Job 21:1 marks the beginning of Job's answer to his friends' preceding speech and carries forward the argument between them. The reply is specifically directed to Zophar's account of the portion of the wicked. It belongs to the debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions and about the cause and object of human suffering, a debate extending from chapters 4 to 31 and conducted in three rounds of speeches. That debate forms part of the poetic portion of the book in chapters 3-31, which contains the colloquies between Job and his three friends.
In that discussion the three friends condemned Job as seeming self-righteous, while he felt they judged him unjustly. Job spoke from the same standpoint of human wisdom and observation as his friends, yet from the knowledge of his own integrity. He was unable to understand God's dealings with him, but he did not charge God foolishly. God, who sees the end from the beginning, was working out what would glorify Himself, bring comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones, and prove a blessing to Job.
The answer teaches that the wicked prosper in this present life and that their punishment is future. Its place in the book shows the value of reading Job as a whole, so that its connected meaning and force can be followed.
Job 21:1 marks the beginning of Job's answer to his friends' preceding speech and carries forward the argument between them. The reply is specifically directed to Zophar's account of the portion of the wicked. It belongs to the debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions and about the cause and object of human suffering, a debate extending from chapters 4 to 31 and conducted in three rounds of speeches. That debate forms part of the poetic portion of the book in chapters 3-31, which contains the colloquies between Job and his three friends.
In that discussion the three friends condemned Job as seeming self-righteous, while he felt they judged him unjustly. Job spoke from the same standpoint of human wisdom and observation as his friends, yet from the knowledge of his own integrity. He was unable to understand God's dealings with him, but he did not charge God foolishly. God, who sees the end from the beginning, was working out what would glorify Himself, bring comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones, and prove a blessing to Job.
The answer teaches that the wicked prosper in this present life and that their punishment is future. Its place in the book shows the value of reading Job as a whole, so that its connected meaning and force can be followed.