Job 21-30

Job 21 (Job)

Job is making here the truthful observation that life doesn’t look so cleanly formulaic as “wicked are judged”. There are general ways this is true (for instance, you’re more likely to go to prison or have an early death if you murder someone, or you’re more likely to get a sexual disease if you’re promiscuous) but it’s not assured. And of course in an absolute sense it’s always true (no wicked man will escape the ultimate judgment). But there are plenty of exceptions in this life where wicked people live at ease (as Job points out). All of this makes me think of Proverbs balanced with Ecclesiastes. Proverbs teaches the generalities (things like: “the wicked are punished”) while Ecclesiastes explains realities and exceptions (things like: “I saw a wicked man prosper”).
21:29 helps bolster my point about Job’s friends lacking experience. It sounds like they don’t take time to ask, learn, experience beyond their own somewhat vacuum of a world, thus they think very rigidly formulaic. I know people like this, and it scares me that I too may be a person like this more than I realize. God forgive me.

Wow. The heels are really digging in. Though I can feel his pain here (while still seeing it’s wrong). Namely, you grab hold of a truth (in this case it is the truth that “God humbled the wicked and exalts the righteous”), you hear someone say things that run counter to your understanding of that truth, and your zeal to make this truth known where it is challenged takes over. But you’re not realizing that there are angles unconsidered here. Been there. Lord forgive me.

Here, Job argues back that there are lots of wicked people who legitimately prosper. Reminds me of Psalm 73.
But, also like Psalm 73, he sees that this life of prosperity only lasts “a little while” (compared to all of time), and at the end, “they are brought low and gathered up like all the others” Job 24:24. Though I don’t know that he sees them as receiving ultimate judgment at that time according to this passage, or if he’s just observing their end is like everyone else on the earth (in the sense that they cease to live after “a little while” of life).

They continue entrenched in their talking points. Bildad (and other friends) say, “Job deserves this. Surely you are wicked.” Job says: “I haven’t done things more deserving of this than others who don’t have such mishaps.”

I was surprised to see Job’s rhetoric sort of change here. Formerly he pointed out how the wicked may prosper and the righteous not. Now he affirms that the wicked only temporarily may have blessing, but ultimately will suffer loss (27:7-23)
Before saying this, Job establishes his “integrity” and “righteousness” (27:5-6). Thus, I see Job actually being more optimistic here than he has been. Altogether I see him saying “I know I acted with integrity, and the wicked will ultimately have calamity, so I have hope.”

I see these chapters as Job resetting. He takes a step back and says, “Let’s consider what true wisdom is: it’s a fear of the Lord and turning from evil” (Job 28, especially 28:28)
Then in Job 29 he talks about when he was acting wisely/righteously and how he felt God’s blessing at that time.
This sets up Job 30, where he compares his former blessed estate (29) with his new “cursed” position wherein the “rabble” of society sit in judgment over him. Here we see more of Job going over the line in charging God with cruelty (30:21).