Job 21:17

“How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? etc.] Job here returns, as Jarchi observes, to his former account of the constant and continued prosperity of wicked men; and puts questions tending to prove the same. Bildad had said, that the light and candle of the wicked would be put out, (<181805>Job 18:5,6). Job, referring to this, asks how often this is the case; meaning, by the candle of the wicked, not his soul or spirit, which cannot be put out, or become extinct, as to be no more; nor the light of nature in his soul, though that may be put out in a great measure, and he be given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart; but either his natural life, which, like a candle, burns for…”

“Job in this whole passage down to Job 21:21 quotes the assertion of the friends, as to the short continuance of the sinner's prosperity, not his own sentiments. In Job 21:22 he proceeds to refute them. "How oft is the candle" (lamp), &c., quoting Bildad's sentiment (Job 18:5-6), in order to question its truth (compare Mat 25:8). how oft--"God distributeth," &c. (alluding to Job 20:23, Job 20:29). sorrows--UMBREIT translates "snares," literally, "cords," which lightning in its twining motion resembles (Psa 11:6).”

“How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? - Margin, “lamp.” A light, or a lamp, was an image of prosperity. There is, probably, an allusion here to what had been maintained by Bildad, Job 18:5-6, that the light of the wicked would be extinguished, and their dwellings made dark; see the notes at those verses. Job replies to this by asking how often it occurred. He inquires whether it was a frequent thing. By this, he implies that it was not universal; that it was a less frequent occurrence than they supposed. The meaning is, “How often does it, in fact, happen that the light of the wicked is extinguished, and that God distributes sorrows among them in his anger? Much less frequently than…”

“Often - I grant that this happens often though not constantly, as you affirm. Lamp - Their glory and outward happiness. Job 21:19”

“21:17 light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished: Job countered Bildad (18:5-6, 18) and standard wisdom (Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20; see God’s remarks, Job 38:15).”

“oft: Job 18:5, Job 18:6, Job 18:18; Pro 13:9, Pro 20:20, Pro 24:20; Mat 25:8 candle: or, lamp distributeth: Psa 32:10, Psa 90:7-9; Luk 12:46; Rom 2:8, Rom 2:9 Job 21:18”

“17 How rarely is the light of the wicked put out, And their calamity breaketh in upon them, That He distributeth snares in his wrath, 18 That they become as straw before the wind, And as chaff which the storm sweepeth away!? 19 "Eloah layeth up his iniquity for his children!" May He recompense it to him that he may feel it. 20 May his own eyes see his ruin, And let him drink of the glowing wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what careth he for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off? The interrogative כּמּה has here the same signification as in Psa 78:40 : how often (comp. Job 7:19, how long? Job 13:23, how many?), but in the sense of "how seldom?!" How seldom does what the…”