Job 21:7-16

2. The wicked enjoy great peace and plenty. (Job 21:7-16)

TEXT 21:7-16

7 Wherefore do the wicked live,

Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?

8 Then- seed is established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

9 Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.

10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;

Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

11 They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

12 They sing to the timbrel and harp,

And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

13 They spend their days in prosperity,

And in a moment they go down to Sheol.

14 And they say onto God, Depart from us;

For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what profit should we have, If we pray unto him?

16 Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand:

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

COMMENT 21:7-16

Job 21:7Zophar (and Plato's Republic) had saidJob 20:11that the wicked die prematurely. Job counters with evidence to the contrary. Job asks why? (maddnafrom what cause; lamahJob 3:20; Job 7:20to what purpose? Jesus on crossPsalms 22; Matthew 27how do you explain it?) Zophar's argument is sophistry. If one dies early in life, then he was wicked. The same applies to Bildad's arguments in Job 18:5-21. One could never refute such an a priori position. Not only do many wicked live long lives, but their prosperity continues unbrokenJob 15:20; Job 18:5; Job 20:5. Other Old Testament spokesmen were also disturbed about this same phenomenaJeremiah 12:1 ff; Psalms 73:13; Habakkuk 1:13; and Malachi 3:15. The evidence does not support Zophar's claim that the prosperous wicked never attain a level of true happiness. The holy pagan, moral atheist, the good-living humanist might be as happy as the righteous man, then or now. If ex hypothesi happiness is God's gift, is He not encouraging unbelief by such indiscriminate bestowal of prosperity?Matthew 5:45. The only motives advanced by Job's friends for serving God have been: (1) fear of punishment and (2) hope for reward. This kind of motivation will never produce truly pious people (note arguments against these by Kant and Hannah Arendt).

Job 21:8Job directly contradicts the claims of Bildad concerning the fate of the wicked which he stated in Job 18:5-21. He first attacks Bildad's assertion that Job's ill-fated prosperity and progeny are proof of ungodliness. The wicked have (lit. lipnehembefore them) their offspring.[234]

[234] Blommerde, Northwest Semitic Grammar and Job, follows M. Dahood, Biblica, 1966, p. 411Their line is stable; their fathers are with them and their offspring are before their eyes.

Job 21:9Here Job sets the security of the ungodly against Eliphaz's claim in Job 5:24. He had promised Job security in his tent if he would accept his present condition as God's judgment and repent. In Job 9:34 Job complained that there was no mediator to remove God's rod of anger from him; here he asserts that the ungodly do not feel the rod of wrathJob 15:28; Job 18:14; and 10:28.

Job 21:10Another mark of God's blessing was fertility in herds and flocksDeuteronomy 28:14; Psalms 144:13 ff. If this is a sign of God's blessing, then He is blessing many wicked people with success.[235]

[235] Compare this argument in a Christian critique of the American Dream, i.e., if you are successful, it is a sign of God's providential presence; if you are a failure, it is a warning to get right with God.

Job 21:11Here we note a beautiful picture of peace, progress, and prosperity as children are playing and singing like happy little lambs. But the children of the wicked are as numerous as a herd or flockPsalms 107:41. (Note contemporary preoccupation with leisure and play (see J. Moltmann's A Theology of Play. New York: Harper & Row, 1975), Zechariah 8:5.[236]

[236] For analysis of instruments mentioned in this vivid picture, see essay by M. Dahood, The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, p. 65; and for singing, see A. Guillaume, Journal of Theological Studies, 1966, pp. 53ff; for biblical music in general, Werner's The Bridge (Harvard University Press).

Job 21:12For similar descriptions of revelry of the wicked, see Isaiah 5:12 and Amos 6:5, perhaps in their worship of Baal. The same mode, but not motive, is employed in the worship of God.[237] Festivity and celebration are marks of both pious joy as well as sensual revelry.

[237] See esp. The Song of Solomon 7:1; and article by R. T. O-'Callaghan, Orientalia, 21, 1952, 37-46; and M. Dahood, The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, p. 65.

Job 21:13The wicked often know intense prosperity and come to a peaceful ripe old age. In peace (A. V. has in a moment) they go down to Sheol (suggesting suddenly, which is not the point here). They have a long and complete life, with little or no suffering and no lingering illnesses.

Job 21:14Radical self-interest is no motive for them to acknowledge God. They already have everything they want. In modern times, from Machiavelli to Mao, radical self-interest has been the basis of totalitarianism.[238] In our own culture it is the basis of hedonistic materialism. What profit is there in knowing God? The happy people have no self-interest to induce them to worship God.

[238] See Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Meridian Books, pb., 1958).

Job 21:15The wicked have no obligation of love or gratitude to worship God. This philosophy of religion says that we will give if we get in return. But the righteous man desires above all else to know God and His waysPsalms 16:11; Psalms 25:4. The perverse reject God, while they continue to prosper.

Job 21:16The verse is notorious for its grammatical complexities. Perhaps the R. S. V. gets at the meaning better than the A. V., which is: God does not concern Himself with wicked, but leaves their prosperity to themselves; that is their sole and ultimate award. Job then says that the counsel of the wicked is removed far from him in the sense that despite their success, Job does not wish to be prosperous on their terms.[239]

[239] For this difficult verse, see A. C. M. Blommerde, Northwest Semitic Grammar and Job; one basic problem is: From whom is the prosperity derived? Is not from his hands their prosperity? or Behold, the Mighty One, from his hands is their prosperity.