing versus our expectations?
Analysis & Commentary
Some remove the landmarks (יַשִּׂיגוּ גְּבֻלוֹת, yassígu gevulót)—Job begins his catalogue of wicked oppression with boundary theft, a crime forbidden in Deuteronomy 19:14 and 27:17. Hebrew gebul denotes the sacred property markers that defined family inheritance. Moving landmarks violated covenant law and robbed families of their God-given patrimony. This wasn't mere property crime but assault on divine order—God Himself allocated tribal territories (Joshua 13-21).
They violently take away flocks, and feed thereof uses the verb gazal (גָּזַל), meaning to seize by force or rob. The oppressors don't merely steal—they consume the stolen flocks openly, displaying their power and contempt for justice. Job's complaint intensifies: where is God's intervention when the wicked flagrantly violate His commandments? This question anticipates Jesus's parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8), where God's delayed justice tests faith. The prophets repeatedly condemned landmark removal as covenant violation (Proverbs 22:28, 23:10, Hosea 5:10).