Job 27:13 Commentary and Bible Study

In previous chapters Job observed that the wicked get away with much evil and God does not immediately punish them but gives them licence to carry out their evil desires. He insisted that since the wicked do not receive their punishment in this life it is impossible to tell a man’s character by how God treats him, and consequently it was wrong for the comforters to judge Job to be a wicked man simply because of his troubles. However in this chapter he appears to say that the wicked do after all face justice and they cannot escape. Is he contradicting what he had said before? Not at all. His disagreement with the comforters is over the matter of timing and when the judgment of God catches up with the wicked. Even in earlier chapter where he had been refuting the idea that the wicked are dealt with in this life, he still argued that they face an eternal judgment. In chapter 24:22-25 Job had argued that the wicked are exalted only for a little while and then brought low, that God does not overlook their evil deeds or forget to bring them to account. Here too he is speaking of a judgment at the end of life and not necessarily one that affects them now. There may be some whom the Lord picks out a signal examples to the rest but a great many do not face the consequences of their deeds until after life is over. Interestingly many of the statements in the following verses are not about what happens to the wicked during their lives but what happens after their life is over. Job starts by speaking of the children of the wicked and then what happens to their riches, finishing by describing the suddenness of their departure. All this comes directly from the Lord as his providence addresses their deeds.