Komentarz do Hioba 21:1

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).