Hypocrite

The hypocrite cannot build his hope, without some false, rotten ground. He grounds it on his worldly prosperity, the plausible profession he makes of religion, the good opinion of his neighbors, and his own good conceit of himself, which are no solid foundation on which to build his confidence.
Job 8:13: “paths….the hypocrite's hope shall perish:”
[Paths - so "ways" (Prov. 1:19), Of wicked men. By their paths he doth not understand their manner of living, but the events which befall them, G-d's manner of dealing with them. The papyrus and the rush flourish while they have a plentiful supply of ooze and water; but take these away, and their prosperity is speedily at an end; so it is with the wicked and profane; their prosperity is of short duration, however great it may appear to be in the beginning. Thou also, O thou enemy of G-d, hast flourished for a time; but the blast of G-d is come upon thee, and now thou art dried up from the very roots.
Forget G-d - Forgetfulness of God is at the bottom of men's hypocrisy, and of the vain hopes with which they flatter and deceive themselves in their hypocrisy.
Men would not be hypocrites if they did not forget that the G-d with whom they have to do searches the heart and requires truth there, that He is a Spirit and has His eye on our spirits.
Hypocrites would have no hope if they did not forget that G-d is righteous, and will not be mocked with the torn and the lame. The hope of hypocrites is a great cheat upon themselves, and, though it may flourish for a while, it will certainly perish at last, and they with it.Such are the distinguishing trait of the godless (Ps. 9:17; 50:22).
Hypocrite’s Hope shall perish - A hypocrite, or rather profligate, has no inward religion, for his heart is not right with G-d; he has only hope, and that perishes when he gives up the ghost. This is the first place in which the word hypocrite occurs, or the noun chaneph, which rather conveys the idea of pollution and defilement than of hypocrisy. A hypocrite is one who only carries the mask of godliness, to serve secular purposes; who wishes to be taken for a religionist, though he is conscious he has no religion. Such a person cannot have hope of any good, because he knows he is insincere: but the person in the text has hope; therefore hypocrite cannot be the meaning of the original word. But all the vile, the polluted, and the profligate have hope; they hope to end their iniquities before they end life; and they hope to get at last to the kingdom of heaven. Hypocrite is a very improper translation of the Hebrew.]
[14] Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.
[Hope - The hope of the hypocrite: Is woven out of his own bowels; it is the creature of his own fancy, and arises merely from a conceit of his own merit and sufficiency. There is a great deal of difference between the work of the bee and that of the spider. A diligent Christian, like the laborious bee, fetches in all his comfort from the heavenly dews of G-d's word; but the hypocrite, like the subtle spider, weaves his out of a false hypothesis of his own concerning G-d, as if he were altogether such a One as himself.
Cut off - Such persons, subdued by the strong habits of sin, hope on fruitlessly, till the last thread of the web of life is cut off from the beam; and then they find no more strength in their hope than is in the threads of the spider's web. Thus shall their support rot away? The foundation on which they trust is rotten, and by and by the whole superstructure of their confidence shall tumble into ruin.
Spider’s web - accord with the metaphor of the spider's "house," "The confidence (on which he builds) shall be laid in ruins" (Isa. 59:5, 6). Which tho' it be formed with great art and industry, is easily swept down, or pulled in pieces.]
[15] He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.
[He shall lean - This is all allusion to the spider. When he suspects his web, here called his house, to be frail or unsure, he leans upon it in different parts, propping himself on his hinder legs, and pulling with his fore claws, to see if all be safe. If he finds any part of it injured, he immediately adds new cordage to that part, and attaches it strongly to the wall. When he finds all safe and strong, he retires into his hole at one corner, supposing himself to be in a state of complete security, when in a moment the brush or the besom sweeps away himself, his house, and his confidence.
The wicked, whose hope is in his temporal possessions strengthens and keeps his house in repair; and thus leans on his earthly supports; in a moment, as in the case of the spider, his house is overwhelmed by the blast of G-d's judgments, and himself probably buried in its ruins. This is a very fine and expressive metaphor.
He shall hold it fast - implying his eager grasp, to uphold himself by it. But his web, that refuge of lies, will be swept away, and he crushed in it. When the storm of trial comes: as the spider "holds fast" by its web; but with this difference: the light spider is sustained by that on which it rests; the godless is not by the thin web on which he rests.
1. The expression, "Hold fast," properly applies to the spider holding his web, but is transferred to the man. Hypocrisy, like the spider's web, is fine-spun, flimsy, and woven out of its own inventions, as the spider's web out of its own bowels. An Arab proverb says, "Time destroys the well-built house, as well as the spider's web."
2. He is very fond of it, as the spider of her web; pleases himself with it, wraps himself in it, calls it his house, leans upon it, and holds it fast. It is said of the spider that she takes hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces, Prov. 30:28. So does a carnal worldling hug himself in the fullness and firmness of his outward prosperity; he prides himself in that house as his palace, fortifies himself in it as his castle, and makes use of it as the spider of her web, to ensnare those he has a mind to prey upon. So does a formal professor; he flatters himself in his own eyes, doubts not of his salvation, is secure of heaven, and cheats the world with his vain confidences.
3. It will easily and certainly be swept away, as the cobweb with the besom, when
G-d shall come to purge His house. The prosperity of worldly people will fail them when they expect to find safety and happiness in it. They seek to hold fast their estates, but G-d is plucking them out of their hands; and whose shall all those things be, which they have provided? Or what the better they will be for them? The confidences of hypocrites will fail them.
I tell you, I know you not. The house built on the sand will fall in the storm, when the builder most needs it and promised himself the benefit of it. When a wicked man dies his expectation perishes. The ground of his hopes will prove false; he will be disappointed of the thing he hoped for, and his foolish hope with which he marker himself up will be turned into endless despair; and thus his hope will be cut off, his web, that refuge of lies, swept away, and he crushed in it.]
[16] He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
[The hypocrite is here compared to a flourishing and well-rooted tree, which, though it do not wither of itself, yet will easily be cut down and its place no it no more.
He - the godless is green only before the sun rises; but he cannot bear its heat, and withers. The wide spreading in the garden does not quite accord with this, better, "in sunshine"; the sun representing the smiling fortune of the hypocrite, during which he wondrously progresses. The image is that of weeds growing in rank luxuriance and spreading over even heaps of stones and walls, and then being speedily torn away.
Green - Flourishes in the world.
Before the sun - Publicly and in the view of all men.
Branch - His children, who are here mentioned as additions not only to his comfort, but also to his strength and safety.
Garden - A place where it is defended from those injuries to which the trees of the field are subject, and where, besides the advantages common to all trees, it hath peculiar helps from the art and industry of men, so he supposes this man to be placed in the most desirable circumstances.
This is another metaphor. The wicked is represented as a luxuriant plant, in a good soil, with all the advantages of a good situation; well exposed to the sun; the roots intervolving themselves with stones, so as to render the tree more stable; but suddenly a blast comes, and the tree begins to die. The sudden fading of its leaves, which its root is become as rottenness, and its vegetable life destroyed. The prosperous wicked, in the inscrutable dispensations of the Divine providence, blasted, stripped, made bare, and despoiled, in the same way.
[21] Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.It is true that G-d will not cast away an upright man; he may be cast down for a time, but he shall not be cast away for ever.
It is true that, if not in this world, yet in another, the mouth of the righteous shall be filled with rejoicing. Though their sun should set under a cloud, yet it shall rise again clear, never more to be clouded; though they go mourning to the grave that shall not hinder their entrance into the joy of their L-rd.
It is true that the enemies of the saints will be clothed with shame when they see them crowned with honour. The secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, and the present difficulties of Providence be solved to universal and everlasting satisfaction, when the mystery of G-d shall be finished.
Knowing the history of the ancient patriarchs; and contained facts of an opposite nature. Righteous Abel was persecuted and murdered by his wicked brother, Cain. Abram was obliged to leave his own country on account of worshipping the true G-d; so all tradition has said. Jacob was persecuted by his brother Esau; Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers; Moses was obliged to flee from Egypt, and was variously tried and afflicted, even by his own brethren. Not to mention David, and almost all the prophets. All these were proofs that the best of men were frequently exposed to sore afflictions and heavy calamities; and it is not by the prosperity or adversity of men in this world, that we are to judge of the approbation or disapprobation of G-d towards them. In every case our L-rd's rule is infallible: By their fruits ye shall know them. ]