Commentary on the Book of Job part thirty eight

                                    Job 21:1-34

In Job 21:1-5, Job informed his friends that he intended to speak the truth to them that he had learned by direct observation of life even though he knew that they would continue to mock him. Job implied that his friends only spoke about how they imagined life should be and not about how life really was. Job pointed out to his friends that they imagined that his problem was with his fellow man, that he had somehow wronged them, but Job knew that his real problem was with his spiritual relationship with God. Job then proclaimed that he intended to tell his friends the simple truth which should astonish them and cause them to be quiet.

In Job 21:6-14, Job spoke the simple, observational truth that the wicked often prosper in life, and often even find some happiness. Job's friends, being deists and materialists, had concluded that Job must be suffering because he was wicked. In their minds, physical suffering provided proof that one had to be wicked.

In Job 21:15, Job reasoned to his friends that if physical suffering and reward were all there was to life, then why believe in God at all and pray to Him if He punishes only in this life and does not forgive, and if He often allows the wicked to prosper until their deaths without any punishment? If only a deist God exists, then why not ignore Him if He largely ignores humans?

In Job 21:16-26, God gave Job a revelation about the destiny of the totally wicked. Job understood from God that no goodness whatsoever exists within the life of the totally wicked, and therefore, they can teach him nothing. By Job's phrase, " the candle of the wicked put out," Job demonstrated that he understood from God that He will punish the totally wicked with a spiritual death which will follow their physical deaths. The word "candle" symbolized their inner light or spirit, but the dark, totally evil part of their spirit will be "put out;" that is, separated from God forever. The totally wicked are as useless as stubble and chaff which the wind blows away forever. God's children know that they belong to God because He punishes them for their correction, and He rewards them for their good works. But the totally wicked will experience the eternal wrath of God after their physical deaths.