Job 21:34

_HOW THEN COMFORT YE ME IN VAIN, SEEING IN YOUR ANSWERS THERE REMAINETH FALSEHOOD?_ Falsehood - literally, wickedness. Your boasted "consolations" (Job 15:11) are contradicted by facts ("vain"); they therefore only betray your evil intent ("wickedness") against me. Remarks: (1) It has often been a subject of distressing perplexity to the godly to observe the seemingly continuous prosperity of many of the ungodly. Striking judgments ere sometimes inflicted on grievous sinners, as samples of God being still the righteous Governor of the world. The difficulty is, Why is it not always so? The answer is, This is a world of probation, in which God, in wonderful long-suffering and patience, gives a season for repentance to the vilest; and at the same time the prosperity of wicked fools, while serving God's counsels, ripens them, when they have continued to harden their hear

27-34 Job opposes the opinion of his friends, That the wicked are sure to fall into visible and remarkable ruin, and none but the wicked; upon which principle they condemned Job as wicked. Turn to whom you will, you will find that the punishment of sinners is designed more for the other world than for this, Judges 1:14; Judges 1:15. The sinner is here supposed to live in a great deal of power. The sinner shall have a splendid funeral: a poor thing for any man to be proud of the prospect of. He shall have a stately monument. And a valley with springs of water to keep the turf green, was accounted an honourable burial place among eastern people; but such things are vain distinctions. Death closes his prosperity. It is but a poor encouragement to die, that others have died before us. That which makes a man die with true cou...

Verse Job 21:34. _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, c., we find no more murmur

HOW THEN COMFORT YE ME IN VAIN ... - That is, how can you be qualified to give me consolation in my trials, who have such erroneous views of the government and dealings of God? True consolation could be founded only on correct views of the divine government; but such views, Job says, they had not. With their conceptions of the divine administration, they could not administer to him any real consolation. We may learn hence, (1) That all real consolation in trial must be based on correct apprehensions of the divine character and plans. Falsehood, delusion, error, can give no permanent comfort. (2) They whose office it is to administer consolation to the afflicted, should seek after the “truth” about God and his government. They should endeavor to learn why he afflicts people, what purpose he proposes to accomplish, and what are the proper

EXPOSITION JOB 21:1 Job answers Zophar, as he had answered Bildad, in a single not very lengthy chapter. After a few caustic introductory remarks (verses 2-4), he takes up the challenge which Zophar had thrown out, respecting the certain punishment, in this life, of the wicked (Job 20:4), and maintains, "in language of unparalleled boldness'' (Cook), the converse of the proposition. The wicked, he says, live, grow old, attain to great power, have a numerous and flourishing offspring, prosper, grow rich, spend their time in feasting and jollity—nay, openly renounce God and decline to pray to him—yet suffer no harm, and when they die, go down to the grave without suffering, "in a moment" (verses 5-15). To the suggestion that from time to time they are cut off suddenly in a signal wa

HOW THEN COMFORT YE ME IN VAIN,.... This is the conclusion Job draws from the above observations: his friends came to comfort him, and they took methods for it, as they thought, but miserable comforters were they all; what they administered for comfort was in vain, and to no purpose; nor could any be expected from them, on the plan upon which they proceeded; they suggested he was a bad man, because of his afflictions, and they exhorted him to repentance and reformation, and then promised him happiness and prosperity upon it; which could not be expected, as appeared from the face of things in Providence; since, according to the above instances and proofs, wicked men enjoy prosperity, and good men had usually a great share of adversity: SEEING IN YOUR ANSWERS THERE REMAINETH FALSEHOOD; all their replies to Job were filled with these intimations and suggestions, that wicked men were only a...

CHAPTER 21 JOB'S REPLY _ 1. Hear my solemn words--then mock on (Job 21:1)_ 2. His testimony concerning the experiences of the wicked (Job 21:7) 3. Your answers are nothing but falsehoods (Job 21:27) Job 21:1. This answer shows that Job gets the upper hand over his accusing friends in this controversy. In a masterly way he meets their arguments. He wants them to hear diligently, and if they choose, after he has spoken, they may mock on. He is not complaining to man, or making his appeal to these human friends. He begins to look for another helper, even to God....

JOB 21. JOB'S REPLY. Zophar was graphic and vigorous, but had nothing to say. Nevertheless his speech suggests to Job his next argument. The facts are quite the opposite of what Zophar has said: the wicked do not die prematurely. Is the doctrine of Providence true? JOB 21:1. Job invites the friends to listen in silence (Job 21:5) at the terrible truths he has to disclose (Job 21:6). In Job 21:4 read of man (_mg.) :_ the meaning is that Job complains of God. JOB 21:7. The prosperity of the godless. In...

FALSEHOOD. perverseness. Hebrew. _ma'al._ App-44....

Finally, still pursuing his argument, Job turns to the insinuations of his friends against himself, which lie under their descriptions of the fate of the wicked. He knows what they mean when they say, Where is the house of the prince? But their conclusions were against the testimony of those who had travelled far and seen much. These testified that the wicked man was preserved in the day of destruction; that he came to an honoured grave, and the clods of the valley lay softly on him; and that his example, so far from being shunned, was followed by the mass of men, as there were multitudes that preceded him in the way he walked....