ChristadelphianBooksOnline
David Baird
The Education of Job

Chapter 21 - The Second Cycle of Speeches - Job

	21:1-6	Job appeals for a fair hearing
	21:7-13	The prosperity of the wicked
	21:14-16	The impiety of the wicked
	21:17-18	The apparent immunity of the wicked
	21:19-21	Why should their children suffer?
	21:22-26	Some suffer, others do not
	21:27-28	I know what you think of me
	21:29-33	Broaden your experience and get the facts
	21:34	Job's conclusion

At the end of Chapter 19 Job had reached a sure conviction as he was fortified by a stirring consideration of God's redemptive power and Job's anticipated resurrection. Zophar's blunderbuss of verbiage had made no impact. No dent was made in Job's faith. For once, Job, unshackled by the emotional vacillations that characterised his previous speeches, calmly confronts his friends and decisively dismembers their reasoning. In particular, Zophar's outburst receives a thorough going over. It is little wonder that Zophar retreats into a sullen and defeated silence.

This is an unusual speech. There are no soliloquies and no appeals to God. It is a chapter entirely given over to counter-attack. And it is a counter-attack laden with devastating logic and factual observations.

The only question that remains unanswered is, "Why did God bring such sufferings on a righteous man?"

21:1-6 Job appeals for a fair hearing

Job directly appeals to his friends to listen to what he says and adds the rejoinder, "And let this be your consolation (tanhum)." It seems somewhat arrogant, as if Job is saying, "I will comfort you with what I have to say, whereas you have failed in your intention to comfort me (2:11)." Eliphaz considered his words to be the "consolations (tanhum) of God" (15:11) but to Job they were nothing of the sort (16:2). However, I believe that Job is declaring, in a non-belligerent way, that if they listened carefully to what he had to say then they would be of comfort to him (21:2 JB). He wanted to be heard. After that they can, if they so choose, mock him. "You should at least," implores Job, "Give me a fair hearing."

Job has no complaint against man. There is no reason for his friends to become so agitated. But really, suggests Job, it is not difficult to comprehend why Job may appear to be impatient. It is not that the recent events in Job's life have been distinguished by bliss and tranquillity. A little empathy might make a significant contribution in helping to console the perplexed Job.

"Just look at me and be dumbfounded. Listen to what I have to say and you will be awe-struck into silence." The words soon to be uttered by Job would be so confronting, so challenging, that they would be stunned; unable to answer. Just the thought of what was to follow - the anomaly of the prosperity of the wicked - appals Job and fills him with dismay (21:6).

21:7-13 The prosperity of the wicked

Every verse in this section contains a direct assault on the assumptions of Zophar and his fellow travellers. While Job is not pursuing the reason for his own suffering, he is insistent that the wicked can prosper. This observable fact is confusing to him. Job defeats their logic but in doing so is left with the conundrum of determining what is right. They were wrong yet it also seemed unfair that he should be suffering to the degree he is.

Job has a soulmate in Jeremiah whose complaint in Jeremiah 12:1-3 ("Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?") could well be drawn from this portion of Scripture.

Verse 7	The wicked do get old. They are not cut down in their prime as asserted by Zophar (20:11) and Bildad (8:12).

Verse 8	The children of the wicked prosper, unlike the children in Zophar's (20:10) and Bildad's (18:19) portrayals. The mournful contrast with Job's children is obvious (1:19).

Verse 9	The homes of the wicked are safe. They live without fear. Job is addressing Zophar's conclusion of 20:28. The facts also do not bear out their claim that God afflicts the wicked (Eliphaz in 15:20, Bildad in 18:14 and Zophar in 20:15,23). But, for some undisclosed reason, the "rod of God" has struck Job (9:34).

Verse 10	Eliphaz was certain that the wicked's substance would not continue (15:29) and this is reinforced by Zophar (20:8). "Wrong," contradicts Job, "You can see that the cattle of the wicked multiply." In what may be a case of hyperbole, there are no reproductive failures or miscarriages among the wicked's livestock.

Verse 11	Job revisits the aspect of the children of the wicked. This was clearly an issue of some poignancy to Job. He stresses that the children are like a flock (an expression of joy and divine blessing - Psa 107:41). You can see them dancing. This is not the picture perched on the easels of Zophar (20:10) and Bildad (18:19). As far as Eliphaz is concerned, the wicked conceive trouble and give birth to evil (15:35 NIV).

Verse 12	The wicked continually enjoy the sound of music but, according to Zophar, they have but a short snapshot of joy (20:6-7). Eliphaz affirms that the music the wicked is forced to listen to is made up of "terrifying sounds" (15:21 NIV). Job sees no evidence of this.

Verse 13	The wicked have a prosperous life and "in a moment" (i.e. without profound suffering - "in peace" NIV, JB, RSV) they go to the grave. This does not tally with the miserable portraits of the wicked in their destitution as created by Zophar (20:20-22) and Eliphaz (15:27-28).

21:14-16 The impiety of the wicked

Despite this prosperity, the wicked have no regard whatsoever for Almighty God (Psa 10:4). They tell God to "Go away" (JB) as they prefer their own methods and their own learning (Psa 73:8-11; Prov 1:7,22,29). They see no reason to serve Him (Prov 30:9; Hos 13:6) and as far as the reputed efficacy of prayer, "It doesn't work for me."

Reichert calls this the "slot-machine" approach to religion. Because they cannot observe any material profit from their spiritual investment, they consider faith a waste of effort (Mal 3:14) and make no further contributions.

Verse 16 is difficult to understand and variations proliferate among the translations and commentaries. Versions faithful to the literal (e.g. NIV, NKJV) are quite unclear and not consistent with the context. The Revised Standard Version (supported by the generously paraphrased Jerusalem Bible) reads, "Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?" The Revised Version marginal rendering also assists with, "Ye say, Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand." Therefore, whether Job is saying that the wicked hold their fortune in their hand or is saying that his friends are wrong for suggesting otherwise, Job wants nothing to do with their counsel.

Perhaps Job is attempting to address the dramatic assertions of Bildad that the wicked (by implication, Job) were ensnared by their own counsel (18:7). No, claims Job, the counsel of the wicked is not his counsel. Eliphaz is also quick to make an identical profession of attitude in 22:18.

21:17-18 The apparent immunity of the wicked

For exact retribution to be empirically valid the wicked must not prosper. Job says they do. Zophar's retort was, "Not for long!" (20:5). Bildad was also certain that, "The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him" (18:6).

But Job begs to differ. It can be readily observed that exact retribution is false. Job, following the popular (JB, Soncino, RSV, NIV etc) and sensible Revised Version rendition, interrogates his friends,

"How is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity cometh upon them?
That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?
That they are as stubble before the wind,
And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?"

Where is the evidence? Job is also questioning another of Bildad's conclusions that emerged in Bildad's burst of eloquence in 18:10 - "The snare" (hebel) is laid for the wicked. "Show me," says Job, "Where God distributes sorrows (hebel) in His anger."

The theory of exact retribution may appear sound, but its proof is non-existent.

21:19-21 Why should their children suffer?

Their response to such impertinence would be that if the wicked do not receive exact retribution in their lifetime then their children will on behalf of their ancestor. Job, in anticipating such a comment, tears it apart.

Most scholars state that verse 19 should be introduced by "You say" (RV, JB, NKJV etc). Furthermore, the friends of Job had made such statements in 5:4, 18:19 and 20:10. Job discounts such a possibility. It is a monstrously unjust suggestion that God would punish the innocent children of the perpetrator.

The wicked bear the punishment themselves. They are, along with everybody else, held accountable for their own sins. In declaring this, Job is affirming a very simple, consistent and robust divine principle - God "will render to every man according to his own deeds" (Rom 2:6; Psa 62:12; 2Cor 5:10; Rev 20:12).

And what's the point, Job continues, if the punishment is administered after the perpetrator of the sin has died? The perpetrator won't feel a thing! What do they care? What sort of punishment is that (21:21)?

21:22-26 Some suffer, others do not

In this section, Job makes the obvious conclusion - some people suffer, others don't. Job has not been saying that the good always suffer and the wicked are always at ease. Such generalisations make less sense than those promoted by his friends - the righteous always prosper and the wicked always fail. Life is not that simple. To squeeze the nuances of life into such a straitjacket is to set the rules by which God is required to operate.

We have no right nor capacity to instruct God, who "judgeth those on high" (21:22) This could be a reference to angels, to men of renown or to both. God is above all and knows all. He especially knows what is best for humanity.

Job proceeds to provide the most straightforward teaching he can. It is teaching that is not only correct, it can be observed. It is not some scientific or philosophical hypothesis. It is a blinding glimpse of the obvious.

One man, he says, dies in the fullness of his strength, in all happiness and ease. His life is one of plenty (21:24 - "breasts" better translated as "milk pails." The AV rendition is a physical impossibility). Another man dies after an unhappy wretched existence. His life is distinguished by its bitterness. People are not all treated the same. People are treated differently for no apparent reason and while Job acknowledges this fact he does not pretend to understand it (3:20).

The only consistent place is the grave. In death there is no discrimination, no hierarchy. Everybody is alike. They will all be eaten by worms (21:26). The difference is that Job saw beyond the worms (19:26).

21:27-28 I know what you think of me

But all along Job knew that his words would not alter his friends' viewpoint. He knew what they were thinking and that their preference was for a simplistic line of thought which could not withstand an application of the most elementary critique. Their devices (mahashaba - "plots" Green) were derived from a "desire to oppress" (Ges) Job. "Wrongfully imagine" (hamas) is a strong word meaning "do violence to, treat violently" (TWOT). It is also noteworthy that the only other use of mahashaba in the Book of Job is in 5:12 where Eliphaz contends, "(God) disappointeth the devices (mahashaba) of the crafty." If anybody was guilty of devices it was Eliphaz and his companions. Job knew their devices and was confident that God would defeat them when He vindicated Job. Job foresaw that 5:12 would be a self-fulfilling prophecy for Eliphaz.

Although they have rarely come out into the open, it is clear, opines Job, what his friends were thinking. After all, hadn't they said, "What has become of the great lord's house ... where is the tent of the wicked" (21:28 JB). Job may be overstating their actual words but the intent of Bildad in 8:22, Eliphaz in 15:34 and Zophar in 20:26 is impossible to avoid.

21:29-33 Broaden your experience and get the facts

Job realising that they do not wish to listen to him (a man obviously, by their reckoning, sorely cursed by God) so he directs them to recall conversations they have had with people who have travelled. Perhaps there were conversations they had shared with Job in better times. Zophar had appealed to general knowledge (20:4) but Job crushes this with, "You obviously haven't been around much," or the more likely, "You haven't bothered to listen to those who have been around much."

The experience of travellers does not confirm their philosophy. Rather, "The evil man is spared from the day of calamity ... he is delivered from the day of wrath" (21:30 NIV). It should be noted that the "day of wrath (ebra)" here is not the "day of wrath (ap)" alluded to by Zophar in 20:28. Ap, in the environs of 20:28, is God's anger against sinners (e.g. Num 12:9). Ebra in 21:30 refers to the cruel and merciless conduct of a man against his brother (Amos 1:11). Such conduct is usually motivated by pride.

Have a look at the wicked, especially those infamous, powerful and evil despots. Who is going to openly rebuke them? Who is going to pay them back for the misery they have caused? "Nobody!" infers Job. The public shut their eyes to their crimes. The public, fearful of the repercussions for being defiant, flatter these despicable potentates. Instead of an ignominious death, so prophesied by Zophar (20:27), "he is borne to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb (gadish)" (21:32 Soncino). Gadish occurs nowhere else in Scripture in the sense of a tomb. It normally designates "a heap of sheaves in the field" (Ges - see 5:26). It is suggested by Reichert that, in this context, it refers to a mausoleum or an arched room, whereas Delitzsch, in keeping with the usual meaning, explains it as the eminent grave, so favoured by the wealthy and powerful, heaped high in the valley.

Both interpretations are endorsed by the following verses. In death he is treated with the utmost of respect. His funeral is a grand event, with a prominent tomb and a huge procession of mourners. It is no wonder that others are inspired to follow the example of the wicked.

These concluding thoughts do not necessarily detract from Job's observations in 21:26 although it may appear that way. It is true that some of the most evil of people are honoured in death. One only has to examine twentieth-century history to confirm this. Mao Zedong was responsible for unleashing the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution that slaughtered thousands of his Chinese countrymen yet he is venerated decades after his death in 1976. Kim Il Sung's legacy is a decimated North Korean economy yet his death was the scene of overwhelming national mourning that is still maintained in one of the few nations hanging onto Communism. Under the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989, Iran endured political instability, economic hardship, and a protracted, debilitating war with Iraq (estimated 1,000,000 dead and 1,700,000 wounded). Remarkably, he is still regarded as a national hero in Iran. Even Adolf Hitler, easily one of the most evil people to ever exist, has his modern-day supporters. It is almost as if notoriety is preferred to non-entity.

But as Ecclesiastes 12:5 reminds us, "Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets." It matters not how famous one may be. In death he is the same as the crippled beggar who, frozen by an unrelenting winter night, breathes his last. 21:26 still holds, but the short-sighted fail to see past the lavish wake afforded the evil tyrant.

21:34 Job's conclusion

As for Job, the comfort (nacham - see 2:11) of his friends is vapour (hebel "vanity" throughout Ecclesiastes - same pronunciation but a different word to hebel in 21:17). It is a massive overdose of emptiness; completely worthless. Worse than that, their answers were dominated by "treachery" (ma'al - Green, CompB). Their "comfort" was driven by malice.

On that note, Job concludes the second cycle of speeches.