TEXT: Job 20-21, Galatians 4-6
In Zophar’s second condemnation of Job’s sinfulness (chapter 20), he more or less repeats the previous arguments, that God judges wicked men. Job has obviously been judged, and therefore Job must be wicked.
In chapter 21, Job answers this charge with a description of reality. “Look around you”, Job says, “do you not see that the wicked prosper?” In fact, many of them do extremely well. As a result of their prosperity, they reject God (v. 15). Job agrees with Asaph (Psalm 73) that God will judge the wicked one day, but it is clear it may not be in this life, or in the way that Job’s comforters understand. Job concludes in verse 34 that his friends are simply wrong.
Jesus furthered Job’s cause in the sermon on the Mount, when He declared that God caused it to rain, “on the just and the unjust”. God gives good things to bad people, with the intention that His goodness might lead them to repentance. Some repent, and some, unfortunately, see God’s blessings on their rebellious lifestyles as evidence that He doesn’t care, or worse, doesn’t exist.
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