Job finally gets around to a direct contradiction of the trio, while at the same time pointing out the subtle blasphemy of their words.
The first few verses are surprisingly terse. He begins by asking that they console him by listening, because their long winded accusations weren’t much comfort. They’ll get their chance to mock him again soon enough. If Job were lamenting bad treatment from mere men, he might expect some politicking sympathy. But this is God Almighty roughing him up, so what place does politicking have? Why would they pretend to curry God’s favor as if He were a mere human ruler? God needs no defense among men; He is the Creator and Lord of all. Job’s impatience with their silly posturing is wholly justified. Meanwhile, they should take a fresh look at what horrors are upon Job. This is no small discomfort, but the mighty hand of God ripping a man’s life apart. They should be silent and reverent out of fear they might be next. Job still quivers in fear of God’s hand.
Then he turns to his main argument. Have these men never seen how sometimes wicked men rise to power and wealth, grow old and die in comfort? Evil men have been known to go through life without any apparent misfortune. All the way to the end, they shake their fist at God but He doesn’t seem to notice. Are the trio so ignorant of human history that they haven’t seen God allow such things? Yet for all this, Job would not trade places with any of them. He remains faithful to God and upright despite the apparent mismatch in consequences.
Forget the rumors and stories. How often have they actually seen the wicked receive apparent justice on the terms they have described? Were they blind to the very real examples Job could cite? Anticipating their objection that God might visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, that would clearly violate the false morality of their pious assertions. If their version of moral justice holds any water, then let a man receive his own punishment while he lives. Amen to that, Job says. Are they going to teach that standard to God? Because it’s not at all how God does things.
Life on this plane of existence is inherently futile. Regardless of what men enjoy or suffer, death levels them all. What’s the point in walking justly before God? Whatever it gains a man to be righteous, it has little to do with the shallow blessings most men pursue. Job isn’t stupid to their pretense. Even if they have never personally seen the wicked prosper, they have no excuse, since they live right there on one of main trade routes in that part of the world. Were they silly enough to avoid interviewing travelers to hear their stories? Does every traveler lie about such things? The world is full of wicked men who gain noble treatment and great mourning by thousands at their funerals.But righteous Job can’t even get his friends to listen while he yet lives.
What kind of comfort is it when a man’s own friends are so utterly self-deceived?
