Job 21:1 - Meaning and Application

Job here asks his friends to give compassionate thought to both his situation and his words, to what he has suffered and what he says. He makes a fair request, that they let him speak (Job 21:3) and not interrupt him, as Zophar had done in the middle of his speech. Even the defeated should be allowed to speak. If people who are accused and judged are not given a chance to defend themselves, they are wronged without any way to recover their right.

He also asks them to listen carefully to what he says (Job 21:2), as people who want to understand him and correct him if he is mistaken. He wants them to pay close attention to him (Job 21:5), because hearing without heeding is almost as useless as not hearing at all. What he asks for is very reasonable, since they came to comfort him. “If you have no other comfort to give me,” he says, “at least give me this: listen patiently.” That simple act would count as kindness and comfort to him. And if they would not help him by speaking, they could still help by listening.

Job also says he will listen when it is their turn to speak. “After I have spoken,” he says, “you may go on, and I will not stop you, even if you keep mocking me.” Anyone who enters a debate should expect hard words and be ready to bear insults patiently. In general, people who mock often keep mocking, no matter what is said to them. Job hopes, though, that if they will hear him fairly, he may change their minds and make them pity him instead of mocking him.

He reminds them that he is not appealing to them as judges (Job 21:4). “Am I making my complaint to man?” he asks. No, for if he were, he would know it would do little good. His complaint is to God, and to God he appeals. Let God judge between them. Before God, both sides stand on equal ground, so Job has the right to be heard just as much as they do. If he were bringing his case before people, his spirit would be crushed, because they would not care enough or understand him rightly. But his complaint is to God, who will let him speak, even when they will not. It would be terrible if God dealt with us as unkindly as friends sometimes do.

There was also something in Job’s case that was so striking that it deserved their most serious thought. It was not an ordinary case, but a very unusual one. Job himself was deeply troubled by it. When he remembered the terrible day when he was suddenly stripped of all his comforts, and when he remembered the painful sores on his body, and the harsh words his friends had used against him, he admitted that he was afraid, and trembling seized his body (Job 21:6). This was especially true when he compared his own suffering with the good fortune of many wicked people, and with the praise they receive from their neighbors as they move through life.

The works of God in governing the world can be deeply surprising, even to wise and good people, and can leave them confused. Job would have his friends be astonished at this as well (Job 21:5). Instead of trying to explain away his troubles, they should reverently admire the unsearchable mystery of God’s rule in bringing suffering on one man while others are left in ease. Since they know no evil against him, they should lay their hands over their mouths, wait quietly for the outcome, and judge nothing before the right time. God’s way is in the sea, and his path in the deep waters. When we cannot explain why he allows the wicked to prosper and the godly to suffer, we should stop and wonder. Upright people will be astonished by this (Job 17:8), and so should you.