Job 21:7

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."[12]

"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; 18:5; 20:5); but the truth was contrary to all that."[13]

"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."[14]

"Their bull gendereth ... their cow calveth" (Job 21:10). Job's friends had not mentioned anything like this. However, "The idea was commonplace (Deuteronomy 28:4,18; Psalms 144:12-15). The people whose God is the Lord were promised such blessings; but Job pointed out that the wicked received such blessings."[15]

"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."[16]

"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 21:16b). 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."[17] 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."[18]