Why aren’t times of judgment kept by the Almighty, why don’t those who know him never see his days? Some seize flocks, drive away the donkey of orphans, take from the widow, and they thrust the poor off the road. The poor hide themselves, act like wild donkeys going out to their toil, seeking game in the desert. They get food from the wasteland for their children. They glean in the vineyard of the wicked, lie naked all night, have no covering in the cold, are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. The wicked snatch the fatherless child from the breast, the poor go about naked and hungry. They make oil in the olive rows of the wicked and tread the winepress but suffer thirst. The dying groan, the soul of the wounded cries for help. Yet, God charges no one with wrong. Some rebel against the light. The murderer rises before light to kill the poor and needy in the night like a thief. The adulterer waits for twilight saying, “No eye will see me”, veils his face. They dig through houses in the dark. Deep darkness is morning to them, they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness. God says, “They won’t be remembered and their wickedness is broken like a tree.” They wrong the childless woman and do no good to the widow. God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when the despair of life. He gives them security, support, and He watches their ways. They are exalted a little while and then gone. They’re brought low and gathered up like all others. If this isn’t so who will prove Job a liar and show that there is nothing in what he says?
Job is lamenting the oppression of the weak and poor by the wicked in this world. It can be easy to look at this world and cry out, “No justice, no peace!” Indeed it’s good to work for justice and peace, but Job’s hope is ultimately in God. His despair at the outset turns to his trust that God sees all that the wicked do and He will work perfect justice. They may seem to be exalted for a time, but God will bring them low and judge. This is our hope when it seems that evil always wins in this world. Our hope isn’t in this world but in God. Lord, help us to hope in your justice.