Job 21:16-26 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Lo, their good is not in their hand— After the foregoing elegant description of the prosperity of some wicked men, Job proceeds, on the other hand, to confess what was likewise apparent in the ways of Providence, that some of them were as remarkably distinguished by their wretchedness, being exposed to the most dreadful evils and calamities. He knew that, while he had been recounting the prosperity of the wicked, he had touched upon a tender point, to which his adversaries would be apt enough to give a wrong turn, as if he had been thereby pleading the cause of iniquity; and therefore he adds an apology for himself in the 16th verse, which is to this purpose: "I would not have you think, because I say the wicked sometimes prosper, that therefore I believe their prosperity to be owing to themselves, or in their hand, i.e. in their power; (the expression answers exactly to the Latin word proprius, as used by Terence for a thing so truly a man's own, or in his power, as that he need not fear a change; and, therefore, the commentators explain it by perpetual,) God forbid that I should give such countenance to impiety! no; though they may thus presumptuously imagine with themselves, I am not of their opinion, nor yet of their society; the council of the wicked is far from me: I know that all the happiness which they can boast is merely by the will and sufferance of Almighty God, and that sometimes He is pleased to make them terrible examples of his justice. For instance, (Job 21:17.) How often, &c."—to the 21st verse. It is strange to observe how some learned men have been perplexed in explaining these verses, for want of attending closely to the design of Job. The whole is nothing but a concession to his adversaries, that wicked men are sometimes thus severely punished, as they in their speeches had been fond of representing: but then he had before shewn, that they were sometimes as remarkably prosperous; and this made way for a third particular, which is, indeed, his general assertion all along, and the medium by which he endeavoured to convince them of the rashness of their censures and suspicions of him; namely, that things are dealt out here promiscuously, and without any strict regard to merit and demerit. As he had introduced the foregoing particular by an easy transition at Job 21:16 so he does this by another as easy and natural at Job 21:22. Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judgeth those who are high? As if he had said, "You see then the method of God's providence, from what appears in part; and will you presume to censure or correct it? Will you say, 'He ought to take another method,' and prescribe laws to the Great Judge of the world? It is evident that the common observation is true, that good and evil are dispensed by Him, for the most part, without any exact regard to the good or ill deserts of persons; and this during the whole period of human life, from the cradle to the grave; for, Job 21:23. One dieth in his full strength, &c. to Job 21:26." Now one would think that the inference from all this could scarcely be missed either by Job or his friends, if we will allow them to reason at all; especially since, as Maimonides himself tells us, they all agree in these two undisputed points, that God sees and orders all things, and that there can be no iniquity with Him. If then the present irregular course of things be such as cannot possibly be reconciled with the equity of the Divine Nature, supposing this life to be the whole extent of our being, the consequence seems clear, that there must be some other state to be expected wherein these irregularities shall be fully adjusted. Had Job been silent as to this conclusion, the premises themselves would have enforced it; but, indeed, it is what himself expressly asserts in the following part of the chapter; namely, that these prosperous wicked men, who experience so much good at the hand of God, and in return disclaim, and even defy, their benefactor, and who yet, with all their impiety, are permitted to live and die like other men, shall receive a dreadful recompence in the day of future judgment; Job 21:30. See Peters, and the following note. Houbigant renders the 24th verse, When his bowels are loaden with fatness, when his bones, &c.