For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
In these verses, I. Job opposes the opinion of his friends, which he saw they still adhered to, that the wicked are sure to fall into such visible and remarkable ruin as Job had now fallen into, and none but the wicked, upon which principle they condemned Job as a wicked man.
Commenting on Job 21:27-34
Have ye not asked them that go by the way?.... Did you not ask every traveller you met with on the road the above question? not which was the way to Job's house, which they knew very well, but in what condition that and his sons were? or what was the case of him and his family? and what was his character?
ye say--referring to Zophar (Job 20:7). the house--referring to the fall of the house of Job's oldest son (Job 1:19) and the destruction of his family. prince--The parallel "wicked" in the second clause requires this to be taken in a bad sense, tyrant, oppressor (Isa 13:2), the same Hebrew, "nobles"--oppressors. dwelling-places--rather, "pavilions," a tent containing many dwellings, such as a great emir, like Job, with many dependents, would have.