Job 21:22–26

As Job goes on to show, what happens to wicked people varies widely, and he asks: who will sit in judgment on God for these varied dealings? … Since that is the case, it hardly suits his friends to state, as a fixed rule, that suffering in this life was always a sign of sin, and prosperity a sign of righteousness, in the people affected.

How foolish it is for anyone to think he can teach God knowledge (v.22), since He judges those on high just as He judges the lowest. The wicked differ from one another so much that it is folly to judge by what happens to them.

Will anyone teach God knowledge, when He judges even the righteous?

"Will any teach God knowledge?" — now he turns to God to defend him — "seeing that he judges those who are on high. One dies" — you see, he took in both sides. This same man had said that truth has two sides; but it was all just talk. He never put it into practice. It was a wise saying, just a clever phrase, and not the true expression of what he felt and how he lived. But Job had a reality about him.

Look at these two men, each with a full cup, one of happiness, the other of misery; both lying dead together. Appearances prove nothing but the haste and folly of those who judge before the time.

God is Judge of all, but the tendency in everyone is to set themselves up as judges of God.

In Job 21 Job replies by describing how the wicked prosper, to show that Zophar must be wrong. Yet he knows his friends' charges are groundless and still has no clear idea of God's will, or of any order or purpose in His dealings. He knows only that God is all-powerful and can do as He likes. He cannot see that God always has a definite goal in view in every one of His ways.

Job 20 — Zophar now presents to Job, in the most emphatic way, the utter and overwhelming ruin of the wicked. He denounces him without pity. Heaven will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. Job replies (Job 21) by detailing the prosperity of the wicked, to show that Zophar must be in error. And yet, though he knows his friends' reproaches are unfounded, he has no clear idea of God's will, or of any order or purpose in His dealings.

Because "one dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure" (v.23). He keeps his possessions intact, and his health holds up until he dies (v.24). On the other hand, another wicked man dies in bitterness, after a whole life that was miserable. In the end "they lie down alike in the dust." The end of the one is the same as the other, though their lives on earth were opposite. Who can answer why?

Look at these two men, each with a full cup, one of happiness, the other of misery; both lying dead together. Appearances prove nothing except the haste and folly of those who judge before the time.

What Zophar and the others pressed was only half a truth. Now half a truth never sanctifies. What you leave out is perhaps of equal, or even greater, importance, and there was just the difference. With all his defects, Job really was clinging to the truth. He looked at it with a larger heart and a more exercised conscience.

He insists that the present world is no expression of God's moral government. But he also admits 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.

"Another dies in the bitterness of his soul, and never eats with pleasure. They will lie down alike in the dust" — and the careless world goes to their funeral. It thinks they are both all right, that it is all right with them both. That is what people call "judging with charity" — charitable judgment! They hope everybody goes to heaven, unless they are too bad — openly wicked!

Then Job speaks of what his friends had entirely missed, that is, the judgment of the future. "For the wicked are spared for the day of doom" (v.30). "Spared" is the right translation here. It shows that God now spares them trouble because a later "day of doom" is coming. God lets them hide from punishment now, but He will bring them out in the day of His wrath.

Among the wicked there is such disparity that it is folly to think of judging by their experiences. Why? Because "one dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure." His possessions stay intact and his health holds up until he dies (v. 24). On the other hand, another wicked man dies in bitterness. His whole life was deeply unpleasant. At the end "they lie down alike in the dust." The end of the one is the same as the other, though their lives on earth were opposite. Who can answer why?

The experiences of the wicked vary. One dies quietly in prosperity, another in wretchedness; both alike reach a common end in the grave. Since this is so, it hardly suits his friends to state one unvarying rule. They claimed that judgment in this life was always a sign of sin, and prosperity a sign of righteousness in the people affected. Although he himself had reached no solution to his problem, he could at least urge his friends to "judge nothing before the time."

What Zophar and the others press was only half a truth. Now half a truth never sanctifies. What you leave out is perhaps of equal, or even greater, importance, and there was just the difference. With all his defects, Job was holding to the truth. He looked at it with a larger heart and a more exercised conscience. There are people who moralise, but this did not come from their souls. It was merely correct talk according to the thoughts of men. It was not really the language of faith at all. Job's was, despite all its defects.

"Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. They lie down alike in the dust" — and the careless world goes to their funeral and thinks it is all right with them both. That is what people call "judging with charity" — charitable judgment! They hope everybody goes to heaven, unless they are too bad — openly wicked! Now what is the judgment according to God? That if One died for all, then all died. That is the state of man. And He died for all — all mankind. They are all inexcusable.

It was not the case, he affirmed, that the wicked were always overwhelmed with disaster. On the contrary, they often lived on, grew old, and became mighty in power and prosperous, with their children established in their sight. At the end they had no long drawn-out misery such as he was enduring, but "in a moment they go down to Sheol." And all the time their attitude to God was, "Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways."

Job here correctly diagnosed the attitude of the natural man to God. He did so about two thousand years before God inspired Paul to write his letter to the Romans. There, in the first chapter, we read that men, "although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him." Again, we read that they "did not see fit to acknowledge God." This is the tremendous fact we have to face. Sin has so completely alienated man from God that he has not the least desire for Him. "No one seeks for God," as Romans 3 states.

Many, like the psalmist, are perplexed at the prosperity of the wicked (Psalm 73:3). Everything seems to go well with them in life, and even in death. Only when the psalmist entered the "sanctuary of God" did he understand their end (verse 17). And it is the end that matters.

Among the wicked there is such disparity that it is folly to think of judging by their experiences. Why? Because "One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure" (v. 23). His possessions are kept intact and his health remains good until he dies (v. 24). On the other hand, another wicked man dies in bitterness. His whole life was deeply unpleasant. At the end "they lie down alike in the dust." The end of the one is the same as the other, though their lives on earth were opposite.

In fact, as Job goes on to show, the wicked go through very different experiences. He adds, Who can sit in judgment on God for these different dealings? One dies quietly, surrounded by great prosperity … another is cut off in misery. Both alike reach a common end in the grave. Since this is so, how wrong it is for his friends to state a fixed rule. They said that in this life judgment was always a sign of sin in the person, and prosperity always a sign of righteousness.

Look at these two men, each with a full cup, one of happiness, the other of misery; both lying dead together. Appearances prove nothing but the haste and folly of those who judge before the time.

The friends judged too early. They fixed their eyes (blinded, sadly!) on the present, as the Christian world does, instead of waiting, like Job, for the resurrection and the kingdom.

"They lie down alike in the dust" — and the careless world goes to their funeral. It thinks they are both all right, that all is well with both of them. That is what people call "judging with charity" — charitable judgment! They hope that everybody goes to heaven, unless they are too bad — openly wicked!

Zophar thought he had the answer to Job's troubles. But he had not considered this contrast that Job set before him. The answer to all such questions must certainly wait until after death.

He insists that the present world is no expression of God's moral government. But he admits that while men seem to prosper, a blow from God falls on them. In a moment their lamp 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 acts among His own people by chastening, trial, or discipline, just as surely as He may lay His hand on the wicked in solemn judgment.

How foolish it is to think that anyone can teach God knowledge (v.22), since He judges those on high just as He does the lowest. The wicked differ so widely among themselves that it is folly to judge by what happens to them. Why? Because "one dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure" (v.23). He keeps his property and his health right up to his death (v.24). Another wicked man dies in bitterness, after a whole life of misery. Yet in the end "they lie down alike in the dust." The one finishes where the other finishes, though their lives on earth were opposites. Who can explain why? Zophar thought he had the answer to Job's troubles. But he had not faced this difference that Job set before him. The answer to all such questions must wait until after death.

Look at these two men, each with a full cup, one of happiness, the other of misery; both lying dead together. Appearances prove nothing but the haste and folly of those who judge before the time.

Both alike reach the same end in the grave. Since that is so, how wrong it is for his friends to lay down an unchanging rule — that trouble in this life is always a sign of sin, and prosperity always a sign of righteousness, in the people it falls on. Job himself had found no solution to his problem. Even so, he could at least urge his friends not to "pronounce judgment before the time."

You see, what Zophar and the others pressed was only half a truth. And half a truth never sanctifies. What you leave out may be just as important, or even more important. That was exactly the difference. For all his faults, Job really was holding on to the truth. He looked at it with a larger heart and with a conscience that had been tested. Some people talk morally, or, as you might say, they preach. But it did not come from their souls. It was only the correct thing to say by human standards. It was not really the language of faith at all.

"They lie down alike in the dust." And the careless world goes to their funeral and thinks they are both all right, that all is well with them both. That is what people call "judging with charity" — charitable judgment! They hope that everybody goes to heaven, unless they are too bad — openly wicked!

The friends judged too soon. They turned their eyes — blinded eyes, sadly — to the present, as the Christian world does, instead of waiting, as Job did, for the resurrection and the kingdom.

But there is the terrible end that waits for them — the waking up of the rich man in the Lord's story: "in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes." That was a solemn thing, and it was the Lord who gave us that picture. Nobody could speak with certainty about it until the Lord came. And this does not describe what happens after the resurrection. This is what happens right after death.