Job 21:27–31

He fully realised the force of their words. They implied that he must have been guilty of terrible unrighteousness and sin. Yet all the time he looked like a deeply godly man.

He now declares their purpose, which up to this point they had only hinted at — that Job was proof of how sound their argument was. And look, they say, at what has become of him! He throws their insinuations back with a bold question. Have they not learned from observers everywhere that the wicked man is "spared" in the day of calamity — "to the day of destruction"? (Older translations say "reserved" here.) He is so powerful that nobody dares charge him with his sin, or give him the punishment he deserves. Sadly, all of this is only too common in our own day.

Here you see he now comes back to their fault: the narrowness of their view. It is wrong to let people suspect evil without the slightest ground in fact for it. No, we are called to live what we know; we are called to speak when we do know; but where we do not know, we look to God.

These friends all treated the present time as adequate proof of what God thought about men. If He thinks we are walking well, we flourish. If we come into trouble, it is because we are bad people. That was their theory, an utterly wrong and corrupt theory.

The friends put God's reckoning too early. Sadly, they were blind. They watched the present, like the Christian world, instead of waiting, like Job, for the resurrection and the kingdom. In this world the blow may fall on the man's children, not on the man himself. Job looks on to the judgment, when the evil-doer must suffer. So let no one misjudge God's ways. Let no one draw unfounded conclusions from the way He rules the world now. 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. Such were their thoughts and plots to the wrong of himself.

Underlying all that the friends said was a wretched suspicion, growing into a certainty, that Job is a hypocrite. For this they had not the slightest proof, but everything to the contrary. Their theory forced them to it. For the sake of that theory they trample underfoot all natural and gracious affection. Nothing wounds an honest, loving man like suspicions with no ground, and the charges that grow out of them.

But even now, is not suspicion of others all too common? One person fails in business, has illness in his family, or loses loved ones. People jump to the conclusion that God is chastening him for some imagined faults. How cruel this is! It goes against the plain direction: "Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three shall a charge be established." Let us be slow to suspect. Let us be slower still to charge unknown evil, and leave that to the Searcher of hearts. If He calls on us to name evil, it is evil He has unmistakably brought to light.

Job strongly takes the offensive in this section. He sees the schemes by which his friends would wrong him (v.27). For they asked, "Where is the house of the prince?" They meant that a man of noble character would never sink into the misery Job was bearing (v.28). They thought the dwelling place of the wicked matched Job's circumstances.

He now states their purpose, which they have only hinted at so far. Job was an example proving their argument sound. And see, they say, what has become of him!

They press the doctrine that God's rule on earth is a full measure and display of His righteousness, and of the righteousness of man, which would match it. That doctrine proves total ignorance of what God's righteousness is, and of His ways. It also proves the absence of all real knowledge of what God is, or man as a sinner.

Here you see he now comes back to their fault. Their view is narrow, and it is wrong to let people suspect evil without the slightest ground in fact. No, we are called to live what we know; we are called to speak when we do know; but where we do not know we look to God.

These friends were all looking at the present time as the adequate proof of what God thought about men. If He thinks we are walking well, we are flourishing. If we come into trouble, it is because we are bad people. That was their theory, an utterly wrong and corrupt theory.

He throws back their hints with a bold question. Have they not learned from observers everywhere that the wicked is "spared" in the day of calamity (not "reserved," as older translations have it), "to the day of destruction"? He is so powerful that no one dares charge his sin to him, or give him the punishment he deserves. All this, sadly, is only too common in our own day.

The friends expected the reckoning too soon. They fixed their eyes (blinded, sadly) on the present, like much of the Christian world, instead of waiting, as Job did, for the resurrection and the kingdom... 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.

Job shows that his friends have not only failed to convince him, but their answers are insincere and nothing but falsehoods. The victory is on his side. Yet the problem remains as unsolved as before: why do the righteous suffer, and how does their suffering fit with a righteous God?

Zophar keeps up this idea. There is a righteous God above, there are unrighteous, wicked people below, and God always deals with these wicked people now. That was not true. God has always allowed a large part of the world to seem to prosper in their evil. The reason is that the time of judgment has not yet come.

The psalmist tells us that the ungodly are "like chaff that the wind drives away" (Ps. 1:4). That is true. But Job reminds his hearers that it seldom happens in the present life. God reserves it for the "judgment."

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 proper translation here. It shows that God now spares them trouble because of a later "day of doom." He allows them to hide from punishment now, but He will bring them out in the day of His wrath.

"Have you not asked those who go by the way? and do you not know their signs, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction?" That is the reason why they flourish now. He grasped this great moral truth in an admirable way. "They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Not a question of now! These friends were all looking at the present time as enough proof of what God thought about men. In their view, if He thinks we are walking well, we are flourishing. And if we come into trouble, it is because we are bad people. That was their theory, an utterly wrong and corrupt theory.

A man takes God's name in vain and swears to a downright lie — perhaps about a theft, or any other offence. Now and then, such a man drops down dead after it. Well, that is a very unusual thing. Other people swear the same lie and keep their money. They try to keep their good name too. But all the while they are heaping up wrath against the day of wrath.

Job then asks, "Who condemns his way to his face? and who repays him for what he has done?" Job's friends were condemning him to his face. But there is only one answer to the two questions he asks. Only God has the right to condemn. Only God will recompense man's sin.

One man dies in peace, surrounded by great prosperity. As the psalm says of the wicked, "they have no pangs until death." Another man is cut off in misery. Both alike reach the same end in the grave. Since this is so, it does not suit his friends at all to lay down a fixed rule. They said that judgment in this life was always a sign of sin in the person, and that prosperity was always a sign of righteousness.