Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 21:32

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 21:32. Yet shall he be brought to the grave — He shall die like other men; and the corruption of the grave shall prey upon him. Mr. Carlyle, in his specimens of Arabic poetry, Translations, p. 16, quotes this verse, which he translates and paraphrases, והוא לקברות יובל "He shall be brought to the grave," ועל גדוש ישקוד And shall watch upon the high-raised heap."

It was the opinion of the pagan Arabs, that upon the death of any person, a bird, by them called Manah, issued from the brain, and haunted the sepulchre of the deceased, uttering a lamentable scream. This notion, he adds, is evidently alluded to in Job 21:32. Thus Abusahel, on the death of his mistress: -

"If her ghost's funereal screech

Through the earth my grave should reach,

On that voice I loved so well

My transported ghost would dwell."

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job’s reply to Zophar (21:1-34)

There are two main reasons for Job’s impatient speech. One is the frustration of arguing with a person whom he cannot see or hear. The other is the constant pain that torments him. If the friends can understand this and stop their mockery for a moment, Job will answer Zophar’s statement calmly (21:1-6). The wicked are not always swiftly destroyed as Zophar claims. Many enjoy long lives of peace, prosperity and happiness (7-13). The wicked fight against God yet prosper; Job hates wickedness yet suffers (14-16).
How often, asks Job, do the wicked suffer all the terrible judgments that the three friends have detailed (17-18)? The friends may reply that the children will reap the fruits of the parents’ sins. If this is so, says Job, it still means that the wicked themselves are not punished. They do not worry about what happens to others after they die (19-21). It is wrong to try to make God’s actions fit human theories, especially when those theories are contradicted by the plain realities of life (22). The fact is that all people, good and bad alike, suffer the unwelcome fate of death. This shows that sufferings and misfortunes are not an indication of a person’s goodness or wickedness (23-26).
The friends say that calamity will come upon the house of the wicked (27-28), but anyone who observes events around him knows this is not always true (29-31). Some of the wicked have impressive funerals, where crowds of people attend to pay them honour (32-33). The friends are not being honest when they quote those examples that support their theories but ignore others (34).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE CONTRADICTS HIS FRIENDS’ THEORY

“Behold, I know your thoughts, And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt? Have ye not asked wayfaring men? And do ye not know their evidences, That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity? That they are led forth to the day of wrath? Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he hath done? Yet shall he be borne to the grave, And men shall keep watch over the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, And all men shall draw after him. How then comfort ye me in vain, Seeing in your answers there remaineth only falsehood?”

“Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices wherewith ye would wrong me” “I see you are disposed to maintain your position… You say the wicked are overwhelmed with calamities; and, from this, you infer that I am wicked.”Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), op. cit., p. 357.

“Where is the house of the prince” “The context here requires us to understand `the prince’ as a reference to a wicked ruler.”Ibid. The second clause is their inference that even his palace shall be destroyed.

The next two or three verses are somewhat ambiguous, and scholars read them differently; but we paraphrase Job’s reply to his friend’s argument which he here anticipated.

How could you say a thing like that? Ask anyone who has traveled, and knows the way of the world, what happens to an evil ruler. The evil flatterers that surround him would not dare accuse him of any wrong-doing; and when he dies, his body will be ceremoniously carried to a magnificent tomb; a monument will be erected, and an honor guard will stand by the grave!

“Who shall declare his way to his face… repay him what he hath done” Job’s knowledge of what goes on in the houses of rulers was perfect. The answer to the question raised here is: “Nobody, but nobody, would dare suggest to any ancient ruler that he was anything less than absolutely perfect.” It is nothing less than astounding that Job’s friends were either ignorant of this, or pretended to be ignorant. “None would dare oppose a wicked ruler to his face for fear of the consequences.”<25a> “Wicked rulers are not only spared by God but left unrebuked by men.”International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 190.

“In your answers there remaineth only falsehood” “All that Job’s friends say was but a dishonest attempt to prove him wicked.”Ibid., p. 191. This may appear as a harsh judgment to some; but it should never be forgotten that, in this astounding narrative, Job’s friends were cardinal agents of Satan himself, determined to destroy one of the noblest men who ever lived.

The discerning reader knows what is going on here. “Job is not wicked, or stubborn, or arrogant. He is honest and tenacious. From the very depth of a suffering body and a distressed mind, he cries out for understanding,”Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, op. cit., p. 202. still trusting God, in spite of the blind stupidity and/or evil intent of his friends. Job is still perplexed by the mysteries of God’s dealing with men; “But, by now, the reader knows that such enigmas do not prevent Job from trusting in his inexplicable God.”R. B. Sweet Publishing Company, No. 216, p. 47.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Yet shall he be brought to the grave - Margin, “graves.” That is, he is brought with honor and prosperity to the grave. He is not cut down by manifest divine displeasure for his sins. He is conducted to the grave as other people are, not withstanding his enormous wickedness. The “object” of this is clearly to state that he would not be overwhelmed with calamity, as the friends of Job had maintained, and that nothing could be determined in regard to his character from the divine dealings toward him in this life.

And shall remain in the tomb - Margin, “watch in the heap.” The marginal reading does not make sense, though it seems to be an exact translation of the Hebrew. Noyes renders it, “Yet he still survives upon his tomb.” Prof. Lee, “For the tomb was he watchful;” that is, his anxiety was to have an honored and a splendid burial. Wemyss, “They watch over his tomb;” that is, he is honored in his death, and his friends visit his tomb with affectionate solicitude, and keep watch over his grave. So Dr. Good renders it. Jerome translates it; “et in congerie mortuorum vigilabit.” The Septuagint, “And he shall be borne to the graves, and he shall watch over the tombs;” or, he shall cause a watch to be kept over his tomb - ἐπὶ σωρῶν ἠγρύπνησεν epi sōrōn ēgrupnēsen. Amidst this variety of interpretation, it is not easy to determine the true sense of the passage. The “general” meaning is not difficult.

It is, that he should be honored even in his death; that he would live in prosperity, and be buried with magnificence. There would be nothing in his death or burial which would certainly show that God regarded him as a wicked man. But there is considerable difficulty in determining the exact sense of the original words. The word rendered “tomb” in the text and “heap” in the margin (גדישׁ gâdı̂ysh) occurs only in the following places, Exodus 22:6; Job 5:26; Judges 15:5, where it is rendered “a shock of corn,” and in this place. The “verb” in the Syriac, Arabic, and in Chaldee, means “to heap up” (see Castell), and the noun may denote, therefore, a stack, or a heap, of grain, or a tomb, that was made by a pile of earth, or stones. The ancient “tumuli” were there heaps of earth or stone, and probably such a pile was made usually over a grave as a monument. On the meaning of the word used here, the reader may consult Bochart, Hieroz. P. i.

L. iii. c. xiii. p. 853. There can be little doubt that it here means a tomb, or a monument raised over a tomb. There is more difficulty about the word rendered “shall remain” (ישׁקוד yı̂shqôd). This properly means, to wake, to be watchful, to be sleepless. So the Chaldee שקד, and the Arabic “dakash” The verb is commonly rendered in the Scriptures, “watch,” or “waketh.” See Psalms 127:1; Psalms 102:7; Jeremiah 31:28; Jeremiah 1:12; Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 44:27; Isaiah 29:20; Ezra 8:29; Daniel 9:14. There is usually in the word the notion of “watching,” with a view to guarding, or protecting, as when one watches a vineyard, a house, or other property. The sense here is, probably, that his tomb should be carefully “watched” by friends, and the verb is probably taken impersonally, or used to denote that “someone” would watch over his grave. This might be either as a proof of affection, or to keep it in repair. One of the most painful ideas might have been then, as it is now among American savages (Bancroft’s History of the United States, vol. iii. p. 299), that of having the grave left or violated, and it may have been regarded as a special honor to have had friends, who would come and watch over their sepulchre.

According to this view, the meaning is, that the wicked man was often honorably buried; that a monument was reared to his memory; and that every mark of attention was paid to him after he was dead. Numbers followed him to his burial, and friends came and wept with affection around his tomb. The argument of Job is, that there was no such distinction between the lives and death of the righteous and the wicked as to make it possible to determine the character; and is it not so still? The wicked man often dies in a palace, and with all the comforts that every clime can furnish to alleviate his pain, and to soothe him in his dying moments. He lies upon a bed of down; friends attend him with unwearied care; the skill of medicine is exhausted to restore him, and there is every indication of grief at his death. So, in the place of his burial, a monument of finest marble, sculptured with all the skill of art, is reared over his grave. An inscription, beautiful as taste can make it, proclaims his virtues to the traveler and the stranger. Friends go and plant roses over his grave, that breathe forth their odors around the spot where he lies. Who, from the dying scene, the funeral, the monument, the attendants, would suppose that he was a man whom God abhorred, and whose soul was already in hell? This is the argument of Job, and of its solidity no one can doubt.

Smith's Bible Commentary

By Chuck Smith

This time shall we turn to the book of Job, chapter 21.

Zophar has just concluded in chapter 20 his second speech in which, again, he sort of just gives some of the traditions and quotes some of the proverbs that are common, and sort of reiterating some of his accusations against Job. "Knowest not this of old, since man was placed on the earth" ( Job 20:4 ). "You see, don't you know that man has known this forever?" Going back to some of the old proverbs and so forth.

"That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?" ( Job 20:5 ) This is just some of the old proverbs. "The triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the hypocrite is for a moment." And then the insinuations there is that Job actually is a wicked man and that he is a hypocrite. And then he makes accusations against Job in verse Job 21:19 : "Because he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, because he has violently taken away a house which he built it not." In other words, he made a foreclosure against some poor people. And so, concluding in verse Job 21:29 : "This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him from God." That is the calamity and the destruction that will come upon him for doing these wicked things.

So Job answered and said, Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations. And allow me that I may speak; and after I have spoken, just mock on ( Job 21:1-3 ).

Job has just really had it with these guys and he's not really very kind in his remarks to them anymore. But I can sort of understand Job's position. They just...he's looking for sympathy; he's looking for understanding. He doesn't have it. They just are convinced in their minds that Job is a wicked, ungodly man. Though they can't point it out to him, though he's challenged them to, "point out my wickedness," they can't do it. Yet they're convinced of this fact. Job cannot convince them otherwise.

And so let me speak and then after I have spoken, go ahead and mock on.

As for me, is my complaint to man? if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled? Go ahead, mark me, be astonished, put your hand over your mouth. Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling takes hold on my flesh ( Job 21:4-6 ).

Now, Job shows the fallacy of the whole arguments that they're putting against him, because the arguments are this: That the righteous prosper. If you're really a righteous man, you'll be prosperous, that it just follows. And that if you are wicked, then calamity is sure to come, thus any calamity that comes into your life is a sure sign of wickedness. And any prosperity is a sure sign of righteousness. This is the basic fallacious philosophy.

Now in the New Testament we find this same philosophy is spoken against. As those who think that godliness is a way to gain, or it's a way to prosperity. That is spoken of in the New Testament, it says, "from such turn away" ( 1 Timothy 6:5 ), those that say living a godly life is a way to be prosperous. So Job is putting down their whole philosophy by just pointing out basic facts, and it is this:

Why do the wicked live, become old, yea, they are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casts not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock, their children dance. They take the timbrel, the harp, rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave ( Job 21:7-13 ).

In other words, they do not have a prolonged suffering at the time of death. They live, their children are happy, their children are in the dances, and so forth. They are the wicked, they seem to be prosperous and then they die suddenly rather than having a long suffering, lingering kind of a death.

Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; we don't desire the knowledge of your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? ( Job 21:14-15 )

In other words, they scorn God. They shun God. They say, "Hey, why should I serve God? Look, I'm happy. I've got everything I want. Why do I need God? You know, God can take a walk as far as I'm concerned. I don't need Him. I'm doing fine." And so this is, Job pointed out, this is the way the wicked are. Now you say the wicked are cut down, the wicked are cursed, the wicked, you know, are cut off and all. But wait a minute, that's not my observation. Wicked people oftentimes prosper, prosper abundantly. In fact, in the seventy-third Psalm, this was a situation that almost caused the psalmist to stumble.

If you want to turn for a moment to Psalms 73:1-28 , you'll see that the psalmist was observing much the same things as Job here concerning the wicked, as he declares, "Truly God is good to Israel, and all those that are of a clean heart" ( Psalms 73:1 ). In other words, he starts out with a basic, foundational truth. I know this: God is good. I know that. It's important that you know that. It's important that you have certain foundational truths upon which you stand. Upon which you can fall back, because you're not going to always understand why certain things have happened to you. You're not going to understand that. So whenever you come up against something you don't understand, you must fall back on what you do understand, certain foundational truths. And this is one: God is good. I know that. But, the psalmist said, "I know God is good."

But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped. I was envious of the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: [Much the same thing, they don't go through prolonged periods of suffering before they die. They seem to die quickly without a lot of suffering.] their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than their heart could wish. They are corrupt, they speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return hither: and the waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they said, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches ( Psalms 73:2-12 ).

Now, you see, the psalmist is observing much the same as Job. That wicked people oftentimes prosper. In fact, sometimes they prosper abundantly. Job said, "Their children grow up before them. They don't have any trouble. Their bulls gender. Their cows, you know, caste their calves and they don't die. They're prospered. They're blessed. And they're cursing God. They say, 'Why do I need God. I don't need God. I'm happy. I'm satisfied.'"

And the psalmist is observing much the same thing and he said, "It almost wiped me out. It almost caused me to trip up when I saw this." It drew him to false conclusions. He said, "I've cleansed my heart in vain. I've washed my hands in innocency. For all the time I am plagued. I'm chastened" ( Psalms 73:13-14 ).

"It doesn't pay to try and serve God. The wicked have it so good, and here I'm trying to do what's right and I'm in trouble all the time. I'm plagued. Everything's going wrong. You know, I can't pay my bills, and all. And it doesn't pay to serve God." It is really sort of the suggestion here.

"When I thought to know this," he said, "it was too painful for me. Until I went into the sanctuary of the Lord, and then I saw their end" ( Psalms 73:16-17 ). You see, our problem is that our vision oftentimes is too narrow. We see only that which is seen and it will cause you to trip up. I can't understand the disparities of life. I don't understand why wicked people oftentimes prosper and why godly people oftentimes suffer. There are disparities that I don't understand. I know that God is good. I know that God is righteous. I know that God is fair. But I don't know why good, godly people have to suffer. I don't know why ungodly people who really curse God, who want nothing to do with God, are so oftentimes very prosperous, seemingly always in excellent health, never seeming to have problems. "Until I went into the sanctuary of the Lord. I was almost wiped out. I almost... it almost caused my foot to slip. I was almost gone." What did he discover in the sanctuary of the Lord? He discovered, then, the end result. "Then I saw their end." You see, I see now on out beyond. I see the eternity and the long-term view. And when I look out beyond just today and tomorrow, and I look into eternity and I see the end of the wicked, then I am no longer envious of the wicked. How could I be envious of the wicked who are cast into hell? "Surely you have set them in slippery places," the psalmist said. "They shall go down in a moment" ( Psalms 73:18 ). So I can't be envious of them any longer when I see the end result.

Now this is what coming into the sanctuary of the God should always be, a broadening experience for you. Because we do get battered about many times in our worldly relationships, on the job, in school and so forth, and we come in dragging Sunday morning, battered and bruised by the contact with that alien world out there, because actually we are strangers and pilgrims here. We are living in an alien world. It's alien to God. Alienated from God. And if you're living a life in fellowship with God, you find yourself in an alien world. And we come into the sanctuary of God, but it should always be a place where God broadens our whole perspective. And I begin to measure things not by, "Oh, what a rough week," but I begin to measure things by eternity. It won't be long. Life is so short. I'll soon be with Him in the glories of His kingdom. Oh, how fortunate I am to know Him. How fortunate I am that He loves me and He has chosen me as His child and I am going to dwell with Him forever and ever. You see, you get the long-term; you get released from this narrow little perspective that so often develops in the world. And the broadened perspective as we come into the sanctuary of God.

So Job now is talking from the narrow perspective. We often do this when we're hurting, when we're suffering. He's looking at the wicked like the psalmist did and he sees their prosperity and it's completely putting down the arguments of his friends. He is putting them down. They are not true. The things that they are saying are not true. The hypocrite isn't cut off; the wicked aren't cast aside. They oftentimes are very prosperous indeed and seem to have no problem at all. And this is what Job is pointing out as he shows the fallacy of the arguments that these men are giving to him.

Now Job begins to look down the road, verse Job 21:17 :

How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. They are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away ( Job 21:17-18 ).

I wonder if, when David wrote the first Psalm, he was not acquainted with the book of Job. Do you remember what he said concerning the wicked? "Are not so, but as the chaff which the wind driveth away" ( Psalms 1:4 ). And here he's borrowing actually this phrase out of Job. David was probably very familiar with this book.

God lays up his iniquity for his children: he rewards him, and he shall know it. His eyes shall see his destruction, he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty ( Job 21:19-20 ).

Now Job said,

Are you going to teach God knowledge? seeing he judges those that are high. One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. His breasts are full of milk, his bones are moistened with marrow. Another dies in the bitterness of his soul, and never eats with pleasure ( Job 21:22-25 ).

Now why the difference? We don't know. Why is it that some men die in fullness and some die in poverty? Some die in pain and sorrow. Some are cut off quickly. Why does that happen?

They shall lie down alike in the dust, the worms shall cover them. Behold, I know your thoughts, and devices which you wrongfully imagine against me. For you say, Where is the house of the prince? And where are the dwelling places of the wicked? Have you not asked them that go by the way? and do you not know their tokens ( Job 21:26-29 ),

He said, "You learned your philosophy from wayfarers, from strangers, from people in the streets."

That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath ( Job 21:30 ).

In other words, God will judge them. That is true. But not necessarily in this life.

Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him for what he has done? Yet shall he be brought to the grave, he shall remain in his tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. How then do you comfort me in vain, seeing in your answers there's an inconsistency? ( Job 21:31-34 )

How can you comfort me with these kinds of arguments when they're not really consistent? When they're not really logical? When they don't stand up to reality? "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

6. Job’s second reply to Zophar ch. 21

After the first cycle of speeches, Job responded to a point each of his friends had made, namely, that God consistently blesses the righteous and blasts the unrighteous. After this second cycle of speeches, Job again replied to a point each accuser had made: that the wicked suffer destruction in this life.

"This speech is unusual for Job on several counts. It is the only one in which he confines his remarks to his friends and does not fall into either a soliloquy or a prayer. The time has come to demolish their position. Secondly, in making this counter-attack, Job reviews a lot of the preceding discussion, so that many cross-references can be found to what has already been said. These are a valuable guide to interpretation when they can be discovered. Thirdly, by quoting their words and refuting them, Job comes nearer to formal debate. While his words are still quite emotional, there is less invective in them." [Note: Andersen, p. 198.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The lifelong prosperity of some wicked 21:27-34

By urging his friends to ask travelers (Job 21:29), Job was accusing them of holding a provincial viewpoint, one formed out of limited exposure to life.

"If Job’s friends inquired of well-traveled people, they would learn that in every part of the world, wicked people seem to escape the calamities that fall on the righteous." [Note: Ibid.]

Though some writers have taken Job 21:31 as a quotation of the view of Job’s friends, it is probably Job’s own view. "The day" is probably a reference to the final time God will judge the wicked.

This speech explains Job’s position, which certainly squares with reality better than the one his adversaries advocated. Frequently the wicked do prosper throughout their lives. God does not always cut off evil people prematurely. For example, even though Manasseh was Judah’s worst king, he reigned the longest. Even through Mussolini and Hitler died violent deaths, Lenin and Stalin died in their own beds as old men. Furthermore, "All that desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Job accused his friends of being wrong.

At the end of this second cycle, the advantage in the debate was obviously with Job. Any objective observer of what was going on at that city dump would have had to admit that Job’s arguments made more sense than those of his three friends.

"If you want to be an encouragement to hurting people, try to see things through their eyes. Be humble enough to admit that there might be other points of view." [Note: Ibid., p. 47.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Yet shall he be brought to the grave,.... Or "and", "or yea he shall be brought", c. a for the meaning is not, that though he is great in life he shall be brought low enough at death; for Job is still describing the grand figure wicked men make, even at death, as well as in life; for he is not only brought to the grave, as all men are, it being the house appointed for all living, and every man's long home; but the wicked rich man is brought thither in great funeral pomp, in great state, as the rich sinner was buried, Ecclesiastes 8:10; or "to the graves" b, the place where many graves are, the place of the sepulchres of his ancestors; and in the chiefest and choicest of them he is interred, and has an honourable burial; not cast into a ditch, or buried with the burial of an ass, as Jehoiakim was, being cast forth beyond the gates of the city, Jeremiah 22:19; and shall remain in the tomb; quiet and undisturbed, when it has been the lot of others to have their bones taken out of their grave, and spread before the sun, see Jeremiah 8:1; and even some good men, who have had their graves dug up, their bones taken out and burnt, and their ashes scattered about, as was the case of that eminent man, John Wickliff, here in England. The word for "tomb" signifies an "heap" c, and is sometimes used for an heap of the fruits of the earth; which has led some to think of the place of this man's interment being in the midst of a corn field; but the reason why a grave or tomb is so called is, because a grave, through a body or bodies being laid in it, rises up higher than the common ground; and if it has a tomb erected over it, that is no other than an heap of stones artificially put together; or it may be so called from the heaps of bodies one upon another in a grave, or vault, over which the tomb is, or where every part of the body is gathered and heaped d; from this sense of the word some have given this interpretation of the passage, that the wicked man shall be brought to his grave, and abide there, after he has heaped up a great deal of wealth and riches in this world; which, though a truth, seems not to be intended here, any more than others taken from the different signification of the word translated "remain". It is observed by some to signify to "hasten" e, from whence the almond tree, which hastens to put forth its bloom, has its name, Jeremiah 1:10; and so give this as the sense, that such a man, being of full age, is ripe for death, and, comes to his grave, or heap, like a shock of corn in its season. Others observe, that it signifies to "watch"; and so in the margin of our Bibles the clause is put, "he shall watch in the heap" f, which is differently interpreted; by some, that he early and carefully provides himself a tomb, as Absalom in his lifetime set up a sepulchral pillar for himself, 2 Samuel 18:18; and Shebna the scribe, and Joseph of Arimathea, hewed themselves sepulchres out of the rock,

Isaiah 22:15; and others think the allusion is either to statues upon tombs, as are still in use in our days, where they are placed as if they were watching over the tombs; or to bodies embalmed, according to the custom of the eastern countries, especially the Egyptians, which were set up erect in their vaults, and seemed as if they were alive, and there set to watch the places they were in, rather than as if buried there; or, according to others, "he shall be watched", or "[the keeper] shall watch at", or "over the tomb" g, that the body is not disturbed or taken away; but the sense our version gives is best, and most agrees with the context, and the scope of it, and with what follows.

a והוא "et ipse", Pagninus, Montanus, c. b לקברות "ad sepulchra", V. L. Montamus, Vatablus, Drusius, Beza, Mercerus, Michaelis, Schultens "in sepulchra", Junius Tremellius, Piscator. c על גדיש "super acervo", Montanus, Codurcus so Bolducius, Mercerus. d Vid. David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 14. 3. e ישקוד "festinabit", Pagninus; so some in Vatablus, and Ben Melech. f "Vigilabit", V. L. Tigurine version, Montanus; "vigilat", Michaelis, Schultens; "erit tanquam vigil", Bolducius. g "Vigilabitur", Beza; "vigilatur", Cocceius; so Calovius.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.   28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?   29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,   30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.   31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?   32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.   33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.   34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

      In these verses,

      I. Job opposes the opinion of his friends, which he saw they still adhered to, that the wicked are sure to fall into such visible and remarkable ruin as Job had now fallen into, and none but the wicked, upon which principle they condemned Job as a wicked man. "I know your thoughts," says Job (Job 21:27; Job 21:27); "I know you will not agree with me; for your judgments are tinctured and biassed by your piques and prejudices against me, and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against my comfort and honour: and how can such men be convinced?" Job's friends were ready to say, in answer to his discourse concerning the prosperity of the wicked, "Where is the house of the prince?Job 21:28; Job 21:28. Where is Job's house, or the house of his eldest son, in which his children were feasting? Enquire into the circumstances of Job's house and family, and then ask, Where are the dwelling-places of the wicked? and compare them together, and you will soon see that Job's house is in the same predicament with the houses of tyrants and oppressors, and may therefore conclude that doubtless he was such a one."

      II. He lays down his own judgment to the contrary, and, for proof of it, appeals to the sentiments and observations of all mankind. So confident is he that he is in the right that he is willing to refer the cause to the next man that comes by (Job 21:29; Job 21:29): "Have you not asked those that go by the way--any indifferent person, any that will answer you? I say not, as Eliphaz (Job 5:1; Job 5:1), to which of the saints, but to which of the children of men will you turn? Turn to which you will, and you will find them all of my mind, that the punishment of sinners is designed more for the other world than for this, according to the prophecy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, Jude 1:14. Do you not know the tokens of this truth, which all that have made any observations upon the providences of God concerning mankind in this world can furnish you with?" Now,

      1. What is it that Job here asserts? Two things:-- (1.) That impenitent sinners will certainly be punished in the other world, and, usually, their punishment is put off until then. (2.) That therefore we are not to think it strange if they prosper greatly in this world and fall under no visible token of God's wrath. Therefore they are spared now, because they are to be punished then; therefore the workers of iniquity flourish, that they may be destroyed for ever,Psalms 92:7. The sinner is here supposed, [1.] To live in a great deal of power, so as to be not only the terror of the mighty in the land of the living (Ezekiel 32:27), but the terror of the wise and good too, whom he keeps in such awe that none dares declare his way to his face,Job 21:31; Job 21:31. None will take the liberty to reprove him, to tell him of the wickedness of his way, and what will be in the end thereof; so that he sins securely, and is not made to know either shame or fear. The prosperity of fools destroys them, by setting them (in their own conceit) above reproofs, by which they might be brought to that repentance which alone will prevent their ruin. Those are marked for destruction that are let alone in sin, Hosea 4:17. And, if none dares declare his way to his face, much less dare any repay him what he has done and make him refund what he has obtained by injustice. He is one of those great flies which break through the cobwebs of the law, that hold only the little ones. This emboldens sinners in their sinful ways that they can brow-beat justice and make it afraid to meddle with them. But there is a day coming when those shall be told of their faults who now would not bear to hear of them, those shall have their sins set in order before them, and their way declared to their face, to their everlasting confusion, who would not have it done here, to their conviction, and those who would not repay the wrongs they had done shall have them repaid to them. [2.] To die, and be buried in a great deal of pomp and magnificence, Job 21:32; Job 21:33. There is no remedy; he must die; that is the lot of all men; but every thing you can think of shall be done to take off the reproach of death. First, He shall have a splendid funeral--a poor thing for any man to be proud of the prospect of; yet with some it passes for a mighty thing. Well, he shall be brought to the grave in state, surrounded with all the honours of the heralds' office and all the respect his friends can then pay to his remains. The rich man died, and was buried, but no mention is made of the poor man's burial, Luke 16:22. Secondly, He shall have a stately monument erected over him. He shall remain in the tomb with a Hic jacet--Here lies, over him, and a large encomium. Perhaps it is meant of the embalming of his body to preserve it, which was a piece of honour anciently done by the Egyptians to their great men. He shall watch in the tomb (so the word is), shall abide solitary and quiet there, as a watchman in his tower. Thirdly, The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; there shall be as much done as can be with rich odours to take off the noisomeness of the grave, as by lamps to set aside the darkness of it, which perhaps was referred to in the foregoing phrase of watching in the tomb. But it is all a jest; what is the light, or what the perfume, to a man that is dead? Fourthly, It shall be alleged, for the lessening of the disgrace of death, that it is the common lot: He has only yielded to fate, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. Note, Death is the way of all the earth: when we are to cross that darksome valley we must consider, 1. That there are innumerable before us; it is a tracked road, which may help to take off the terror of it. To die is ire ad plures--to go to the great majority. 2. That every man shall draw after us. As there is a plain track before, so there is a long train behind; we are neither the first nor the last that pass through that dark entry. Every one must go in his own order, the order appointed of God.

      2. From all this Job infers the impertinency of their discourses, Job 21:34; Job 21:34. (1.) Their foundation is rotten, and they went upon a wrong hypothesis: "In your answers there remains falsehood; what you have said stands not only unproved but disproved, and lies under such an imputation of falsehood as you cannot clear it from." (2.) Their building was therefore weak and tottering: "You comfort me in vain. All you have said gives me no relief; you tell me that I shall prosper again if I turn to God, but you go upon this presumption, that piety shall certainly be crowned with prosperity, which is false; and therefore how can your inference from it yield me any comfort?" Note, Where there is not truth there is little comfort to be expected.