Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 21:17
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and [how oft] cometh their destruction upon them! [God] distributeth sorrows in his anger.
17 21. The negative side of his theme is now illustrated by Job. In Job 21:7-16 he shewed that the wicked enjoy great, life-long prosperity; now he shews that they are free from calamity; such sudden and disastrous visitations of God do not come upon them as the friends incessantly insisted on. The interrogation, How often? means, What examples can be produced of such a thing? and goes to the end of Job 21:18.
17. How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
And how often doth their destruction come upon them,
And God distribute sorrows in his anger?
18. How often are they as stubble before the wind
And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
The A. V., by making How oft! an exclamation, gives a sense the opposite of that expressed by the speaker. The question in the first clause of Job 21:17 runs athwart Bildad’s assertions ch. Job 18:5-6, The light of the wicked shall be put out; the second clause contradicts ch. Job 18:12; with the third clause compare ch. Job 20:23.
The images in Job 21:18 are familiar for utter destruction. They are taken from the threshing-floor, which was high and open that the force of the wind might be caught in winnowing, cf. Psa 1:4; Isa 17:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? – Margin, lamp. A light, or a lamp, was an image of prosperity. There is, probably, an allusion here to what had been maintained by Bildad, Job 18:5-6, that the light of the wicked would be extinguished, and their dwellings made dark; see the notes at those verses. Job replies to this by asking how often it occurred. He inquires whether it was a frequent thing. By this, he implies that it was not universal; that it was a less frequent occurrence than they supposed. The meaning is, How often does it, in fact, happen that the light of the wicked is extinguished, and that God distributes sorrows among them in his anger? Much less frequently than you suppose, for he bestows upon many of them tokens of abundant prosperity. In this manner, by an appeal to fact and observation, Job aims to convince them that their position was wrong, and that it was not true that the wicked were invariably overwhelmed with calamity, as they had maintained.
God distributeth sorrows – The word God here, is understood, but there can be no doubt that it is correct. Job means to ask, how often it was true in fact that God apportioned the sorrows which he sent on men in accordance with their character. How often, in fact, did he treat the wicked as they deserved, and overwhelm them with calamity. It was not true that he did it, by any means, as often as they maintained, or so as to make it a certain rule in judging of character.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out?] The candle or lamp is often used, both as the emblem of prosperity and of posterity. Oftentimes the rejoicing of the wicked is short; and, not unfrequently, his seed is cut off from the earth. The root is dried up, and the branch is withered.
God distributeth sorrows in his anger.] He must be incensed against those who refuse to know, serve, and pray unto him. In his anger, therefore, he portions out to each his due share of misery, vexation, and wo.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How oft! this phrase notes either,
1. The rarity and seldomness of it. This. I confess, sometimes happens, but not oft. Or rather,
2. The frequency of it. I grant that this happens oft, though not constantly, as you affirm. And this seems best to agree both with the use of this phrase in Scripture, where it notes frequency, as Psa 78:40; Mat 18:21; Luk 13:34, and never seldomness; and with the foregoing words, as a reason why the counsel of the wicked was far from him, because they ofttimes pay dear for it in this life, and always in the next life; and with the following verses, wherein he discourseth largely, not of the prosperity of the wicked, (as he should have done, if the sense of these words were this, that such were but seldom afflicted,) but of their calamities. The candle, or lamp, i. e. their glory and outward happiness; as Job 8:6; 2Sa 21:17; Psa 132:17.
God distributeth: God is manifestly understood out of the following words, this being Gods work, and proceeding from Gods anger.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. Job in this whole passagedown to Job 21:21quotes the assertion of the friends, as to the short continuance ofthe sinner’s prosperity, not his own sentiments. In Job21:22 he proceeds to refute them. “How oft is the candle”(lamp), c., quoting Bildad’s sentiment (Job 18:5Job 18:6), in order to questionits truth (compare Mt 25:8).
how oft“Goddistributeth,” c. (alluding to Job 20:23Job 20:29).
sorrowsUMBREITtranslates “snares,” literally, “cords,” whichlightning in its twining motion resembles (Ps11:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out?…. Job here returns, as Jarchi observes, to his former account of the constant and continued prosperity of wicked men; and puts questions tending to prove the same. Bildad had said, that the light and candle of the wicked would be put out, Job 18:5. Job, referring to this, asks how often this is the case; meaning, by the candle of the wicked, not his soul or spirit, which cannot be put out, or become extinct, as to be no more; nor the light of nature in his soul, though that may be put out in a great measure, and he be given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart; but either his natural life, which, like a candle, burns for a while, and then becomes extinct, or rather his outward prosperity and happiness: if the question relates to the former, to the natural life of wicked men, it is not whether they die, that is no question; all die, good and bad; but whether they die in common sooner than others, or whether the instances of the brevity of the life of wicked men were frequent, or but seldom; or, is this always the case? it is not, it is rare, and not common; they live as long as other men, and oftentimes longer; they live and become old, as Job before observes; they prolong their days in their wickedness; or, if this refers to the latter, the prosperity of the wicked, the question is, is that for the most part a short lived prosperity? it is not, it is but rarely so; wicked men generally spend all their days in wealth, as before observed; so Ramban interprets “how oft”, that is, how seldom; and to the same sense Mr. Broughton,
“not so often is the candle of the wicked put out;”
and [how oft] cometh their destruction upon them? not eternal, but temporal destruction, calamities and distresses; these are threatened them, but they are not executed on them immediately; and therefore their hearts are set in them to do evil: generally speaking, they have their good things here; they are filled with hidden treasure, which they enjoy while they live, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes; they are not destroyed on every side, as Job was; their substance, their cattle, their servants, their children, and their own health. Job asks how often this is their case, as had been his; and his sense is, and what experience testifies, it is but rarely the, case of wicked men; he seems to refer to what is said, Job 18:12.
[God] distributeth sorrows in his anger; or rather, “how oft doth he distribute sorrows in his anger?” but seldom; he is angry with the wicked every day, and reserves wrath for them, and many sorrows shall be to them, but not for the present; those are future, and even such as of a woman in travail, as the word used signifies, and which shall come upon them suddenly and certainly, and there will be no avoiding them; see Ps 32:10; but does God frequently distribute or portion out sorrows to them now? he does not; they have their portion of good things in this life; does he usually give them sorrow of heart, his curse unto them? he does not; it is very seldom he does; they are not in trouble, nor plagued as other men; they are not men of sorrows and acquainted with griefs; they are generally strangers to them, and live merrily all their days, Job 21:12; respect seems to be had to the conclusion of Zophar’s speech, Job 20:29.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17 How rarely is the light of the wicked put out,
And their calamity breaketh in upon them,
That He distributeth snares in his wrath,
18 That they become as straw before the wind,
And as chaff which the storm sweepeth away!?
19 “Eloah layeth up his iniquity for his children!”
May He recompense it to him that he may feel it.
20 May his own eyes see his ruin,
And let him drink of the glowing wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what careth he for his house after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?
The interrogative has here the same signification as in Psa 78:40: how often (comp. Job 7:19, how long? Job 13:23, how many?), but in the sense of “how seldom?!” How seldom does what the friends preach to him come to pass, that the lamp of the wicked is put out (thus Bildad, Job 13:5), and their misfortune breaks in upon them ( , ingruit; thus Bildad, Job 18:12: misfortune, , prop. pressure of suffering, stands ready for his fall), that He distributes (comp. Zophar’s ”this is the portion of the wicked man,” i.e., what is allotted to him, Job 20:29) snares in His wrath. Hirz., Ew., Schlottm., and others, translate , after the precedent of the Targ. ( , sortes), “lots,” since they understand it, after Psa 16:6, of visitations of punishment allotted, and as it were measured out with a measuring-line; but that passage is to be translated, “the measuring-lines have fallen to me in pleasant places,” and indeed can signify the land that is allotted to one (Jos 17:14, comp. Jos 17:5); but the plural does not occur in that tropical sense, and if it were so intended here, or might at least be expected. Rosenm., Ges., Vaih., and Carey transl. with lxx and Jer. ( , dolores) “pains,” but is the peculiar word for the writhings of those in travail (Job 39:3), which is not suited here. Schnurr. and Umbr. are nearer to the correct interpretation when they understand like , Psa 11:6, of lightning, as it were fiery strings cast down from above. If we call to mind in how many ways Bildad, Job 18:8-10, has represented the end of the godless as a divinely decreed seizure, it is certainly the most natural, with Stick. and Hahn, to translate (as if it were Arabic haba’ilin ) “snares,” to be understood after the idea, however, not of lightning, but generally of ensnaring destinies (e.g., , Job 36:8).
Both Job 21:17 with its three members and Job 21:18 with two, are under the control of . The figure of straw, or rather chopped straw (Arab. tibn , tabn ), occurs only here. The figure of chaff is more frequent, e.g., Psa 1:4. Job here puts in the form of a question what Psa 1:1-6 maintains, being urged on by Zophar’s false application and superficial comprehension of the truth expressed in the opening of the Psalter. What next follows in Job 21:19 is an objection of the friends in vindication of their thesis, which he anticipates and answers; perhaps the clause is to be spoken with an interrogative accent: Eloah will – so ye object – reserve his evil for his children? , not from , strength, wealth, as Job 18:7, Job 18:12; Job 20:10; Job 40:16, but from , wickedness (Job 11:11) and evil (Job 15:35), here (without making it clear which) of wickedness punishing itself by calamity, or of calamity which must come forth from the wickedness as a moral necessity comp. on Job 15:31. That this is really the opinion of the friends: God punishes the guilt of the godless, if not in himself, at least in his children, is seen from Job 20:10; Job 5:4. Job as little as Ezekiel, ch. 18, disputes the doctrine of retribution in itself, but that imperfect apprehension, which, in order that the necessary satisfaction may be rendered to divine justice, maintains a transfer of the punishment which is opposed to the very nature of personality and freedom: may He recompense him himself, , that he may feel it, i.e., repent (which would be in Arab. in a similar sense, faja’lamu; as Isa 9:8; Hos 9:7; Eze 25:14).
Job 21:20 continues in the same jussive forms; the . . signifies destruction (prop. a thrust, blow), in which sense the Arab. caid (commonly: cunning) is also sometimes used. The primary signification of the root , Arab. kd , is to strike, push; from this, in the stems Arab. kad , med. Wau and med. Je , Arab. kdd , kdkd , the most diversified turns and applications are developed; from it the signif. of , Job 41:11, , Job 39:23, and according to Fleischer (vid., supra, pp. 388) also of , are explained. Job 21:20, as Psa 60:5; Oba 1:16, refers to the figure of the cup of the wrath of God which is worked out by Asaph, Psa 75:9, and then by the prophets, and by the apocalyptic seer in the New Testament. The emphasis lies on the signs of the person in ( ) and . The rather may his own eyes see his ruin, may he himself have to drink of the divine wrath; for what is his interest (what interest has he) in his house after him? puts a question with a negative meaning (hence Arab. ma is directly used as non); , prop. inclination, corresponds exactly to the word “interest” ( quid ejus interest ), as Job 22:3, comp. Isa 58:3, Isa 58:13 (following his own interest), without being weakened to the signification, affair, , a meaning which does not occur in our poet or in Isaiah. Job 21:21 is added as a circumstantial clause to the question in Job 21:21: while the number of his own months … , and the predicate, as in Job 15:20 (which see), is in the plur. per attractionem. Schnurr., Hirz., Umbr., and others explain: if the number of his months is drawn by lot, i.e., is run out; but as v. denom. from morf , in the signification to shake up arrows as sticks for drawing lots (Arab. sahm , an arrow and a lot, just so Persian tr ) in the helmet or elsewhere (comp. Eze 21:26), is foreign to the usage of the Hebrew language (for , Jdg 5:11, signifies not those drawing lots, but the archers); besides, ( pass. ) would signify “to draw lots,” not “to dispose of by lot,” and “disposed of by lot” is an awkward metaphor for “run out.” Cocceius also gives the choice of returning to , , in connection with this derivation: calculati sive ad calculum , i.e., pleno numero egressi , which has still less ground. Better Ges., Ew., and others: if the number of his months is distributed, i.e., to him, so that he (this is the meaning according to Ew.) can at least enjoy his prosperity undisturbed within the limit of life appointed to him. By this interpretation one misses the which is wanting, and an interpretation which does not require it to be supplied is therefore to be preferred. All the divers significations of the verbs (to divide, whence Pro 30:27, , forming divisions, i.e., in rank and file, denom. to shoot with the arrow, Talm. to distribute, to halve, to form a partition), (to divide, Job 40:20; to divide in two equal parts), Arab. hss (to divide, whence Arab. hssah , portio ), and Arab. chss (to separate, particularize) – to which, however, Arab. chtt (to draw, write), which Ew. compares here, does not belong – are referable to the primary signification scindere, to cut through, split (whence , an arrow, lxx 1Sa 20:20, ); accordingly the present passage is to be explained: when the number of his months is cut off (Hlgst., Hahn), or cut through, i.e., when a bound is set to the course of his life at which it ends (comp. , of the cutting off of the thread of life, Job 6:9; Job 27:8, Arab. srm ). Job 14:21., Ecc 3:22, are parallels to Job 21:21. Death is the end of all clear thought and perception. If therefore the godless receives the reward of his deeds, he should receive it not in his children, but in his own body during life. But this is the very thing that is too frequently found to be wanting.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Certain Punishments of the Wicked; Divine Sovereignty. | B. C. 1520. |
17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. 18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. 19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. 20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? 22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high. 23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. 24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. 25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. 26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
Job had largely described the prosperity of wicked people; now, in these verses,
I. He opposes this to what his friends had maintained concerning their certain ruin in this life. “Tell me how often do you see the candle of the wicked put out? Do you not as often see it burnt down to the socket, until it goes out of itself? v. 17. How often do you see their destruction come upon them, or God distributing sorrows in his anger among them? Do you not as often see their mirth and prosperity continuing to the last?” Perhaps there are as many instances of notorious sinners ending their days in pomp as ending them in misery, which observation is sufficient to invalidate their arguments against Job and to show that no certain judgment can be made of men’s character by their outward condition.
II. He reconciles this to the holiness and justice of God. Though wicked people prosper thus all their days, yet we are not therefore to think that God will let their wickedness always go unpunished. No, 1. Even while they prosper thus they are as stubble and chaff before the stormy wind, v. 18. They are light and worthless, and of no account either with God or with wise and good men. They are fitted to destruction, and continually lie exposed to it, and in the height of their pomp and power there is but a step between them and ruin. 2. Though they spend all their days in wealth God is laying up their iniquity for their children (v. 19), and he will visit it upon their posterity when they are gone. The oppressor lays up his goods for his children, to make them gentlemen, but God lays up his iniquity for them, to make them beggars. He keeps an exact account of the fathers’ sins, seals them up among his treasures (Deut. xxxii. 34), and will justly punish the children, while the riches, to which the curse cleaves, are found as assets in their hands. 3. Though they prosper in this world, yet they shall be reckoned with in another world. God rewards him according to his deeds at last (v. 19), though the sentence passed against his evil works be not executed speedily. Perhaps he may not now be made to fear the wrath to come, but he may flatter himself with hopes that he shall have peace though he go on; but he shall be made to feel it in the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. He shall know it (v. 20): His eyes shall see his destruction which he would not be persuaded to believe. They will not see, but they shall see, Isa. xxvi. 11. The eyes that have been wilfully shut against the grace of God shall be opened to see his destruction. He shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty; that shall be the portion of his cup. Compare Psa 11:6; Rev 14:10. The misery of damned sinners is here set forth in a few words, but very terrible ones. They lie under the wrath of an Almighty God, who, in their destruction, both shows his wrath and makes known his power; and, if this will be his condition in the other world, what good will his prosperity in this world do him? What pleasure has he in his house after him? v. 21. Our Saviour has let us know how little pleasure the rich man in hell had in his house after him, when the remembrance of the good things he had received in his life-time would not cool his tongue, but added much to his misery, as did also the sorrow he was in lest his five brethren, whom he left in his house after him, should follow him to that place of torment, Luke xvi. 25-28. So little will the gain of the world profit him that has lost his soul.
III. He resolves this difference which Providence makes between one wicked man and another into the wisdom and sovereignty of God (v. 22): Shall any pretend to teach God knowledge? Dare we arraign God’s proceedings or blame his conduct? Shall we take upon us to tell God how he should govern the world, what sinner he should spare and whom he should punish? He has both authority and ability to judge those that are high. Angels in heaven, princes and magistrates on earth, are accountable to God, and must receive their doom from him. He manages them, and makes what use he pleases of them. Shall he then be accountable to us, or receive advice from us? He is the Judge of all the earth, and therefore no doubt he will do right (Gen 18:25; Rom 3:6), and those proceedings of his providence which seem to contradict one another he can make, not only mutually to agree, but jointly to serve his own purposes. The little difference there is between one wicked man’s dying so in pain and misery, when both will at last meet in hell, he illustrates by the little difference there is between one man’s dying suddenly and another’s dying slowly, when they will both meet shortly in the grave. So vast is the disproportion between time and eternity that, if hell be the lot of every sinner at last, it makes little difference if one goes singing thither and another sighing. See,
1. How various the circumstances of people’s dying are. There is one way into the world, we say, but many out; yet, as some are born by quick and easy labour, others by that which is hard and lingering, so dying is to some much more terrible than to others; and, since the death of the body is the birth of the soul into another world, death-bed agonies may not unfitly be compared to child-bed throes. Observe the difference. (1.) One dies suddenly, in his full strength, not weakened by age or sickness (v. 23), being wholly at ease and quiet, under no apprehension at all of the approach of death, nor in any fear of it; but, on the contrary, because his breasts are full of milk and his bones moistened with marrow (v. 24), that is, he is healthful and vigorous, and of a good constitution (like a milch cow that is fat and in good liking), he counts upon nothing but to live many years in mirth and pleasure. Thus fair does he bid for life, and yet he is cut off in a moment by the stroke of death. Note, It is a common thing for persons to be taken away by death when they are in their full strength, in the highest degree of health, when they least expect death, and think themselves best armed against it, and are ready not only to set death at a distance, but to set it at defiance. Let us therefore never be secure; for we have known many well and dead in the same week, the same day, the same hour, nay, perhaps, the same minute. Let us therefore be always ready. (2.) Another dies slowly, and with a great deal of previous pain and misery (v. 25), in the betterness of his soul, such as poor Job was himself now in, and never eats with pleasure, has no appetite to his food nor any relish of it, through sickness, or age, or sorrow of mind. What great reason have those to be thankful that are in health and always eat with pleasure! And what little reason have those to complain who sometimes do not eat thus, when they hear of many that never do!
2. How undiscernible this difference is in the grave. As rich and poor, so healthful and unhealthful, meet there (v. 26): They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them, and feed sweetly on them. Thus, if one wicked man die in a palace and another in a dungeon, they will meet in the congregation of the dead and damned, and the worm that dies not, and the fire that is not quenched, will be the same to them, which makes those differences inconsiderable and not worth perplexing ourselves about.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
3. Sometimes they suffer, but not regularly. (Job. 21:17-22)
TEXT 21:1722
17 How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity cometh upon them?
That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?
18 That they are as stubble before the wind.
And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
19 Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children.
Let him recompense it unto himself that he may know:
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what careth he for his house after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?
22 Shall any teach God knowledge,
Seeing he judgeth those that are high?
COMMENT 21:1722
Job. 21:17Job admits that there is some evidence for the claims of his friends, but not enough to claim universal inevitability of the law of retribution. In a moral universe, everyone is responsible for his or her own deedsJob. 18:5-6; Job. 18:10 ff; Job. 20:7; Job. 20:22; Job. 20:26-28; Job. 27:20 ff; Psa. 1:4. Job asks, Where are the examples which you set forth as universal proof?
Job. 21:18The metaphors here also appear in Psa. 1:4; Job. 27:20; Isa. 17:13. The images are figurative for destruction. Compare the claims of David and Job.
Job. 21:19You say represents nothing from the Hebrew text, but probably is an appropriate addition which suggests a response to a question. Perhaps Job is responding with a proverb or current saying. The verse presents the ancient view that a mans sins are visited upon his childrenExo. 34:7 and Deu. 5:9. He objects that this is unjust. Moses forbids the application of this law in Deu. 24:16; Jer. 31:29; Ezekiel 18; Joh. 9:1-3; and Mat. 27:25. The vital interrelationship between sin and its consequences must receive careful consideration in light of the biblical view of corporate personality and contemporary Systems Analysis Models. There was repercussion throughout all creation when man first sinned, and the empirical evidence sustains the biblical claims regarding the fragmentation of relationships between God and Man, Man and Self, Man and Others, and Man and Nature.
Job. 21:20The wicked ought to receive the retribution themselves, not their children as Let his own eyes see his destruction (punishment)[240] suggestsIsa. 51:17; Jer. 25:15; and Rev. 16:19.
[240] For analysis of this verse, see M. Dahood, Biblica, 1957, p. 316; and compare with A. F. L. Beeston, Le museon, 1954, pp. 315ff.
Job. 21:21What concern does a dead man have for his house?Eze. 18:2; Jer. 31:28 ff. The Qumran Targum has what interest for God in his house after his death? What difference does God make to a dead ungodly person?
Job. 21:22Who can teach God anything? Shall even the high ones (Heb., ramin, probably angels and not God as claimed by both Blommerde and Dahood) teach Him: It would make little sense of God instructing HimselfJob. 4:18; Job. 15:15; Job. 22:13; Job. 15:2; Psa. 73:11. Job is asserting that moral considerations alone do not explain the varieties of human experience, for the intensity of either happiness or despair.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(17) How oft is the candle of the wicked put out?This and the following verse are either a concession on the part of Job, as much as to say, I admit that it is as you say with the wicked; or else they should be read interrogatively, How often is it that we do see this?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Second half of main division ANTITHETIC DEMONSTRATION OF THE PRECEDING PROPOSITION, DERIVED FROM EXPERIENCE, (Zockler,) Job 21:17-26.
First strophe Even if the pitiable pretence of the friends be true, that the children of the wicked suffer if the parent himself does not, it does not meet the difficulty, since it is no punishment for the wicked man in his supreme selfishness, Job 21:17-21.
17. How oft Bildad’s assertion. (Job 18:5-6; see note,) that the light of the wicked is put out, is answered by a question of doubt, ( How oft?) in the sense of not often, seldom. Bildad also had spoken of destruction “ready at his side.” God distributeth, etc. Better, doth he in his anger distribute sorrows?
Sorrows Delitzsch and Umbreit render snares, in allusion to the great variety of snares Bildad describes: (Job 18:8-10) but better as in the text.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 21:17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and [how oft] cometh their destruction upon them! [God] distributeth sorrows in his anger.
Ver. 17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! ] q.d. I confess that which you say concerning God’s judgments upon the wicked to be sometimes true in this world (Diod.); yet it is not so continually nor ordinarily, but very oft their lamp is extinguished, their comforts damped, and hopes of better dashed; they are all on the sudden left in the dark, cast into straits inextricable, plunged into sorrows inexplicable, and yet all these are but the “beginning of sorrows.” For
How oft cometh destruction upon them!
God distributeth sorrows in his anger
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
How oft. ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6. These words must be repeated to supply the Ellipsis at the beginning of Job 21:18 and Job 21:19, as in middle of Job 21:17.
candle = lamp.
wicked = lawless. Hebrew. rasha. App-44.
God. Supply “How oft He”, &c, instead of “God”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 21:17-22
Job 21:17-22
HOW RARELY DO VISITATIONS FROM GOD BEFALL THE WICKED?
In this section, Job admitted that disasters and misfortunes sometimes befall the wicked, but he denies that such a thing is in any sense common, affirming that indeed it seldom happens.
“How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity cometh upon them?
That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?
That they are as stubble before the wind,
And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children.
Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it.
Let his own eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
For what careth he for his house after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?.
Shall any teach God knowledge,
Seeing he judgeth those that are high?”
“How oft is the lamp of the wicked put out” (Job 21:17)? “Job here replied to what Bildad said (Job 18:5). He did not deny that it ever happened, but replied that it was so rare as to be insignificant.”
“You say the wicked are as stubble … as chaff” (Job 21:18). “You say that God deals with men exactly according to their character; but how often does that occur”? Job insists that, although calamity may now and then fall upon the wicked, it is such an unusual thing as to be scarcely noticeable.
As a hedge against the fact that Job stressed here, his friends had insisted that in case a wicked man got away with his wickedness unpunished, God would wreak vengeance upon his children.
“Let his own eyes see his destruction … What careth he for his house after him” (Job 21:19-21)? Here Job skillfully turned one of his friend’s arguments into support for his own position. “Job urges that punishment inflicted on a man’s children when the man is dead cannot be justified; because, since the dead man is beyond suffering in his own person, and beyond knowing it if his children suffer, he, the guilty person, escapes, and the children, innocent ones, suffer. This supported Job’s position. It really gives an illustration of what Job has been maintaining all along, namely, that the innocent suffer and the guilty prosper.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 21:17. The wicked are not always successful; Job has not claimed they were. He maintained only that they were as likely to be so as were the righteous. But they also are liable to feel the wrath of God as against evil doers.
Job 21:18. When stubble and chaff are used for purposes of comparison it is to indicate lightness. The characters are likened thus because they are so unimportant that they will soon vanish away as the chaff disappears before the wind.
Job 21:19. Iniquity is from AVON and is sometimes translated, “punishment of iniquity.” It is true that God will punish the best of his children. (Heb 12:6.) In view of that it would be no reflection on Job if his present afflictions were a chastisement from the Lord. That still would not prove the theory of the three friends.
Job 21:20-22. Knowing that these unpleasant experiences may come to the man who displeases God, surely a man would not stubbornly disobey him as the friends had been intimating against Job’s conduct.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
oft: Job 18:5, Job 18:6, Job 18:18, Pro 13:9, Pro 20:20, Pro 24:20, Mat 25:8
candle: or, lamp
distributeth: Psa 32:10, Psa 90:7-9, Luk 12:46, Rom 2:8, Rom 2:9
Reciprocal: Gen 3:17 – in sorrow Job 9:29 – General Job 29:3 – candle Ecc 8:14 – there be just Rev 18:23 – the light
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 21:17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! Or, lamp, that is, their glory or outward happiness. I grant that this happens often, though not constantly, as you affirm. This certainly best agrees, both with the use of this phraseology in Scripture, in which it always signifies that a thing is done frequently, and never that it is done but seldom; and with the foregoing words, which contain a reason why the counsel of the wicked was far from him, namely, because they often pay dear for their wickedness in this life, and always in the life to come. This sense of the words also agrees best with the following verses, in which he discourses largely, not of the prosperity of the wicked, (as he should have done, if he had intended to say that such were but seldom afflicted,) but of their calamities.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The reason the wicked die 21:17-26
Job claimed that the wicked die for the same reason the righteous die. They are sinners. They do not invariably die early because they are wicked sinners. Furthermore, God does not punish the children of the wicked who die late in life for their parents’ sins. Job said that would be no punishment on the parents since they would not be alive to witness their children’s suffering. He also pointed out that his companions were putting God in a box by not allowing Him to judge freely but requiring that He behave according to their theological conceptions (Job 21:22).
"Those who do not believe in an absolutely sovereign God cannot possibly appreciate the depth of the problem Job presented in Job 21:23-26. The answer still alludes [sic eludes] us. Even with all our additional revelation (Rom 8:28), we often stand in anguish over the apparent injustice and seeming cruelty of God’s providence." [Note: Smick, "Job," p. 950.]
"Of course, Job is talking [in Job 21:26] 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)." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 46.]