Job 36:6 Commentary and Bible Study

This is a statement of fact in head-on collision with what Job has said. It is not the same as instant judgement – complete justice does not come in this world – but finally, even after a long life, they perish at the final judgment. Job had said, ‘This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. ²³ If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent’ (Job 9:22-23). This was an idea that Elihu could not allow to stand, for it was blatantly false and a slander against the Lord. He insists that God draws a distinction between the wicked and the righteous and treats them in very different ways. Job had asked, ‘Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?’ (Job 21:7). Why, he continued, do that prosper so greatly that they think they can dispense with God’s help altogether? (Job 21:8-14). It is true that the wicked do not face final judgment in this world, and many crimes and wrongs go unpunished by either human justice or divine providence, yet this was an extreme representation of the situation. Justice is at work in providence and many times the wicked are brought to a premature end. This happens not only in unique miraculous ways such as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah or the death of the firstborn of Egypt or of Nadab and Abihu, but in more regular acts of providence such as the generation of Israel that died in the wilderness (Number 26:64-65), or of all the Canaanites that died in war at the hands of Israel, or of Sisera killed by Jael (Judges 4:21), or of the Philistines who fell before the presence of the ark (1 Samuel 5:11), or the premature death of Nabal who was rewarded for his churlishness (1 Samuel 25:37-38), or of Saul who fell on his sword (1 Samuel 31:4), or of Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23)), or Absalom whose head was caught in a tree (2 Samuel 18:9), or of the children of Israel (2 Samuel 24:15), or the captain who was trampled in the gate (2 Kings 7:20), or of those on whom the tower of Siloam fell (Luke 13:4), or of Judas who hung himself (Matthew 27:5), or of Herod who was eaten by worms (Acts 12:23). Some of these died at the hands of men, some at their own hands, and some due to accidents or other impersonal causes. In all these cases the Scripture infallibly interprets their deaths as brought about prematurely due to the intervention of God. It is noted, as a mark of God’s blessing, when a godly man dies at a ripe old age as Job (Job 42:17), Abraham (Genesis 25:8), Isaac (Genesis 25:29), Gideon (Judges 8:32), David (1 Chronicles 23:1), or Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24:15). The Scripture distinguishes between the death of the wicked and of the righteous and even when the righteous die early as Abel (Genesis 4:8), or the child of David (2 Samuel 12:18), or Lazarus (Luke 16:22), Scripture is careful to make clear that this is not due to God disfavour but must rather be seen as his taking home his loved ones to himself early. Job was right to say in opposition to the friends that complete and comprehensive justice does not operate in this world. For this reason It is impossible to judge the character of a man by observing the trials and hardships which he experiences, and to conclude as they had done that Job was a man devoid of righteousness because of the way God treated him. But Job was not right to say that there is no indication of God’s justice in the world and that all events are without meaning and bear no relation to justice. But how can we know when a person is being punished for their sin, and when they are instead being trained in righteousness through hardship? Only by consideration of their lives, and this is how Scripture shows us we should judge these things. We must look charitably on the righteous even when they suffer extreme trials, because it is not we who are training them, but the Lord. When we see the wicked appear to prosper, we must consider their case more carefully, and we will say with David, ‘How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors’ (Psalm 73:19).The righteous have a glorious inheritance, says Elihu, for they are seated with kings – perhaps future kings are in mind, and the illustration is of princes being prepared to reign by their father. The righteous will be exalted above their present state of weakness to the highest glory, being given authority to reign in the world to come. Their names are famous in heaven, though they live in obscurity on earth. Even now they are kings and priests and have great influence with heaven through their prayers, but they have a future glory yet to be revealed. God has seated them forever in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and though now they suffer hardship, they shall be not be forgotten, for all who humble themselves will be exalted.