Job 21

Job 21:1-34 . JOB'S ANSWER.

2. consolations--If you will listen calmly to me, this will be regarded as "consolations"; alluding to Eliphaz' boasted "consolations" ( Job 15:11 ), which Job felt more as aggravations ("mockings," Job 21:3 ) than consolations ( Job 16:2 ).

3. literally, "Begin your mockings" ( Job 17:2 ).

4. Job's difficulty was not as to man, but as to God, why He so afflicted him, as if he were the guilty hypocrite which the friends alleged him to be. Vulgate translates it, "my disputation."
if it were--rather, "since this is the case."

5. lay . . . hand upon . . . mouth--( Proverbs 30:32 , Judges 18:19 ). So the heathen god of silence was pictured with his hand on his mouth. There was enough in Job's case to awe them into silence ( Job 17:8 ).

6. remember--Think on it. Can you wonder that I broke out into complaints, when the struggle was not with men, but with the Almighty? Reconcile, if you can, the ceaseless woes of the innocent with the divine justice! Is it not enough to make one tremble? [UMBREIT].

7. The answer is Romans 2:4 , 1 Timothy 1:16 , Psalms 73:18 , Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 , Luke 2:35 -end; Proverbs 16:4 , Romans 9:22 .
old--in opposition to the friends who asserted that sinners are "cut off" early ( Job 8:12 Job 8:14 ).

8. In opposition to Job 18:19 , 5:4 .

9. Literally, "peace from fear"; with poetic force. Their house is peace itself, far removed from fear. Opposed to the friends' assertion, as to the bad ( Job 15:21-24 , 20:26-28 ), and conversely, the good ( Job 5:23 Job 5:24 ).

10. Rather, "their cattle conceive." The first clause of the verse describes an easy conception, the second, a happy birth [UMBREIT].

11. send forth--namely, out of doors, to their happy sports under the skies, like a joyful flock sent to the pastures.
little ones--like lambkins.
children--somewhat older than the former.
dance--not formal dances; but skip, like lambs, in joyous and healthful play.

12. take--rather, "lift up the voice" (sing) to the note of [UMBREIT].
timbrel--rather, "tambourine."
organ--not the modern "organ," but the "pipe" ( Genesis 4:21 ). The first clause refers to stringed, the latter, to wind instruments; thus, with "the voice" all kinds of music are enumerated.

13. wealth--Old English Version for "prosperity."
in a moment--not by a lingering disease. Great blessings! Lengthened life with prosperity, and a sudden painless death ( Psalms 73:4 ).

14. Therefore--rather, "And yet they are such as say," &c., that is, say, not in so many words, but virtually, by their conduct (so the Gergesenes, Matthew 8:34 ). How differently the godly ( Isaiah 2:3 ).
ways--The course of action, which God points out; as in Psalms 50:23 , Margin.