The Light of the Wicked

NLT Job 21:17

Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. 
Do they ever have trouble?  Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?

 

Why is this ponderable?

The phrase light of the wicked is ponderable because the Book of Job is the only place in the entire Bible that links light, lamp, or candle with the wicked. All other associations link light to God, Jesus, the Word, and the righteous. For example:

Ps 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Ps 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Jn 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  
Bible commentators generally focus on the point that the wicked never seem to be diminished by God nor do the Just escape sorrows. Job implies that, by allowing the wicked to flourish and the righteous to suffer, God is not fair.  And that is the issue posed by this passage. Yet the use of light symbology in this context seems contradictory. Are we to infer that the wicked have a light source which does not come from God? If so, what is the source?  Is it as powerful as the light from God?

In the Bible, light is a spiritual metaphor for truth and God’s unchanging nature (James 1:17). It is repeatedly used to assure us that God is wholly good and truthful (1 John 1:5). When we are “in the light,” we are with Him (1 Peter 2:9). He exhorts us to join Him in the light (1 John 1:7), for giving us light was His purpose (John 12:46). Light is the place where love dwells and is comfortable (1 John 2:9-10). God has created light (Genesis 1:3), dwells in the light (1 Timothy 6:16) and puts the light in human hearts so that we can see and know Him and understand truth (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Yet 2 Corinthians 11:14 warns us that, as a fallen angel,  Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.  Like a TV commercial for unhealthy junk food, Satan bills himself as good, truthful, loving, and powerful--a genuine knockoff of God Himself. If he were to brand himself as a dark, dangerous hungry animal with horns who would want to follow him? 

So this one reference to the Light of the Wicked is a subtle hint to the faithful. It warns God's people: Not all that glitters is from God.

One of the advantages of being a Catholic is that it confers a complete intellectual freedom to examine any and all phenomena with the absolute assurance of their intelligibility.--J J Zavada