Read Job 19:28-21:34.

Introduction⤒🔗

As a young woman, Barb was the passenger in an awful automobile accident. The accident caused her permanent disabilities and a life of constant pain. The one who was responsible for the accident fled the state and was never held accountable.

We do not always see the justice of God carried out in this present world; indeed, it is rather infrequent that we do witness such acts of divine justice.

In the passage presently before us, Zophar asserts that the triumph of the wicked is short (20:5). But in response to this assertion, Job asks, “Why do the wicked survive? Indeed, why do they live to old age? Why do they prevail?” (21:7)

In fact, Job himself has supplied the answer to the dilemma his own question poses when in Job 19:29 he warned his friends, “Be aware that there is [a day of] judgment.”

There Will Be a Day of Final Judgment, Even Though God’s Justice May Be Suspended at Present←⤒🔗

Zophar feels compelled to instruct Job: “the mirth of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the godless lasts for only a moment” (20:5). Zophar is insisting that God metes out swift retribution upon the wicked in this present life. He maintains that this is a fact that has been witnessed down through the ages, ever since man was placed on the earth (20:4). As we shall see, much of what Zophar says is true, but his “timetable” is mistaken.

Zophar now proceeds to assure Job of the inevitable certainty of judgment against the wicked:

⁶Though his success may reach the heavens and his head touch the clouds, ⁷he will perish forever, like his own dung. Those who saw him will say, “Where is he?” ⁸He will fly away like a dream, no more to be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night. ⁹The eye that saw him will not look at him again; his community will no longer see him. ¹⁰His children will be required to make amends to the poor; his hands must give back his wealth. ¹¹The youthful vigor that once filled his bones will lie with him in the dust. 20:6-11

Even if the wicked man attains the heights of heaven, (i.e. even if he gains the utmost heights of power, security, and pride); nevertheless, he will perish forever, “like his own dung” (20:6-7a). He who once was a dominant figure of tyranny shall be reduced to disgrace and vanish away; men shall ask, “Where is he?” (20:7b) He shall be like a dream of the night that vanishes when one awakes; he shall not endure (20:8-9). The wicked shall come to complete desolation: his children shall be beggars; his wealth shall be re-distributed; his youthful vigor shall succumb to death—he shall die suddenly in the prime of life (20:10-11).

With regard to the wicked, Zophar assures Job, “although evil tastes sweet in his mouth...inside him it will become the venom of asps” (20:12-14). Wickedness is portrayed as a delicious delicacy in which the wicked man delighted, a thing that he savored and enjoyed; but that very wickedness shall finally prove to be a bitter poison within him. As the Apostle Paul reminds the Roman Christians,

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? Those things result in death. Rom. 6:20-21

The wicked man has swallowed riches, but he shall vomit them up again; God will make his belly vomit them up (20:15). By deceit and violence, he may have amassed great wealth, but God will bring him into judgment, He will cause the wicked man to suffer the bitter experience of giving up all that he has gotten. With regard to this theme, note, also, Ecclesiastes 2:26, “To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.”

Zophar continues to vividly portray the bitter judgment that is the sure fate of the wicked (20:16-19). The wicked man shall suck the poison of asps (20:16). He will not enjoy the river flowing with honey and curds (20:17). Again, Zophar declares that all that the wicked man has gained he shall be forced to restore; he shall not get to enjoy the fruit of his sinful labors (20:18). The reason all this shall come upon him is due to the fact that he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute (20:19); he has committed acts of injustice against the poor and he has not shown mercy to the poor. He is guilty of a double violation of the moral law of God; he has committed sins of omission as well as sins of commission. As Question/Answer #14 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism expresses it:

What is sin?

Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.

Zophar especially focuses on the greed that motivated and incited the wicked man to perpetrate his acts of wickedness:

²⁰Because his craving is never satisfied, he cannot escape from his greed. ²¹No one has survived his devouring [appetite]; therefore, his prosperity will not endure. ²²In the midst of his abundance, he will suffer distress; the hand of everyone whom he caused to suffer will be against him. ²³When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him. 20:20-23

His craving is never satisfied, he cannot escape from his greed (20:20). He had an insatiable appetite for more possessions, for greater wealth; he was never satisfied, he always hungered for more. “No one has survived his devouring [appetite]” (20:21a); that is to say, he created a monopoly. Note the woe pronounced upon such greedy behavior by the prophet Isaiah, “Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there is no space left and you live alone in the land!” (Isa. 5:8) The judgment that shall come upon the wicked man because of his greed is manifold: “his prosperity shall not endure” (20:21b), he shall lose everything; “[the hand of] everyone [whom he caused to] suffer will be against him” (20:22). “God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him” (20:23).

The attitude of the wicked, with his insatiable appetite for more possessions and for greater wealth, his never-satisfied hunger for attaining more for himself, is in direct contrast to the self-giving character of God. Whereas the wicked greedily seek to grasp things for themselves, God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17b).

Zophar declares that the judgment of the wicked shall come upon him without delay: there is no suspending of the divine judgment, nor is there any escape from it (20:23c-29). As soon as he has filled his belly, God will rain the fierceness of His wrath upon the wicked man (20:23c). The wicked man may seek to flee from an iron weapon, but a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him (20:24-25b). “Terrors will come upon him” (20:25c); “total darkness is reserved for his treasures” (20:26a); “an unfanned fire will consume him and will devour whatever is left in his tent” (20:26b). All creation shall bear witness against him and rise up in opposition against him (20:27).

Yet again, Zophar emphasizes that the wicked man shall lose all he possesses: “A flood will sweep away his house—torrents on the day of [God’s] wrath” (20:28). The flood of God’s divine judgment shall sweep away all his possessions. The repeated statement of the wicked man’s loss of all that is dear to him and all that he has accumulated, is subtly directed at Job who himself has suffered the loss of all things. Zophar concludes by solemnly declaring, “This is the wicked man’s portion from God” (20:29).

In response to Zophar’s speech, Job protests that he does not see the wicked receiving swift justice in this present world. Indeed, he inquires, “Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and increasing in power?” (21:7) Rather than being stricken by God’s judgment in the prime of life, (as Zophar maintains, 20:11), Job witnesses the wicked living on to old age (21:7b). Rather than being stripped of his ill-gotten gain, (as Zophar has repeatedly maintained), Job declares that the wicked increase in power (21:7c). The wicked man is able to parlay his wealth and influence into ever-greater power and dominance.

Job now proceeds to give a description of the wicked that is in direct contradiction to that submitted by Zophar (21:8-13)—and that thus calls into question Zophar’s thesis, namely, that God’s judgment upon the wicked is swift and occurs within this present lifetime. Job asserts that the children of the wicked are established, and the wicked live to see it (21:8)—contrast this with Zophar’s claim as recorded in 20:10. Their houses are safe and free from fear and exempt from the rod of God (21:9)­ contrast this with Zophar’s claim as recorded in 20:23b, 25c. They enjoy peace and prosperity (21:10) and at the end of life succumb to an easy death: “in a moment they go down to Sheol” (21:13b)—contrast this with Zophar’s claim as recorded in 20:18.

Job asserts that, lest there be any mistake, those of whom he has been speaking are, indeed, the wicked (21:14-16). They consciously and vocally command God to depart from them (21:14). They have no desire to know His ways; they have no desire and no intention of living in compliance with His will and His commandments. They blasphemously and insanely disparage God, they defiantly ask: “Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What will we gain by praying to him?” (21:15) They only look upon God for what they can get from Him; and concluding that what He has to offer is not worth their effort, they decide not to petition Him with their prayers.

Note their utilitarian view of religion: What’s in it for me? Their view of religion is not God-centered. The essence of true religion may well be summarized in the first question/answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which asks, “What is the chief end [i.e. the ultimate purpose] of man?” The answer: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Job assures his friends that, despite how they may view him, he does not share the perspective of the wicked: “I stand far away from the thinking of the wicked!” (21:16b)

Job now goes on to ask his friends the penetrating question, “How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity overtake them—the fate God allots in his anger?” (21:17-18) That is to say, how often have Job’s friends actually witnessed what Zophar asserts, namely, that God enacts swift judgment against the wicked in this present lifetime? Note: The lamp being snuffed out refers to a premature death as a result of a calamity brought on by God as punishment for evil doing.¹ If his friends respond by modifying their position, asserting that God visits His judgment upon the children of the wicked (21:19a), Job protests that such would actually be a non-judgment: the wicked themselves would escape and would have no consciousness of the calamities befalling their children (21:19b-21).

In chapter 21:27-30, Job again returns to this subject. Job anticipates what response his friends will make to his contention that God does not enact swift judgment against the wicked. Anticipating their response, Job declares, “I know what you are thinking” (21:27). Job knows his friends will reply, “Where [among us] does the wicked man reside?” (21:28) They are asking Job for evidence to support his contention. They are asking him to show them an example of a wicked man living in security and exerting his evil influence in their local community. Job’s failure to produce such an example would support their claim that God does in fact mete out swift retribution to the wicked.

Job in turn responds to his friends by telling them to interview “world travelers;” that is to say, men who have traveled extensively and are acquainted with the world (21:29). Job is convinced that their testimony will support his contention, “[They will testify] that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, he is delivered in the day of wrath” (21:30). Note: The Hebrew phrase that the American Standard Version translates, “the evil man is reserved for the day of calamity,” may also be translated, “the evil man is preserved in the day of calamity.” The Hebrew preposition, ל, can convey either the meaning of motion (“to,” “toward,” “for”) or the meaning of rest (“in,” “at,” “on”). The Hebrew verb, חָשׂךְַ , can convey either the meaning, “to reserve (for something),” or “to preserve (from something).” The context of the passage suggests the latter rendering; the evil man is preserved, or, spared, in the day of calamity. World travelers will bear witness that they have seen the houses of wicked men spared when God has visited the community with a natural disaster, the wicked have not been swept away by the judgment of God.

Job maintains that his friends lack the evidence to support their claim that God always, or even generally, executes swift judgment against the wicked, (i.e. that the wicked always get what they deserve in this present world). Indeed, Job’s observations of the life of the wicked contradict the thesis propounded by his friends.

But Job now sums up his present argument by affirming that God, indeed, is the Judge: “[But] can anyone teach God knowledge; he who is the one who judges the heavenly beings?” (21:22) God even judges the heavenly beings, and no mere mortal can give instruction to God. Job is affirming the justice of God and is confessing that God’s ways are inscrutable: they are higher than man’s ways and even beyond man’s limited, finite comprehension. In other words, Job is maintaining that God is just, and God knows what He is doing.

The solution to the dilemma is to be found in Job’s own testimony recorded in 19:29, “Be aware that there is [a day of] judgment.” Although often times suspended and not executed in this present world, that last great Day of Judgment shall surely come:

[God] commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has appointed a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:30-31

We, like Job, need to broaden our perspective. We, as Christians, need to look beyond life in this present world to the Day when God, the Righteous Judge, shall appear to carry out His role as the Dispenser of ultimate justice:

The LORD...comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth. Psl. 96:13

³¹When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Matt. 25:31-32

Even Though All Men Succumb to the Same Fate of Physical Death, There Will Be a Day of Final Judgment←⤒🔗

Job now calls the attention of his friends to the fact that all men, regardless of who they are, succumb to the same fate, namely, physical death (21:23-26). One man dies in full vigor, wholly at ease and content (21:23-24). This man, regardless of whether he was righteous or wicked, encounters death while he is still in the fullness of life. That is to say, at the conclusion of a long and prosperous life he meets a tranquil death. Another man dies “with bitterness of soul, never having tasted happiness” (21:25). For this man, regardless of whether he was righteous or wicked, his whole life has been one of misery and at the end he suffers a miserable death. Yet, Job observes, both of them, regardless of whether they were righteous or wicked, encounter the same fate: “they lie down together in the dust” (21:26)—they both succumb to physical death.

Once again, Job maintains that, far from being swept away by acts of God’s temporal judgment, the wicked man is firmly established in this present world—and then goes the way of all flesh (21:31­ 33). No one opposes the wicked man, confronting him with his crimes; no one brings him to justice (21:31). On the contrary, when he dies “he is carried to the cemetery; they take care of his tomb” (21:32); he is given an honorable burial, he is even eulogized. In his death the wicked man “rests” in his grave: “the clods of the valley are sweet to him” (21:33). “All men—both the righteous and those who are wicked—shall follow the wicked man to the grave, just as death has been the fate of all those who have lived before him” (21:33). We must bear in mind, as noted previously, that a number of Old Testament passages (note, for example, Psl. 88:10-12; Psl. 115:17) strongly suggest that during the Old Testament dispensation all men upon death entered into a temporary state of soul sleep.

Job concludes his present speech by maintaining that his friends’ thesis of God’s swift retribution against the wicked is false: “The answers you offer continue to be false” (21:34).

Once again, we must bear in mind Job’s earlier affirmation, “Be aware that there is [a day of] judgment” (19:29). Let us be assured of that fact, even though all men succumb to the common fate of physical death:

...the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice ²⁹and shall come forth: they who have done good shall be resurrected to life; but they who have done evil shall be resurrected to condemnation. Jn. 5:28-29

³¹When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left... ⁴⁶Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matt. 25:31-33,46

Conclusion←⤒🔗

We do not always see the justice of God carried out in this present world; indeed, it is rather infrequent that we witness such acts of divine justice. Nevertheless, based upon the sure testimony of Scripture, let us be assured that there is appointed a day of final judgment. In light of this fact, (in the words of the Apostle Peter), as Christians,

...what kind of people ought you to be? [You ought to live] in holy conduct and godliness, ¹²as you watch for and eagerly await the coming of the day of God. On that day, the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will be dissolved by the intense heat. ¹³But, according to his promise, we are watching for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness resides. ¹⁴Therefore, beloved, since you are watching for these things, make every effort to be pure and blameless so as to be found at peace with him. 2 Per. 3:11-14

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. What does Zophar assert in Job 20:1, 4-5? As you observe the world, would you agree with Zophar? How does Job respond to Zophar’s claim? See Job 21:7 As you observe the society in which you live, would you agree with Job?

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied,... ⁴Surely you are aware of how it has been from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth; ⁵namely, that the mirth of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the godless lasts for only a moment.Job 20:1, 4-5

Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and increasing in power? Job 21:7

2. Job’s analysis of the presence and “success” of the wicked appears to be more accurate than Zophar’s assessment. But are there ever times when Zophar’s view proves to be true? Note Psl. 55:23b; Gen. 38:7,

Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days... Psl. 55:23

Er, Judah’s first born, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD killed him. Gen. 38:7

3. What does the fact that Zophar’s assessment finds some evidence to support it tell us about God’s commitment to justice? Note Psl. 11:4-5 How does Scripture answer Job’s question, “Why do the wicked continue to live?” See Psl. 92:6-7,

The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyelids behold, his eyelids test the sons of men. ⁵The LORD tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates. Psl. 11:4-5

A senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this: ⁷When the wicked spring up like grass, and when all the workers of iniquity flourish, [it is] that they may be destroyed forever. Psl. 92:6-7

4. What is another reason Scripture gives for the LORD’s long-suffering “tolerance” of the wicked? See Ezek. 18:32 But what is the result of someone ignoring and abusing God’s long-suffering patience? See Rom. 2:4-5,

'Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?' says the Lord GOD, '[and] not that he should turn from his ways and live?'Ezek. 18:23

Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and [the] revelation of the righteous judgment of God... Rom. 2:4-5

5. If God does not always immediately carry out His righteous judgment against sinful man; indeed, if He rarely does so, when does He carry out that judgment? See Heb. 9:27 Of what does Job advise his friends in Job 19:29. With regard to that day, what assurance do you, if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? See Rom. 8:1,

...it is appointed for men once to die, and after this [comes] judgment... Heb. 9:27

...you yourselves should fear the sword; for [what you are doing] are iniquities worthy of punishment by the sword! Be aware that there is [a day of] judgment. Job 19:29

There is, therefore, now no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus... Rom. 8:1