Job 21:1–34 Job's Reply

 ¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Listen carefully to my speech,

And let this be your consolation.

³Bear with me that I may speak,

And after I have spoken, keep mocking.

⁴“As for me, is my complaint against man?

And if it were, why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be astonished;

Put your hand over your mouth.

⁶Even when I remember I am terrified,

And trembling takes hold of my flesh.

⁷Why do the wicked live and become old,

Yes, become mighty in power?

⁸Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without failure;

Their cow calves without miscarriage.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and harp,

And rejoice to the sound of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in wealth,

And in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,

For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?

And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

¹⁶Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?

How often does their destruction come upon them,

The sorrows God distributes in His anger?

¹⁸They are like straw before the wind,

And like chaff that a storm carries away.

¹⁹They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’;

Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

²⁰Let his eyes see his destruction,

And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about his household after him,

When the number of his months is cut in half?

²²“Can anyone teach God knowledge,

Since He judges those on high?

²³One dies in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and secure;

²⁴His pails are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is moist.

²⁵Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,

Never having eaten with pleasure.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust,

And worms cover them.

²⁷“Look, I know your thoughts,

And the schemes with which you would wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?

And where is the tent,

The dwelling place of the wicked?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the road?

And do you not know their signs?

³⁰For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;

They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.

³¹Who condemns his way to his face?

And who repays him for what he has done?

³²Yet he shall be brought to the grave,

And a vigil kept over the tomb.

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;

Everyone shall follow him,

As countless have gone before him.

³⁴How then can you comfort me with empty words,

Since falsehood remains in your answers?”

Commentary

Vs. 1-3 ¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Listen carefully to my speech,

And let this be your consolation.

³Bear with me that I may speak,

And after I have spoken, keep mocking.

Having once again patiently listen to his friends discourses against him, Job now asks for their attentive ears, before they start mocking him again with their speeches that are supposed to be representing God’s justice against the wicked, when in fact all they are doing is using them to condemn him.

Vs. 4 “As for me, is my complaint against man?

And if it were, why should I not be impatient?”

Even so, Job now declares that his complaint is not against them, but rather God who has allowed such things to happen to Him. Therefore, he asks them why should he not be impatient? Since all of their discourses have been declaring the immediate vindication of the righteous and the sudden destruction and ruin of the wicked, and yet with Job their is this a glaring lack of clarity in their answers as to why?

Vs. 5-6 ⁵Look at me and be astonished;

Put your hand over your mouth.

⁶Even when I remember I am terrified,

And trembling takes hold of my flesh.

Job now tells them to place their eyes closely on him and be astonished at him, (for if this can happen to a righteous and just person such as himself), they should all then consider themselves vulnerable as well, and thus not be so embolden to speak against him. For when Job remembers his sudden downfall, he is terrified and trembling takes hold of his flesh.

Vs. 7-16 ⁷Why do the wicked live and become old,

Yes, become mighty in power?

⁸Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without failure;

Their cow calves without miscarriage.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and harp,

And rejoice to the sound of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in wealth,

And in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,

For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?

And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

¹⁶Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Job now asks the questions which they themselves refuse to do so. This then begins Job's counter reply to all that his friends have been asserting. Job then begins with the universal question that has been asked by countless others before him, 

“Why do the wicked live and become old,

Yes, become mighty in power?” ^{vs. 7}

The question itself though is not seeking answer as much as it is a rebuke of what his friends have been so strongly asserting; that the righteous always prosper and the wicked always suffer, which simply isn't so. For they have been denying that this is even possible, that righteous could suffer and the wicked prosper, and yet we know that this is a reality in every generation. For the early Christians all knew this, for the Lord Jesus Christ wasn’t Crucified by Just and Righteous men, but by wicked leaders, rulers and judges, of both Jews and Gentiles (of Rome and Israel) who conspired to put Him to death. Same with His Apostles, they didn’t suffer and die at the hands of just men, rather wicked rulers in authority also put them to death. And on it goes down through the centuries, that not only Christians, but righteous people everywhere have always been the targets of the unjust. Indeed in every generation their are righteous people who see wicked men and women prosper; or have to watch them live and become old, yes, become established in power, even while their loved ones perished at their hands. If you need some examples, think of some of this worlds wicked rulers who are ruling today, or past ones who lived out their days in full, although their legacy was only one of oppression and corruption, violence and murder.

“Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.” ^{Vs. 7-8}

Last night I watched a movie about Rudoff Hess, and when I read these verses this morning it immediately came to mind, how that man made a "career" for himself out of mass murder! How he and his wife built this picture-perfect home with their children, right outside of the walls of Auschwitz! Job’s point here then is well taken, even though Hess was later hanged for his crimes, (thankyou Father for Psalm 37), had the Nazi’s won, he never would’ve even been tried. Today think of the North Korea, Russia, China, Iran etc. or other such states and their leaders who commit crimes against humanity and do heinous things even to their own people and yet prosper. Nonetheless this will only be for a season, for God's Judgment eludes no one. Job then continues his counter point to all that his friends have been asserting, by saying that even prosperity and joy can be found in the wicked persons household just as readily as in the righteous persons home (vs. 10-12). Indeed, unlike what his friends have all been asserting, Job says of the wicked person that:

“They spend their days in wealth,

And in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,

For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?

And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

¹⁶Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;

The counsel of the wicked is far from me. ^{Vs. 13-16}

Thus, even in their flat-out rejection of God they do not always experience the wrath of God against themselves in this life, as Job’s friends have been asserting that they always do. Job then says that, “the prosperity of the wicked is not in their hands” (vs. 16); which might be a charge against God by Job? Now if it is, it is a very, very, grave error on his part to say such a thing that God prospers them. Job then says that “the counsel of the wicked is far from me” as a kind of sarcastic rebuff of his friends’ counsels, for they had been calling his counsels wicked. And with that Job says that he has not been wicked, nor has he ever received the counsel of the wicked. But as we are seeing, some of his words like in verse sixteen are completely unjustifiable, which Job in his affliction does not yet see.

Vs. 17-22 ¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?

How often does their destruction come upon them,

The sorrows God distributes in His anger?

¹⁸They are like straw before the wind,

And like chaff that a storm carries away.

¹⁹They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’;

Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

²⁰Let his eyes see his destruction,

And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about his household after him,

When the number of his months is cut in half?

Job by means of a question now refutes his friend’s notion that the lives of the wicked are always lived in complete darkness and misery. That by the hand of God they are only continually afflicted, groping about, only going from one misery to the next (vs. 17). Nonetheless in verse eighteen Job sees that they indeed are like straw before the wind and like chaff which the storm carries away, that they’re ways in their prosperity are always temporary (vs. 18). Then in verses 19-21 Job in readdressing Zophar complains that wicked could care less if God serves up His wrath on their children, and so he says why wait till then, serve it up on those who are wicked here and now! “For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months is cut in half?” ^{vs. 21}

Vs. 22-26 “Can anyone teach God knowledge,

Since He judges those on high?

²³One dies in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and secure;

²⁴His pails are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is moist.

²⁵Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,

Never having eaten with pleasure.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust,

And worms cover them.

Job now regains his composure and he now rightly asserts God’s Absolute Understanding of all things. That no one can instruct Him, since He judges those on high (vs. 22); that is all angelic beings whose lives are not like mortal mans. Job then returns to the injustices he sees play out here on earth, that one man dies in full strength, never afflicted, never visited with disease or poverty (vs. 24); while another dies in bitterness of soul, having never even eaten with pleasure (vs. 25), Even so they both will lie down in dust and the worms will cover them (vs. 26). His point is that their is a lot of ambiguity in this life that we cannot always explain. Unfortunately, Job’s words here are not very hopeful or helpful. Thank God for Gospel!

Vs. 27-34 ²⁷“Look, I know your thoughts,

And the schemes with which you would wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?

And where is the tent,

The dwelling place of the wicked?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the road?

And do you not know their signs?

³⁰For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;

They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.

³¹Who condemns his way to his face?

And who repays him for what he has done?

³²Yet he shall be brought to the grave,

And a vigil kept over the tomb.

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;

Everyone shall follow him,

As countless have gone before him.

³⁴How then can you comfort me with empty words,

Since falsehood remains in your answers?”

Job now rebukes his friends for trying to condemn him as a wicked man by heaping up all their judgments against him as such (vs. 27). Then in verse twenty-eight he refutes their notion that the wicked persons home, stature, and standing in society is always ruined (vs. 28). As evidence of this he asks them to ask those who travel on the road, who pass by his well-established dwelling everyday (vs. 29). Nonetheless Job rightly does not see that as being their end, for he rightly sees that, “...the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.” ^{Vs. 30} For there will be a reckoning with God for them, for He will bring justice for everyone they have wronged when He deals with them on the Day of His wrath. Nonetheless Job says here and now who condemns them to their face? As his friends have been doing to him, who down here repays them for what they have done? (vs. 31). Even so Job comforts himself in the knowledge that they shall all be brought to the grave, where a vigil will be kept over their tomb, where even the clods of the valley will be sweet to them, and so they and their ways shall perish, just like the countless others who passed before them (vs. 32-33). In closing his rebuttal here, Job then says that his friends’ counsels, (which he rightly calls empty words), have brought him no comfort, for falsehood still remains in their answers to him (vs. 33).

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.