Job 21-24
Job counters Zophar's argument by pointing out the many wicked living on with seemingly no punishment from the Lord for their actions. It is not a brief joy as Zophar has asserted, it is a lifetime. At 21:15b, Jov says something very telling. Quoting the wicked, he says, "Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?" (emphasis mine.) For the wicked it is all about getting something for themselves. "What's in it for me?" Job sees and hears that wretched excuse for ignoring God. And it seems to him that God is not bothering to punish them as He has punished Job.
At 21:19, Job quotes a proverb of the time, "God stores up a man's punishment for his sons." Job considers that injustice and wants the guilty to pay himself. He of course is forgetting the whole idea of punishment after death. But so too, Zophar's contention is aptly proven false by Job's experiences.
Eliphaz then reenters at the outset of chapter 22. He brings with him a series of accusations which sound much like Jesus' words to the "goats" in Matthew 25:41-43. The charges seem to be made up, considering it took Eliphaz and the others a while to travel to see Job in the first place. Yet the Temanite claims that Job has been cheating people and not being charitable to those in need.
Amazingly, Job ignores Eliphaz's accusations when he resumes in chapters 23 and 24. His response is an extension of his case -- Job wants a face to face meeting with God to find out why he is being punished. But Job laments that he cannot find God. What a contrast to the psalmist who can find no escape from the Holy Spirit! Job cannot track God down, though he follows Him closely. He wonders when his final judgment will occur, and dreads it.
In his argument, Job lays out many sins performed regularly by the wicked of the world and the conditions in which the poor are forced to endure. The evil will not help those who need such help, and they are not punished for it. Job's words foreshadow Jesus' teaching about the evil hating the light and loving the darkness, as told in John, chapter 3.
At 21:19, Job quotes a proverb of the time, "God stores up a man's punishment for his sons." Job considers that injustice and wants the guilty to pay himself. He of course is forgetting the whole idea of punishment after death. But so too, Zophar's contention is aptly proven false by Job's experiences.
Eliphaz then reenters at the outset of chapter 22. He brings with him a series of accusations which sound much like Jesus' words to the "goats" in Matthew 25:41-43. The charges seem to be made up, considering it took Eliphaz and the others a while to travel to see Job in the first place. Yet the Temanite claims that Job has been cheating people and not being charitable to those in need.
Amazingly, Job ignores Eliphaz's accusations when he resumes in chapters 23 and 24. His response is an extension of his case -- Job wants a face to face meeting with God to find out why he is being punished. But Job laments that he cannot find God. What a contrast to the psalmist who can find no escape from the Holy Spirit! Job cannot track God down, though he follows Him closely. He wonders when his final judgment will occur, and dreads it.
In his argument, Job lays out many sins performed regularly by the wicked of the world and the conditions in which the poor are forced to endure. The evil will not help those who need such help, and they are not punished for it. Job's words foreshadow Jesus' teaching about the evil hating the light and loving the darkness, as told in John, chapter 3.
posted by rev-ed @ 11:45 PM
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