This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
This is the portion spoken by Job's friends in their closing discussion with Job as part of their condemnation of him. It declares that the portion and appointed heritage of a wicked man from God is punishment. In doing so it states a general truth about the final outcome of evil.
Yet the declarations of Job's friends about God and Job are not to be treated as reliable when unsupported by the rest of Scripture, so its claim should not be accepted as truth merely because it appears in Job. The friends wrongly applied it to Job, since his suffering does not prove that he is wicked or under God's displeasure, because affliction may be God's loving chastening and serve a good purpose. Their condemnation charged Job with seeming self-righteousness, a condemnation Job rejected because he felt they were condemning him unjustly.
This is the portion spoken by Job's friends in their closing discussion with Job as part of their condemnation of him. It declares that the portion and appointed heritage of a wicked man from God is punishment. In doing so it states a general truth about the final outcome of evil.
Yet the declarations of Job's friends about God and Job are not to be treated as reliable when unsupported by the rest of Scripture, so its claim should not be accepted as truth merely because it appears in Job. The friends wrongly applied it to Job, since his suffering does not prove that he is wicked or under God's displeasure, because affliction may be God's loving chastening and serve a good purpose. Their condemnation charged Job with seeming self-righteousness, a condemnation Job rejected because he felt they were condemning him unjustly.