Job 21:7-13 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 7 Wherefore do the wicked live - You have frequently asserted that the wicked are invariably punished in this life; and that the righteous are ever distinguished by the strongest marks of God's providential kindness; how then does it come that many wicked men live long and prosperously, and at last die in peace, without any evidence whatever of God's displeasure? This is a fact that is occurring daily; none can deny it; how then will you reconcile it with your maxims?

‏ Job 21:7-13

Verse 7

Wherefore do the wicked live - You have frequently asserted that the wicked are invariably punished in this life; and that the righteous are ever distinguished by the strongest marks of God's providential kindness; how then does it come that many wicked men live long and prosperously, and at last die in peace, without any evidence whatever of God's displeasure? This is a fact that is occurring daily; none can deny it; how then will you reconcile it with your maxims? Verse 8

Their seed is established - They see their own children grow up, and become settled in the land; and behold their children's children also; so that their generations are not cut off. Even the posterity of the wicked continue. Verse 9

Neither is the rod of God upon them - They are not afflicted as other men. Verse 10

Their bull gendereth - עבר ibbar, passes over, i.e., on the cow, referring to the actions of the bull when coupling with the female. Their flocks multiply greatly, they bring forth in time, and none of them is barren. Verse 11

They send forth their little ones - It is not very clear whether this refers to the young of the flocks or to their children. The first clause may mean the former, the next clause the latter; while the young of their cattle are in flocks, their numerous children are healthy and vigorous, and dance for joy. Verse 12

They take the timbrel and harp - ישאו yisu, they rise up or lift themselves up, probably alluding to the rural exercise of dancing. תף toph, which we translate timbrel, means a sort of drum, such as the tom-tom of the Asiatics. כנור kinnor may mean something of the harp kind. עוגב ugab, organ, means nothing like the instrument now called the organ, though thus translated both by the Septuagint and Vulgate; it probably means the syrinx, composed of several unequal pipes, close at the bottom, which when blown into at the top, gives a very shrill and lively sound. To these instruments the youth are represented as dancing joyfully. Mr. Good translates: "They trip merrily to the sound of the pipe." And illustrates his translation with the following verse: - "Now pursuing, now retreating,Now in circling troops they meet;

To brisk notes in cadence beating,Glance their many twinkling feet."

The original is intended to convey the true notion of the gambols of the rustic nymphs and swains on festival occasions, and let it be observed that this is spoken of the children of those who say unto God, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him?" Job 21:14, Job 21:15. Is it any wonder that the children of such parents should be living to the flesh, and serving the lusts of the flesh? for neither they nor their parents know God, nor pray unto him. Verse 13

They spend their days in wealth - There is a various reading here of some importance. In the text we have יבלו yeballu, they grow old, or wear out as with old age, terent vetustate; and in the margin, יכלו yechallu, they consume; and the Masora states that this is one of the eleven words which are written with ב beth and must be read with כ caph. Several editions have the former word in the text, and the latter in the margin; the former being what is called the kethib, the latter keri. יבלו yeballu, they grow old, or wear out, is the reading of the Antwerp, Paris, and London Polyglots; יכלו yechallu, they accomplish or spend, is the reading of the Complutensian Polyglot, thirteen of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., the Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Vulgate has ducunt, "they lead or spend," from which our translation is borrowed. I incline to the former, as Job's argument derives considerable strength from this circumstance; they not only spend their days in faring sumptuously every day; but they even wear out so as to grow old in it; they are not cut off by any sudden judgment of God. This is fact; therefore your doctrine, that the wicked are cut off suddenly and have but a short time, is far from the truth.

In a moment go down to the grave - They wear out their years in pleasure; grow old in their gay and giddy life; and die, as in a moment, without previous sickness; or, as Mr. Good has it, They quietly descend into the grave.