Job 21:27 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, Job opposes the view his friends still held, that the wicked always fall into some visible and striking ruin like the one he had suffered. They used that idea to condemn him as wicked. Job says, “I know your thoughts” (Job 21:27). He means, “I know you will not agree with me, because your judgment is colored by anger and prejudice against me, and by the false plans you imagine against my comfort and honor. How can such men be convinced?”

Job’s friends were ready to answer his words about the prosperity of the wicked by asking, “Where is the house of the prince?” (Job 21:28). In other words, they pointed to Job’s ruined household, or to the house where his children had been feasting, and said his case looked like that of violent rulers and oppressors. They thought that if one compared Job’s family and property with the houses of the wicked, the same pattern would appear. From that, they concluded that Job must be one of them.

Job states the opposite and appeals to the judgment and experience of ordinary people. He is so sure of his case that he is willing to ask the next traveler he meets, “Have you not asked those who travel the road?” (Job 21:29). He does not say, as Eliphaz had done (Job 5:1), “Ask the saints,” but “Ask any person.” Wherever you turn, he says, you will find people who agree with him that the punishment of sinners often belongs more to the next life than to this one. That agrees with the prophecy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam (Jude 1:14), and with what careful observers have seen of God’s dealings with people in this world.

Job says two things. First, unrepentant sinners will certainly be punished in the world to come, and that punishment is often delayed until then. Second, we should not be surprised when they do well in this life and show no open signs of God’s anger. They are often spared now because they are to be judged later. The wicked may flourish for a time, but only “that they may be destroyed forever” (Psalm 92:7).

He describes the sinner as living in great power, so that he is a terror not only to the strong, but even to the wise and good. Job says no one dares speak to him plainly about his life or tell him what his end will be (Job 21:31). No one will risk reproving him or asking for justice. So he sins with confidence and does not learn shame or fear. Prosperity often destroys fools in this way, because it makes them think they are above correction, and correction is what might have led them to repentance. Those whom no one dares to confront are being marked for destruction (Hosea 4:17). If no one will speak to such a man’s face, no one will dare make him repay what he stole or took by force. He is like a great fly that slips through the loose web of the law, while smaller people get caught.

This gives sinners courage in their evil ways, because they can bully justice and make it afraid to touch them. But a day is coming when those who refused to hear rebuke will be told of their faults. Their sins will be laid out before them, and their way will be declared to their face, to their lasting shame. Those who would not repay the wrong they did here will have it repaid to them then.

Job also speaks of sinners dying and being buried with great show and honor (Job 21:32, Job 21:33). There is no escape from death, since it is the lot of every person. Yet people do everything they can to hide its shame. First, the rich man has a splendid funeral, which is a poor thing to boast about, though some count it important. He is brought to the grave with ceremony, with all the honors friends can still give his body. The rich man died and was buried, but Scripture does not mention the burial of the poor man (Luke 16:22).

Second, he may have a grand monument over his tomb. The words may mean that his body is embalmed, which was an old custom among the Egyptians for their great men. He “watches” in the tomb, that is, he rests there alone and quietly, like a watchman in a tower. Third, even the clods of the valley are said to be sweet to him. That is, people use spices and perfumes to make the grave less offensive, and lamps to fight its darkness, which may be part of the earlier image of watching in the tomb. But it is all empty show. What are light and perfume to a dead man?

Fourth, people try to lessen the shame of death by saying it is everyone’s common lot. He has only met fate, they say, and everyone will follow after him, just as many have gone before. Death is the way of all the earth. When we must cross that dark valley, we should remember two things. First, there are countless people before us, so it is a well-worn road, which can ease some fear. To die is to go to the great majority. Second, everyone will draw after us. There is a long line behind us, just as there is a clear track before us. We are neither the first nor the last to pass through that dark entrance. Each person must go in their own order, the order God has appointed.

From all this, Job concludes that his friends’ speeches were pointless (Job 21:34). Their whole argument rested on a false idea. They claimed that the wicked always suffer plainly in this life, but that had not been proved, and Job believed it had been disproved. Because their foundation was false, their comfort was weak and unstable. They told Job he would prosper again if he turned to God, but that depended on the false assumption that godliness always leads to prosperity. Since that is not true, their conclusion could not comfort him. Where truth is missing, there is little comfort to be found.