31 Who doth declare to his face his way? And `for' that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him?
and repaying to those hating Him, unto their face, to destroy them; He delayeth not to him who is hating Him -- unto his face, He repayeth to him --
And when Peter came to Antioch, to the face I stood up against him, because he was blameworthy,
And Nathan saith unto David, `Thou `art' the man! Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, I anointed thee for king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; and I give to thee the house of thy lord, and the wives of thy lord, into thy bosom, and I give to thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if little, then I add to thee such and such `things'. `Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do the evil thing in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten by the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to thee for a wife, and him thou hast slain by the sword of the Bene-Ammon. `And now, the sword doth not turn aside from thy house unto the age, because thou hast despised Me, and dost take the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be to thee for a wife; thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am raising up against thee evil, out of thy house, and have taken thy wives before thine eyes, and given to thy neighbour, and he hath lain with thy wives before the eyes of this sun; for thou hast done `it' in secret, and I do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.'
and thou hast spoken unto him, saying, Thus said Jehovah, Hast thou murdered, and also possessed? and thou hast spoken unto him, saying, Thus said Jehovah, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, do the dogs lick thy blood, even thine.' And Ahab saith unto Elijah, `Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' and he saith, `I have found -- because of thy selling thyself to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah; lo, I am bringing in unto thee evil, and have taken away thy posterity, and cut off to Ahab those sitting on the wall, and restrained, and left, in Israel, and given up thy house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which thou hast provoked `Me', and dost cause Israel to sin. `And also of Jezebel hath Jehovah spoken, saying, The dogs do eat Jezebel in the bulwark of Jezreel; him who dieth of Ahab in a city do the dogs eat, and him who dieth in a field do fowl of the heavens eat;
God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him -- and he knoweth.
These thou didst, and I kept silent, Thou hast thought that I am like thee, I reprove thee, and set in array before thine eyes.
Transgressing, and lying against Jehovah, And removing from after our God, Speaking oppression and apostacy, Conceiving and uttering from the heart Words of falsehood.
What -- dost thou make pleasing thy ways to seek love? Therefore even the wicked thou hast taught thy ways. Also in thy skirts hath been found the blood of innocent needy souls, Not by digging have I found them, but upon all these. And thou sayest, `Because I have been innocent, Surely turned back hath His anger from me?' Lo, I have been judged with thee, Because of thy saying, `I have not sinned.'
for John said to Herod -- `It is not lawful to thee to have the wife of thy brother;'
and he reasoning concerning righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment that is about to be, Felix, having become afraid, answered, `For the present be going, and having got time, I will call for thee;'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Job 21
Commentary on Job 21 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 21
SECOND SERIES.
Job 21:1-34. Job's Answer.
2. consolations—If you will listen calmly to me, this will be regarded as "consolations"; alluding to Eliphaz' boasted "consolations" (Job 15:11), which Job felt more as aggravations ("mockings," Job 21:3) than consolations (Job 16:2).
3. literally, "Begin your mockings" (Job 17:2).
4. Job's difficulty was not as to man, but as to God, why He so afflicted him, as if he were the guilty hypocrite which the friends alleged him to be. Vulgate translates it, "my disputation."
if it were—rather, "since this is the case."
5. lay … hand upon … mouth—(Pr 30:32; Jud 18:19). So the heathen god of silence was pictured with his hand on his mouth. There was enough in Job's case to awe them into silence (Job 17:8).
6. remember—Think on it. Can you wonder that I broke out into complaints, when the struggle was not with men, but with the Almighty? Reconcile, if you can, the ceaseless woes of the innocent with the divine justice! Is it not enough to make one tremble? [Umbreit].
7. The answer is Ro 2:4; 1Ti 1:16; Ps 73:18; Ec 8:11-13; Lu 2:35-end; Pr 16:4; Ro 9:22.
old—in opposition to the friends who asserted that sinners are "cut off" early (Job 8:12, 14).
8. In opposition to Job 18:19; 5:4.
9. Literally, "peace from fear"; with poetic force. Their house is peace itself, far removed from fear. Opposed to the friends' assertion, as to the bad (Job 15:21-24; 20:26-28), and conversely, the good (Job 5:23, 24).
10. Rather, "their cattle conceive." The first clause of the verse describes an easy conception, the second, a happy birth [Umbreit].
11. send forth—namely, out of doors, to their happy sports under the skies, like a joyful flock sent to the pastures.
little ones—like lambkins.
children—somewhat older than the former.
dance—not formal dances; but skip, like lambs, in joyous and healthful play.
12. take—rather, "lift up the voice" (sing) to the note of [Umbreit].
timbrel—rather, "tambourine."
organ—not the modern "organ," but the "pipe" (Ge 4:21). The first clause refers to stringed, the latter, to wind instruments; thus, with "the voice" all kinds of music are enumerated.
13. wealth—Old English Version for "prosperity."
in a moment—not by a lingering disease. Great blessings! Lengthened life with prosperity, and a sudden painless death (Ps 73:4).
14. Therefore—rather, "And yet they are such as say," &c., that is, say, not in so many words, but virtually, by their conduct (so the Gergesenes, Mt 8:34). How differently the godly (Isa 2:3).
ways—The course of action, which God points out; as in Ps 50:23, Margin.
15. (Compare Jer 2:20; Pr 30:9, Margin, Ex 5:2).
what profit—(Job 35:3; Mal 3:14; Ps 73:13). Sinners ask, not what is right, but what is for the profit of self. They forget, "If religion cost self something, the want of it will cost self infinitely more."
16. not in their hand—but in the hand of God. This is Job's difficulty, that God who has sinners prosperity (good) in His hand should allow them to have it.
is—rather, "may the counsel of the wicked be far from me!" [Umbreit]. This naturally follows the sentiment of the first clause: Let me not hereby be thought to regard with aught but horror the ways of the wicked, however prosperous.
17. Job in this whole passage down to Job 21:21 quotes the assertion of the friends, as to the short continuance of the sinner's prosperity, not his own sentiments. In Job 21:22 he proceeds to refute them. "How oft is the candle" (lamp), &c., quoting Bildad's sentiment (Job 18:5, 6), in order to question its truth (compare Mt 25:8).
how oft—"God distributeth," &c. (alluding to Job 20:23, 29).
sorrows—Umbreit translates "snares," literally, "cords," which lightning in its twining motion resembles (Ps 11:6).
18. Job alludes to a like sentiment of Bildad (Job 18:18), using his own previous words (Job 13:25).
19. Equally questionable is the friends' assertion that if the godless himself is not punished, the children are (Job 18:19; 20:10); and that God rewardeth him here for his iniquity, and that he shall know it to his cost. So "know" (Ho 9:7).
20. Another questionable assertion of the friends, that the sinner sees his own and his children's destruction in his lifetime.
drink—(Ps 11:6; Isa 51:17; La 4:21).
21. The argument of the friends, in proof of Job 21:20, What pleasure can he have from his house (children) when he is dead—("after him," Ec 3:22).
when the number, &c.—Or, rather, "What hath he to do with his children?" &c. (so the Hebrew in Ec 3:1; 8:6). It is therefore necessary that "his eyes should see his and their destruction" (see Job 14:21).
cut off—rather, when the number of his allotted months is fulfilled (Job 14:5). From an Arabic word, "arrow," which was used to draw lots with. Hence "arrow"—inevitable destiny [Umbreit].
22. Reply of Job, "In all these assertions you try to teach God how He ought to deal with men, rather than prove that He does in fact so deal with them. Experience is against you. God gives prosperity and adversity as it pleases Him, not as man's wisdom would have it, on principles inscrutable to us" (Isa 40:13; Ro 11:34).
those … high—the high ones, not only angels, but men (Isa 2:12-17).
23. Literally, "in the bone of his perfection," that is, the full strength of unimpaired prosperity [Umbreit].
24. breasts—rather, "skins," or "vessels" for fluids [Lee]. But [Umbreit] "stations or resting-places of his herds near water"; in opposition to Zophar (Job 20:17); the first clause refers to his abundant substance, the second to his vigorous health.
moistened—comparing man's body to a well-watered field (Pr 3:8; Isa 58:11).
26. (Ec 9:2).
27. Their wrongful thoughts against Job are stated by him in Job 21:28. They do not honestly name Job, but insinuate his guilt.
28. ye say—referring to Zophar (Job 20:7).
the house—referring to the fall of the house of Job's oldest son (Job 1:19) and the destruction of his family.
prince—The parallel "wicked" in the second clause requires this to be taken in a bad sense, tyrant, oppressor (Isa 13:2), the same Hebrew, "nobles"—oppressors.
dwelling-places—rather, "pavilions," a tent containing many dwellings, such as a great emir, like Job, with many dependents, would have.
29. Job, seeing that the friends will not admit him as an impartial judge, as they consider his calamities prove his guilt, begs them to ask the opinion of travellers (La 1:12), who have the experience drawn from observation, and who are no way connected with him. Job opposes this to Bildad (Job 8:8) and Zophar (Job 20:4).
tokens—rather, "intimations" (for example, inscriptions, proverbs, signifying the results of their observation), testimony. Literally, "signs" or proofs in confirmation of the word spoken (Isa 7:11).
30. Their testimony (referring perhaps to those who had visited the region where Abraham who enjoyed a revelation then lived) is that "the wicked is (now) spared (reserved) against the day of destruction (hereafter)." The Hebrew does not so well agree with [Umbreit] "in the day of destruction." Job does not deny sinners' future punishment, but their punishment in this life. They have their "good things" now. Hereafter, their lot, and that of the godly, shall be reversed (Lu 16:25). Job, by the Spirit, often utters truths which solve the difficulty under which he labored. His afflictions mostly clouded his faith, else he would have seen the solution furnished by his own words. This answers the objection, that if he knew of the resurrection in Job 19:25, and future retribution (Job 21:30), why did he not draw his reasonings elsewhere from them, which he did not? God's righteous government, however, needs to be vindicated as to this life also, and therefore the Holy Ghost has caused the argument mainly to turn on it at the same time giving glimpses of a future fuller vindication of God's ways.
brought forth—not "carried away safe" or "escape" (referring to this life), as Umbreit has it.
wrath—literally, "wraths," that is, multiplied and fierce wrath.
31. That is, who dares to charge him openly with his bad ways? namely, in this present life. He shall, I grant (Job 21:30), be "repaid" hereafter.
32. Yet—rather, "and."
brought—with solemn pomp (Ps 45:15).
grave—literally, "graves"; that is, the place where the graves are.
remain in—rather, watch on the tomb, or sepulchral mound. Even after death he seems still to live and watch (that is, have his "remembrance" preserved) by means of the monument over the grave. In opposition to Bildad (Job 18:17).
33. As the classic saying has it, "The earth is light upon him." His repose shall be "sweet."
draw—follow. He shall share the common lot of mortals; no worse off than they (Heb 9:27). Umbreit not so well (for it is not true of "every man"). "Most men follow in his bad steps, as countless such preceded him."
34. falsehood—literally, "transgression." Your boasted "consolations" (Job 15:11) are contradicted by facts ("vain"); they therefore only betray your evil intent ("wickedness") against me.