JOB LESSON 21


     We will begin this lesson in Job 21:1 "But Job answered and
said," Job 21:2 "Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your
consolations."

     Job answered the cutting remarks that his friends had made to
him. He was telling them that they had been no consolation at all to
him. Perhaps, he would have some consolation in answering their
accusations. He wanted them to diligently listen to what he had to
say.

     Job 21:3 "Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have
spoken, mock on."

     Job told them, "if you will listen to me, carefully, first, then
youy can mock me if you must". Job did not have much faith that the
friends would stop their unjustified attack upon him.

     Job 21:4 "As for me, [is] my complaint to man? and if [it were
so], why should not my spirit be troubled?"

     This was Job being thankful that these so-called friends of his
were not his judge. He had not complained to them, because that would
not have helped. He would have been troubled in his spirit, if these
friends were his judge. He knew that God was fair, and that He knew
his heart. Job was satisfied that God would be his Judge.

     Job 21:5 "Mark me, and be astonished, and lay [your] hand upon
[your] mouth."

     It is as if Job was telling them to mark his words. They would be
astonished, if they knew the truth. He knew, if they only knew the
truth, they would cover their mouths with their hands in shame.

     Job 21:6 "Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh
hold on my flesh."

     It was almost a frightening thing to say what he was about to
say, but these were things he had noticed to be the truth.

     Job 21:7 "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are
mighty in power?"

     Part of the threats, that had been leveled at Job by his friends,
said that the wicked did not live very long. Job was directly
contradicting their statement with this one. They not only live long
sometimes, but seem to prosper in this life. Some of them attain great
power, as well. If the friends would consider truthfully what he had
said, they would have known it was the truth.

     Job 21:8 "Their seed is established in their sight with them, and
their offspring before their eyes."
     The wicked had as many children as the righteous, and sometimes
acquired positions of high office for them. This is true in our
country today. Some of the worst criminals are the drug lords, and
they establish their children in the very same trade.

     Job 21:9 "Their houses [are] safe from fear, neither [is] the rod
of God upon them."

     This, also, is true of them. I personally believe they had better
enjoy their ill-gotten gain while they can, because they will have no
joy in heaven. They will, probably, not make it to heaven. They are
not under attack of the devil, because he already has them. He goes
for the believers, such as Job.

     Job 21:10 "Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow
calveth, and casteth not her calf."

     There seems to be no barrenness with their animals. This was just
saying it rains on the just and on the unjust. The same natural things
come to us all.

     Job 21:11 "They send forth their little ones like a flock, and
their children dance." Job 21:12 "They take the timbrel and harp, and
rejoice at the sound of the organ."

     This was showing that their children were happy, and had a good
time, as other children did.

     Job 21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go
down to the grave.

     Job was comparing this terrible disease that he had to those who
were evil. There were many evil people living in their land who were
not suffering the trouble that Job had suffered. Job was not
criticizing God in this. He was just discounting what his friends had
said about his illness.

     Job 21:14 "Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we
desire not the knowledge of thy ways."

     They felt they had no need for God. They did not want to be
restricted in the things they did by God's moral laws. Job was saying
they saw no need to serve God, since it seemed everything was going so
well for them without Him. They actually felt they would have to give
up all of their good times, if they served God.

     Job 21:15 "What [is] the Almighty, that we should serve him? and
what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?"

     Job said this was what the evil person would say, if you were
trying to get them to follow God. They wanted to know what they would
get out of God?  They would say, "what's in this for me"?

     Job 21:16 "Lo, their good [is] not in their hand: the counsel of
the wicked is far from me."

     Job stopped and speculated on what the wicked had said. Their
good was not in their hand. It is God that controls everything. God
controlled them and in fact Job, as well. His wicked friends had
offered no comfort to Job at all.  Job did not accept their wicked
counsel.

     Job 21:17 "How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and [how
oft] cometh their destruction upon them! [God] distributeth sorrows in
his anger."

     Job had decided that the wicked seemed to not be under the attack
that he was under. He was asking the question, "How often are the
wicked attacked"?  Job was aware there was something unusual about
this attack on him, but he had no idea it was Satan attacking him. He
thought he was protected from Satan by God. He did not know the
circumstances of this attack. Job knew that God distributeth anger to
those who disobey.

     Job 21:18 "They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that
the storm carrieth away."

     No man can stand against the wrath of God. He could blow them
over, as if they were no more than stubble. The stubble and the chaff
are speaking of ungodly men, and their helplessness against an angry
God.

     Job 21:19 "God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he
rewardeth him, and he shall know [it]."

     His friends had said that God's wrath was on the children of the
evil, man. Job was not trying to say that was not true. Job knew that
God did punish the wicked, but he, also, knew that He blessed the
righteous. God will chasten His own children from time to time, but
that is to strengthen them. This attack was not even from God.

     Job 21:20 "His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink
of the wrath of the Almighty."

     Job was saying that a wicked man would learn more from his
punishment from God, if God punished him while he could see it
himself.

     Job 21:21 "For what pleasure [hath] he in his house after him,
when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?"

     Job was speaking from first-hand knowledge. There had been no
pleasure in his house, since this attack from Satan began. Even Satan
knew that sores on Job's bodies would make him completely miserable.

     Job 21:22 "Shall [any] teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth
those that are high."

     Job was speaking to himself here. He knew that all of this he was
saying to God would not change God at all. God is supreme knowledge.
Nothing that mere man could say to Him would make Him any smarter.

     Job 21:23 "One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease
and quiet."  Job 21:24 "His breasts are full of milk, and his bones
are moistened with marrow."

     Job had noticed that some people died when they did not appear to
be really sick. Every person dies on this earth. It is our everlasting
life with Jesus, that we should prepare for, not this very short time
on this earth. Some die in their youth, as it says in verse 24. God
has numbered each person's life upon this earth.

     Job 21:25 "And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and
never eateth with pleasure."

     This is speaking of someone who lives a very long life filled
with bitterness and sorrow.

     Job 21:26 "They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms
shall cover them."

     The flesh of man was not made to live forever. It is made from
the dust of the earth, and it will return to dust. It is the spirit
within that flesh that will live on.

     Job 21:27 "Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices [which]
ye wrongfully imagine against me."

     Job was, again, speaking to his evil friends, here. He knew that
they had a very bad opinion of him. Their accusations were unfounded,
however. Job had not done anything to cause them to have this opinion
of him. They were quick to judge him, without knowing for sure why
this had happened to Job.

     Job 21:28 "For ye say, Where [is] the house of the prince? and
where [are] the dwelling places of the wicked?"

     They were judging Job guilty of sin, because of the persecution
that had come upon him. They thought just because he had so many
problems, that undoubtedly this was punishment from God. We, like
Job's friends, had better be careful about pointing fingers at the
innocent.

     Job 21:29 "Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye
not know their tokens,"

     Job was suggesting that they ask any stranger off the street, and
he would tell them that, what he said was true.

     Job 21:30 "That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction?
they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath."

     Job was reminding his friends that there is a day of judgement,
when all men stand before God to be judged. On that day, the wicked
would get their punishment that had been reserved for them.

     Job 21:31 "Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall
repay him [what] he hath done?"

     Job was saying that there would be no one brave enough to go to
the powerful wicked man on this earth, and accuse him to his face.
Job, also, was explaining that it was not the place of another man to
judge him, or to punish him. That should be left to God.

     Job 21:32 "Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain
in the tomb."

     Job was saying, here, that the rich evil man sometimes has a big
funeral with many mourners. The poor honest man may not have many to
mourn his death. Such is the way of the world. After the death of the
flesh is when the difference is made in favor of the honest man.

     Job 21:33 "The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and
every man shall draw after him, as [there are] innumerable before
him."

     Job had suffered so long, that he had begun to think of death of
his body as something to look forward to. He said the rich man who had
many to accompany his body to his grave would not have as great fear
of death. He would be placed in a nice place, where his body would not
decay as fast.

     Job 21:34 "How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers
there remaineth falsehood?"

     All of these friends had not really comforted Job. They had been
a discomfort to him instead. He thought he could depend on them for
their sympathy and their understanding, and they had given neither.
They had not even believed in his innocence, even though they had
known him a long time. The very people he thought he could depend on
for moral support, had turned on him and accused him falsely.















                           Job 21 Questions


1.  What did Job ask of his friends in verse 2?
2.  What did he say they could do, after they listened to him?
3.  Job was thankful that his __________ were not his judge.
4.  If they had been his judge, he would have been troubled in his
    ________.
5.  In verse 5, what did Job mean by "mark me"?
6.  If his friends only knew the truth, they would cover their _______
    with their ________.
7.  What was Job saying in verse 6?
8.  How did Job contradict what his friends had said in verse 7?
9.  How did Job describe the life of the wicked many times?
10. In verse 14, what did Job say the wicked said to God?
11. Who did Job say made the rash statement in verse 15?
12. How did Job feel about the counsel of his friends?
13. Why did Job not recognize what was happening to him as coming from
    Satan?
14. The wicked are as _________ before the wind.
15. Why does God chasten His own from time to time?
16. In verse 21, Job was speaking from first-hand __________.
17. Why can a person not teach God?
18. What two things had Job noticed about those who die?
19. The flesh of man was not intended to live ___________.
20. What is it made from?
21. What is the part of man that lives on?
22. Job's friends' accusations were ______________.
23. Why were they judging Job guilty?
24. The wicked is reserved to the day of __________.
25. What special attention was paid the rich man at his death?