Commentary - Job 21:7-16

Bird's-eye view

In this section of his reply to Zophar, Job tackles the central conundrum that his friends, with their tidy theological systems, cannot seem to handle. The issue is the raw, observable fact of the prosperity of the wicked. Job is not asking this question as a detached philosopher in his study; he is asking it from an ash heap, scraping his sores with a piece of pottery. His friends have been arguing, with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, that righteousness brings blessing and wickedness brings immediate cursing. Job, looking around at the world as it actually is, begs to differ. He presents a picture of godless men who not only get by, but who thrive, who build dynasties, and who die old and happy, having never given God a moment's thought. This is not a complaint against God's justice so much as it is a complaint against his friends' shallow understanding of it. Job is forcing them, and us, to look at the world without the rose-colored glasses of a simplistic retribution theology. He is saying that the moral fabric of the universe is more complex and mysterious than their neat little formulas can contain.

Job describes the wicked man's life in vivid detail. His children are successful, his home is secure, his livestock multiply, and his days are filled with music and feasting. He lives a life of uninterrupted ease and then, when his time comes, he slips into the grave without a prolonged struggle. More than this, Job puts words in the mouth of this prosperous rebel. The wicked man is not just passively ignoring God; he is actively telling Him to get lost. He sees no profit in piety and wants nothing to do with the Almighty or His ways. Job concludes this section by distancing himself from this worldview, stating that the counsel of the wicked is far from him. Yet, the force of his argument hangs in the air: if this is how the wicked live and die, what becomes of your neat and tidy doctrine of immediate divine justice?

Outline

Context In Job

This passage is a direct challenge to the theological framework of Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. They have come to "comfort" him, but their comfort has consisted of a relentless insistence that Job must have committed some secret, heinous sin to deserve his suffering. Their argument is straightforward: God is just, and therefore He blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked in this life. Since Job is suffering, he must be wicked. Zophar has just finished his second speech (Job 20), in which he painted a lurid picture of the wicked man's short-lived triumph, followed by a swift and terrible downfall. Job's response in chapter 21 is a frontal assault on this entire premise. He is not denying God's ultimate justice, but he is denying the simplistic, immediate, and visible application of it that his friends are so certain about. He uses the observable reality of the world as his primary evidence. This is a crucial turning point in the book, where Job moves from defending his own integrity to questioning the very foundation of his friends' worldview.

Verse by Verse Commentary

Job 21:7 Why do the wicked still live, Continue on, also become very powerful?

Job opens with the million-dollar question. This is not a new question, of course. Asaph wrestles with it in Psalm 73, and Jeremiah asks it in Jeremiah 12. But Job asks it with a particular poignancy, given his circumstances. He is not just wondering why the wicked prosper, but why they live. Why does God sustain the breath in the lungs of men who defy Him? Not only do they live, they "continue on," or grow old. They don't just have a brief flash of success before being snuffed out, as Zophar had just argued. They have longevity. And to top it off, they "become very powerful." They accumulate influence, wealth, and authority. Job is laying out three observable facts that fly in the face of his friends' tidy system: the wicked live, they live long, and they live large. This is the raw data of experience, and Job is demanding that any adequate theology must account for it.

Job 21:8 Their seed is established with them in their presence, And their offspring before their eyes,

Here Job begins to flesh out the picture of this wicked prosperity. It is not a lonely, sterile success. The wicked man sees his children and grandchildren established around him. In the ancient world, this was the pinnacle of blessing. A man's legacy was his family line. To see your "seed established" meant your name, your property, and your influence would continue. The phrase "in their presence" and "before their eyes" emphasizes the personal satisfaction of it all. The wicked man isn't just told that his descendants are doing well somewhere off in the distance. He gets to sit on his porch in his old age and watch them play in the yard. He sees his dynasty taking root and flourishing, a direct contradiction to the claim that the children of the wicked are cut off.

Job 21:9 Their houses are safe from dread, And the rod of God is not on them.

The prosperity extends to their domestic life. Their homes are characterized by "shalom," peace and safety. There is no "dread" or terror. This is a direct jab at his friends, particularly Eliphaz, who had described the wicked man as living in constant fear, with "the sound of terrors is in his ears" (Job 15:21). Job says, "Look around you. That's not what I see." Their houses are secure. And then the kicker: "the rod of God is not on them." The instrument of divine discipline or punishment is nowhere to be seen. While Job, the righteous man, is being hammered by inexplicable suffering, these godless men live untouched by any sign of divine displeasure.

Job 21:10 His ox mates and does not fail; His cow calves and does not miscarry.

From the home, Job moves to the fields. The source of their wealth, their livestock, is supernaturally fertile. This is covenantal language. In Deuteronomy 28, blessings for obedience include the fruitfulness of livestock. Job is pointing out that these men, who live in open rebellion to the covenant-making God, are enjoying the very blessings promised to the faithful. Their bulls are virile, and their cows carry to full term. Everything they touch seems to turn to gold. It's a picture of effortless, uninterrupted agricultural increase. There are no setbacks, no plagues, no misfortunes. It is prosperity on autopilot.

Job 21:11-12 They send forth their little ones like the flock, And their children skip about. They lift up the tambourine and harp And are glad at the sound of the pipe.

The picture is now one of overflowing joy and festivity. Their families are large and happy, like a flock of sheep. The children are not sickly or oppressed; they are full of life, skipping and dancing. The household is filled with music. The tambourine, harp, and pipe were instruments of celebration. This is not a quiet, grim prosperity. It is a loud, cheerful, exuberant prosperity. They are having a wonderful time. They are living lives that are, from all outward appearances, full and rich and happy. Job is painting a picture of a life that anyone would desire, and he is attributing it to the wicked.

Job 21:13 They spend their days in prosperity, And suddenly they go down to Sheol.

This verse is the capstone of his description. Their entire lives, from start to finish, are spent in "prosperity." The Hebrew word is "tov," or goodness. They live out their days in the good life. And then, when death comes, it is not a long, drawn-out, painful affair. "Suddenly," or in a moment, "they go down to Sheol." They don't linger in sickness. They don't suffer the slow decay of old age. They live a full, happy life and then, poof, they're gone. It is the kind of death many would consider a blessing. Job is systematically dismantling every plank of his friends' argument. The wicked don't suffer in life, and they don't even suffer in their death.

Job 21:14-15 They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, And what would we profit if we entreat Him?’

Now Job gives us the theology of the prosperous wicked. This is crucial. Their prosperity is not accidental, nor are they merely ignorant of God. They are defiant. They actively tell God to leave them alone. "Depart from us!" is the cry of the autonomous man who wants to be his own god. They have no desire for God's revelation, His "ways." They see God's law not as a path to life, but as an unwanted intrusion. Then comes the pragmatic atheism of verse 15. They ask two questions. First, "Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?" This is the question of Pharaoh. It is a challenge to God's authority. Who are you to tell me what to do? Second, "what would we profit if we entreat Him?" This is a challenge to God's relevance. They have looked at their lives of ease, their full barns and happy children, and concluded that they have done quite well for themselves without God. Prayer is a waste of time. Service is for suckers. Piety has no payoff. Their prosperity has become the ultimate proof, in their own minds, that God is unnecessary.

Job 21:16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Here Job pivots. Having laid out this devastatingly effective portrait of the prosperous wicked, he makes two concluding statements to ensure his friends don't misunderstand him. First, he says, "their prosperity is not in their hand." This is a crucial theological assertion. Job is not a Manichean. He is not suggesting there are two powers in the world, God and the wicked, and the wicked are winning. He knows that whatever prosperity these men have, they do not have it by their own strength. It is a tacit acknowledgment of God's sovereignty over the whole affair. God is the one who gives it, for His own mysterious reasons. This is a deeper, more robust understanding of God's power than his friends possess. Second, he distances himself from their worldview. "The counsel of the wicked is far from me." Though he describes their life, he does not endorse their mindset. He is saying, "I see what they have, and I hear what they say, and I want no part of it." He is maintaining his own integrity while simultaneously blowing up his friends' theological categories. He is a man who can look at the complexity of the world and still hold fast to his piety, even when that piety seems to bring him nothing but grief.

Application

The first and most obvious application is a warning against a shallow prosperity gospel. Job's friends were the original health and wealth preachers, and Job refutes them, not by quoting theological proof texts, but by telling them to open their eyes and look at the world. The idea that following God guarantees an easy, comfortable life is a lie. Sometimes the righteous suffer terribly, and sometimes the wicked get rich, have happy families, and die peacefully in their sleep. Our faith must be robust enough to handle that reality without short-circuiting.

Second, we must learn to distinguish between God's ultimate justice and His immediate providence. God is just, and every sin will be accounted for, either at the cross of Christ or in the fires of Hell. But God is not a cosmic vending machine where you put in a prayer and get out a Lexus. He is sovereign, and His purposes are often hidden from us. He allows the wicked to prosper for His own reasons, perhaps to store up wrath for the day of wrath, or perhaps to serve as a test for the righteous. We are called to trust His character even when we cannot trace His hand.

Finally, Job's conclusion is our conclusion. We see the apparent success of those who shake their fist at Heaven. We see them celebrate their autonomy and mock the faithful. And what should our response be? "The counsel of the wicked is far from me." We are not to envy them, as Asaph was tempted to do. We are not to imitate them. We are to recognize that their prosperity, however glittering, is a house built on sand. Their rejection of God is the ultimate foolishness, regardless of how many cattle they have. Our treasure is not in our portfolio or the size of our family, but in the knowledge of God Himself. And that is a treasure that, unlike the wicked man's fleeting prosperity, can never be taken away.