Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 21:7
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
7. Wherefore do the wicked live ] The question scarcely means, How is it, if your principles be true, that the wicked live? Job’s mind is engrossed with the great problem itself, and he asks, Why in the government of a righteous God do the wicked live? They not only live, they live to old age, and wax mighty in the earth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 16. The mystery is, Why do the wicked prosper? They live long, they see their children grow up, and their homes are peaceful ( Job 21:7-9). Their cattle thrives ( Job 21:10). Their children and they pass a mirthful life with music and dance ( Job 21:11-12). And with no pain at last they die, though they had openly renounced God ( Job 21:13-15). Yet it is God who bestows this prosperity upon them ( Job 21:16).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 21. This great mystery of the prosperity of the wicked in God’s providence Job now unfolds on both its sides: first, they and all belonging to them prosper, and they die in peace, although in conscious godlessness they bade the Almighty depart from them, Job 21:7-16; and second, negatively, examples of calamity befalling them are few, Job 21:17-21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wherefore do the wicked live? – Job comes now to the main design of his argument in this chapter, to show that it is a fact, that the wicked often have great prosperity; that they are not treated in this life according to their character; and that it is not a fact that men of eminent wickedness, as his friends maintained, would meet, in this life, with proportionate sufferings. He says, that the fact is, that they enjoy great prosperity; that they live to a great age; and that they are surrounded with the comforts of life in an eminent degree. The meaning is, If you are positive that the wicked are treated according to their character in this life – that great wickedness is followed by great judgments, how is it to be accounted for that they live, and grow old, and are mighty in power? Job assumes the fact to be so, and proceeds to argue as if that were indisputable. It is remarkable, that the fact was not adverted to at an earlier period of the debate. It would have done much to settle the controversy. The question, Why do the wicked live? is one of great importance at all times, and one which it is natural to ask, but which it is not even yet always easy to answer. Some points are clear, and may be easily suggested. They are such as these – They live
(1) to show the forbearance and long suffering of God;
(2) to furnish a full illustration of the character of the human heart;
(3) to afford them ample space for repentance, so that there shall not be the semblance of a ground of complaint when they are called before God, and are condemned;
(4) because God intends to make some of them the monuments of his mercy, and more fully to display the riches of his grace in their conversion, as he did in the case of Paul, Augustine, John Bunyan, and John Newton;
(5) they may be preserved to be the instruments of his executing some important purpose by them, as was the case with Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar; or,
(6) he keeps them, that the great interests of society may be carried on; that the affairs of the commercial and the political world may be forwarded by their skill and talent.
For some, or all of these purposes, it may be, the wicked are kept in the land of the living, and are favored with great external prosperity, while many a Christian is oppressed, afflicted, and crushed to the dust. Of the fact, there can be no doubt; of the reasons for the fact, there will be a fuller development in the future world than there can be now.
Become old – The friends of Job had maintained that the wicked would be cut off. Job, on the other hand, affirms that they live on to old age. The fact is, that many of the wicked are cut off for their sins in early life, but that some live on to an extreme old age. The argument of Job is founded on the fact, that any should live to old age, as, according to the principles of his friends, all were treated in this life according to their character.
Yea, are mighty in power – Or, rather, in wealth – chayl. Jerome, Are comforted in riches – confortatique divitiis. So the Septuagint, en plouto. The idea is, that they become very rich.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 21:7
Wherefore do the wicked live?
Reason for the existence of the wicked on earth
I. As witnesses to attest.
1. The amount of freedom with which man is endowed. How free is man compared to everything about him.
2. The wonderful forbearance of God.
3. The existence of an extraordinary element in the Divine government of this world. We know that in heaven beings live and are happy because they are holy; we are taught that in hell there is inexpressible misery because there is such awful sin. But here are men living often to a good old age, often possessing all they can wish of earthly comfort, and yet rebels against God, without repentance, without faith, without love, and we wonder why this world is thus an exception. Earth is under a mediatorial government. This great mystery of Christs suffering for man, and prolonging his probation, can alone explain the other great mystery, that men of debased spirit and godless life are permitted to live here instead of being banished to hell.
II. As instruments to discipline.
1. In calling out resistance. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; when he is tried he shall receive a crown of life. The wicked are often as the chisel by which God carves out the good mans character, the fires by which it is purified.
2. By calling out the Christians benevolence. Our compassion, prayers, self-sacrifice, work, are all called forth by the existence of the wicked.
III. As beacons to warn.
1. As to the progress of sin.
2. As to the effects of sin.
IV. As criminals to reform. This is the grand end of their prolonged life. The world is a great reformatory. (Urijah R. Thomas.)
Why do the live
?–
1. That they may have the opportunity of being reconciled to God.
2. That they may be the instruments of good to others.
3. That they may display the long suffering and forbearance of God.
4. That they may furnish an argument for a future state of retribution.
5. That they may demonstrate the equity of their own everlasting condemnation. (G. Brooks.)
Why do the wicked live
They build up fortunes that overshadow the earth, and confound all the life insurance tables on the subject of longevity, some of them dying octogenarians, or perhaps nonagenarians, or possibly centenarians. Ahab in the palace, and Elijah in the loft. Unclean Herod on the throne, and Paul, the consecrated, twisting ropes for tent making. Manasseh, the worst of all the kings of Judah, lives the longest. While the general rule is that the wicked do not live out half their days, there are instances where they live to a great age in paradises of beauty and luxury, with a whole college of physicians expending its skill in the attempt for further prolongation, and then have a funeral with coffin under mountains of calla lily and a procession with all the finest equipages of the city flashing and jingling into hue, taking the poor angleworm of the dust out to its hole in the ground with a pomp that might make the passing spirit from some other world think that the archangel Michael was dead. Go up among the great residences of our cities and read the door plates and see how many of them hold the names of men mighty for commercial or social iniquity, vampires of the century, Gorgons of the ages. Every wheel of their carriage is a Juggernaut wet with the blood of those sacrificed to their avarice and evil design. Men who are like Caligula, who wished that all people were in one neck that he might cut it off at one blow. Oh, the slain! the slain! what a procession of libertines, of usurers, of infamous quacks, of legal charlatans, of world-grabbing monsters. What apostles of despoliation! what demons incarnate thousands of men who have concentrated all their energies of body, mind, and soul into one prolonged and ever-intensified and unrelenting effort to sacrifice and blast and consume the world! I do not blame you for asking the quivering, throbbing, burning, resounding, appalling question of the text: Why do the wicked live? (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Wherefore do the wicked live] You have frequently asserted that the wicked are invariably punished in this life; and that the righteous are ever distinguished by the strongest marks of God’s providential kindness; how then does it come that many wicked men live long and prosperously, and at last die in peace, without any evidence whatever of God’s displeasure? This is a fact that is occurring daily; none can deny it; how then will you reconcile it with your maxims?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He expostulates this matter partly with his friends, If things be as you say, how comes this to pass, &c? partly with God himself, Wherefore doth the righteous God distribute things so unequally?
The wicked live, to wit, long and happily; as living is oft taken, as Lev 18:5; 1Sa 10:24; 25:6; Psa 38:19; a painful and afflicted life being a kind of death, and oft so called, as Deu 30:15,19; Pr 15:10; 19:16; 1Co 3:22; 15:31.
Become old, to wit, in their prosperous estate.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. The answer is Rom 2:4;1Ti 1:16; Psa 73:18;Ecc 8:11-13; Luk 2:35;Pro 16:4; Rom 9:22.
oldin opposition tothe friends who asserted that sinners are “cut off” early(Job 8:12; Job 8:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wherefore do the wicked live,…. Which question is put either to God himself, as not knowing ow to account for it, or to reconcile it to his divine perfections; that he, a holy, just, and righteous Being, should suffer such wretches to live upon his earth, who had been, and still were, continually sinning against him, transgressing his law, and trampling under foot his power and authority; when he, a man that feared the Lord, as God himself had borne witness of him, laboured under such heavy affliction, that he seemed rather to die than live: or else it is put to his friends, to whom he appeals for the truth of it, as Zophar had to him, about the short time of the prosperity of the wicked, Job 10:4; and desires them to try how they could make such undeniable facts comport with their own principles, that wicked men are always and only afflicted to any great degree, and not holy and good men; but if so, it is asked, why do they “live”, even live at all? why is not their breath stopped at once, that breathe out nothing but sin and wickedness? or why are they “lively?” as Mr. Broughton renders the word; that is, brisk, cheerful, and jocund, live merrily, having an abundance of this world’s good things; call upon themselves to eat, drink, and be merry, and indulge themselves in all the gratifications of sensual pleasures and delights; live at ease, in peace and outward comfort, and are not in trouble as other men, having nothing to disturb, disquiet, and distress them; nay, not only live comfortably, but live long: while a righteous man perishes or dies in his righteousness, the wicked man prolongs his life in his wickedness, Ec 7:15, as it follows:
become old; live to a considerable old age, as Ishmael did, to whom he may have respect, as well as to some others within his knowledge; or are “durable” n, not only in age, as the sinner is supposed to die, and sometimes does die an hundred years old, or more, but in wealth and riches, in outward prosperity; for though spiritual riches are only durable riches, in opposition to temporal ones, yet these sometimes endure with a wicked man, and he endures with them as long as he lives, as may be seen in the instances of wicked rich men in
Lu 12:16; with which agrees what follows:
yea, are mighty in power? are in great authority among men, being kings, princes, civil magistrates, see Ps 37:35; are advanced to great dignity and honour, as the twelve princes that sprung from Ishmael, and the race of kings and dukes that came from Esau. Mr. Broughton renders it, “be mighty in riches”, greatly increase in them; and so the Targum, possess substance or riches.
n “durant”, Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis; “edurant”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7 Wherefore do the wicked live,
Become old, yea, become mighty in power?
8 Their posterity is established before them about them,
And their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses have peace without fear,
And the rod of Eloah cometh not upon them.
10 His (the evil-doer’s) bull gendereth and faileth not;
His cow calveth easily, and casteth not her calf.
11 They let their little ones run about as a flock,
And their children jump about.
The question in Job 21:7 is the same as that which Jeremiah also puts forth, Job 12:1-3. It is the antithesis of Zophar’s thesis, Job 20:5, and seeks the reason of the fact established by experience which had also well-nigh proved the ruin of Asaph (Ps 73: comp. Mal 3:13-15), viz., that the ungodly, far from being overtaken by the punishment of their godlessness, continued in the enjoyment of life, that they attain to old age, and also a proportionately increasing power and wealth. The verb , which in Job 14:18; Job 18:4 (comp. the Hiph. Job 9:5; Job 32:15), we read in the signification promoveri, has here, like the Arabic ataqa , atuqa , the signification to become old, aetate provehi; and , to become strong in property, is a synonym of , to acquire constantly increasing possessions, used in a similar connection in Psa 73:12. The first feature in the picture of the prosperity of the wicked, which the pang of being bereft of his own children brings home to Job, is that they are spared the same kind of loss: their posterity is established ( , constitutus , elsewhere standing in readiness, Job 12:5; Job 15:23; Job 18:12, here standing firm, as e.g., Psa 93:2) in their sight about them (so that they have to mourn neither their loss by death nor by separation from their home), and their offspring ( , a word common only to the undisputed as well as to the disputed prophecies of Isaiah and the book of Job) before their eyes; must be carried over to Job 21:8 as predicate: they are, without any loss, before their eyes. The description passes over from the children, the corner-stones of the house (vid., Ges. Thes., s.v. ), to the houses themselves. It is just as questionable here as in Job 5:24; Isa 41:3, and elsewhere, whether is a subst. (= ) or an adj.; the substantival rendering is at least equally admissible in such an elevated poetic speech, and the plur. subject , which, if the predicate were intended to be taken as an adj., leads one to expect , decides in its favour. On , without (far from) terrifying misfortune, as Isa 22:3, , without a bow, vid., on Job 19:26. That which is expressed in Job 21:9, according to external appearance, is in Job 21:9 referred to the final cause; Eloah’s , rod, with which He smites in punishment (Job 9:34; Job 37:13, comp. Isa 10:24-26, where , scourge, interchanges with it), is not over them, i.e., threatens and smites them not.
Job 21:10 comes specially to the state of the cattle, after the state of the household in general has been treated of. Since and are interchangeable, and are construed according to their genus, the former undoubtedly is intended of the male, not also epikoi’noos of the female (lxx , Jerome, Saadia), as Rosenm., after Bochart, believes it must be taken, because `br is never said de mare feminam ineunte , but always de femina quae concipit . In reality, however, it is with otherwise than with , whose Pael and Aphel certainly signify concipere (prop. transmittere sc. semen in a passive sense). On the other hand, , even in Kal, signifies to be impregnated (whence , the embryo, and the biblical , like the extra-biblical , the produce of the land), the Pael consequently to impregnate, whence (from the part. pass. ) impregnated (pregnant), the Ithpa. to be impregnated, as Rabb. Pual , impregnated (by which also signifies pregnant, which would be hardly possible if in this sexual sense were not radically distinct from , – ). Accordingly the Targ. translates by ( impraegnans ), and Gecatilia translates by Arab. fhlhm ( admissarius eorum ), after which nearly all Jewish expositors explain. This explanation also suits , which lxx translates (Jer. non abortivit ), Symm. in a like sense , Aq. , Saad. la julziq. The reference of to the female animal everywhere assumed is incorrect; on the contrary, the bullock kept for breeding is the subject; but proceeding from this, that which is affirmed is certainly referred to the female animal. For signifies to cast out, cast away; the Hiph. therefore: to cause to cast out; Rabb. in the specified signification: so to heat what has sucked in that which is unclean, that it gives it back or lets it go ( ). Accordingly Raschi explains: “he injects not useless seed into her, which might come back and be again separated ( ) from her inward part, without impregnation taking place.” What therefore says positively, says negatively: neque efficit ut ejiciat.
(Note: The Aruch under , quotes a passage of the Tosefta: , the cast away ( Wrflinge) eggs (i.e., such as have fallen away from the hen from a stroke on the tail of some other cause, and which are not completely formed) are allowed as food; he may eat them who does not loathe them.)
It is then further, in Job 21:9, said of the female animal which has been impregnated that she does not allow it to glide away, i.e., the fruit, therefore that she brings forth ( as , ), and that she does not cause or suffer any untimely birth.
At the end of the strophe, Job 21:11, the poet with delicate tact makes the sufferer, who is become childless, return to the joy of the wicked in the abundance of children. signifies here, as Isa 32:20, to allow freedom for motion and exercise. On , vid., on Job 16:11; Job 19:18. It has a similar root (Arab. al , alere) to the Arab. ajjil (collect. ijal ), servants, but not a similar meaning. The subj. to Job 21:12 are not the children, but the “wicked” themselves, the happy fathers of the flocks of children that are let loose.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Prosperity of the Wicked; Abuse of Earthly Prosperity. | B. C. 1520. |
7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, 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 take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. 13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14 Therefore they say unto 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 good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
All Job’s three friends, in their last discourses, had been very copious in describing the miserable condition of a wicked man in this world. “It is true,” says Job, “remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon notorious sinners, but not always; for we have many instances of the great and long prosperity of those that are openly and avowedly wicked; though they are hardened in their wickedness by their prosperity, yet they are still suffered to prosper.”
I. He here describes their prosperity in the height, and breadth, and length of it. “If this be true, as you say, pray tell me wherefore do the wicked live?” v. 7.
1. The matter of fact is taken for granted, for we see instances of it every day. (1.) They live, and are not suddenly cut off by the strokes of divine vengeance. Those yet speak who have set their mouths against the heavens. Those yet act who have stretched out their hands against God. Not only they live (that is, they are reprieved), but they live in prosperity, 1 Sam. xxv. 6. Nay, (2.) They become old; they have the honour, satisfaction, and advantage of living long, long enough to raise their families and estates. We read of a sinner a hundred years old, Isa. lxv. 20. But this is not all. (3.) They are mighty in power, are preferred to places of authority and trust, and not only make a great figure, but bear a great sway. Vivit imo, et in senatum venit–He not only lives, but appears in the senate. Now wherefore is it so? Note, It is worth while to enquire into the reasons of the outward prosperity of wicked people. It is not because God has forsaken the earth, because he does not see, or does not hate, or cannot punish their wickedness; but it is because the measure of their iniquities is not full. This is the day of God’s patience, and, in some way or other, he makes use of them and their prosperity to serve his own counsels, while it ripens them for ruin; but the chief reason is because he will make it to appear there is another world which is the world of retribution, and not this.
2. The prosperity of the wicked is here described to be,
(1.) Complete and consummate. [1.] They are multiplied, and their family is built up, and they have the satisfaction of seeing it (v. 8): Their seed is established in their sight. This is put first, as that which gives both a pleasant enjoyment and a pleasing prospect. [2.] They are easy and quiet, v. 9. Whereas Zophar had spoken of their continual frights and terrors, Job says, Their houses are safe both from danger and from the fear of it (v. 9), and so far are they from the killing wounds of God’s sword or arrows that they do not feel the smart of so much as the rod of God upon them. [3.] They are rich and thrive in their estates. Of this he gives only one instance, v. 10. Their cattle increase, and they meet with no disappointment in them; not so much as a cow casts her calf, and then their much must needs grow more. This is promised, Exo 23:26; Deu 7:14. [4.] They are merry and live a jovial life (Job 21:11; Job 21:12): They send forth their little ones abroad among their neighbours, like a flock, in great numbers, to sport themselves. They have their balls and music-meetings, at which their children dance; and dancing is fittest for children, who know not better how to spend their time and whose innocency guards them against the mischiefs that commonly attend it. Though the parents are not so very youthful and frolicsome as to dance themselves, yet they take the timbrel and harp; they pipe, and their children dance after their pipe, and they know no grief to put their instruments out of tune or to withhold their hearts from any joy. Some observe that this is an instance of their vanity, as well as of their prosperity. Here is none of that care taken of their children which Abraham took of his, to teach them the way of the Lord, Gen. xviii. 19. Their children do not pray, or say their catechism, but dance, and sing, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. Sensual pleasures are all the delights of carnal people, and as men are themselves so they breed their children.
(2.) Continuing and constant (v. 13): They spend their days, all their days, in wealth, and never know what it is to want–in mirth, and never know what sadness means; and at last, without any previous alarms to frighten them, without any anguish or agony, in a moment they go down to the grave, and there are no bands in their death. If there were not another life after this, it were most desirable to die by the quickest shortest strokes of death. Since we must go down to the grave, if that were the furthest of our journey, we should wish to go down in a moment, to swallow the bitter pill, and not chew it.
II. He shows how they abuse their prosperity and are confirmed and hardened by it in their impiety, Job 21:14; Job 21:15.
1. Their gold and silver serve to steel them, to make them more insolent, and more impudent, in their wickedness. Now he mentions this either, (1.) To increase the difficulty. It is strange that any wicked people should prosper thus, but especially that those should prosper who have arrived at such a pitch of wickedness as openly to bid defiance to God himself, and tell him to his face that they care not for him; nay, and that their prosperity should be continued, though they bear up themselves upon that, in their opposition to God; with that weapon they fight against him, and yet are not disarmed. Or, (2.) To lessen the difficulty. God suffers them to prosper; but let us not wonder at it, for the prosperity of fools destroys them, by hardening them in sin, Pro 1:32; Psa 73:7-9.
2. See how light these prospering sinners make of God and religion, as if because they have so much of this world they had no need to look after another.
(1.) See how ill affected they are to God and religion; they abandon them, and cast off the thoughts of them. [1.] They dread the presence of God; they say unto him, “Depart from us; let us never be troubled with the apprehension of our being under God’s eye nor be restrained by the fear of him.” Or they bid him depart as one they do not need, nor have any occasion to make use of. The world is the portion they have chosen, and take up with, and think themselves happy in; while they have that they can live without God. Justly will God say Depart (Matt. xxv. 41) to those who have bidden him depart; and justly does he now take them at their word. [2.] They dread the knowledge of God, and of his will, and of their duty to him: We desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Those that are resolved not to walk in God’s ways desire not to know them, because their knowledge will be a continual reproach to their disobedience, John iii. 19.
(2.) See how they argue against God and religion (v. 15): What is the Almighty? Strange that ever creatures should speak so insolently, that ever reasonable creatures should speak so absurdly and unreasonably. The two great bonds by which we are drawn and held to religion are those of duty and interest; now they here endeavour to break both these bonds asunder. [1.] They will not believe it is their duty to be religious: What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Like Pharaoh (Exod. v. 2), Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? Observe, First, How slightly they speak of God: What is the Almighty? As if he were a mere name, a mere cipher, or one they have nothing to do with and that has nothing to do with them. Secondly, How hardly they speak of religion. They call it a service, and mean a hard service. Is it not enough, they think, to keep up a fair correspondence with the Almighty, but they must serve him, which they look upon as a task and drudgery. Thirdly, How highly they speak of themselves: “That we should serve him; we who are rich and mighty in power, shall we be subject and accountable to him? No, we are lords,” Jer. ii. 31. [2.] They will not believe it is their interest to be religious: What profit shall we have if we pray unto him? All the world are for what they can get, and therefore wisdom’s merchandise is neglected, because they think there is nothing to be got by it. It is vain to serve God,Mal 3:13; Mal 3:14. Praying will not pay debts nor portion children; nay, perhaps serious godliness may hinder a man’s preferment and expose him to losses; and what then? Is nothing to be called gain but the wealth and honour of this world? If we obtain the favour of God, and spiritual and eternal blessings, we have no reason to complain of losing by our religion. But, if we have not profit by prayer, it is our own fault (Isa 58:3; Isa 58:4), it is because we ask amiss, Jam. iv. 3. Religion itself is not a vain thing; if it be so to us, we may thank ourselves for resting in the outside of it, Jam. i. 26.
III. He shows their folly herein, and utterly disclaims all concurrence with them (v. 19): Lo, their good is not in their hand, that is, they did not get it without God, and therefore they are very ungrateful to slight him thus. It was not their might, nor the power of their hand, that got them this wealth, and therefore they ought to remember God who gave it them. Nor can they keep it without God, and therefore they are very unwise to lose their interest in him and bid him to depart from them. Some give this sense of it: “Their good is in their barns and their bags, hoarded up there; it is not in their hand, to do good to others with it; and then what good does it do them?” “Therefore,” says Job, “the counsel of the wicked is far from me. Far be it from me that I should be of their mind, say as they say, do as they do, and take my measures from them. Their posterity approve their sayings, though their way be their folly ( Ps. xlix. 13); but I know better things than to walk in their counsel.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
2. The wicked enjoy great peace and plenty. (Job. 21:7-16)
TEXT 21:716
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 21:716
Job. 21:7Zophar (and Platos 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?) Zophars argument is sophistry. If one dies early in life, then he was wicked. The same applies to Bildads 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 phenomenaJer. 12:1 ff; Psa. 73:13; Hab. 1:13; and Mal. 3:15. The evidence does not support Zophars 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 Gods gift, is He not encouraging unbelief by such indiscriminate bestowal of prosperity?Mat. 5:45. The only motives advanced by Jobs 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 Bildads assertion that Jobs 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 Eliphazs claim in Job. 5:24. He had promised Job security in his tent if he would accept his present condition as Gods judgment and repent. In Job. 9:34 Job complained that there was no mediator to remove Gods 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 Gods blessing was fertility in herds and flocksDeu. 28:14; Psa. 144:13 ff. If this is a sign of Gods 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 Gods 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 flockPsa. 107:41. (Note contemporary preoccupation with leisure and play (see J. Moltmanns A Theology of Play. New York: Harper & Row, 1975), Zec. 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, Werners The Bridge (Harvard University Press).
Job. 21:12For similar descriptions of revelry of the wicked, see Isa. 5:12 and Amo. 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 Son. 7:1; and article by R. T. OCallaghan, Orientalia, 21, 1952, 3746; 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 waysPsa. 16:11; Psa. 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.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Main division THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION OF AWARDS IN THIS WORLD TENDS TO CONFOUND MORAL DISTINCTIONS, Job 21:7-26.
First half THE WICKED DEFY GOD, AND YET GOD PROSPERS THEM EVEN UNTO SHEOL, Job 21:7-16.
First strophe Instead of suffering punishment, as Zophar maintained, the wicked live, grow old surrounded by their families, and safe from the discipline of Heaven, Job 21:7-11.
7. Wherefore do the wicked live Zophar’s assertion (Job 20:5,) calls forth the counter thesis of this verse. The existence of evil is a mystery, among the first to perplex and the last to leave the mind. The question why the wicked live is but one of its phases, and is of personal interest, for it concerns ourselves. The question does not so often assume the form why we should live, as why others should, whom we suppose to be much more depraved than ourselves. Its solution is much simplified if we confine the thought to ourselves, for extreme wickedness is but the outgrowth of a nature that we share in common with the wicked. In such case of reflection upon ourselves and others there will readily be suggested: 1. The possibilities for good in all moral existence; 2. That the freedom of the will devolves upon the human agent the responsibility of perverted life; and, 3. Perfection of being can seemingly be secured only amid the most adverse influences of trial, for Christ himself was made “perfect through suffering,” one large element of which was meted out at the hand of the wicked. Science resolves its nebulae; but this cloud of mystery defies all resolution, and may continue so to do forever. Goethe has said profoundly, “Man is not born to solve the mystery of existence, but he must nevertheless attempt it, that he may learn to keep within the limits of the knowable.” For Plutarch’s views on the protracted life of the wicked, see Meth. Quar. Revelation, 1852, pp. 399-401; or Bib. Sacra, 1856, pp. 616-619.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job Points out the Difference in Calamities Befalling Men
v. 7. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? v. 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them; v. 9. Their houses are safe from fear, v. 10. Their bull gendereth and faileth not; their cow calveth and casteth not her calf, v. 11. They send forth their little ones like a flock, v. 12. They take the timbrel and harp, v. 13. They spend their days in wealth, v. 14. Therefore, v. 15. What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have if we pray unto Him? v. 16. Lo, their god is not in their hand! v. 17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! v. 18. They are as stubble before the wind and as chaff that the storm carried away. v. 19. God layeth up his iniquity for his children, v. 20. His eyes, v. 21. For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, v. 22. Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing He judgeth those that are high, v. 23. One dieth in his full strength, v. 24. His breasts, v. 25. And another, v. 26. They,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
(7) Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Job in this verse reminds his friends of the very different state of the wicked. It is as if he had said, If according to your judgment, that my GOD is visiting me with such peculiar calamities, for some very heavy and peculiar transgressions, can you explain to me upon the same principles, how it is that the wicked have become old in their carnal prosperity, and continue, to the very close of a long life, prosperous in the world? The same enquiry hath occupied the minds of reflecting men in all ages. It is only the gospel of JESUS which gives a satisfactory answer. Jer 12:1-3 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Ver. 7. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old ] Vivunt, veteraseunt, they are lively and longlived, so that they outlast many better than themselves; being as sound as roaches and as vivacious as the snail, the property whereof is to live a long while even after the head is off and the heart out. Of some creatures we use to say, that they have nine lives; of some wicked men it may be thought so, they do evil a hundred times, and yet their days are prolonged, Ecc 9:12 . Manasseh reigned longest of any king in Judah. Pope John XXII. (that monster and mortalist) lived longest of any pope, and died richest. God gives wealth, health, and long life to many wicked, Non aliter ac siquis crumenam ingentem aure plenam latrinae inieciat, saith one; No otherwise than as when a man casts a great purse filled with gold into an outhouse (Gasp. Ens.). Now if any shall ask, with Job, Why all this? the apostle answereth one question by another: Rom 9:22 , “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endure with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?” What hath anyman to say to that? And again, Who knows not that the Lord hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, even that day of the revelation of the righteous judgment, Act 17:31 Rom 2:5 . The Judge of the earth keepeth his petty sessions now, letting the law pass upon some few, reserving the rest till the great assizes, 1Ti 5:24 .
Yea, are mighty in power?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 21:7-16
Job 21:7-16
EVEN THE WICKED WHO RENOUNCE GOD PROSPER
Against the doctrinaire assertions of his friends, Job here opposed their arguments with the brutal truth that the facts of life do not fit their theory.
“Wherefore do the wicked live,
And become old, yea, wax mighty in power? Their seed is established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
Their houses are safe from fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.
Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;
Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
They sing to the timbrel and the harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
They spend their days in prosperity.
And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
And they say unto God, Depart from us;
For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the Almighty that we should serve him?
And what profit should we have if we pray unto him?
Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand:
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.”
All of his friends had been preaching to Job that the wicked never prospered, that they always died young, that their children did not live, etc., etc. Job here replies, “If that is so, why do the wicked prosper, attain mighty power, live long lives, see their children after them happy and prosperous, and their houses safe from fear”? Job’s friends had no answer. What Job said was universally known to be the truth.
We do not know the names of any of the wicked that Job might have had in mind; but there were doubtless many who exemplified the truth he stated. It has been so in all generations, even in our own. Take Joseph Stalin, for example, the notorious Communist murderer of at least forty million people. Did he prosper? Of course! Did he die young? No! On his 72nd birthday, he received seventy-two train loads of birthday presents from the peoples whom he dominated. Did he renounce God? Certainly.
“Job was correct in his insistence that his friends’ theory was based on `falsehood’ (Job 21:34), and that it is too easy to suggest that our fortunes in this life are related to our godliness. That flies in the face of all the facts.”
“Zophar said the wicked die prematurely (Job 20:11), Eliphaz and Bildad said the prosperity of the wicked was a fleeting thing that did not last (Job 15:20; Job 18:5; Job 20:5); but the truth was contrary to all that.”
“Bildad asserted that the wicked die childless (as he felt certain Job would do); but here Job pointed out the happy, prosperous, singing, and dancing children of the wicked.”
“Their bull gendereth … their cow calveth” (Job 21:10). Job’s friends had not mentioned anything like this. However, “The idea was commonplace (Deu 28:4; Deu 28:18; Psa 144:12-15). The people whose God is the Lord were promised such blessings; but Job pointed out that the wicked received such blessings.”
“They sing … and rejoice …and in a moment … go down to Shem” (Job 21:12-13). Absolutely opposite to the claims of his friends, Job here said, that, “The wicked live a merry life, and die an easy death.”
“Their prosperity is not in their hand” (Job 21:16). The thought is that only God could bless the wicked so richly; their prosperity is not all due to their efforts.
“The counsel of the wicked is far from me” (Job 21:16 b). Scholars differ sharply on what, exactly, is meant by this. This writer’s guess is that Job meant, “I simply cannot understand all that I see.” Andersen noted that, “The meaning of this verse is unclear.” Whatever the passage may mean, it is clear that, “Job maintains his integrity; he rejects the counsel of the wicked who denounce God; and far from crying for God to depart from him, he continually desires that fellowship with God, which he feels has been denied him through no fault of his own.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 21:7. There are several verses on the position that Job has maintained all through the discussions. He said that unworthy men were known to be favored by the good things of life, therefore the misfortunes of one man did not prove him to be sinful. This and some following verses are on that line of thought.
Job 21:8. The children of wicked men are often seen to be successful thus giving them much to be happy over. On the other hand, Job had lost his children by violence.
Job 21:9. The homes of wicked men are often known to be secure, while those of Job’s children had been destroyed by a storm of wind.
Job 21:10. This verse means that the live stock would reproduce. Casteth not her calf means the calf would not be born prematurely.
Job 21:11-12. The children of the wicked are often numerous and happy, and are able to engage in exercises of pleasure.
Job 21:13. In a moment indicates they will die in peace; not suffer from a lingering disease before death.
Job 21:14-15. The success of their plans for pleasure causes them to feel independent of God. On that account they will say, “Depart from us.” Being thus successful they cannot think of any reason for serving God.
Job 21:16. The pronouns in this verse are used a little vaguely. The thought is that the persons being considered are acting independently of God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Wherefore: Job 12:6, Psa 17:10, Psa 73:3-12, Jer 12:1-3, Hab 1:15, Hab 1:16
mighty: Psa 37:35, Dan 4:17, Rev 13:2-7, Rev 17:2-4
Reciprocal: Job 5:24 – thou shalt know Job 8:16 – green Job 9:24 – earth Job 34:36 – his answers Job 36:6 – preserveth Psa 17:14 – belly Psa 37:7 – the man Psa 73:6 – Therefore Psa 92:7 – workers Ecc 7:15 – there is a wicked Ecc 9:2 – alike Joe 1:2 – ye old Hab 1:4 – for Mal 3:15 – yea Mar 10:22 – for Luk 6:24 – woe
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 21:7. Wherefore do the wicked live? That is, long and happily: become old? Namely, in their prosperous state: yea, are mighty in power? Are preferred to places of authority and trust, and not only make a great figure, but bear a great sway? Now, if things be as you say, how comes this to pass? Wherefore does the righteous God distribute things so unequally? The description, which follows, of a prosperous estate is such as might, indeed, justly create envy, were a wicked man, in any state, to be envied; for we have here the chief ingredients of human happiness, as it respects this life, brought together and described in terms exactly suiting the simplicity of manners, and the way of living in Jobs time and country, as, first, security and safety to themselves and families; Job 21:9. Their houses are safe from fear Of the incursions of robbers, we may suppose, or the depredations of the neighbouring clans, so usual in those ancient times, and of which Job had felt the mischievous effects. Next health, or a freedom from diseases, called in the language of that age, the rod of God. See 1Sa 26:10. To this is added plenty of cattle, the riches of those times; Job 21:10. Next comes a numerous and hopeful offspring; and what a rural picture has he drawn of them! Job 21:11. They send forth their little ones like a flock Of sheep or goats, as the word signifies, in great numbers, and with sweet concord, which is a singular delight to them and their parents. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe; Job 21:12. Lastly, and to crown all, after a prosperous and pleasant life comes an easy death. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave That is, their days pass on in a continual flow of prosperity, till they drop into the grave without a groan. As every thing in this divine poem is wonderful, there is scarce any thing more to be admired in it than the variety of descriptions which are given us of human life, in its most exalted prosperity, on the one hand, and its deepest distress on the other: for this is what their subject led them to enlarge upon on both sides; with this only difference, that the three friends were for limiting prosperity to the good, whereas Job insists upon a mixed distribution of things from the hand of Providence; but as all of them, in every speech almost, enlarge upon one or other of these topics, the variety of imagery and colouring in which they paint to us these different estates, all drawn from nature, and suiting the simplicity of those ancient times, is inexpressibly amusing and entertaining: then their being considered as the dispensations of Providence, and it being represented that we can receive neither good nor evil but from God, the judge of all, a point acknowledged on both hands, is what renders these descriptions interesting and affecting to us in the highest degree; and the whole affords no contemptible argument of the antiquity of the book. See Peters and Dodd.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:7 Wherefore do the wicked {d} live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
(d) Job proves against his adversaries that God does not punish the wicked immediately, but often gives them long life and prosperity, so we must not judge God just or unjust by the things that appear to our eyes.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The wicked person’s continued prosperity 21:7-16
Job’s friends had been selective in their observations regarding wicked people. They had pointed out only the cases in which God judged them on earth. Job now presented the other side of the story. There were many wicked who never experienced God’s judgment before they died. His words contrast especially with what Zophar had just said (ch. 20). Many people who do not know God or reject him live peaceful, pleasant lives (Job 21:14-15; cf. Job 18:21). Job 21:16 may mean that these people’s prosperity comes ultimately from God, not from themselves. Still, Job did not want his friends to understand him as supporting the wicked’s contempt for God (Job 21:16 b).