What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
The verse belongs to the extended debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering, a colloquy extending from chapters 3 or 4 through chapter 31. In chapter 21 Job is answering to show that the wicked prosper in this life while their punishment is future. Job was a real person and the narrative is fact, and the inspiration of the book means it truly records that the words were spoken, not that everything spoken in it is true. Satan spoke falsely, and the friends spoke things generally true but misapplied to Job, so the book must be studied as a whole and not mutilated by taking detached portions out of it.
The verse voices the defiant question of the wicked, including the prosperous wicked and those who see no reason or benefit in serving the Almighty or praying to him. It is also the language of scorners who scoff at truth and religion. It denies reverence for sacred things by treating service to the Almighty as without obligation and prayer to him as without profit. A person comes to say this by continuing in the company of scoffers, after first heeding the counsel of the ungodly and standing where sinners gather, until all reverence passes away and he scoffs like the rest.
It expresses the inward reason many refuse to serve God and pray with their families, namely that serving him would put too great a restraint on self, require too much to be expected, and demand a more consistent character and more circumspect conduct. To fear restraint upon sins in this way is a sad mark of spiritual condition. It is the language of those whose hearts are devoted to the things of this world, blinded by Satan with the glitter of riches, honors, and pleasures and turned away in thought from God, Christ, and the impending judgment. It tells God to depart and desires no knowledge of his ways, and in this state multitudes live and die utterly indifferent, never caring to acquire a true knowledge of the religion of Christ. That questioning of the value of prayer must not be adopted but rejected, since prayer is an actual means of power in life, in favor of serving God in all things and praying always with perseverance.
The verse belongs to the extended debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering, a colloquy extending from chapters 3 or 4 through chapter 31. In chapter 21 Job is answering to show that the wicked prosper in this life while their punishment is future. Job was a real person and the narrative is fact, and the inspiration of the book means it truly records that the words were spoken, not that everything spoken in it is true. Satan spoke falsely, and the friends spoke things generally true but misapplied to Job, so the book must be studied as a whole and not mutilated by taking detached portions out of it.
The verse voices the defiant question of the wicked, including the prosperous wicked and those who see no reason or benefit in serving the Almighty or praying to him. It is also the language of scorners who scoff at truth and religion. It denies reverence for sacred things by treating service to the Almighty as without obligation and prayer to him as without profit. A person comes to say this by continuing in the company of scoffers, after first heeding the counsel of the ungodly and standing where sinners gather, until all reverence passes away and he scoffs like the rest.
It expresses the inward reason many refuse to serve God and pray with their families, namely that serving him would put too great a restraint on self, require too much to be expected, and demand a more consistent character and more circumspect conduct. To fear restraint upon sins in this way is a sad mark of spiritual condition. It is the language of those whose hearts are devoted to the things of this world, blinded by Satan with the glitter of riches, honors, and pleasures and turned away in thought from God, Christ, and the impending judgment. It tells God to depart and desires no knowledge of his ways, and in this state multitudes live and die utterly indifferent, never caring to acquire a true knowledge of the religion of Christ. That questioning of the value of prayer must not be adopted but rejected, since prayer is an actual means of power in life, in favor of serving God in all things and praying always with perseverance.