Job 21-22, Job, Chickens, and Arguments

Wait, I don't have what? 

Have you ever been talking to someone and they have this great idea? Everyone is going to love their idea, according to them. And then you ask a question, which seems totally obvious to you, but completely exposes some flaw in their thinking? It'd be like if I had this great idea to sell chap-stick to chickens. And I'm just so excited because the chap-stick chicken market has never been approached before and I'm just guaranteed to make millions of dollars. Everyone else has chap-stick, so why not chickens, right? But then you look at me and say, "But Travis, chickens don't have lips." To which I would be like, "Oh...right?" That's kind of what's about to happen in the next chapters of Job.

All of Job's friends have been saying that people only suffer in this life because of their sin. They've also said that the wicked never prosper in this world. Instead, God wipes them out because of their evil. Ergo, according to Job's friends, Job must have sinned or else he wouldn't be suffering because the righteous don't suffer. Well ole' Job is about to pull a "Chickens don't have lips" moment on all of his brilliant friends. As always, please read along in your Bible or genius phone application.

Job 21:1-6. I am tired of you guys and I'm tired of God not answering me. "Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on," (3). Job is sick of his friends and their attempts to answer him. He wants to be answered by God and is impatient for his reply. "As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? (4). Now Job is going to shift to totally destroying his friend's arguments. Batter up...

Job 21:7-16: The wicked prosper and die in peace. Why? These verses (7-16) require little interpretation, so I'm going to offer you a special T.J. Hendley modern day paraphrase. Compare this with the Bible to see if I'm on target:

"You have said the wicked are wiped out by God and the unrighteous suffer for their evil. Why then do I see wicked men live long on the earth, experience prosperity, and get to bounce their grandchildren on their knees? Why do wicked men live in safety from destruction? Why do they have success in business when they lie, cheat, and steal? Why are their children safe from danger and sickness? Why do they make successful movies or gross music videos that mock what is moral and good? Why do they get to rule over countries while their people suffer in poverty? All of this happens while they abandon God and his ways."

Job 21:17-26: Job doesn't see the wicked suffering like his friends describe. "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them?" (17). Job says the wicked don't suffer on earth like his friends have stated. Instead of the wicked being destroyed by God they thrive on this earth. Why? "You say, 'God stores up their iniquity for their children.' Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it...For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?" (19, 21). Job confronts the rationale of his friends who say that God brings punishment on the children of the wicked. To Job, that seems stupid. If God is going to punish the wicked, why doesn't he just punish the actual transgressor, rather than letting them die in peace and punishing their children. In verses 22-26, Job says there is no consistency in the death of the righteous or wicked. Some of them die in prosperity and health while others die in poverty and bitterness. "One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure...Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity," (23, 25). Job destroys his friend's faulty assumptions. He says the wicked are not treated in accordance with their deeds. I think you and I, as we look around in the world around us, would agree with Job. What goes around doesn't necessarily come around to the wicked. Karma doesn't play out in our world, (where good people get what's coming to them, etc). The righteous aren't always blessed and the wicked don't always suffer. Sometimes very nice chickens get made into chicken sandwiches. It's not fair, I know.

Mmmmm...Chick-fil-a Chicken Sandwiches...Where was I? Oh yes, Job.

Job 21:27-34: Job preemptively strikes down an argument of his friends. Job knows his friends are going to respond by saying, "Oh yeah. Show us a wicked man who is currently living in prosperity and wholeness. Tell us where he lives?" "For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?" (28). So he's going to nip that argument right in the bud. "Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath," (29-30). Job says, "Ask around. People everywhere know wicked people who are doing quite well." Like I said previously, wicked, immoral, and violent people sometimes live long and healthy lives. They are not immediately killed by a giant chicken for their sin. They aren't wiped out by God, as Job's friends contend. We see it all around us in the world we live in. Job says it was evident in his day as well.

So Job has just exposed a flaw in the statements of his friends' arguments. Now Eliphaz is going to respond in chapter 22.

Job 22:1-11: I'm not going to respond to your destruction of my arguments. You're a dirty rotten sinner, Job!
That about sums it up. This is a known tactic in arguing. If you can't win your position, just attack the other person's character, (this has been known to happen in politics quite often). Eliphaz is not going to answer Job's argument. He just doubles down on Job's sin. In fact he gets pretty nasty. "For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing. You have given no water to the weary to drink...You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed," (6,7, 9). Did you see an answer to Job's contentions? Me either. Maybe he'll provide one in the next section...but I don't think so.

Job 22:12-20: Your motives are corrupt, you have rejected God in your heart. Eliphaz attacks Job's motives, stating that inwardly he has turned from God. "But you say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?...They said to God, 'Depart from us,' and 'What can the Almighty do to us?" (13, 17). Did you see any answer to Job's refutation of their arguments from the prior chapter? No? I still don't see one either.

Job 22:21-30: You should repent, Job, and all will be well, (blah, blah, blah). We've heard all of this before. Job's friends still contend that Job had sinned because suffering only comes upon the wicked, and if he would just confess and repent before God then all would be well. "Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you...If you return to the Almighty you will be built up...then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver...You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you," (21, 23, 25, 27). Never mind the fact that Job was a righteous man in whom they could find no sin. Never mind the fact Job had exposed the lie in this argument in the previous chapter. Never mind the fact the wicked sometimes prosper and are not wiped out by God or that sometimes the righteous get cancer, get defrauded, or suffer needlessly.

This is what happens when you argue with an ignorant or unthinking person. You get the same old arguments that ultimately prove nothing. Job finds himself there now. He has illustrated how the wicked don't necessarily suffer in accordance with their sin. We know this as well. His own life has illustrated how the righteous sometimes suffer without just cause or explanation. We have seen this in our world too. Job continues to seek God to answer why he has suffered so much in his life. He still hasn't heard an answer from God or anything intelligent from his friends. Job will continue to cry out "WHY?" So do we when we're in pain. We know every difficult thing in life is not necessarily equated with God's judgment, so we struggle to understand God's purpose in our pain and loss. Unfortunately we're not going to find an answer from Job's friends. Eventually God is going to answer Job's "why" questions. Stay tuned.