Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 21:16
Lo, their good [is] not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
16. Finally Job adverts to the mystery: this prosperity of theirs does not depend upon themselves, it is not of their own making; it comes from another, from God. God prospers the wicked, and Job had elsewhere said that He mocked at the despair of the innocent, Job 9:23.
the counsel of the wicked is far ] Or, perhaps, the counsel of the wicked be far from me! Having drawn in such attractive colours the prosperity of the wicked, a prosperity given from the hand of God, Job, even in the midst of his own misery, which is also from God, cannot refrain from repudiating their principles far be from me the counsel (see ch. Job 10:3, Job 18:7) of the wicked, cf. ch. Job 22:18. The above seems the most simple and effective way of understanding this verse. Others take it as an objection of the three friends, which Job anticipates and answers; Lo! say ye, their good is not in their own hand; the meaning being that they cannot retain it, they have no certainty of tenure of it, it will speedily desert them (Hitzig). To this Job is then supposed to reply in the following verses: How often, then, is it seen to desert them? This gives a very good sense.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lo, their good is not in their hand – Schultens, Rosenmuller, and Noyes, suppose, I think, correctly, that this is to be understood ironically, or as referring to what they had maintained. Lo! you say, that their good is not in their hand! They do not enjoy prosperity, do they? They are soon overwhelmed with calamity, are they? How often have I seen it otherwise! How often is it a fact that they continue to enjoy prosperity, and live and die in peace! The common interpretation, which Prof. Lee has adopted, seems to me to be much less probable. According to that it means that their prosperity was not brought about or preserved by their own power. It was by the power of God, and was under his control. An inscrutable Providence governs all things. But the true sense is, that Job is replying to the arguments which they had advanced, and one of those was, that whatever prosperity they had was not at all secure, but that in a moment it might be, and often was, wrested from them. Job maintains the contrary, and affirms that it was a somewhat unusual occurrence Job 21:17, that the wicked were plunged into sudden calamity. The phrase in their hand means in their power, or under their control, and at their disposal.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me – Or, rather, far be it from me! Perhaps the meaning is this, Do not misunderstand me. I maintain that the wicked are often prospered, and that God does not in this life deal with them according to their deserts. They have life, and health, and property. But do not suppose that I am their advocate. Far be it from me to defend them. Far from me be their counsels and their plans. I have no sympathy with them. But I maintain merely that your position is not correct that they are always subjected to calamity, and that the character of people can always be known by the dealings of Providence toward them. Or, it may mean, that he was not disposed to be united with them. They were, in fact, prospered; but though they were prospered, he wished to have no part in their plans and counsels. He would prefer a holy life with all the ills that might attend it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. Their good is not in their hand] With all their boasting and self-dependence, God only lends them his bounty; and though it appears to be their own, yet it is at his disposal. Some of the wicked he permits to live and die in affluence, provided it be acquired in the ordinary way of his providence, by trade, commerce, &c. Others he permits to possess it for a while only, and then strips them of their illegally procured property.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.] Some understand the words thus: “Far be it from me to advocate the cause of the wicked.” I have nothing in common with them, and am not their apologist. I state a fact: they are often found in continual prosperity. I state another fact: they are often found in wretchedness and misery.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Their good is not in their hand: this seems to be an answer to the foregoing question, and a confutation of that ungodly opinion and practice, Job 21:14,15. Wicked men (saith he) have no reason to neglect and reject God because of their prosperity, for their good, i.e. all their wealth and felicity, is not
in their hand, i.e. it neither was obtained nor can be kept by their own might, but only by Gods power and favour, upon whom they wholly depend for it. Or the sense is, Though they have riches, and power, and glory in their hands, yet their true and proper good is not in their hand, i.e. they are destitute of that in which their true happiness lies, to wit, in Gods love and favour; and all the comforts which they enjoy are attended with Gods wrath and curse, and therefore not to be envied by any man in his wits. They say to God, Depart from us, when indeed their true and only felicity consists in the enjoyment of him: compare Psa 4:6,7.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me; therefore I am far from approving their opinion, or following their course, or enjoying their prosperity, or desiring to partake of their delicates upon such terms.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. not in their handbut inthe hand of God. This is Job’s difficulty, that God who has sinnersprosperity (good) in His hand should allow them to have it.
israther, “maythe counsel of the wicked be far from me!” [UMBREIT].This naturally follows the sentiment of the first clause: Let me nothereby be thought to regard with aught but horror the ways of thewicked, however prosperous.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lo, their good [is] not in their hand,…. Though it is in their possession for the present, it is not in the power of their hands to keep, nor to carry it with them when they die; God, that gave it, can take it away when he pleases; and therefore it might be profitable to them to serve him and pray unto him: or “their good [is] not by their hand”; they do not obtain their happiness by their works, as in the Tigurine version; and to the same sense Mr. Broughton,
“lo, their wealth cometh not by their own power;”
it is not got by their own industry, diligence, care, and labour; by their own wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and cunning; for riches are not always to men of understanding, but come from God, who gives them to whom he pleases, and can take them away again if he thinks fit; and therefore men are dependent upon him for what they have, and should be thankful to him, and serve him, and pray for the continuance of good things to them. Jarchi reads the words by way of interrogation and admiration, lo! is “not their good in their hand?” verily it is, especially in their own opinion; their hands are full of it; they want nothing of God; they see no need of praying to him; hence the above words, which Job expresses his disapprobation of:
the counsel of the wicked is far from me; the counsels of their hearts; the thoughts of their mind; the words of their mouth; the above impious sayings were such as were detested and abhorred by him; their sense and judgment of things, their choice from deliberate consultation with themselves, preferring temporal good to spiritual good, and earthly things to heavenly ones, outward wealth and riches to the knowledge, service, and worship of God, and communion with him; these were what he disliked; their course of life, which was according to this world, and Satan the god of it, their company and conversation, were such as he carefully shunned and avoided; he chose not to come into their assembly, or to have any fellowship with them; to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the way of sinners, these things were an abomination to him; see Ps 1:1. This Job says to exculpate himself, and wipe off any calumny that might be cast upon him, as if by what he had said, concerning the outward prosperity of the wicked, that he was a patron and defender of them, and an advocate for them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) Lo, their good (i.e., their prosperity) is not in their own hand.And that constitutes the mystery of it, for it is God who gives it to them; or the words may be a hypothetical answer to his statement, thus, Lo, thou repliest, their prosperity is not, &c.; and then the words, the counsel of the wicked is far from me, are Jobs indignant repudiation of all knowledge of their reasoning.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Their good This verse is parenthetical. Notwithstanding their godlessness, God gives them good. (The same word as wealth in Job 21:13.) He, not they, is the author of their happiness, which to Job is an astounding feature of moral government. Astounded at himself, he adds, The counsel of the wicked, far be it from me! (Job 22:18.) Job’s exclamation is of great moment in its bearing upon the problem of the book. (Job 1:11; Job 2:5.) Instead of repudiating God, he repudiates the entire counsel and views ( ) of the wicked. Right in the midst of the whirlpool we still see the brow of the rock, and feel it is immovable.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 21:16-26. Lo, their good is not in their hand After the foregoing elegant description of the prosperity of some wicked men, Job proceeds, on the other hand, to confess what was likewise apparent in the ways of Providence, that some of them were as remarkably distinguished by their wretchedness, being exposed to the most dreadful evils and calamities. He knew that, while he had been recounting the prosperity of the wicked, he had touched upon a tender point, to which his adversaries would be apt enough to give a wrong turn, as if he had been thereby pleading the cause of iniquity; and therefore he adds an apology for himself in the 16th verse, which is to this purpose: “I would not have you think, because I say the wicked sometimes prosper, that therefore I believe their prosperity to be owing to themselves, or in their hand, i.e. in their power; (the expression answers exactly to the Latin word proprius, as used by Terence for a thing so truly a man’s own, or in his power, as that he need not fear a change; and, therefore, the commentators explain it by perpetual,) God forbid that I should give such countenance to impiety! no; though they may thus presumptuously imagine with themselves, I am not of their opinion, nor yet of their society; the council of the wicked is far from me: I know that all the happiness which they can boast is merely by the will and sufferance of Almighty God, and that sometimes He is pleased to make them terrible examples of his justice. For instance, (Job 21:17.) How often, &c.”to the 21st verse. It is strange to observe how some learned men have been perplexed in explaining these verses, for want of attending closely to the design of Job. The whole is nothing but a concession to his adversaries, that wicked men are sometimes thus severely punished, as they in their speeches had been fond of representing: but then he had before shewn, that they were sometimes as remarkably prosperous; and this made way for a third particular, which is, indeed, his general assertion all along, and the medium by which he endeavoured to convince them of the rashness of their censures and suspicions of him; namely, that things are dealt out here promiscuously, and without any strict regard to merit and demerit. As he had introduced the foregoing particular by an easy transition at Job 21:16 so he does this by another as easy and natural at Job 21:22. Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judgeth those who are high? As if he had said, “You see then the method of God’s providence, from what appears in part; and will you presume to censure or correct it? Will you say, ‘He ought to take another method,’ and prescribe laws to the Great Judge of the world? It is evident that the common observation is true, that good and evil are dispensed by Him, for the most part, without any exact regard to the good or ill deserts of persons; and this during the whole period of human life, from the cradle to the grave; for, Job 21:23. One dieth in his full strength, &c. to Job 21:26.” Now one would think that the inference from all this could scarcely be missed either by Job or his friends, if we will allow them to reason at all; especially since, as Maimonides himself tells us, they all agree in these two undisputed points, that God sees and orders all things, and that there can be no iniquity with Him. If then the present irregular course of things be such as cannot possibly be reconciled with the equity of the Divine Nature, supposing this life to be the whole extent of our being, the consequence seems clear, that there must be some other state to be expected wherein these irregularities shall be fully adjusted. Had Job been silent as to this conclusion, the premises themselves would have enforced it; but, indeed, it is what himself expressly asserts in the following part of the chapter; namely, that these prosperous wicked men, who experience so much good at the hand of God, and in return disclaim, and even defy, their benefactor, and who yet, with all their impiety, are permitted to live and die like other men, shall receive a dreadful recompence in the day of future judgment; Job 21:30. See Peters, and the following note. Houbigant renders the 24th verse, When his bowels are loaden with fatness, when his bones, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 21:16 Lo, their good [is] not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Ver. 16. Lo, their good is not in their hand ] That is, they are not enriched by their own industry, prudence, piety, &c., but God hath exalted them thus, that he may bring them down again with the greater poise; so some sense the text. Others thus, Their good is not in their hand; that is, they are no masters of them, but are mastered by them; they are servants to their wealth, as the Persian kings were to their wives or concubines, Captivarum suarum captivi (Plut.). And as those stall fed beasts in the Gospel, the recusant guests, I mean, that had bought farms, oxen, &c., or rather were bought of them. – Difficile est opibus non tradere mores. Others make this the sense, and I concur with them, These wicked rich men, buried in a bog of security, condemn God, as if they had their happiness in their own hands, and were petty gods within themselves. But they are deceived. All is in God’s hand, who can take away their wealth when he pleaseth. These men may fall sooner than they rose, since they subsist merely by God’s manutension, and he may do with his own as he wishes.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lo: Job 1:21, Job 12:9, Job 12:10, Psa 49:6, Psa 49:7, Psa 52:5-7, Ecc 8:8, Luk 16:2, Luk 16:25
the counsel: Job 22:18, Gen 49:6, Psa 1:1, Pro 1:10, Pro 5:8
Reciprocal: 2Sa 20:20 – Far be it Job 9:29 – General Rom 3:11 – seeketh
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 21:16. Lo, their good is not in their hand These words, says Chappelow, will be more consistent with what goes before, if read with an interrogation; namely, Lo, is not their good in their hand? that is, Is not every thing in their power? Do they not enjoy whatever they desire? To this purpose, he observes, is Sol. Jarchis comment. Most commentators, however, read the words without an interrogation, which is certainly more agreeable to the Hebrew text. And Poole, with Henry and several others, consider them as containing an answer to the foregoing questions, and a confutation of the ungodly opinion and practice mentioned Job 21:14-15, as if he had said, Wicked men have no reason to reject God, because of their prosperity, for their wealth is not in their hand; neither obtained nor kept by their own might, but only by Gods power and favour. Therefore I am far from approving their opinion, or following their course. After the foregoing elegant description of the prosperity of some wicked men, says Dr. Dodd, Job proceeds, on the other hand, to confess what was likewise apparent in the ways of Providence, that some of them were as remarkably distinguished by their wretchedness, being exposed to the most dreadful evils and calamities. He knew that while he had been recounting the prosperity of the wicked, he had touched upon a tender point, to which his adversaries would be apt to give a wrong turn, as if he had been pleading the cause of iniquity. He therefore guards against their entertaining any idea of that kind, in this verse, in which he speaks to this purpose: Do not imagine that because I say the wicked sometimes prosper, therefore, I believe their prosperity to be owing to themselves, or in their own hand or power. God forbid that I should give such a countenance to impiety! No; though they may thus presumptuously imagine with themselves, I am not of their opinion, nor yet of their society; the counsel of the wicked is far from me I know that all the happiness that they can boast is merely by the will and sufferance of Almighty God, and that sometimes he is pleased to make them terrible examples of his justice. Of which he speaks in the following verses to Job 21:21.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:16 Lo, their good [is] not in their {h} hand: the counsel of the wicked {i} is far from me.
(h) It is not their own, but God only lends it to them.
(i) God keep me from their prosperity.