Job 24:5

“Behold, [as] wild asses in the desert, etc.] The word “as” is a supplement, and may be omitted, and the words be interpreted literally of wild asses, as they are by Sephorno, whose proper place is in the wilderness, to which they are used, and where their food is provided for them, and which they diligently seek for, for them and their young; and so the words may be descriptive of the place where the poor hide themselves, and of the company they are obliged to keep; but the Targum supplies the note of similitude as we do; and others f895 observe it to be wanting, and so it may respect wicked men before described, who may be compared to the wild asses of the wilderness for their folly and…”

“wild asses-- (Job 11:12). So Ishmael is called a "wild ass-man"; Hebrew (Gen 16:12). These Bedouin robbers, with the unbridled wildness of the ass of the desert, go forth thither. Robbery is their lawless "work." The desert, which yields no food to other men, yields food for the robber and his children by the plunder of caravans. rising betimes--In the East travelling is begun very early, before the heat comes on.”

“Behold, as wild asses in the desert - In regard to the wild ass, see the notes at Job 6:5. Schultens, Good, Noyes, and Wemyss, understand this, not as referring to the haughty tyrants themselves, but to the oppressed and needy wretches whom they had driven from society, and compelled to seek a precarious subsistence, like the wild ass, in the desert. They suppose that the meaning is, that these outcasts go to their daily toil seeking roots and vegetables in the desert for a subsistence, like wild animals. But it seems to me that the reference is rather to another class of wicked people: to the wandering tribes that live by plunder - who roam through the deserts, and live an unrestrained and…”

“Wild asses - Which are lawless, and fierce, and greedy of prey. Desert - Which is the proper habitation of wild asses. They - The oppressors. Go - To spoil and rob. Job 24:6”

“wild asses: Job 39:5-7; Jer 2:24; Hos 8:9 rising: Job 24:14; Pro 4:16; Hos 7:6; Mic 2:1; Zep 3:3; Joh 18:28; Act 23:12 the wilderness: Job 5:5, Job 12:6; Gen 16:12, Gen 27:40 Job 24:6”

“5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, They go forth in their work seeking for prey, The steppe is food to them for the children. 6 In the field they reap the fodder for his cattle, And they glean the vineyard of the evil-doer. 7 They pass the night in nakedness without a garment, And have no covering in the cold. 8 They are wet with the torrents of rain upon the mountains, And they hug the rocks for want of shelter. The poet could only draw such a picture as this, after having himself seen the home of his hero, and the calamitous fate of such as were driven forth from their original abodes to live a vagrant, poverty-stricken gipsy life. By Job 24:5, one is reminded of Psa 104:21-23,…”