The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’
Job's friends keep insisting that God always repays wickedness in this life. Here Job sketches how the oppressor ends: no one remembers him, worms feed on him, and his wickedness snaps like a tree. The picture is grim and true. Yet it raises the question behind the whole chapter — why does that end take so long to arrive?
Where the verse sits in Job's argument
This verse ends a long complaint. One writer shows how Job builds it, from his first question to the crimes he lists.
Samuel RidoutJob is about to dwell on God's apparent failure to judge the wicked. He begins by asking why God does not allow His saints to see a righteous judgment fall on the wicked. Why does He not set a limit to their godlessness and wicked oppression? Job lists some details of their evil course, and each one violates every principle of right. They remove boundary stones. They steal their neighbour's flocks and shepherd them as their own. The fatherless and the widow are victims of their greed. They drive away the poor and the needy.
A wish, not a report
The verse does not say that this is how things go. It says how Job thinks they ought to go. That difference changes how we weigh his words.
Leslie M. GrantJob is speaking of what "should be." Even so, there is no doubt that these things will be the eventual end of the ungodly. So it would have been wiser for him to wait calmly for God to act in His own time, instead of complaining that His judgment was too slow.
Forgotten by the womb
How fast does the wicked man vanish? One writer answers with a picture from nature.
Samuel RidoutAs drought and heat dry up snow-waters, so Sheol causes the wicked to pass suddenly from view. They pass away, forgotten even by their mother, to be the food of worms! Such is the end of the wicked oppressor. This part of Job's reply has one main thought. In this life, and often right up to the end, men escape the penalties they deserve. He does not pull back the curtain that hides the awful future. His purpose is to answer his friends' arguments, and he answers them effectively.
Why the worm
Why a worm? One Bible dictionary explains what the picture stands for, here and elsewhere in Scripture.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe worm is a symbol of the extreme feebleness of man… In the grave, man's body becomes the companion of worms, even if they do not feed on it. Of the eternal punishment of the wicked it is written, "their worm does not die."
That is as far as Job takes it. One writer notes how little he says about what lies beyond, and how the height of the oppressor only deepens his fall.
William KellyHere then Job is simply looking at the terrible state of these bad consciences, and then goes on to his death, and there the worms have their feast; that is all he says about it. And if the wicked are exalted, it is only to go down the more.
Broken like a tree
The verse ends with a tree snapping. One writer finds the same picture in a psalm, where great size and long rule count for nothing.
Leslie M. GrantIn verse 35 the psalmist tells us that he has seen wicked people enjoying great power. They were like a tree spreading out to a great size, and they looked too settled ever to be brought down. But "he passed away, and behold, he was no more" (v. 36). Some wicked kings reigned for several years, others only for a very brief time, but all died. In fact, the longer they reigned, the more they added to the stench of their memory.
The question Job leaves open
Job could not explain the delay. One writer says he is not the only one left with that question.
William KellyIt is the riddle of the psalms and the prophets, and it must stay a riddle until Christ solves it.
Still, the delay is not neglect. The same writer explains the difference.
William KellyIt is not that Job doubted that everything is under the eye of God, even though His hand is not yet on the world. Meanwhile death comes in to cut off the highest when they least expect it.
Summary
- Delayed, not denied — Job asks why those who honour God never see judgment fall. Meanwhile oppressors rob flocks and prey on the widow and the fatherless.
- Wished, not witnessed — the verse describes what Job thinks should happen. The end itself is certain. His mistake was complaining that God's timing was slow.
- Forgotten, then eaten — the oppressor drops out of sight, forgotten even by his mother. He becomes food for worms, a picture of man's utter feebleness.
- Tall, then gone — being raised high only makes the drop longer. The longer such men reign, the worse their memory smells.
- Reserved for Christ — God's eye is on everything now, even though His hand is not yet on the world. The riddle Job could not solve waits for Christ to solve it.