Commentary for Job 21:35

Now that his three companions have completed their respective theses on the question of the well-being of the wicked, Job comes forward and in this speech presents a general response to all they had said. In their submissions, they had fitted their arrows to the bowstring (Psalms 11:2) with him Job himself as the target, for in their eyes, he was a thoroughly wicked person. They saw the answer to the question of the prosperity of the wicked in the calamities that had befallen him, namely, that they [the wicked] have no future to look forward to (Proverbs 24:20); that just as Job’s prosperity had not endured, neither does that of any evil-doer. Answering them directly (Proverbs 24:26), Job points out that the question he had posed was a general one, concerning the whole of mankind, viz. why are there are so many prosperous evildoers amongst us? (Ch.21:4-6). But regarding this, their answers had got them nowhere (Nehemiah 4:1).

• For Eliphaz was wrong when he said that the wicked are always full of fear and feel insecure despite their prosperity. On the contrary, there are wicked people who are both self-assured and contented (ibid. 9-11).

• Nor is Bildad’s response that their kind, together with their collective and individual progeny, will be cut off, correct. For there are many wicked people whose children are alive and well off (ibid. 8) and whose homes are steadfast (ibid. 20-29).¹This reference to the text appears to be a misprint in the Hebrew text, as the evildoer's home is barely mentioned in them. Most probably Malbim intended verses 9 and 21. As for his statement that their souls will be cut off and they will be punished in the eternity of the Hereafter, who knows anything about this hidden punishment that is concealed from every eye? Death spreads its wings over all flesh, indiscriminately (ibid. 30-34). Like the righteous, so are the wicked gathered to the grave; and who knows whether there is wisdom or knowledge, or any reckoning, in the Sheol whither they all are bound (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

• Neither does he accept Zophar's answer that the wicked will suddenly die and descend living to Sheol (Numbers 16:30). For this too is part of their good-fortune: to die without suffering, something that he [Job] himself longs for (ibid. 12-13). Furthermore, is it right and just that a righteous person who has endured suffering should die with a bitter soul, whilst a wicked person dies in his prime and at ease; and that both should finish up in the grave, righteous and wicked alike (ibid. 22-26)? And even if the wicked person's sons are cut down after his death, the wicked person does not feel this punishment as he no longer exists. God's punishments should touch him personally; and the duration of his agony should be lengthened, so that he recognize God's retribution (ibid. 17-22).

Thus, are they all rebuffed and their answers proved false (Job 21:34).

Job’s answer
and this shall be your consolations The fact that you will keep your peace and listen to me this will be my consolation from you.

Bear with me Heb. שאוני, endure me.

Am I speaking to man Why should you make an issue of my complaint? Am I complaining to a man like me that he should listen to me? Why then should I not be short of breath to cry out from my straits?

After the way he had spoken in the first round, the three companions had all concluded that Job was really a wicked person who, until his fall, had prospered. Accordingly, they had all directed their replies to the question of the prosperity of the wicked at Job. But, as Job now reminds them, the question he had raised at the start of the second round concerned the general observation that despite their wickedness, evildoers appear to prosper everywhere and at all times. The issue was not Job’s short-temper or his refusal to acquiesce stoically to his suffering; nor were these necessarily indicative of evil-doing on his part. Though he might have been the subject of the first round of the debate, where they had discussed the suffering of the righteous, he was not the topic of the second round, which was concerned with the issue of the general well-being of the wicked

Turn to me to listen.

and be silent Be astonished at my words.

and place your hand upon your mouth because you will not know what to answer.

Now when I remember the thing I wish to say, “Why do the wicked live?”

I become frightened for I see the wicked men of the Flood.

peace from fear Demons had no power over them.

His bull impregnates a female.

and does not fail He does not eject into her inferior sperm, which would be cast out of her body without impregnating her. Every expression of געילה means casting out, and so it is in the language of the Mishnah (Avodah Zarah 75a), One must purge them (מגעילן) with boiling water. Similarly (II Sam. 1:21), “for there the shield of the mighty was rejected (נגעל).” Its anointing was cast out, and it was as though it had not been anointed with oil, for they were accustomed to anointing the leather shields in order that it be smooth and cause the spear or javelin that strikes it to glide off. It is like (Isa. 21:5), “princes, anoint a shield.”

his cow bears young She gives birth to her young at the proper time.

and does not abort before its time.

They send forth their infants like sheep etc. At the time of his birth, he would go and dance immediately, and if he would meet a demon, he would battle with him, and his mother would say to him, “Bring me a pair of scissors and I will cut your umbilical cord,” in Haggadath Bereishith, “Go and light a candle for me,” in Gen. Rabbah (36:1).

They raise They would raise their voice in song with the tambourine and the harp. The flute (עוגב) is only an expression of sensual laughter (עגבות) (aboyement in French, barking.) So I heard.

and in a moment they descend to the grave When his dying day arrived, he would die in a moment, easily, without suffering.

they descend Heb. יחתו, they descend, which is in Targum נחיתוּ.

and what will it avail us What benefit do we have if we pray to Him? We do not need Him for the drops of rain, because “a cloud would ascend from the earth” (Gen. 2:6).

Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand This is a question: Is not all their prosperity in their hand?

Why does God let the wicked get away with it?

The counsel of the wicked has distanced itself from me Job was boasting that he saw them [the wicked] and was not counted among them.

How long? May the lamp of the wicked be snuffed out This refers back to the above, to (verse 7) “Why do the wicked live on?” How long will You lengthen this time [the lifetime of the wicked]? Then he continues and curses them, “May the lamp of the wicked be snuffed out...”

lots Heb. חבלים, the lot that they deserve.

He should put out their lights;

He should punish the evil-doers’ own persons;

Systematically, here and now.

Should God lay away his violence for his sons This is a question. Is this just, that this one should sin all his life and die in peace, and his violence and his wickedness the Holy One, blessed be He, should lay away for his sons, to punish them?

Let Him requite him so that he should know it is a praise to the Holy One, blessed be He, that He Himself requite the wicked man his recompense so that he understand that he dealt wickedly.

Let them know that He is God, Judge of all the Earth.

Let his eyes see his ruin Heb. כידו, his ruin, but I cannot find a comparison in the Bible. However, according to the context of the verse, it appears to mean ruin, and so, many did not find a comparison to it. (כידו An expression of אֵידוֹ, his ruin. The “aleph” is substituted by a “chaff.”)

For what does He care about his house after him since the number of his months has been cut off For what does he care (saklirir in Old French) or desire in his house after his death, to worry in his lifetime about the retribution destined to befall them, since the number of his months has been cut off and they will end before the evil that the Omnipresent promised them, viz. (Gen. 6:3) “therefore his days shall be 120 years.” This is what I said to you (verse 5), “Turn to me and be silent.”

Can anyone teach knowledge for God Is there anyone among you who is in the place of God, who can teach the knowledge of what this standard is [i.e., the standard of God’s judgment]?

God must know that because the wicked appear to go unpunished and the righteous unrewarded, He is not taken seriously. So why does He allow it?

But He judges high-handedly Heb. והוא רמים ישפוט. [He punishes the exalted.] Those like me, and the righteous and the esteemed, He chastises, judges, and requites, like (below 24:18), “and he will not turn in the way of the vineyards,” stated in regard to Noah and Methuselah in the Aggadah of [chapter] Chelek (Sanh. 108a). Another explanation: Can anyone teach God knowledge? That is, do I have to teach Him knowledge to judge fairly? He Himself knows that it is so, but He passes high- handed judgments with His loftiness and His greatness, and He does not care to be exact. I heard this one but not the first one.

This one The wicked man.

dies (Is punished.) in his full strength in the appearance of his perfection, lacking nothing.

tranquil Heb. שַׁלְאֲנָן, like שַׁאֲנָן.

His pails are full of milk Heb. עטיניו. This is the language of the Mishnah (Menahoth 86a): “He packs it (עוטנו) in the olive press.” They gather the olives together, and their oil forms globules and gathers in its midst in order to be ready when he presses it in the press, and that vessel in which they gather it in order for its oil to gather within it is called “ma’atan.” Here too, his milk and his moisture and fat are called “atinav.”

And this one dies with a bitter spirit Those that are exalted and holy to Him—them He requites immediately.

Together on the earth they lie After their death, it is not recognizable to the people who is good and who is bad, because this one is like that one; they lie on the earth together.

Lo, I know your thoughts and the devices that you wrongfully think against me You do wrong to think injustice.

Job interprets the congruity in the lot of the good and wicked as evidence that governance is random. His companions see it as proof that people are not always what they appear. Job had appeared to be good, but when his fate ultimately turned out to be that deserved by a wicked person, they knew that in truth he must have been wicked.

For etc. Because of the evil that has befallen me, you say, “Look, where is the house of this man who was a prince, and where is the tent and the dwellings of the other wicked men?” That is to say that he is like them. Because of his wickedness, his house was lost. (Now why do you rely on your tranquility?)

Have you not asked etc. All these parables you are composing about me.

It is the same all over the world: it is the wicked who prosper.

and their signs which they made known to you, you shall not make strange to yourselves by not paying attention to them, like (Gen. 42:7), “But he made himself a stranger (ויתנכר) to them.”

That They told you that... the wicked man is reserved for the day of calamity The wicked man is withheld and spared from evil and reserved for the day that is appointed for his calamity, like (below 38:23), “That I have saved for a time of trouble.” I laid them away and spared them to let them know until the day of battle and war.

Are they only spared in this world to be punished in the Hereafter, as Bildad claimed?

Who will tell His way to His face Who is the great king who will tell His way to His face and will not fear Him? How exalted He is! That is the Holy One, blessed be He, Who did.

They should be punished where they sinned, so that those they offended should have satisfaction.

and who will requite Him Who will requite Him with the recompense for His wickedness?

But he will be borne to the grave He will ultimately be borne to the grave.

The grave is no threat to them; it is the end for everyone, righteous and wicked alike.

and he will hasten to be beside the stacks of grain when he is buried in the fields beside the stacks of grain.

clods balast in French (which the sailors bring into the holds of the ships in order to weigh them down.)

as there were innumerable ones before him Those who draw after the same way. All these devices you think against me.

Now how do you comfort me with futility Since only betrayal remains of your replies, the replies of wisdom are forgotten and lost from you, and of your replies, [those] left in your hands are only replies of betrayal. betrayal This word (מעל) is a noun, which is why it is voweled with a kamatz, and the accent is on the first syllable.