Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry.
Job is answering Zophar, who had just insisted that evil men are always cut down in this life. Job answers by pointing at the farmyard of the wicked. Every bull breeds. No cow loses her calf. Success runs unbroken in the hands of people who want nothing to do with God.
The Claim Job Is Answering
Zophar's position was simple: God settles accounts with wicked men here and now. That confidence was worth little.
William KellyZophar had no difficulty at all. That is usually the case with people who know very little. They imagine they know everything. So Zophar keeps to this. There is a righteous God above, and 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 prosper, to all appearances, in their evil. The reason is that the time of judgment has not yet come.
A Picture Drawn From the Herd
Job answers with a list. He asks why some wicked men do so well.
Leslie M. GrantSometimes 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). Meanwhile the righteous often find just the opposite experience.
Remember who is describing this happy home.
Samuel RidoutThey 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. Inside, you hear the sound of tambourine, harp and pipe.
What Unbroken Ease Says Back to God
Ease like this is not silent. It has an answer for God.
William KellyEverything was flourishing… "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore, 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 should we have if we pray to Him?" They do not say this to other people. But this is what their conduct says to God.
Where the Prosperity Comes From
So where does all this prosperity come from?
Leslie M. GrantThey may think their prosperity is in their own hands, that they have only themselves to thank for this. How false indeed! God is the Giver of every temporal thing as well as spiritual. But men do not give God the credit due to Him (v.16). No wonder Job says, "The counsel of the wicked is far from me."
Judging Before the Time
If thriving cattle prove nothing about a man's standing with God, neither do Job's sores and losses. Job's reply points forward.
William KellyA day is coming when the wicked will no longer prosper. They will be like chaff that the wind drives away (Psalm 1). The friends put the time too early. They fixed their eyes on the present — sadly, they were blinded — instead of waiting, as Job did, for the resurrection and the kingdom… Job looks on to the judgment, when the evil-doer must suffer. So let no one misjudge God's ways, or draw unfounded conclusions from His government now. Look at two men, each with a full cup — one of happiness, the other of misery. Both lie dead together. Appearances prove nothing except the haste and folly of those who judge before the time.
Job had not yet found his own answer, but he had found the right posture.
Samuel RidoutAlthough he himself had reached no solution to his problem, he could at least urge his friends to "judge nothing before the time."
Summary
- The rule — Zophar taught that God always strikes the wicked now. Job answers that God lets much of the world prosper in its evil, because the time of judgment has not yet come.
- The evidence — A bull that never fails and a cow that never miscarries. That is Job's proof, while godly people often meet the opposite.
- The contrast — Job describes other people's skipping children and growing herds. He himself has no children left.
- The ingratitude — Every temporal thing comes from God's hand. Yet the answer from full barns is "Depart from us" — said by conduct, not by mouth.
- The verdict — Prosperity proves nothing about where a person stands with God. So judge nothing before the time, and look on to the resurrection and the kingdom.