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CHAPTER 21 
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Job expresses himself as puzzled by the
dispensations of Divine Providence, because of
the unequal distribution of temporal goods; he
shows that wicked men often live long, prosper in
their families, in their flocks, and in all their
substance, and yet live in defiance of God and
sacred things, 1-16.
At other times their
prosperity is suddenly blasted, and they and
their families come to ruin, 17-21.
God, however,
is too wise to err; and he deals out various lots
to all according to his wisdom: some come sooner,
others later, to the grave: the strong and the
weak, the prince and the peasant, come to a
similar end in this life; but the wicked are
reserved for a day of wrath, 22-33.
He charges
his friends with falsehood in their pretended
attempts to comfort him, 34.
Chapter 21
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Verse 2. Let this be your
consolations.
uthehi zoth
tanchumotheychem may be translated, "And let this be
your retractations." Let what I am about to say induce
you to retract what you have said, and to
recall your false judgments.
nacham signifies, not only to comfort,
but to change one's mind, to
repent; hence the Vulgate translates et
agite paenitentiam, "and repent," which
Coverdale follows in his version, and amende
yourselves. Some suppose the verse to be understood
ironically: I am now about to give you consolations for
those you have given me. When I have done, then turn
them into mockery if you please.
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Verse 4. As for
me
heanochi, "Alas for me!" Is
it not with a man that I speak? And, if this be the
case, why should not my spirit be troubled? I do not
reply against my Maker: I suffer much from God
and man; why then may I not have the privilege of
complaining to creatures like myself?
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Verse 5. Mark me, and be
astonished
Consider and compare the
state in which I was once, with that in which I am now;
and be astonished at the judgments and dispensations of
God. You will then be confounded; you will put your
hands upon your mouths, and keep silent.
Putting the hand on the mouth, or the
finger on the lips, was the token of silence. The
Egyptian god Harpocrates, who was the god of
silence, is represented with his finger compressing
his upper lip.
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Verse 6. I am
afraid
I am about to speak of the
mysterious workings of Providence; and I tremble at the
thought of entering into a detail on such a subject; my
very flesh trembles.
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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?
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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.
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Verse 9. Neither is the
rod of God upon them.
They are not
afflicted as other men.
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Verse 10. Their bull
gendereth
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.
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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.
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Verse 12. They take the
timbrel and harp
yisu, they
rise up or lift themselves up,
probably alluding to the rural exercise of dancing.
toph, which we translate timbrel, means
a sort of drum, such as the tom-tom of the
Asiatics.
kinnor may mean something of the harp
kind.
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
21:14,15. 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.
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Verse 13. They spend their
days in wealth
There is a various
reading here of some importance. In the text we have
yeballu, they grow old, or wear out as
with old age, terent vetustate; and in the
margin, yechallu, they consume; and the
Masora states that this is one of the
eleven words which are written with beth
and must be read with 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. yeballu, they grow old, or wear
out, is the reading of the Antwerp, Paris,
and London Polyglots; 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.
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Verse 14. They say unto God
This is the language of their
conduct, though not directly of their
lips.
Depart from
us
Let us alone; we do not trouble
thee. Thy ways are painful; we do not like
cross-bearing. Thy ways are spiritual; we wish to live
after the flesh. We have learned to do our own will; we
do not wish to study thine.
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Verse 15. What is the
Almighty
What allegiance do we owe to
him? We feel no obligation to obey him;
and what profit can we derive from prayer? We are
as happy as flesh and blood can make us: our kingdom is
of this world; we wish for no other portion than that
which we have.
Those who have never prayed as they ought know
nothing of the benefits of prayer.
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Verse 16. Their good is
not in their hand
With all their
boasting and self-dependence, God only lends them
his bounty; and though it appears to be their own, yet
it is at his disposal. Some of the wicked he permits to
live and die in affluence, provided it be
acquired in the ordinary way of his providence, by
trade, commerce, while only, and then strips them
of their illegally procured property.
The counsel of the wicked is
far from me.
Some understand the
words thus: "Far be it from me to advocate the cause of
the wicked." I have nothing in common with them, and am
not their apologist. I state a fact: they are often
found in continual prosperity. I state another fact:
they are often found in wretchedness and misery.
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Verse 17. How oft is the
candle of the wicked put out?
The
candle or lamp is often used, both as the
emblem of prosperity and of posterity.
Oftentimes the rejoicing of the wicked is short; and,
not unfrequently, his seed is cut off from the
earth. The root is dried up, and the
branch is withered.
God distributeth sorrows in
his anger.
He must be incensed
against those who refuse to know, serve, and
pray unto him. In his anger, therefore, he
portions out to each his due share of misery, vexation,
and wo.
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Verse 18. They are as stubble
before the wind
"His fan is in his
hand; he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and the
chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Therefore the
wicked shall not stand in the judgment, but shall be
like the chaff which the wind driveth away." Were
not this a common thought, I should have supposed that
the author of this book borrowed it from Psalms
1:4. The original signifies that they shall be
carried away by a furious storm; and borne
off as booty is by the swift-riding robbers of
the desert, who make a sudden irruption, and then set
off at full speed with their prey.
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Verse 19. God layeth up his
iniquity for his children
This is
according to the declaration of God, Exodus
20:5: "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children, unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me." This always supposes that the
children, who are thus visited, have copied
their parents' example; or that ill-gotten
property is found in their hands, which has
descended to them from their wicked fathers; and of this
God, in his judgments, strips them. It is, however, very
natural to suppose that children brought up without the
fear of God will walk in the sight of their own eyes,
and according to the imaginations of their own hearts.
He rewardeth him, and he
shall know it.
He shall so visit his
transgressions upon him, that he shall at last discern
that it is God who hath done it. And thus they will find
that there would have been profit in
serving him, and safety in praying
unto him. But this they have neglected, and now it is
too late.
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Verse 20. His eyes shall see
his destruction
He shall perceive its
approach, and have the double punishment of
fearing and feeling; feeling a THOUSAND
deaths in fearing ONE.
He shall drink of the
wrath
The cup of God's wrath, the cup
of trembling, sacred writings, Deuteronomy
32:33; ; Isaiah
51:17-22; ; Jeremiah
25:15; Revelation
14:8. It appears to be a metaphor taken from those
cups of poison which certain criminals were obliged to
drink. A cup of the juice of hemlock was
the wrath or punishment assigned by the
Athenian magistrates to the philosopher Socrates.
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Verse 21. For what
pleasure hath he in his house after
him
What may happen to his posterity
he neither knows nor cares for, as he is now numbered
with the dead, and numbered with them before he had
lived out half his years. Some have translated the verse
thus: "Behold how speedily God destroys the house of the
wicked after him! How he shortens the number of his
months!"
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Verse 22. Shall any
teach God knowledge?
Who among the
sons of men can pretend to teach GOD how to govern the
world, who himself teaches those that are
high-the heavenly inhabitants, that excel us
infinitely both in knowledge and wisdom? Neither angels
nor men can comprehend the reasons of the Divine
providence. It is a depth known only to God.
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Verse 23. One dieth in his
full strength
In this and the three
following verses Job shows that the inequality of
fortune, goods, health, strength, persons in reference
to the approbation or disapprobation of God, as these
various lots are no indications of their
wickedness or innocence. One has a
sudden, another a lingering death; but by
none of these can their eternal states be determined.
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Verse 24. His breasts are full
of milk
The word atinaiv,
which occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, is most
likely an Arabic term, but probably so
provincial as to be now lost. [Arabic]
atana signifies to macerate hides so as to take
off the hair: hence Mr. Good thinks it means
here, that sleekness of skin which is the effect
of fatness both in man and beast. But as the
radical idea signifies to stink, as leather does
which is thus macerated, I cannot see how this meaning
can apply here. Under the root atan, Mr.
Parkhurst gives the following definitions: "
occurs, not as a verb, but as a noun masculine plural,
in construction, atiney, the bowels, intestines;
once Job
21:24, atinaiv, his bowels or intestines,
are full of, or abound with, chalab,
fat. So the LXX.: (οις ),
. The
VULGATE: Viscera, ejus plena sent adipe, 'his
intestines are full of fat.' May not atinim be a
noun masculine plural from atah, to involve,
formed as gailyonim, mirrors, from
galah, to reveal? And may nor the
intestines, including those fatty parts, the
mesentery and omentum, be so called on account of their
wonderful involutions?" I think this conjecture
to be as likely as any that has yet been formed.
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Verse 26. They shall lie down
alike in the dust
Death levels all
distinctions, and the grave makes all equal. There may
be a difference in the grave itself; but the human
corpse is the same in all. Splendid monuments enshrine
corruption; but the sod must lie close and
heavy upon the putrefying carcass, to prevent it from
becoming the bane of the living.
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Verse 27. I know your
thoughts
Ye still think that, because
I am grievously afflicted, I must therefore be a
felonious transgressor.
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Verse 28. For ye say,
Where is the house of the prince?
In order to prove your point, ye ask, Where is
the house of the tyrant and oppressor? Are
they not overthrown and destroyed? And is not this a
proof that God does not permit the wicked to enjoy
prosperity?
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Verse 29. Have ye not asked
them that go by the way?
This appears
to be Job's answer. Consult travellers who have gone
through different countries; and they will tell you that
they have seen both examples-the wicked in great
prosperity in some instances, while suddenly destroyed
in others. See at the end of the chapter. See Clarke on
Job
21:34.
Do ye not know their
tokens
Mr. Good translates the
whole verse thus: "Surely thou canst never have inquired
of men of travel; or thou couldst not have been ignorant
of their tokens. Hadst thou made proper inquiries, thou
wouldst have heard of their awful end in a thousand
instances. And also of their prosperity." See at
the end of this chapter. See Clarke on Job
21:34.
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Verse 30. That the wicked is
reserved to the day of
destruction?
Though every one can
tell that he has seen the wicked in prosperity, and even
spend a long life in it; yet this is no proof that God
loves him, or that he shall enjoy a prosperous lot in
the next world. There, he shall meet with the day of
wrath. There, the wicked shall be punished, and the
just rewarded.
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Verse 31. Who shall declare
his way to his face?
But while the
wicked is in power, who shall dare to tell him to his
face what his true character is? or, who shall dare to
repay him the evil he has done? As such a person cannot
have his punishment in this life, he must have it in
another; and for this the day of wrath-the
day of judgment, is prepared.
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Verse 32. Yet shall he be
brought to the grave
He shall die
like other men; and the corruption of the grave shall
prey upon him. Mr. Carlyle, in his specimens of Arabic
poetry, Translations, p. 16, quotes this verse, which he
translates and paraphrases, "He shall be brought to the
grave," And shall watch upon the high-raised
heap."
It was the opinion of the pagan Arabs, that upon the
death of any person, a bird, by them called
Manah, issued from the brain, and haunted the
sepulchre of the deceased, uttering a lamentable scream.
This notion, he adds, is evidently alluded to in Job
21:32. Thus Abusahel, on the death of his
mistress:-
"If her ghost's funereal screech
Through the earth my grave should reach, On that
voice I loved so well My transported ghost would
dwell."
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Verse 33. The clods of the
valley shall be sweet unto him
Perhaps there is an allusion here to the Asiatic
mode of interment for princes, saints, and nobles: a
well-watered valley was chosen for the tomb, where a
perpetual spring might be secured. This was intended to
be the emblem of a resurrection, or of a
future life; and to conceal as much as
possible the disgrace of the rotting carcass.
Every man shall draw after
him
There seem to be two allusions
intended here: 1. To death, the common lot of
all. Millions have gone before him to the
tomb; and col adam, all men, shall follow
him: all past generations have died, all succeeding
generations shall die also. 2. To pompous funeral
processions; multitudes preceding, and
multitudes following, the corpse.
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Verse 34. How then comfort ye
me in vain
Mr. Good
translates: "How vainly then would ye make me retract!"
See the note on Job
21:2. I cannot retract any thing I have said,
as I have proved by fact and testimony that your
positions are false and unfounded. Your pretensions to
comfort me are as hollow as the arguments you bring in
support of your exceptionable doctrines.
THIS chapter may be called Job's triumph over the
insinuated calumnies, and specious but false doctrines,
of his opponents. The irritability of his temper no
longer appears: from the time he got that glorious
discovery of his Redeemer, and the JOYOUS hope of
an eternal inheritance, Job
19:25, nor unsanctified complainings. He is now full
master of himself; and reasons conclusively, because he
reasons coolly. Impassioned transports no longer carry
him away: his mind is serene; his heart, fixed; his
hope, steady; and his faith, strong. Zophar the
Naamathite is now, in his presence, as an infant in the
gripe of a mighty giant. Another of these pretended
friends but real enemies comes forward to renew the
attack with virulent invective, malevolent insinuation,
and unsupported assertion. Him, Job meets, and
vanquishes by pious resignation and fervent prayer.
Though, at different times after this, Job had his
buffetings from his grand adversary, and some seasons of
comparative darkness, yet his faith is unshaken, and he
stands as a beaten anvil to the stroke. He effectually
exculpates himself, and vindicates the dispensations of
his Maker.
There appears to be something in the 29th verse which
requires to be farther examined: Have ye not asked
them that go by the way? And do ye not know their
tokens? It is probable that this verse may allude to
the custom of burying the dead by the way-side,
and raising up specious and descriptive
monuments over them. Job argues that the lot of
outward prosperity fell alike to the just and to the
unjust, and that the sepulchral monuments by the wayside
were proofs of his assertion; for his friends, as well
as himself and others, had noted them, and asked the
history of such and such persons, from the nearest
inhabitants of the place; and the answers, in a great
variety of cases, had been: "That monument points
out the place where a wicked man lies, who was all his
lifetime in prosperity and affluence, yet oppressed the
poor, and shut up the bowels of his compassion against
the destitute; and this belongs to a man who
lived only to serve his God, and to do good to man
according to his power, yet had not a day of health, nor
an hour of prosperity; God having given to the former
his portion in this life, and reserved the
recompense of the latter to a future state."
The Septuagint render the verse thus:-
ερωτησατεπαραπορευμενους
οδονκαιτασημειααυτωνουκαπαλλοτριωσατε, "Inquire of those
who pass by the way, and their signs {monuments} ye will
not alienate." That is, When ye hear the history of
these persons, ye will not then assert that the man who
lived in prosperity was a genuine worshipper of the true
God, and therefore was blessed with temporal good, and
that he who lived in adversity was an enemy to God and
was consequently cursed with the want of secular
blessings. Of the former ye will hear a different
account from those who dare now speak the truth, because
the prosperous oppressor is no more; And of the
latter ye shall learn that, though afflicted,
destitute, and distressed, he was one of those who
acknowledged God in all his ways, and never performed an
act of religious service to him in hope of secular
gain; sought his approbation only, and met death
cheerfully, in the hope of being eternally with the
Lord.
Neither good nor evil can be known by the occurrences
of this life. Every thing argues the certainty of a
future state, and the necessity of a day of judgment.
They who are in the habit of marking casualties,
especially if those whom they love not are the subjects
of them, as tokens of Divine displeasure, only show an
ignorance of God's dispensations, and a malevolence of
mind that would fain arm itself with the celestial
thunders, in order to transfix those whom they deem
their enemies.
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Copyright Statement
The Adam Clarke Commentary is a derivative
of an electronic edition prepared by GodRules.net.
Bibliography
Information
Clarke, Adam.
"Commentary on Job 21". "The Adam Clarke Commentary".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=job&chapter=021>.
1832.
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