JOB SPEAKS. CHAP. xxi.
With less of personal distress and a more collected mind than before Job begins a reply to Zophar. His brave hope of vindication has fortified his soul and is not without effect upon his bodily state. The quietness of tone in this final address of the second colloquy contrasts with his former agitation and the growing eagerness of the friends to convict him of wrong. True, he has still to speak of facts of human life troublous and inscrutable. Where they lie he must look, and terror seizes him, as if he moved on the edge of chaos. It is, however, no longer his own controversy with God that disquiets him. For the time he is able to leave that to the day of revelation. But seeing a vaster field in which righteousness must be revealed, he compels himself, as it were, to face the difficulties which are encountered in that survey. The friends have throughout the colloquy presented in varying pictures the offensiveness of the wicked man and his sure destruction. Job, extending his view over the field they have professed to search, sees the facts in another light. While his statement is in the way of a direct negative to Zophar's theory, he has to point out what seems dreadful injustice in the providence of God. He is not however, drawn anew into the tone of revolt.
The opening words are as usual expostulatory, but with a ring of vigour. Job sets the arguments of his friends aside and the only demand he makes now is for their attention.
"_Hear diligently my speech, And let that be your consolations. Suffer me that I may speak; And after I have spoken, mock on. As for me, is my complaint of man? And why should I not be impatient?_"
What he has said hitherto has had little effect upon them; what he is to say may have none. But he will speak; and afterwards, if Zophar finds that he can maintain his theory, why, he must keep to it and mock on. At present the speaker is in the mood of disdaining false judgment. He quite understands the conclusion come to by the friends. They have succeeded in wounding him time after time. But what presses upon his mind is the state of the world as it really is. Another impatience than of human falsehood urges him to speak. He has returned upon the riddle of life he gave Zophar to read--why the tents of robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure (chap. xii. 6). Suppose the three let him alone for a while and consider the question largely, in its whole scope. They shall consider it, for, certainly, the robber chief may be seen here and there in full swing of success, with his children about him, gaily enjoying the fruit of sin, and as fearless as if the Almighty were his special protector. Here is something that needs clearing up. Is it not enough to make a strong man shake?
"_Mark me, and be astonished, And lay the hand upon the mouth. Even while I remember I am troubled, And trembling taketh hold of my flesh-- Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power? Their seed is settled with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes; Their houses are in peace, without fear, And the rod of God is not upon them.... They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance; They sing to the timbrel and lute, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in ease, And in a moment go down to Sheol. Yet they said to God, Depart from us, For we desire not to know Thy ways. What is Shaddai that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have if we pray unto Him?_"