Job 21:17

HOW RARELY DO VISITATIONS FROM GOD BEFALL THE WICKED?[19]

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."[20]

"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"?[21] 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."[22]