Job 21:16

"What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’"

Key Reflection

Job 21:16 challenges the notion of divine justice by questioning why humans should serve a deity who does not always seem just. The speaker in this verse asks two pointed rhetorical questions: "What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?" This reflects a common theme in the book of Job, where characters grapple with the problem of suffering and its relation to divine justice. In the cultural context of ancient Israel, such questioning was significant because it highlighted the tension between human expectations of fairness and the reality of life's often unjust circumstances.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Lo, their good is not in their hand -Schultens, Rosenmuller, and Noyes, suppose, I think, correctly, that this is to be understood ironically, or as referring to what “they” had maintained. “Lo! you say, that their good is not in their hand! They do not enjoy prosperity, do they? They are soon overwhelmed with calamity, are they? How often have I seen it otherwise! How often is it a fact that they continue to enjoy prosperity, and live and die in peace!” The common interpretation, which Prof. Lee has adopted, seems to me to be much less probable. According to that it means that “their prosperity was not brought about or preserved by their own power.

More from Job 21

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Go deeper with Bible.talk - your AI Bible study companion