The Wicked Lose!
13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
and his descendants have not enough bread.
15 Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
and his widows do not weep.
16 Though he heap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay,
17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.
Late in the 1990s there was a popular sticker to put on your the bumper of your car, especially a fast, fancy car. It read:
THE ONE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS, WINS!!
That was the philosophy back then. It is now. And, apparently it was in Job’s day. In these two chapters of Job, the wounded and broken man is still responding to his three “friends.” They have disparaged him and diminished him and damned him, believing that his situation of distress was all caused by his hidden wickedness. They are wrong, because Job was innocent. Which is what he claims in the beginning of chapter 27. But, as he begins to unfold his argument he points out (almost in agreement with them) that the wicked will lose everyone in the end. Though they heap up possessions like piling clay upon clay, they will not be around to enjoy them. The person who wins in the end is the one who understands the value of wisdom and where it comes from. To close out these two chapters, note what Job states after talking about the emptiness of the wicked man’s pursuits as compared to the value of gaining God’s wisdom:
23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
There is no comparison. The wicked lose out in the end. All the toys in the world could not measure up to a thimble of God’s wisdom. Gain wisdom, lose the toys.
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