Job 21

“The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best strength that he may be able to bear it.” —P B

Zophar is next in line to speak, but he has nothing new to say. It’s the same old story: God punishes the wicked, so Job had better get right with God. His key text is Job 20:5: “The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.” This theme has already been discussed by Bildad (8:11–19; 18) and Eliphaz (15:20–35), but Zophar is so disturbed by Job’s last speech that he feels he must speak. “I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply” (20: niv). Zophar felt insulted by Job and decided to defend himself.

After appealing once more for their understanding and sympathy (Job 21:1–6), Job replied to Zophar’s statements and refuted each of them. Job stated that, from his point of view, it appears that the wicked have long lives (vv. 7–16), they are not often sent calamity (vv. 17–21), and the death of the wicked is no different from the death of other men (vv. 22–34). Point by point, Job took Zophar’s speech and shredded it into bits.

But first, listen to Job’s appeal to his friends that they try to understand how he feels. “If you really want to console me, just keep quiet and listen” (v. 2, paraphrase). The Greek philosopher Zeno said, “The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.” The friends thought their words would encourage Job, but he said that their silence would encourage him even more (13:3).

Job pointed out that his complaint was not against men but against God. Men had not caused his afflictions, and men could not take them away. If he was impatient, it was because God had not answered him (v. 3). The longer God waited, the worse Job’s situation became. “Look at me and be astonished; clap your hand over your mouth” (21: niv).

As Job contemplated what he was about to say, it stirred him to the depths (v. 6). This was no speech from off the top of his head, for it had to do with the basic facts of life and death. If Job’s friends were in his situation, they would see things differently and say things differently.

The life of the wicked may be long (Job 21:7–16). In contrast to Zophar’s text (20:5), Job said, “Why do the wicked still live, continue on, also become very powerful?” (21: nasb) They have security on every side: their children and homes are safe (vv. 8–9, 11–12), their business prospers (v. 10), and they have long lives in which to enjoy their prosperity (v. 13). They also have many descendants who share the family wealth and enjoy it. The death of the wicked is sudden; they don’t linger in agony and long for deliverance. Of course, Job’s situation was just the opposite: His family had been destroyed, his wealth was gone, and he was suffering greatly as he waited for death to come.

But the saddest thing about the wicked is the way they leave God out of their lives and still prosper (vv. 14–15). They want nothing to do with the Lord; in fact, they say to Him, “Get away from us! Leave us alone!” They refuse to pray to the Lord, obey Him, or give Him credit for their success. This is the philosophy of most unsaved people today; you might call it “practical atheism” (see Ps. 10). God is not in their thoughts, let alone in their plans (James 4:13–17). They are selfsufficient as they do what they want to do, and they do it “their way.” Jesus described such a person in Luke 12:13–21.

Job hastened to say that this was not his philosophy of life. “But I refuse even to deal with people like that” (Job 21: tlb). The wicked take credit for their wealth, but Job acknowledged that everything comes from God (1:21). How, then, can Job’s three friends classify him with the wicked?

Before considering Job’s second point, we must face the disturbing fact that too many professed Christians actually admire and envy the lifestyle of the rich and famous. In one of his books, Dr. Kenneth Chafin tells about a pastor and deacon who were visiting prospects and stopped at a beautiful suburban home. The lawn looked like it was manicured, and two expensive cars sat in the driveway. Furthermore, the pastor and deacon could see the man of the house comfortably seated in his spacious living room, watching television. Everything about the place reeked of affluence. The deacon turned to his pastor and asked, “What kind of good news do we have for this fellow?”

In over forty years of ministry, I have performed many weddings and watched many young Christian couples get started in their homes. What a joy it has been to see homes where couples set the right priorities and resist the temptation to follow the crowd and live for material possessions. Unfortunately, some have lost their spiritual vision and succeeded in this world— without acknowledging the Lord. Alas, they have their reward.

The wicked do not often experience calamity (Job 21:17–21). “Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out,” Bildad affirmed (18:5); but Job asked, “How often does that happen?” How often do you actually see God’s anger displayed against the godless people of the world? “How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?” (21: niv) The wicked seem to be secure in this world, while the righteous suffer (but see Ps. 73).

But if God doesn’t judge the wicked, He will judge their children (Job 21:19). Zophar had argued that point (20:10), and so had Eliphaz (5:4). Of course, both of them were aiming at Job, who had lost all of his children. “But what kind of judgment is that?” asked Job. “If a man lives in sin, let him suffer for his sin. After he dies, why should he care about what happens to his family? In Sheol, he will never know what is happening on earth.”

Scripture makes it clear that the fathers are not punished for the sins of the children or the children for the sins of the fathers (Jer. 31:29–30; Ezek. 18:1ff.). Certainly parents may be deeply hurt by the sins of their children, and children may suffer from the consequences of their parents’ sins, but the judgment of God is always just (Deut. 24:16). It was cruel for the three friends to suggest that Job’s sins had caused the death of his children.

Zophar had said that the life of a wicked man was brief, but Job refuted him by affirming that wicked people often live a long time. Zophar claimed that the pleasures of the wicked were temporary because God’s judgment suddenly fell upon them, but Job asked, “How often have you seen that happen?” Now Job answers Zophar’s third argument that the death of the wicked is painful.

The wicked die just like other people (Job 21:22–34). Life and death are in the hands of God, so what is mere man that he should teach God or claim to be able to explain God’s ways (v. 22)? God will ask Job a similar question when He finally appears and gives Job his long-awaited opportunity to defend himself. Instead of Job questioning God, it will be God who questions Job and humbles Job with His questions!

Observation tells Job that some people die when they are in the fullness of life and apparently in excellent health, while others die after long and painful illnesses. Some people enjoy a long and happy life, while others spend their days in misery, but death is the same for all of them. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as “infant death” or “tragic death” or “unexpected death” because death is death no matter when or how it comes. The rich man dies, the poor man dies; the believer dies, the unbeliever dies; and “side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both” (v. 26 niv). Of course, Job is talking about the physical side of death and not the spiritual. When death comes, it obviously makes a great deal of difference in the next life whether or not the person had faith in Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:27).

Many people—including some Christian believers—hesitate to speak about death in general or their own death in particular. They have hospitalization and life insurance, but they prefer to avoid the subject and act as though death were not coming. “The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else,” wrote sociologist Ernest Becker. “It is a mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man” (The Denial of Death, Free Press ix)

“Behold, I know your thoughts,” Job told his friends (Job 21:27). He could tell that his speech had not convinced them, and he knew just what they were going to say when he finished speaking—exactly what they had said before! In verse 28 he quoted two of their statements that he had already refuted (see 18:13–21 and 20:20–29), but he expected to hear similar statements again.

Job asked his friends if they had ever investigated the situation in places other than their own homeland. As Dorothy Sayers wrote, “There’s nothing you can’t prove if your outlook is only sufficiently limited.” He asked them, “Have you never questioned those who travel?” (21: niv) People who travel are usually not provincial in their outlook but have wide experience in the things of the world. With all of their wisdom, Job’s three friends might still be narrow in their outlook because they haven’t seen what life is like in other places. If Job’s friends inquired of well-traveled people, they would learn that in every part of the world, wicked people seem to escape the calamities that fall on the righteous.

Then Job became very personal and asked his friends, “If you really believe that the wicked are destined for an early death, have you ever warned them? Have you ever denounced them to their face?” (v. 31, paraphrase). If his friends had replied, “No, we have never talked to the wicked about their future,” then Job could have said, “Then why are you warning a righteous man about his future?” How inconsistent can you get?

Job’s closing words in 21: let the three friends know that he had no confidence in what they said. Their comfort was in vain (“nonsense,” niv), and their answers were nothing but falsehood. The Hebrew word translated “falsehood” means “a deliberate violation of God’s law, an act of treachery.” It is often translated “trespass.” When the three friends attacked Job, they were breaking faith and trespassing against God. Instead of helping Job, they were leading him astray.

I have a friend who prays daily, “Lord, help me today not to add to anybody’s burdens.”

It’s too bad Bildad and Zophar and Eliphaz didn’t pray that prayer!

Perhaps all of us should start praying it!