Job 21
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CHAPTER 21
Job (21:1–34)
1–3 Job tells his three friends that since they have given him no consolation by their talking, let them at least give him consolation by their listening. After they have listened, then they can continue to mock him if they want.
4–6 In the rest of this chapter, Job sets out to refute the claims of his three friends that the wicked always suffer and the righteous always prosper. Job is going to show in fact that, as often as not, the opposite is true. Job sees no justice in the world; this is Job's complaint (verse 4), and it is directed not to man but to God Himself, because Job holds God responsible for the injustice he sees.
What makes Job impatient and upset is that all around him the wicked are prospering. When his friends hear what he has to say they will be astonished and clap their hands over their mouths (verse 5). Job himself is terrified by the thought that wicked people can enjoy life while he, a righteous man, must endure terrible suffering (verse 6).
7–16 Here Job begins a long description of all the good things he sees happening to the wicked, things that his three friends refuse to see. Even as these wicked people are enjoying their prosperity, they openly and arrogantly reject the God who made their prosperity possible (verses 14–15). “. . . their prosperity is not in their own hands,” says Job; “it's in God's hands” (verse 16). But Job wants nothing to do with the wicked or with their prosperity. Even if he hasn't benefited from being righteous, he certainly doesn't want to benefit from being wicked.
17–21 Job asks: How often does calamity come upon the wicked? (verse 17). Job's answer: not often at all. In verse 19, Job quotes a proverb which says that a wicked man's sons often end up getting their father's punishment; Job feels this is terribly unfair. “Let [God] repay the man himself,” says Job.
22–26 “But who can teach knowledge to God?” Job asks; “God is going to do as He pleases.” To Job, it doesn't seem to matter whether a man is wicked or righteous; he's going to end up in the same place anyway (verse 26). All of these thoughts are deeply upsetting to Job. In effect, he is asking: Where can one find justice on this earth?
27–34 But Job's three friends see perfect justice. They say: “Where now is the great man's house?” (verse 28)—that is, the wicked man's house. “It's gone, destroyed,” they say. The three friends continue to insist that nothing belonging to the wicked remains.
But Job answers that such statements are plain nonsense: evidence of the prosperity of the wicked is all around them. Haven't the three friends inquired of anyone? (verse 29). Haven't they opened their eyes? Then Job goes on to give additional examples of how the wicked thrive in this life (verses 30–33).
Though Job was surely overstating the prosperity of the wicked, still he was more right than his three friends were. His friends did not want to admit the obvious truth of what Job was saying; because, if they did, their own arguments would be proven wrong and their schemes (verse 27) to expose Job's own wickedness would be defeated.
There are many people like Job's three friends in our churches today. They have opinions; they have an understanding of theology. But they are so set in their thinking that they dismiss any experience or observation that might challenge their views. Scripture does not conflict with our experiences and observations, rightly understood; indeed, to correctly interpret Scripture, we must take experience and observation into account. Job's friends were so set on defending their theology that they closed their eyes to reality—and closed their hearts to the suffering Job whom they had supposedly come to help.