In this episode of AdBible, we dive into the complexity of Job 21, exploring Job’s response to Zophar’s perspective on the fate of the wicked. This is a chapter where profound questions about justice and prosperity are raised, as Job challenges the notion that wickedness is always met with suffering. Through a detailed reading, we uncover the nuances of Job’s arguments, providing insights into the ancient text that remain relevant today.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Alan J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
Today we reach the halfway point of the book of Job, chapter 21. We’ll listen to Job’s response to Zophar’s argument yesterday that the wicked suffer with Job’s argument that the wicked also prosper. Let’s listen in.
Job 21 Then Job answered and said, ìKeep listening to my words and let this be your comfort. Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth.î When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh. Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. Their bull breeds without fail, their cow calves and does not miscarry. They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. They say to God, Depart from us. We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. What is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him? Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me. How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes upon them, that God distributes pains in his anger, that they are like straw before the wind and like chaff that the storm carries away? You say, ìGod stores up their iniquity for their children.î Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off? Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them. Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me. For you say, Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived? Do you not ask those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath? Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done? When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb. The clods of the valley are sweet to him. All mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable. How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.
In 1984, I read Job 20-22 on the same day, and I wrote accusations of wickedness. Job stands firm. His confidence in his walk before God is incredible. He continues to say, not guilty to such accusations of wickedness, treatment of the poor, etc. In some of my previous recordings, I mentioned that I had circled a number in some of the days in 1984. That number indicated the amount of time I spent in my quiet time before the Lord. In 1984, I was 29 years old, and some of the days surrounding this day, I’d marked these times. There was a Thursday when I marked 30 minutes, a Saturday, 15 minutes, a Monday, 25 minutes, and on the day of this reading, 20 minutes, and the following day, 40 minutes, and then another day, 20 minutes. So how much time are you spending today in your quiet times with the Lord? In 1997, at 42 years old, I read Job chapters 12 through 21 all on the same day, and I had no record of anything recorded concerning chapter 21. And in 2015, at 60 years old, remember we were in Las Vegas celebrating our 60th birthdays and our 40th anniversary with our family? I read Job 20 through 21 on the same day. I referred to some of this yesterday, but I’ll conclude it all today. I wrote in my journal, In the previous chapter, chapter 20, Zophar reminded Job that the wicked suffer. In this chapter, Job responds, the wicked also prosper. Before we get into that aspect of this chapter, let’s look at how Job addresses his friends in verses 2 and 3. He says, Thus far, in 20 chapters of Job, Job thinks he is being mocked by his friends. Let’s take up his argument now that the wicked also prosper. We’ll start with verse 7. Verse 9. Verse 10. verses ten and eleven their bull breeds without fail their cow calves and does not miscarry they send out their little boys like a flock and their children dance verse thirteen they spend their days in prosperity and in peace they go down to sheol and yet they say this to god look at verse fourteen they say to god depart from us we do not desire the knowledge of your ways what is the almighty that we should serve him and what profit do we get if we pray to him So the wicked appear to prosper without any relationship to God whatsoever. Job concludes his argument in verse 16, Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? In other words, they haven’t had to depend on the Lord for their prosperity. Job then says in verse 22, Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? I think he’s reminding them that God only knows Job’s situation, that they do not. He’s warning them that they need to be careful not to judge based on what they see on earth. God’s view is from heaven. Theirs is from here. Then Job equalizes the matter, starting with verse 23. One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. They lie down alike in the dust. and the worms cover them job is saying regardless of the level of prosperity every one ends up equal at the end job closes the chapter with the last verse an admonishment to his friends how then will you comfort me with empty nothings there is nothing left of your answers but falsehood In the middle of the book of Job, let’s remember the circumstances. Job had lost it all. These friends come to comfort him. Rather than comfort, he feels mocked and, in a sense, lied to. As he says, nothing left of your answers but falsehood. When your friends are in pain, when they’re in trouble, do you go to comfort or do you end up mocking and giving falsehoods to their circumstances? We’ve said it over and over in Job. Be careful. Hopefully that’s the application we’re all learning. Be careful not to judge our friends so harshly. Again, in the middle chapters of Job, it’s nice to be reminded that Job doesn’t even know what’s happened. His friends certainly don’t know what’s happened. Nobody knows that Job’s situation was caused way back in chapter 1 with the discussion in the heavenlies between God and Satan. Father, remind us to be careful as we go to comfort our friends. May we be careful not to mock them, to offer false accusations to them, but to offer them the love of God, the mercy of God, and the grace of God. Help us, Lord, to be a true friend to those in need around us. Give us your insight to be able to do that. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You know, sometimes we need a plumb line, a true north, a solid basis of truth to live life. We’re not going to find it in the media or in social media or Google or your friends, but it is available right at your fingertips. Pilate asked Jesus in John 18, 38, what is truth? The chapter before, Jesus had answered the question in his prayer to God for his disciples. In the 17th verse, Jesus pleads with the Father, Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. So what would it be like if everyone, everywhere, read the Bible every day? Wow, it might be heaven on earth. What would it be like if every Christian read the Bible every day? Would we be better ambassadors for Christ? What would it be like if everyone in your community read the Bible every day? Would we have greater impact in our communities? And what would it be like if you personally read the Bible every day? Could you use a closer walk with Jesus? Could you use a light unto your path and a lamp unto your feet to walk through this life? Could you use a spiritual power surge in your life? Matthew 22, 29, Jesus speaking to the Sadducees said, You are mistaken not understanding the scriptures or the power of God. Yes, the scriptures can give us power to live this life. So I’m going to give you three easy action steps to make the Bible worth your time each and every day. Number one, commit to daily Bible reading. Commit to seek God and His Word daily, every day. And if you miss a day, start again the next day. Change your belief about God’s Word to behavior in God’s Word. Use any of our Ezra Project resources to help you. Visit EzraProject.net to get an Ezra Project Bible reading journal or one of our day-by-day through the Bible books. Commit today and visit EzraProject.net for easy-to-use resources for your daily time in God’s Word. Number two, be intentional. Decide what you want out of your Bible reading. I got to visit the headquarters of Back to the Bible once in Lincoln, Nebraska, and in one hallway down one side, they had scribbled all the reasons people say they don’t read the Bible. On the other side were all the reasons people do read the Bible. And I want to give you some of those to encourage you. On that wall, it said, God wants me to. Yes, God wants you to read the Bible. Do you want to meet with Him daily? Because He’ll meet with you every day through His Word. Number two, it changes me. Where could you be in one year with more Bible reading in your life? Number three, it improves my outlook on life. Yeah, turn out the bad news and saturate yourself with good news from the Word of God. Number four, it keeps me grounded. Yes, when the storms of life come, and they will, can you stand? Yes, you’ll stand better and more solid because you’re in the Word of God. Next, it keeps my heart soft. Yeah, Nehemiah 8, when people heard the Word, they wept and they worshipped. You will do the same as the Word softens your heart. Lastly, on the wall, it said, it keeps my daily focus on God. Yeah, that’s a great reason to read the Bible. You’ll gain the spiritual power to live life in our secular world. And then thirdly and lastly, feed your soul. Let God minister to your soul. Hebrews 4.12 says the Word of God pierces between your soul and your spirit, between joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart. Nothing else goes that deep. I don’t know where the place is between my soul and my spirit, but I want to put the Word of God there each and every day of my life. I hope you do too. God bless you as you spend time in God’s Word.
In this episode of AdBible, we dive into the complexity of Job 21, exploring Job’s response to Zophar’s perspective on the fate of the wicked. This is a chapter where profound questions about justice and prosperity are raised, as Job challenges the notion that wickedness is always met with suffering. Through a detailed reading, we uncover the nuances of Job’s arguments, providing insights into the ancient text that remain relevant today.
