“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?” (Job 24:1).
Job in his poetic imagery, real and of the heart, wants to take God to court to plead his case. He wants to ask him what he has done wrong to deserve such suffering, because he feels he has walked before God with a clean conscience. But where can he go to plead his case? Why are there not times man can bring his case before God for judgment?
And now he is going to paint a picture of life as it is. The wicked come in and drive out good people, steal their things, then make the poor work for them. Then they and their children go hungry working for the wicked that stole these things from them.
“The wicked displace boundary markers. They steal a flock and provide posture for it. They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless and take the widow’s ox as collateral. They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land forced into hiding” (Job 24:2-4).
Yet where is God in this? Where can the poor man go to plead his case before God against the rich and powerful? But Job says there is somewhat of a deliverer, and that deliverer is death.
“As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned” (Job 24:19).
There is both a relief that death will steal the wicked when their day comes, but a longing of the heart. Is death of someone the only deliverer? Cannot God deliver? If so, where does one go to plead their case to God so that they can get his righteous judgment?
God does deliver. And sometimes his deliverance is when a wicked person passes away at the end of their life. But this is raw Job. He longs for relief and deliverance now, not waiting for death.
Also he is speaking to his friend Eliphaz and saying that this is how life goes. Eliphaz is convinced that if one is suffering it is because they are wicked. Job is responding that his observation is that oftentimes the wicked, the rich and the greedy do well in this life and it’s when they die that there is deliverance. But their lives of prosperity do not mean that they are not wicked, especially if they have stolen their wealth and abundance from others.
Eliphaz and friends are saying Job’s speech is worthless in defending himself. Job is saying look around, the wicked can have a good life too but that doesn’t mean they are righteous.
“If this is not true, then who can prove ma liar, and show that my speech is worthless?” (Job 24:25).
