Job 21:32 - Exposition

Yet shall he be brought to the grave ; rather, he moreover is borne (in pomp) to the grave . Even in death the advantage is still with the wicked man. He is borne in procession to the grave—a mausoleum or a family vault—by a long train of mourners, who weep and lament for him, and pay him funeral honours. The poor virtuous man, on the other hand, is hastily thrust under the soil. And shall remain in in the tomb ; or shall keep watch over his tomb. The allusion is probably to the custom, common certainly in Egypt and Phoenicia, of carving a figure of the deceased on the lid of his sarcophagus, to keep as it were watch over the remains deposited within. The figure was sometimes accompanied by an inscription, denouncing curses on those who should dare to violate the tomb or disturb the remains.