Albert Barnes Commentary Job 21:17

"How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity cometh upon them? That [God] distributeth sorrows in his anger?" — Job 21:17 (ASV)

How often is the candle of the wicked put out? The margin notes "lamp." A light, or a lamp, was an image of prosperity. There is probably an allusion here to what Bildad had maintained (Job 18:5–6): that the light of the wicked would be extinguished and their dwellings made dark (see the notes on those verses).

Job replies to this by asking how often it occurred. He inquires whether it was a frequent event. By this, he implies that it was not universal but rather a less frequent occurrence than they supposed.

His meaning is essentially this: "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? It happens much less frequently than you suppose, for He bestows tokens of abundant prosperity upon many of them."

In this manner, by an appeal to "fact" and "observation," Job aims to convince them that their position was wrong. He argues that it was not true that the wicked were invariably overwhelmed with calamity, as they had maintained.

God distributeth sorrows. The word "God" here is understood, but there can be no doubt that it is correct. Job means to ask how often it was true, in fact, that God "apportioned" the sorrows which He sent to men in accordance with their character.

How often, in fact, did He treat the wicked as they deserved and overwhelm them with calamity? It was by no means true that He did this as often as they maintained, or in such a way as to make it a certain rule for judging character.