Job 21

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:5

Mark me - Margin, “look unto.” Literally, “Look upon me. That is, attentively look on me, on my sufferings, on my disease, and my losses. See if I am a proper object of repreach and mockery - see if I have not abundant reason to be in deep distress when God has afflicted me in a manner so unusual and mysterious.And be astonished - Silent astonishment should be evinced instead of censure. You should wonder that a man whose life has been a life of piety, should exhibit the spectacle which you now... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:6

Even when I remember, I am afraid - I have an internal shuddering and horror when I recall the scenes through which I have passed. I am myself utterly overwhelmed at the magnitude of my own sufferings, and they are such as should excite commiseration in your hearts. Some, however, have connected this with the following verse, supposing the idea to be, that he was horror-stricken when he contemplated the prosperity of wicked people. But there seems to me to be no reason for this interpretation.... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:7

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... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:8

Their seed - Their children - their posterity.Is established in their sight - Around them, where they may often see them - where they may enjoy their society. The friends of Job had maintained, with great positiveness and earnestness, that the children of wicked people would be cut off. See Job 18:19; Job 20:28. This position Job now directly controverts, and says that it is a fact, that so far from being cut off, they are often established in the very presence of their ungodly parents, and... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:9

Their houses are safe from fear - Margin, “peace from.” The friends of Job had maintained just the contrary; see Job 20:27-28; Job 15:21-24. Their idea was, that the wicked man would never be free from alarms. Job says, that they lived in security and peace, and that their houses are preserved from the intrusions of evil-minded people.Neither is the rod of God upon them - The “rod” is an emblem of punishment. The idea is, that they were free from the chastisements which their sins deserved.... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:10

Their bull gendereth - See Rosenmuller and Lee on this verse; comp Bochart, Hieroz. P. 1, Lib. ii. c. xxx. The general idea is, that the wicked were prospered as well as the pious. God did not interpose by a miracle to cut off their cattle, and to prevent their becoming rich. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:11

They send forth their little ones - Their numerous and happy children they send forth to plays and pastimes.Like a flock - In great numbers. This is an exquisitely beautiful image of prosperity. What can be more so than a group of happy children around a man’s dwelling?And their children dance - Dance for joy. They are playful and sportive, like the lambs of the flock. It is the skip of playfulness and exultation that is referred to here, and not the set and formal dance where children are... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:12

They take the timbrel - They have instruments of cheerful music in their dwellings; and this is an evidence that they are not treated as the friends of Job had maintained. Instead of being, as they asserted, overwhelmed with calamity, they are actually happy. They have all that can make them cheerful, and their houses exhibit all that is usually the emblem of contentment and peace. Rosenmuller and Noyes suppose this to mean, “They sing to the timbrel and harp;” that is, “they raise up” (ישׂאו... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:13

They spend their days in wealth - Margin, or, “mirth.” Literally, “they wear out their days in good” - בטוב baṭôb. Vulgate “in bonis.” Septuagint, ἐν ἀγαθοῖς en agathois - “in good things;” in the enjoyment of good. They are not oppressed with the evils of poverty and want, but they have abundance of “the good things” of life.And in a moment go down to the grave - Hebrew to שׁאול she'ôl - but here meaning evidently the grave. The idea is, that when they die they are not afflicted with... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:14

Therefore - This would seem to indicate that the “result” of their living in this manner was that they rejected God, or that one of the consequences of their being prospered would be that they would cast off his government and authority; that they renounced him “because” they were thus prosperous, or because they wished to train up their children in merriment and dancing. All this may be true in itself, but that idea is not in the Hebrew. That is simply “and they say” - ויאמרו vayo'âmarû. So... read more

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:5

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:6

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:7

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:8

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:9

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:10

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:11

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:12

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:13

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 21:14

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