1 ¶
But Job answered and said, 2 Hear
diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations. 3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I
have spoken, mock on. 4 As for me, is my
complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay
your hand upon your mouth. 6 Even when I
remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
Job’s reply to
Zophar and his other friends begins with a plea to listen carefully to him as
what he is about to say has value. If they have no other comfort to give him
let that be it. After that, they are free to mock him. His complaint isn’t with
man, but with God. He says to pay close attention to what he says and promises
they will be amazed. Even when he thinks about the day he lost everything dear
to him and of value in his life he is terrified.
7
¶ Wherefore do the wicked live, become
old, yea, are mighty in power? 8 Their
seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their
eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear,
neither is the rod of God upon them. 10
Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth
not her calf. 11 They send forth their
little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice
at the sound of the organ. 13 They spend
their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us;
for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 15
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should
we have, if we pray unto him? 16 Lo,
their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Job attempts to
overthrow the idea that prosperity and happiness are proof of God’s approval
and that the wicked always suffer in this life. Remember, this is before the
Law given to the Jews wherein they were promised temporal success and abundance
by following the civil and religious precepts contained in the Law given to
Moses for them. We are not promised by our obedience that everything will be
hunky-dory in this life on earth if we obey, as the Jews were promised. We have
some conditions more in common with Job’s time than with the ancient Hebrews.
Keep in mind that when you are trying to understand the
Bible, 1) it is written in Dispensational order but that significant points of
Dispensations overlap. For instance, this is the Age of Grace but Grace is present
all through the Bible. A Dispensation is not a period of time but a way of
dealing with people, of managing people that God has implemented. 2) The
Christian is a type of the people of Israel as a whole, not the individual Jew.
3) The promises to the Jew were physical promises for a physical people on a
physical earth which they will have in eternity while the promises to the
Christian, Jew or Gentile, are spiritual promises and we will reside in the New
Jerusalem. The Jews as a whole were promised peace and prosperity if the people
obeyed but with their disobedience wickedness flourished like weeds in a garden.
Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the
vilest men are exalted.
The Christian is promised eternal life with the Saviour but
is not promised monetary success, physical health, or guaranteed peace at all
times. The Jews were to draw all nations to them. The Christian goes out
amongst the nations. God made the Jews a kingdom and a country, with an army,
and weapons of war. The Christian belongs to Heaven and the weapons of his
warfare are not carnal but spiritual.
There was a Jewish kingdom but there are no Christian nations. Only a
person can be a Christian. Christianity is NOT a political religion while
Judaism and Hebraism were. 4) The faithful Jew was characterized by what he did
and didn’t do; ritual, service, and physical obedience while the faithful
Christian is characterized by what he is and his fruit are what Christ has
written on his heart not on tables of stone.
Both were expected to do right by God’s standard but the motivation and
origin of their obedience is different. The Jew did not have the Holy Spirit
living in him but the Christian does. For the Jew, God’s laws were the laws of
the land. The Christian often finds himself in lands where the law of the land
is in opposition to God and he must obey those laws as he is able.
Job asks why the wicked live, grow old, and often have great
power if the wicked are always punished and suffer for their wickedness. We
might ask the same thing. How could an evil dictator like Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe still be alive in his 80’s? How could a mass murderer like Joseph Stalin live to his mid-70's? What about men of wealth and power
who have no regard for God? There are many celebrities and political figures that
some of you even admire who mock God, the followers of Christ, and display
behaviors that are reprehensible. They exploit our fears or our pocketbooks or
even blatantly steal from others by manipulation of stocks, markets, and land. Yet,
these wicked people prosper and have a voice in the world.
Most of these people neither know the God of the Bible nor
do they have any interest in God. They have sacrificed whatever humility and
desire to know anything greater than themselves they might have had on the
altar of the god, Self, because of the immense egotism required for success in
their chosen fields of endeavor.
Hear David’s prayer.
Psalm 17:8 ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me
under the shadow of thy wings, 9 From
the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. 10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with
their mouth they speak proudly. 11 They
have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the
earth; 12 Like as a lion that is greedy
of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. 13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down:
deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: 14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men
of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou
fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of
their substance to their babes. 15 As
for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I
awake, with thy likeness.
And hear
Jeremiah, even referring to people who pretend to be spiritual.
Jeremiah 12:1 ¶ Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with
thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the
wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have
taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their
mouth, and far from their reins.
Finally, let’s
read a Psalm of Asaph, or at least the part that carries his complaint about
the temporal success of wicked people.
Psalm 73:1 ¶
« A Psalm of Asaph. » Truly God is good to Israel, even to
such as are of a clean heart. 2 But as
for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. 3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw
the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For
there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. 5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither
are they plagued like other men. 6
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them
as a garment. 7 Their eyes stand out
with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. 8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly
concerning oppression: they speak loftily. 9
They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh
through the earth. 10 Therefore his
people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. 11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there
knowledge in the most High? 12 Behold,
these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in
vain, and washed my hands in innocency. 14
For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
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