What is the meaning of Job 21:14? Yet they say to God • In Job’s reply to his friends (Job 21), the “they” points to those who prosper outwardly yet live in rebellion. • Their words expose an intentional, verbal rejection of the Lord, echoing Psalm 10:4, “In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God,” and Romans 1:28, where people “did not see fit to acknowledge God.” • Job uses their statement to challenge the friends’ assumption that prosperity always equals God’s approval (cf. Job 21:7–9). He is not endorsing their attitude; he is proving that the righteous-suffering / wicked-prospering paradox is real. • The verse therefore highlights the sobering truth that a person can speak directly against God while enjoying temporal ease, reminding us of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 5:45 that the Father “sends rain on the righteous and the wicked.” ‘Leave us alone! • This demand is a deliberate distancing: the wicked do not simply forget God; they command Him to withdraw. • Similar defiances appear in Exodus 5:2 (Pharaoh: “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice?”) and Luke 8:37, where the Gerasenes beg Jesus to depart. • Their call for divine absence shows a desire to sin without restraint, paralleling John 3:19 – “people loved darkness rather than light.” • The phrase exposes the heart’s hostility toward accountability; if God is absent, conscience is dulled and conviction silenced (Ephesians 4:18–19). For we have no desire to know Your ways • “Your ways” refers to God’s revealed path of righteousness (Deuteronomy 10:12–13; Psalm 25:4). • A lack of desire is more than ignorance; it is willful refusal. Proverbs 1:29 says, “they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.” • To “know” in Scripture involves relational obedience (1 John 2:3–4). Rejecting that knowledge leads to spiritual blindness and eventual judgment (Hosea 4:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:8). • Job holds up this attitude as evidence that a comfortable life can coexist with an unconverted heart—encouraging his readers to evaluate success by faithfulness, not fortune (Psalm 73:3, 17). summary Job 21:14 records the prosperous wicked openly telling God to leave them, confessing they want nothing of His paths. Job cites their arrogance to prove that external blessing is no sure sign of inner righteousness. The verse warns that prosperity can mask rebellion, and that deliberate estrangement from God—refusing to know His ways—ends in ruin despite temporary ease. |
    |