Job 24:18

THAT PART OF JOB'S SPEECH THAT SOME QUESTION

"Swiftly they pass away upon the face of the waters;

Their portion is cursed on the earth:

They turn not into the way of the vineyards.

Drought and heat consume the snow waters:

So doth Sheol those that have sinned.

The womb shall forget him;

The worm shall feed sweetly on him;

He shall be no more remembered;

And unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.

He devoureth the barren that beareth not,

And doth not good to the widow.

Yet God reserveth the mighty by his power:

He riseth up that hath no assurance of life.

God giveth them to be in security, and they rest thereon.

And his eyes are upon their ways.

They are exalted; and yet a little while and they are gone;

Yea, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others,

And are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.

And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar,

And make my speech nothing worth?"

This, of course, is that part of Job's speech which is thought by some to be part of Bildad's speech, which follows at once, and seems to be unusually short; but, as the text stands, there is very little of it that is inappropriate upon the lips of Job.

"Swiftly they pass away" (Job 24:18), for example, may be only a reference to the brevity of life for all men.

"He shall be no more remembered" (Job 24:20), does not seem to fit all that Job has said earlier.

"Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree" (Job 24:20) is in the same category as the first clause.

The best understanding of this perplexing paragraph among the writers we have consulted is that of Dr. Dale Hesser:

"The big thing that Job objected to was Eliphaz' theory that the wicked are punished at once. Job admits that if one looks at the whole picture, he will see that wickedness leads to suffering and that righteousness leads to rewards; but what puzzles Job is the exceptions which are obviously quite numerous. Job is pointing out that in the course of things crime brings misery to the criminal, but that God has not ordered that each crime shall bring immediate retribution."[5]

We are not to suppose that Job here has changed his basic thesis. Both Job and his friends believed that God punishes the wicked; but Job vehemently rejected the notion (1) either that God always punished the wicked immediately upon their commission of wicked deeds, or (2) that sufferings and calamities coming upon any person were to be considered as proofs of his wickedness.