Introduction
‘And Job continued his discourse: “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies. I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity. I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.’ Job 27:1-6
Job’s Final Word To His Friends
It’s probable that Job here continued his response to Bildad by reaffirming his innocence. He reassures his friends he will claim his innocence until he dies. He called upon God as a witness to his innocence.
Hesser, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Bildad had just finished, Job 25, it was Zophar’s time to speak. Job waited a moment for him to begin but when it became clear that all of his friends had been silenced, Job ‘took up his parable’, that is, ‘his weighty discourse’.’
Job’s friends would stop attacking him if only he would use the words, ‘I sinned, I repent’. But that in itself would be sinful because Job knows of no sin he needs to repent of. He’s not going to give in to their demands for repentance when that repentance wouldn’t be true or genuine.
‘May my enemy be like the wicked, my adversary like the unjust! For what hope have the godless when they are cut off, when God takes away their life? Does God listen to their cry when distress comes upon them? Will they find delight in the Almighty? Will they call on God at all times? “I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal. You have all seen this yourselves. Why then this meaningless talk? “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked, the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty: However many his children, their fate is the sword; his offspring will never have enough to eat. The plague will bury those who survive him, and their widows will not weep for them. Though he heaps up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay, what he lays up the righteous will wear, and the innocent will divide his silver. The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut made by a watchman. He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone. Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest snatches him away in the night. The east wind carries him off, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power. It claps its hands in derision and hisses him out of his place.” Job 27:7-23
Job now appears to challenge his friends to consider something else, that is, what if he is right and they are wrong? What position does that put them in with God? As far as Job is concerned, they are acting foolishly. Would the hypocrite even call on God? If he did, then the answer would be that God wouldn’t hear.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Job’s friends.
‘The two great errors in their allegations were 1. That God punishes all wickedness in this life and does so immediately after the sins are committed, and 2. That any sufferer, from what ever disease or calamity, is suffering the just reward of his sins. Job never denied either that righteousness tends toward happiness or that wickedness tends in the other direction.’
The wicked man will have children, but they will be killed and those who associate with the wicked will die but will have no one to mourn their death.
Once dead, the possessions of the wicked will be consumed by others. The house of the wicked will be done away with like a spider’s web. The wicked will be consumed with death and no one will deliver them.
As Job concludes this speech, he again demonstrates his balanced perspective concerning the wicked. When the wicked die, the living are happy. He is convinced they will suffer for their wickedness but only on God’s timetable.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Job in these verses agrees with his opponents that the prosperity of the wicked is not the dominant trend in the world but there is no denial here that the wicked may indeed prosper for a season.’
