17 How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity cometh upon them? That [God] distributeth sorrows in his anger? 18 That they are as stubble before the wind, And as chaff that the storm carrieth away? 19 [Ye say], God layeth up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it: 20 Let his own eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what careth he for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off? 22 Shall any teach God knowledge, Seeing he judgeth those that are high? 23 One dieth in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and quiet: 24 His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moistened. 25 And another dieth in bitterness of soul, And never tasteth of good. 26 They lie down alike in the dust, And the worm covereth them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 21:17-26
Commentary on Job 21:17-26
(Read Job 21:17-26)
Job had described the prosperity of wicked people; in these verses he opposes this to what his friends had maintained about their certain ruin in this life. He reconciles this to the holiness and justice of God. Even while they prosper thus, they are light and worthless, of no account with God, or with wise men. In the height of their pomp and power, there is but a step between them and ruin. Job refers the difference Providence makes between one wicked man and another, into the wisdom of God. He is Judge of all the earth, and he will do right. So vast is the disproportion between time and eternity, that if hell be the lot of every sinner at last, it makes little difference if one goes singing thither, and another sighing. If one wicked man die in a palace, and another in a dungeon, the worm that dies not, and the fire that is not quenched, will be the same to them. Thus differences in this world are not worth perplexing ourselves about.