Job 21:27

UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE CONTRADICTS HIS FRIENDS' THEORY

"Behold, I know your thoughts,

And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me.

For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?

And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?

Have ye not asked wayfaring men?

And do ye not know their evidences,

That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity?

That they are led forth to the day of wrath?

Who shall declare his way to his face?

And who shall repay him what he hath done?

Yet shall he be borne to the grave,

And men shall keep watch over the tomb.

The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,

And all men shall draw after him.

How then comfort ye me in vain,

Seeing in your answers there remaineth only falsehood?"

"Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices wherewith ye would wrong me" (Job 21:27). "I see you are disposed to maintain your position ... You say the wicked are overwhelmed with calamities; and, from this, you infer that I am wicked."[24]

"Where is the house of the prince" (Job 21:28)? "The context here requires us to understand `the prince' as a reference to a wicked ruler."[25] The second clause is their inference that even his palace shall be destroyed.

The next two or three verses are somewhat ambiguous, and scholars read them differently; but we paraphrase Job's reply to his friend's argument which he here anticipated.

How could you say a thing like that? Ask anyone who has traveled, and knows the way of the world, what happens to an evil ruler. The evil flatterers that surround him would not dare accuse him of any wrong-doing; and when he dies, his body will be ceremoniously carried to a magnificent tomb; a monument will be erected, and an honor guard will stand by the grave!

"Who shall declare his way to his face ... repay him what he hath done" (Job 21:31)? Job's knowledge of what goes on in the houses of rulers was perfect. The answer to the question raised here is: "Nobody, but nobody, would dare suggest to any ancient ruler that he was anything less than absolutely perfect." It is nothing less than astounding that Job's friends were either ignorant of this, or pretended to be ignorant. "None would dare oppose a wicked ruler to his face for fear of the consequences."<25a> "Wicked rulers are not only spared by God but left unrebuked by men."[26]

"In your answers there remaineth only falsehood" (Job 21:34). "All that Job's friends say was but a dishonest attempt to prove him wicked."[27] This may appear as a harsh judgment to some; but it should never be forgotten that, in this astounding narrative, Job's friends were cardinal agents of Satan himself, determined to destroy one of the noblest men who ever lived.

The discerning reader knows what is going on here. "Job is not wicked, or stubborn, or arrogant. He is honest and tenacious. From the very depth of a suffering body and a distressed mind, he cries out for understanding,"[28] still trusting God, in spite of the blind stupidity and/or evil intent of his friends. Job is still perplexed by the mysteries of God's dealing with men; "But, by now, the reader knows that such enigmas do not prevent Job from trusting in his inexplicable God."[29]