NOTES for Job 12:3-4

Answering the accusations of his friends, Job himself resorts to irony on the edge of sarcasm (vv. 1-3). His reply begins with a glorification of the greatness, power, and wisdom of God, for whom nothing is impossible (vv. 7-25). Such a hymn to God would be close and understandable to any religious person. But the magnificence of this hymn is nullified by the mention of the righteous man who has become a laughingstock to people, and of the triumph of robbers who prosper and do not fear God (vv. 4-6). Of course, no one would argue that world harmony is beautiful. And the world created by God is beautiful too. But what is the price of this beauty? Is it not too high? Following the picture Job paints, one must admit that the suffering of the righteous person and the prosperity of the robber are integral elements of world harmony.

It must be noted that such a view has been characteristic of religious consciousness in every age. In fact, Zophar, when he asserts that God knows better whom, when, and how to judge, expresses the same thought. Indeed, if the day of judgment for the wicked person has not yet come, if God delays for now, then this delay belongs to His design for the destinies of the world. But then one will inevitably have to admit that evil too belongs within them, so that God, even if He is not Himself the source of evil, nevertheless permits it into His creation and gives it a place in His world. And this at once devalues all righteousness and makes the life of all righteous people meaningless. If the paths of good and evil are not mutually exclusive, if evil is not the antipode of good but its alternative, even if only a temporary one, righteousness becomes both impossible and unnecessary.

Job, it appears, understands this perfectly well. He sees the beauty of God's world no worse than his friends do, but he cannot accept that this beauty should be achieved at the price of allowing evil into the world. If God is like this, if He is ready to put up with the sufferings of the righteous and the prosperity of robbers, even temporarily, then He is not the God of the righteous. Of course, one could, like Job's friends, rely on the hope that the suffering of the righteous, like the triumph of the wicked, is temporary. But God has no time, and if evil has any meaning at all for Him, then it also becomes part of His eternity. That is why Job experiences so deeply this triumph of robbers and the humiliation of the righteous, even if temporary. His time on earth is coming to an end, and he wants an answer to the main question.