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Job Twenty One
by Dr. Henry M. Morris
(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)
Job 21:1 But Job answered and said,
Job 21:2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
Job 21:3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
Job 21:4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
Job 21:5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
Job 21:6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
Job 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
mighty in power. Job here reminds his accusers (Job 21:7-13) that, contrary to their blanket pronouncements, the wicked do often prosper, enjoy a long life and seem content. This has been noted as a problem by other Biblical writers (e.g., Jeremiah 12:1-2; Psalm 73:3-12), and is surely a problem to us today as well. God's punishments and rewards are not confined to our lives on earth. The fact that a wicked man may prosper while a righteous man is suffering is not necessarily a measure of God's approval or disapproval. Note such Scriptures as Proverbs 16:4; Romans 9:18-23; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 8:28; etc.
Job 21:8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Job 21:9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Job 21:10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
gendereth. That is, “breeds.”
Job 21:11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
Job 21:12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
Job 21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
Job 21:14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the Almighty. Those who do not believe in God, while prospering in the world, will not fear His judgments, and so live as they please. But “the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction” (Job 21:30).
what profit. Job is here citing the philosophy of the wicked, not his own philosophy. Yet Elihu later quotes him out of context (Job 34:9).
Job 21:16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Job 21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
Job 21:19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
Job 21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Job 21:22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
Job 21:23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
Job 21:24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
His breasts. The word is not the usual word for “breasts,” and only occurs this once in the Bible. Its probable connotation here is “containers” or “pails.”
Job 21:25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
Job 21:26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
Job 21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
Job 21:29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
Job 21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
Job 21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
Job 21:34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?