Job 21: 1 – 34
The Evil Man’s Guide to Success
1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your consolation. 3 Bear with me that I may speak, and after I have spoken, keep mocking. 4 “As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient? 5 Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth. 6 Even when I remember I am terrified, and trembling takes hold of my flesh. 7 Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, become mighty in power? 8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. 10 Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage. 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice to the sound of the flute. 13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14 Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. 15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’ 16 Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, the sorrows God distributes in His anger? 18 They are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that a storm carries away. 19 They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it. 20 Let his eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months is cut in half? 22 “Can anyone teach God knowledge, since He judges those on high? 23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and secure; 24 His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist. 25 Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure. 26 They lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them. 27 “Look, I know your thoughts, and the schemes with which you would wrong me. 28 For you say, ‘where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the wicked?’ 29 Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs? 30 For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; they shall be brought out on the day of wrath. 31 Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done? 32 Yet he shall be brought to the grave, and a vigil kept over the tomb. 33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; everyone shall follow him, as countless have gone before him. 34 How then can you comfort me with empty words, since falsehood remains in your answers?”
Let me ask you this, ‘when we were reading today’ scripture what thought came into your mind? I believe that you might be thinking about the same concern that I have had along with thousands of other believers. ‘Why does it seem like evil people are successful in life?’ They get everything they want, they keep getting blessed and they live longer.
Why does it seem like people who try to live a good and Godly life can’t catch a break.- its paycheck-to-paycheck, stress etc.”
This is a painful question pondered by many. The answer is rooted in free will. Many of the behaviors of evil people lead directly to success; the biggest liar and manipulator on the sales team will usually be the top salesperson, for example. The evil person develops skill in seeing how to get the optimal outcome in every situation, and is willing to take whatever the actions are to get that most desirable outcome which is why they so often get there.
In the Gospel of Luke chapter 16 we see such and example when our Lord Jesus speaks on such issues. Here we find a crocked steward. Listen to how our Lord describes this situation,”
1 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. 9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? 13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ points out exactly how dishonest people operate. Our Master Is The Lord Jesus Christ. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He has promised to take care of us – remember the sparrows being cared by Him?
In all truth these people are ‘NOT’ being blessed, they are reaping the “rewards” of their evil in the same way that a child cheating on a test gets a higher score - this is not the work of God, as He never rewards evil.
But a big problem that might circulate in our thinking is ‘why does He even permit it?’ The answer I believe is ‘Free will’. We all believe in free will, we want to have it, we believe everyone should have it but we’re naturally unhappy when evil people use it to achieve success.”
It says in our Bibles that anyone who is in love with the world and it ways is at war with our Holy Maker. In the book of Isaiah chapter 13 verse 11 we see the outcome on how those who place their all in the world turn out, “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”
If God were to block all evil behavior, we would not have free will anymore; more to the point, if being good is all we can do, rather than it being a matter of choice, then we are not demonstrating any actual virtue and God wants us to choose right behavior in the same way that He wants us to choose faith rather than being “programmed” to have it.
And what is our reward for making those choices rather than the evil ones that lead so consistently to “earthly success”? We have “true success,” the only kind that matters; our deep connection to God. Those evil people that have monetary and business success do not have that sort of connection to God. It is literally impossible for them to have it, because God does not reward evil in any way, including that most precious reward; His closeness.
Which would you rather have; “success” gained by evil acts, or to be close to God? It’s not a hard choice, when you look at it that way, is it?
Don’t envy the evil people who have achieved “success” - pity them, because they have given up the only thing Who matters, that thing that you and I are blessed with in abundance… closeness to the Lord.
1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your consolation. 3 Bear with me that I may speak, and after I have spoken, keep mocking.
Things are starting to get out of control. The three visitors as we have witnessed in the previous chapters have shown proper etiquette in allowing Job to speak without any interruptions. I am use to hearing others in their conversations say, ‘would you allow me to finish before cutting in.’ Job here does the same and entreats them to not break in on him as he is responding to their accusations.
That which he urges them is very reasonable. They said that they had come to comfort him. "No,’’ says he, "let this be your consolations; if you have no other comforts to administer to me, then at least be kind enough to give me a patient hearing, and that shall pass for your consolations of me. Then after I have spoken you may go on with what you have to say, and I will not hinder you, even though I know that you will go on to mock me.’’
4 “As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
Job tells these guys that his complaint is not against them but is to God. Therefore, they are not to be his judges. It is a scary thing to even go to traffic court. You do not know the outcome when you leave decisions to other humans. Job knows how Great The Lord Most High Is and to Him Job wants to take his concerns to not put any decisions in the hands of mortal men.
5 Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth. 6 Even when I remember I am terrified, and trembling takes hold of my flesh.
Job suggests that these so called counselors stop for a moment and take a good look at him. He is at his wit’s end. There were and are today endless amounts of wicked people who are not going through any difficulties to speak of. We have the problem of suggesting things as ‘always’ or ‘never’. I do not know about you but when we experience very difficult circumstances we think as such. So, Job wants these guys to stop and take a good look at reality and see how bad Job’s conditions were. Probably the smell of him would cause one to put their hand over their nose and mouth. Job when he thinks about his condition he is terrified. He believes that he will ‘never’ see better days and will not recover from his illness.
All of Job’s three visitors have been very wordy in describing the miserable condition of a wicked man in this world. "It is true,’’ says Job, "remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon notorious sinners, but not always; for we have many instances of the great and long prosperity of those that are openly and avowedly wicked.
7 Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, become mighty in power?
The three guys have hammered Job in their theory that all of Job’s woes were because he was wicked so Job now responds, ‘Okay if what you are saying is true that I am wicked, then tell me where do wicked people live now? Job in a few words describes their prosperity in the height, and breadth, and length. He says, ‘Hey, guys stop and think about some wicked people who live among us, they are still wealthy, powerful, and live to a nice old age. Also they are mighty in power, are preferred to places of authority and trust
I ask myself as to why does God allow this to happen?
Our Great and Wonderful Creator Is Love! He desires that no one should perish. When you search the Bible you find that God deals with the wicked after their inequities are full. In His love and mercy He waits for people to turn from their wicked ways. When they have crossed the line of no turning back then in His Justice He acts.
The prosperity of the wicked is here described to be complete and perfect.
8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. 10 Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage. 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice to the sound of the flute.
They are multiplied, and their family is built up, and they have the satisfaction of seeing it. They live an easy and quiet life. Whereas Zophar had spoken of their continual frights and terrors, Job says, ‘Hey, the wicked houses are safe both from danger and from the fear of it, and are far from the killing wounds of God’s sword or arrows that they do not feel the consequence of any hardships.
They are rich and thrive in their estates. Of this he gives only one instance. Their cattle increase, and they meet with no disappointment in them; not so much as a cow casts her calf. From the sidelines it appears that they are living the dream life. They are merry and live a enjoyable life
Their children go to the best schools. They enjoy great parties at their home or country clubs. Their children are enrolled at the best dance and music institutes.
13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14 Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. 15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’ 16 Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
The wicked spend their days, all their days, in wealth, and never know what it is to want—in plenty of entertainment, and never know what sadness means; and at last, without any previous alarms to frighten them, without any anguish or agony, in a moment they go down to the grave, and do not have to go through any suffering in their death.
Job explains how the wicked people abuse their prosperity and are confirmed and hardened by it in their irreverence of Almighty God. My wife has 4 sisters and one brother. She is the second child born in the family. When I first came into the picture her oldest sister was married. It was nice to observe them. The husband was going to Gettysburg Medical College while her oldest sister worked. They lived on a restricted low budget while he was in college. After medical school and internship his first hospital job started with a salary in the high six figures. For a couple that lived with the barest of necessities to have this much cash coming in was more than they knew what to do with it. Their first vacation was an around the world trip.
Then I come along living barely above the surface yet having the joy of knowing The Lord Most High. I tried to share the Gospel to this couple and the husband’s answer matches what we see proclaimed here. He is not wicked but his answer to me reflects the same worldly view without the Lord, He said to me, ‘I have accomplished all that I have and am by myself. So, why should I believe that God has helped me do it!.’ All I could say in return was, Wow!
Job gives the correct interpretation of their success and wants nothing to do with that kind of life. Job says, ‘all this is far from me taking part. ‘Job says that they did not get their wealth without God and therefore they are ungrateful to speak of Him in such a manner. Neither can they keep all their goodies without God, and are therefore very unwise to lose their interest in Him and tell Him to depart from them.
Job had largely described the prosperity of wicked people; now, in these verses, he opposes this to what his friends had maintained concerning their certain ruin in this life.
17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, the sorrows God distributes in His anger?
How often do you see the destruction of wicked people come upon them, or God distributing sorrows in his anger among them? Do you not as often see the happiness and prosperity continuing to the last?’’ Perhaps there are as many instances of notorious sinners ending their days in pomp as ending them in misery, which observation is sufficient to invalidate their arguments against Job and to show that no certain judgment can be made of men’s character by their outward condition.
Job goes on to reconcile this to the holiness and justice of God. Though wicked people prosper all their days, yet we are not therefore to think that God will let their wickedness always go unpunished.
18 They are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that a storm carries away.
Even while they prosper Job identifies them as stubble and chaff before the stormy wind. This means that they are light and worthless, and of no account either with God or with wise and good men. They are fitted to destruction, and continually lie exposed to it, and in the height of their pomp and power there is but a step between them and ruin.
19 They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
The oppressor lays up his goods for his children, to make them successful and well off, but God lays up His iniquity for them, to make them beggars. He keeps an exact account of the fathers’ sins, seals them up among his treasures as we read in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 34, “Is this not laid up in store with Me, sealed up among My treasures?” The Lord will justly punish the children of wicked people, while the riches, to which the curse cleaves, are they later inherit.
20 Let his eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Here we see stated that the wicked people eyes shall see his or her destruction which they would not be persuaded to believe. They will not see, but they shall see. The eyes that have been willfully shut against the grace of God shall be opened to see his destruction. He shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty; that shall be the portion of his cup. Though they prosper in this world, yet they shall be reckoned with in another world. God rewards him according to their deeds at last
21 For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months is cut in half?
The misery of damned sinners is here set forth in a few words, but very terrible ones. They lie under the wrath of Almighty God, Who, in their destruction, both shows His wrath and makes known His power; and, if this will be his condition in the other world, what good will his prosperity in this world do him? What pleasure has he in his house after him?
22 “Can anyone teach God knowledge, since He judges those on high?
Job resolves this difference which Providence makes between one wicked man and another into the wisdom and sovereignty of God: Shall any think that he can teach God knowledge? Dare we arraign God’s proceedings or blame His conduct? Shall we take upon us to tell God how He should govern the world, what sinner He should spare and whom He should punish? He has both authority and ability to judge those that are high. Angels in heaven, princes and leaders on earth, are accountable to God, and must receive their judgment from Him. He manages them, and makes what use He pleases of them. Shall He then be accountable to us, or receive advice from us? He Is The Judge of all the earth, and therefore no doubt He will do right, and those proceedings of His providence which seem to contradict one another He can make, not only mutually to agree, but jointly to serve His own purposes.
23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and secure; 24 His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist. 25 Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure. 26 They lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them.
The little difference there is between one wicked man’s dying so in pain and misery and another not having to go through the same trials is that both will at last meet in hell. So vast is the disproportion between time and eternity that, if hell be the lot of every sinner at last, it makes little difference if one goes singing there and another wailing.
There is one way into the world but many out; yet, as some are born by quick and easy labor, others by that which is hard and lingering, One dies suddenly, in his full strength, not weakened by age or sickness, being wholly at ease and quiet, under no apprehension at all of the approach of death, nor in any fear of it; but, on the contrary, because his breasts are full of milk and his bones moistened with marrow, that is, he is healthful and vigorous like a cow that is fat and in good health, he counts upon nothing but to live many years in enjoyment and pleasure. Thus fair does he go about his life, and yet he is cut off in a moment by the stroke of death.
Another dies slowly, and with a great deal of previous pain and misery, in the bitterness of his soul, such as poor Job was himself now in, and never eats with pleasure, has no appetite for food nor any enjoyment of it, through sickness, or age, or sorrow of mind.
So, as rich and poor, so healthful and unhealthful, meet there: They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them, and feed sweetly on them. Thus, if one wicked man dies in a palace and another in a dungeon, they will meet in the congregation of the dead and damned, and the worm that dies not, and the fire that is not quenched, will be the same to them, which makes those differences inconsiderable and not worth worrying ourselves about.
Job now senses that the three guys are ready to pounce on what he just has said so he adds,
27 “Look, I know your thoughts, and the schemes with which you would wrong me. 28 For you say, ‘where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the wicked?
I know your thoughts,’’ says Job, "I know you will not agree with me; for your judgments are shaded and biased by your stubborn position and prejudices against me, and the positions which you wrongfully imagine against my comfort and honor: so how can I ever convince you differently? I know you are going to say in mockery ‘where is Job’s house? Or possibly where is the house of his eldest son, in which his children were feasting? Since they and I have fallen into the same predicament the conclusion must be that we are all wicked.”
’ 29 Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs?
Job lays down his own judgment to the contrary, and, for proof of it, appeals to the sentiments and observations of all mankind. So confident is he that he is in the right that he is willing to refer the case to the next man that comes along: "Have you not asked those that go by the way —just any person that will answer you? I say not, as Eliphaz said, to which of the saints, but to which of the children of men will you turn? Turn to which you will, and you will find them my entire mind, that the punishment of sinners is designed more for the other world than for this
30 For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; they shall be brought out on the day of wrath. 31 Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done? 32 Yet he shall be brought to the grave, and a vigil kept over the tomb. 33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; everyone shall follow him, as countless have gone before him.
Job here asserts - Two things:
(1.) That impenitent sinners will certainly be punished in the other world, and, usually, their punishment is put off until then.
(2.) That therefore we are not to think it strange if they prosper greatly in this world and fall under no visible token of God’s wrath. Therefore they are spared now, because they are to be punished then; therefore the workers of iniquity flourish, that they may be destroyed forever
The sinner is here supposed to live in a great deal of power, so as to be not only the terror of the mighty in the land of the living, but the terror of the wise and good too, whom he keeps in such awe that none dares to declare his way to his face. No one will take the liberty to reprove him, to tell him of the wickedness of his way, and what will be in the end thereof; so that he sins securely, and is not made to know either shame or fear. The prosperity of fools destroys them, by setting them (in their own conceit) above reproofs, by which they might be brought to that repentance which alone will prevent their ruin. Those are marked for destruction that is let alone in sin.
As a result this emboldens sinners in their sinful ways that they can brow-beat justice and make it afraid to meddle with them. But there is a day coming when those shall be told of their faults who now would not be willing to hear of them, those shall have their sins set in order before them, and their way declared to their face, to their everlasting confusion, who would not have it done here, to their conviction, and those who would not repay the wrongs they had done shall have them repaid to them.
Isn’t it also something unique for powerful people when they die that they are buried in a great deal of pomp and a grand ceremony? These individuals also have a stately monument erected over them. The statement ‘The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him’ means that there shall be as much done as can be with rich odors [flowers] to take off the stench of the grave. That every man shall draw after us refers to the fact that as there is a plain track before, so there is a long train behind; we are neither the first nor the last that pass through the dark entry. Everyone must go in his own order, the order appointed of God
34 How then can you comfort me with empty words, since falsehood remains in your answers?”
Job ends this portion with these charges against these visitors, "You comfort me in vain. All you have said gives me no relief; you tell me that I shall prosper again if I turn to God, but you go upon this presumption, that piety shall certainly be crowned with prosperity, which is false; and therefore how can your inference from it yield me any comfort?’’
What we can learn in these final words is that where there is no truth - little comfort is to be expected. So, when you come to a situation in which you do not fully know what to say, just remain silent!
