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Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
“Therefore my thoughts answer me,
because of my haste within me.
I hear censure that insults me,
and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
Do you not know this from of old,
since man was placed on earth,
that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
Though his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
he will perish forever like his own dung;
those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
He will fly away like a dream and not be found;
he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
The eye that saw him will see him no more,
nor will his place any more behold him.
His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his hands will give back his wealth.
His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
but it will lie down with him in the dust.
“Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it under his tongue,
though he is loath to let it go
and holds it in his mouth,
yet his food is turned in his stomach;
it is the venom of cobras within him.
He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
He will suck the poison of cobras;
the tongue of a viper will kill him.
He will not look upon the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.
He will give back the fruit of his toil
and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
he will get no enjoyment.
For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
he has seized a house that he did not build.
“Because he knew no contentment in his belly,
he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
There was nothing left after he had eaten;
therefore his prosperity will not endure.
In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
To fill his belly to the full,
God will send his burning anger against him
and rain it upon him into his body.
He will flee from an iron weapon;
a bronze arrow will strike him through.
It is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder;
terrors come upon him.
Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
a fire not fanned will devour him;
what is left in his tent will be consumed.
The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against him.
The possessions of his house will be carried away,
dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.
This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
the heritage decreed for him by God.”
(ESV)
Job 20 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
The cruel misjudgment of man stems from an ignorant and arrogant attitude. I’ve written this many times over in this series on Job, but it remains true – his friends understood truth, but misunderstood their application of it. I would argue that of all his friends, Zophar misunderstood Job the most.
He really has no foundation for grace. To his credit, the grace of Jesus is offensive and foreign to our natural selves. It makes absolutely no sense. Zophar believes that the wicked will always be punished by God because He is righteous. He also believes the righteous will always be rewarded by God. Zophar has effectively taken the “mystery” out of God in an attempt to explain something he doesn’t know. Have you ever met anyone like this?
They seem to have an answer for every problem and situation. I admit, being the truth-seeker that I am, that I personally struggle with this. I want to know the “why” behind everything. There are some situations where I need to resolve that I do not and cannot completely understand the ways of God!
So, in an attempt to understand the “why,” and make it understandable to Job, Zophar lays out his simple, theological stance once again. Based on what we know about Jesus and the New Testament, let’s dig deeper into Zophar’s theology…
- He was right to believe that there is a very real and tangible punishment regarding sin.
- He was right to believe that the pleasures of sin are sweet but temporary.
- He was wrong to universally apply this theology to Job’s particular case.
- He was wrong to assume that the true penalty of sin was found in this life. (earthly consequences are different from eternal consequences).
Overall, what can we learn? I am reminded of what the Lord told Samuel when choosing a king.
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the LORD sees, for man sees what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 HCSB
Zophar sees what is visible, but God sees the heart. We must not make the fatal mistake of judging in order to produce an answer for God’s mysterious ways. There is truth to what Zophar has said, but his truth means nothing to Job because of his application and delivery. Think about that! Where is your truth falling flat (or causing more damage) because you have not considered the application and delivery of your message? This is why we must approach others both the grace and truth of Jesus Christ.