Iyov Perek 21

Welcome to NachDaily with Iyov, Perek 21. This is the 13th response in the Sefer and Iyov’s second answer to Tzofar. The Malbim explains that in responding to Tzofar, Iyov is actually addressing all of his friends’ arguments on why the wicked prosper. Iyov feels that his friends have mistreated him with words as sharp as arrows. As Iyov’s friends think of him as a wicked sinner, his troubles make sense to them because he fits into their general view of human suffering. Iyov opens the perek by telling them, in verse 2, to listen carefully to what he says. Iyov maintains that the question of why humans suffer and the wicked succeed applies not only to him, but to all of humanity. In verse 4, Iyov asks, “Was my discussion restricted to any one individual?” The Malbim explains this as saying that if there were no others who felt that they were going through pain with no reason, perhaps they’d be correct. But the bottom line is that they can't be so dismissive of me because there are so many people in the world who feel that they are suffering for no reason. I’m not the only one. In the previous arguments, Elifaz, Tzofar and Bildad didn't address the fact that others might feel the same way as Iyov. Elifaz has claimed that the wicked live in perpetual fear, Bildad explained that the wicked and their children will die prematurely, while Tzofar maintained that the wicked die and descend into the netherworld. Tzofar thought this a good thing because we don't really know who’s wicked