Job 20:26

“All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places, etc.] In such places of secrecy, where he may promise himself safety, he shall find more calamities of all sorts; or every kind of judgments shall find him out, and come upon him, sometimes signified by darkness, (see <230822>Isaiah 8:22); or utter darkness, the blackness of darkness; everlasting wrath, ruin, and destruction, are laid up and reserved in God’s secret places for him, and lie hid among his treasures of vengeance, which he in due time will bring forth from thence, and punish the guilty sinner with, (<650113>Jude 1:13 <053234> Deuteronomy 32:34,35); or all this shall be because of secret sins, as Ben Gersom interprets it; and so…”

“All darkness--that is, every calamity that befalls the wicked shall be hid (in store for him) in His (God's) secret places, or treasures (Jde 1:13; Deu 32:34). not blown--not kindled by man's hands, but by God's (Isa 30:33; the Septuagint in the Alexandrian Manuscript reads "unquenchable fire," Mat 3:12). Tact is shown by the friends in not expressly mentioning, but alluding under color of general cases, to Job's calamities; here (Job 1:16) UMBREIT explains it, wickedness, is a "self-igniting fire"; in it lie the principles of destruction. ill . . . tabernacle--Every trace of the sinner must be obliterated (Job 18:15).”

“All darkness shall be hid in his secret places - The word “darkness” here, as is common, means evidently calamity. The phrase “is hid,” means is treasured up for him. The phrase “in his secret places,” may mean “for his treasures,” or instead of the great treasures which he had laid up for himself. The Apostle Paul has a similar expression, in which, perhaps, he makes an allusion to this place. Romans 2:5, “but, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath.” Treasures formerly were laid up in secret places, or places of darkness, that were regarded as inaccessible; see the notes at Isaiah 45:3. A fire not blown - A fire unkindled.…”

“Darkness - All sorts of miseries. Hid - Or, laid up; by God for him. It is reserved and treasured up for him, and shall infallibly overtake him. Secret - In those places where he confidently hopes to hide himself from all evil: even there God shall find him out. Not blown - By man, but kindled by God himself. He thinks by his might and violence to secure himself from men, but God will find him out. With him - With his family, who shall inherit his curse as well as his estate. Job 20:27”

“20:26 Images such as deepest darkness and wildfire are often associated with God’s presence (Deut 4:11; 5:22-23; Heb 12:18) and especially with his judgment (Exod 9:23-24; 10:21-29).”

“darkness: Job 18:5, Job 18:6; Isa 8:22; Mat 8:12; Jde 1:13 a fire: Psa 21:9, Psa 120:4; Isa 30:33; Mat 3:12 it shall go: Job 18:19; Psa 109:9-15; Isa 14:20-22 Job 20:27”

“26 All darkness is reserved for his treasured things, A fire that is not blown upon devoureth him; It feedeth upon what is left in his tent. 27 The heavens reveal his iniquity, And the earth riseth up against him. 28 The produce of his house must vanish, Flowing away in the day of God's wrath. . . . . . . 29 This is the lot of the wicked man from Elohim, And the heritage decreed for him from God. As in Psa 17:14 God's store of earthly goods for the children of men is called צפוּן (צפין), so here the stores laid up by man himself are called צפוּניו. Total darkness, which will finally destroy them, is decreed by God against these stores of the godless, which are brought together not as coming…”