They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
Job answers his friends by pointing at the other side of life: men who want nothing to do with God often have happy homes full of children at play. Job asks them to account for it.
Job is not describing a rare exception. He is describing the world as anyone can see it.
Job describes the wicked in prosperity in strong terms. "Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes." It is not merely that you have one here and there; the wicked really take root in the world, they are at home there. "Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them." They come under no special chastening… "They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance." It is they who enjoy the world, if you leave out God and take man's appreciation of present life. There is no disputing that this is the fact, account for it or not, if one looks at the world as it is.
The man drawing this picture of children at play had lost his own. That is what gives the verse its edge.
He looks at the other side, at the case of the prosperous wicked, and reminds Zophar that evil men often go on unchecked. They live to old age and become mighty in power… His children — in sad contrast to the now childless speaker — are like a group of lambs skipping about the home, and you hear the sound of tambourine and lyre and pipe there.
The dancing does not stand alone. One writer looks at the whole happy scene and at the company it keeps.
It is a serious thing to find all that in such bad company — a solemn warning for those who are given up… "They say to God, Depart from us." Job's words are far more solemn and more true than the violent Zophar had painted. "For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we get if we pray to Him?" It is not meant that they say that to man, but that is what their conduct says to God.
Job had no answer to his own question. Another man saw the same thing and was troubled by it too.
Their children enjoy life with its music and dancing, and they spend their days in prosperity… In other words, they know nothing of Job's painful experiences all through their life. Then they die without suffering. Asaph observed this also, as he records in Psalm 73:3-9. In verses 16-17 he added, "But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end." He learned that God's accounts are not settled in this life: there is a future to be considered.
Job himself was not blind to the other side. But there was one thing he had still to learn.
He presses the point that the present world is no expression of God's moral government. But he acknowledges that in the middle of men's seeming prosperity a divine blow falls on them. In a moment their candle goes out. So he does allow for exceptional dealings. There was another kind of dealing that he did not yet see. This was what he had to learn. God works among His own by chastening, trial, or discipline. He does this just as surely as He may lay His hand on the wicked in solemn judgment.
One writer turns the scene into a question for anyone who finds such company good fun.
What a description we get of the world in Job: "They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity… Therefore they say to God, 'Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of your ways'" (ch. 21:12-14)! And can you, dear reader, feel happy in making one of such a company? How true it is for a believer seeking his amusement in such a way, "Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief." Prov. 14:13.
- Sight. The wicked are not rare exceptions. They take root in the world, are at home in it, and enjoy it more than anyone.
- Sting. A childless man describes other men's children skipping like lambs. That contrast is what makes his question hurt.
- Sound. The same house that fills with music tells God to leave; the words are never spoken aloud, but the conduct says them.
- Settlement. God's accounts are not closed in this life. Asaph found the answer only in God's presence, where he saw their end.
- Side. Ask which company would make you happy — a home full of music, with no desire to know God's ways.
They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
Zophar had said that the wicked are cut off. Job answers with what he sees instead: a household of the wicked full of children, music and ease, while the man who fears God sits in ashes.
The verse sits inside a longer scene of untouched comfort. One writer sets the happy children of the wicked against the man describing them, who has lost his own:
He looks at the other side, at the case of the prosperous wicked. With ability equal to Zophar's, he reminds him that evil men often go on unchecked. They live to old age and become mighty in power. Their families grow up about them, and all stays quiet without the rod of God falling upon them. Flocks and herds increase. His children — in sad contrast to the now childless speaker — are like a group of lambs skipping about the home, and inside you hear the sound of tambourine, harp and pipe.
These are the instruments of a party. Measured by what people value in life now, this is life at its best:
It is not just that you have one here and there. The wicked really take root in the world; they are at home there. "Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them." They come under no special chastening… It is they that enjoy the world, if you leave out God, and take man's appreciation of present life. There is no disputing that such is the fact, account for it or not, if one looks at the world as it is.
Job is not just venting. He is asking questions that his friends' rule about the wicked cannot handle:
Zophar had spoken of the wicked being cut off, but Job has questions now that Zophar does not even try to answer. Sometimes wicked men are cut off, but some wicked men live and become old and become mighty in power above others (v.7). Why? Their children often get along well with hardly a setback (v.8). They seem to have nothing to fear and the discipline of God's government seems not to apply to them (v.9). "Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry" (v.10). Often the righteous find just the opposite.
Two verses later the same people tell God to leave them alone:
"They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance" — everything prosperous and smiling — "They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe." It is serious to find all that with such bad company. It is a solemn warning to those who are given up… "Therefore they say to God, 'Depart from us!'" Job's words are far more solemn and more true than the violent Zophar had painted… They do not say that to man, but that is what their conduct says to God.
Job does not say the wicked escape for good. The reckoning comes, but he places it later:
While it is true, as the psalmist tells us, that the ungodly are "like chaff that the wind drives away" (Ps. 1:4), Job reminds his hearers that this seldom takes place in the present life; it is reserved for the "judgment."
The mistake of the three friends was one of timing. They read the present as the final verdict:
The friends put the time too early. They fixed their eyes (blinded, alas!) on the present, as the Christian world does, instead of waiting, like Job, for the resurrection and the kingdom… Look at these two men, each with a full cup, one of happiness, the other of misery. Both lie dead together. Appearances prove nothing but the haste and folly of those who judge before the time.
The same puzzle troubled a later writer, and it broke only when he changed his vantage point:
Asaph observed this also, as he records in Psalm 73:3-9, and added in verses 16-17, "It was too painful for me — until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end." He learned that God's accounts are not settled in this life: there is a future to be considered.
- The music is real. Job is not exaggerating; the wicked do enjoy this world, if you leave God out and measure life by what man values in it.
- The music disproves the theory. Zophar said the wicked are cut off. Job points to a household of the godless dancing to tambourine and harp, with no rod of God upon them.
- The music has words. The same people who rejoice at the pipe tell God to depart — not in speech, but in how they live.
- The music is not the verdict. Psalm 1 says the wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away. Job says that seldom happens in this life; God holds it over for the judgment.
- The music ends elsewhere. Both the happy man and the miserable one lie dead at last, so present appearances settle nothing; Job waits for the resurrection and the kingdom.