Round Two Ends

Job 20-21

            Zophar takes his second, and he doesn’t have much new to add. His argument is that the wicked die and disappear. Everything good the wicked have will turn bad for them. They will never know contentment. It’s the same thing we’ve heard before: the wicked don’t prosper; Job hasn’t prospered; therefore Job is wicked; he must have some secret sin.

            Job won’t have it. He tells Zophar that he’s no comfort. And, frankly, Job doesn’t think any of his friends’ answers are true. Job argues that wicked do thrive all over the world. Job would like to see the wicked punished, but the wicked always seem to get away with it. God alone, Job says, will judge. (Job’s issue, of course, is that God does it in His own time and without telling anyone what he is doing.)