Job 21
Job 21 is Job’s third statement, showing Job’s deep anguish that emerges during the conversation with his three friends. Job points out that the friends’ repeated claims (that is, the equation that the wicked ultimately perish and the righteous are blessed) does not match reality. Job observes that, in real life, the wicked often prosper and live in peace, and he wrestles with the gap between the suffering he is experiencing and his friends’ logic.
1verseThen Job answered,
2verse“Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
3verseAllow me, and I also will speak. After I have spoken, mock on.
4verseAs for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5verseLook at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.
6verseWhen I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
7verse“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
8verseTheir child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes.
9verseTheir houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
10verseTheir bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
11verseThey send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.
12verseThey sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13verseThey spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.
14verseThey tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways.
15verseWhat is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’
16verseBehold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17verse“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
18verseHow often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away?
19verseYou say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’ Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
20verseLet his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21verseFor what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
22verse“Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges those who are high?
23verseOne dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
24verseHis pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
25verseAnother dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.
26verseThey lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them.
27verse“Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me.
28verseFor you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29verseHaven’t you asked wayfaring men? Don’t you know their evidences,
30versethat the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, that they are led out to the day of wrath?
31verseWho will declare his way to his face? Who will repay him what he has done?
32verseYet he will be borne to the grave. Men will keep watch over the tomb.
33verseThe clods of the valley will be sweet to him. All men will draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.
34verseSo how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”
Structure and Key Themes
- 21:1-6: Job’s plea - Job earnestly demands that his words be heard quietly.
- 21:7-16: Questioning the prosperity of the wicked - He specifically lists how the wicked appear to prosper: their lives sometimes are long, their descendants flourish, and their wealth increases.
- 21:17-26: The universality of suffering - He mentions that life and death, suffering, do not necessarily operate in connection with a person’s actions, and he reflects on the unfairness of life.
- 21:27-34: Critiquing the logic of the friends - Job argues back that his friends give wrong examples and have not sufficiently observed reality.
Overall Meaning and Reflection
Job 21 asks, honestly, about the contradictions and irrationality of life that cannot be understood between human suffering and blessing, and God’s will. Job laments that a simple cause-and-effect pattern cannot explain everything in the world, and he seeks understanding and answers before God. This chapter suggests that human interpretations of the cause of suffering are not always right, and it shows that honest questions and doubts are also an important part of the faith journey.
Points to Reflect On
- In the reality where the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer, what kind of heart and attitude should we have?
- When questions arise about God and life, what meaning would Job’s posture of asking questions honestly have for our faith?
Apply It to Yourself
- When you face difficulties you cannot understand or the unfairness of the world, try bringing your heart honestly to God, as Job does with his questions.
- Rather than simply evaluating other people or yourself based on outcomes, may this be a time to cultivate a desire to seek the attitude God wants from us in the deeper place of life.
