Back to Job, we have an interesting exchange between Job and Zophar in chapters 20 and 21. Zophar’s view (with a big dose of Santa Claus Theology) is that the wicked always get what they deserve:

Do you not know this of old, Since man was placed on earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment? Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, And his head reaches to the clouds, Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. (Job 20.4 – 8, NKJV)

We’d all like to think so, but sometimes the wicked hang around for a long time. Putin is still here, for example, living in luxury, murdering his political opponents, etc.

Job gets this: the wicked always get what they deserve? Um, no. They don’t. Sometimes the wicked do just fine:

Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power? Their descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage. They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth, And in a moment go down to the grave. (Job 21.7 – 13, NKJV)

Job’s observation is that death comes to all. And if the sins of the wicked are visited on their offspring, what does he care? Job’s conclusion?

How then can you comfort me with empty words, Since falsehood remains in your answers? (Job 21.34, NKJV)

Solomon observed the same thing:

There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity...I returned and saw under the sun that— The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all. (Ecclesiastes 8.14, 9.11, NKJV)

What Solomon calls “time and chance” we might attribute to the sovereignty of God and this principle:

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55.8, 9, NKJV)