The wicked can indeed prosper.

When he is carried to the grave,

watch is kept over his tomb.

The clods of the valley are sweet to him;

all mankind follows after him,

and those who go before him are innumerable.

Job 21:32-33

Job shares an uncomfortable observation that dismantles the erroneous theology of his friends. They assume that Job’s sufferings are a result of God’s judgment. They insist that God always judges wicked men. But Job points to the sad reality: many wicked men prosper by their abuse of power or wealth and live long, wicked lives, dying and being celebrated by the masses even in their death. This overly simplified theology is woefully inconsistent with life observations. Rich men, full of wickedness, are buried in elaborate tombs to much ceremony. Many have done this before Job’s time. Many will do so after.

Sinners celebrate the lives of sinners. There must be some other kind of justice than what can merely be observed in fallen human society. People are unjust and act wickedly. This is rampant in all cultures. The biggest memorials are given to the largest abusers. There is no justice among broken mankind.

God takes us uncomfortably deeper than the surface. Humans lay on a thick veneer of celebrity idolatry on people they see as successful who frankly may not deserve such adulation. And that creates a kind of false physical prosperity at the cost of deep spiritual poverty. The wicked can get the best food, the best homes, the best protection, the best healthcare, and the most resources. And with that they can live long lives. They get elaborate funerals when it is all over. They are eulogized and perhaps memorialized. But that does not mean they were right before God. In a sense their deception in wickedness became their own worst judgment. God is greater than the seeming prosperity of the wicked.