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The Strange Good Fortune of the Godless.
If Zophar's arguments had been valid and Job's suffering was to be regarded as the direct punishment for a specific sin, then his faith in the justice of God would have been severely shaken. For that reason Job answers in a tone of great severity.
v. 1. And Job answered and said, in a tone and with words of bitter sarcasm,
v. 2. No doubt but ye are the people, that is, the right kind, the representative men, and wisdom shall die with you, since, by their own statements, they possessed it all, and no one dared to differ with them.
v. 3. But I have understanding as well as you, he was in no wise lacking in the understanding of which they thought they had the monopoly; I am not inferior to you, he was not meaner in wisdom than they and therefore did not have to give way one inch; yea, who knoweth not such things as these? What they had brought forward was a matter of common knowledge, by no means unusual; they had no reason to take special pride in their remarks.
v. 4. I am as one mocked of his neighbor, he had become a laughing-stock to his own friends, who calleth upon God, and He answereth him, that is, I who called to God and found a hearing, who had made the worship of God the rule of my life. The just, upright man is laughed to scorn, a target for the mockery of those who called themselves his friends.
v. 5. He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease, literally, "For misfortune scorn, according to the opinion of the prosperous, ready for those whose foot wavers," that is, fortunate and successful people ordinarily have nothing but scorn and contempt for the unfortunate, for such as are overtaken with misfortune.
v. 6. The tabernacles of robbers prosper, powerful tyrants, men who make it a practise to spoil others, live in safety, and they that provoke God are secure, Psa_73:12; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly, rather, "he who has God enter into his hand," trusting in the weapon which he wields with his right hand. The strange good fortune of the godless has often puzzled believing children of God, but the solution of the question is found Psalms 73.