Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 11:1
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
Job 11:1-6
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite.
The attitude of Jobs friends
In this chapter Zophar gives his first speech, and it is sharper toned than those which went before. The three friends have now all spoken. Your sympathies perhaps are not wholly on their side. Yet do not let us misjudge them, or assail them with the invectives which Christian writers hurled against them for centuries. Do not say, as has been said by the great Gregory, that these three men are types of Gods worst enemies, or that they scarcely speak a word of good, except what they have learned from Job. Is it not rather true that their words, taken by themselves, are far more devout, far more fit for the lips of pious, we may even say, of Christian men, than those of Job? Do they not represent that large number of good and God-fearing men and women, who do not feel moved or disturbed by the perplexities of life; and who resent as shallow, or as mischievous, the doubts to which those perplexities give rise in the minds of others, of the much afflicted, or the perplexed, or of persons reared in another school than their own, or touched by influences which have never reached themselves? So Jobs friends try in their own way to justify the ways of God to man–a noble endeavour, and in doing this, they have already said much which is not only true, but also most valuable. They have pleaded on their behalf the teaching, if I may so speak, of their Church, the teaching handed down from antiquity, and the experiences of Gods people. They have a firm belief, not only in Gods power, but in His unerring righteousness. They hold also the precious truth that He is a God who will forgive the sinner, and take back to His favour him who bears rightly the teaching of affliction. Surely, so far, a very grand and simple creed. We shall watch their language narrowly, and we shall still find in it much to admire, much with which to sympathise, much to treasure and use as a storehouse of Christian thought. We shall see also where and how it is that they misapplied the most precious of truths, and the most edifying of doctrines; turned wholesome food to poison; pressed upon their friend half truths, which are sometimes the worst of untruths. We shall note also no less that want of true sympathy, of the faculty of entering into the feelings of men unlike themselves, and of the power of facing new views or new truths, which has so often in the history of the Church marred the character and impaired the usefulness of some of Gods truest servants. We shall see them, lastly, in the true spirit of the controversialist, grow more and more embittered by the persistency in error, as they hold it, of him who opposes them. The true subject of this sacred drama is unveiling itself before our eyes. Has he who serves God a right to claim exemption from pain and suffering? Is such pain a mark of Gods displeasure, or may it be something exceedingly different? Must Gods children in their hour of trial have their thoughts turned to the judgment that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah, or shall they fix them on the agony and bloody sweat of Him whose coming in the flesh we so soon commemorate? (Dean Bradley.)
Questionable reproving and necessary teaching
I. Questionable reproof. Reproof is often an urgent duty. It is the hardest act of friendship, for whilst there are but few men who do not at times merit reprehension, there are fewer still who will graciously receive, or even patiently endure a reproving word, and Considering, as John Foster has it, how many difficulties a friend has to surmount before he can bring, himself to reprove me, I ought to be much obliged to him for his chiding words. The reproof which Zophar, in the first four verses, addressed to Job suggests two remarks.
1. The charges he brings against Job, if true, justly deserve reproof. What does he charge him with?
(1) Loquacity. Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should not a man full of talk be justified? As the tree with the most luxuriant leafage is generally least fruitful, so the man full of talk is, as a rule, most empty. It is ever true that in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, and every man should be swift to hear and slow to speak. He charges him
(2) With falsehood. Should thy lies make men hold their peace? For lies, in the margin we have devices. Zophar means to say that much of what Job said was not according to truth, not fact, but the ungrounded inventions or fancies of his own mind. He charges him
(3) With irreverence. And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
(4) With hypocrisy. But thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in mine eyes.
2. The charges, if true, could not justify the spirit and style of the reproof. Considering the high character and the trying circumstances of Job, and the professions of Zophar as his friend, there is a heartlessness and an insolence in his reproof most reprehensible and revolting. There is no real religion in rudeness; there is no Divine inspiration in insolence. Reproof, to be of any worth, should not merely be deserved, but should be given in a right spirit, a spirit of meekness, tenderness, and love. Reprehension is not an act of butchery, but an act of surgery, says Seeker. There are those who confound bluntness with honesty, insolence with straightforwardness. The true reprover is of a different metal, and his words fall, not like the rushing hailstorm, but like the gentle dew.
II. Necessary teaching. These words suggest that kind of teaching which is essential to the well-being of every man.
1. It is intercourse with the mind of God. Oh that God would speak, and open His lips against thee. The great need of the soul is direct communication with God. All teachers are utterly worthless unless they bring God in contact with the soul of the student. If this globe is to be warmed into life the sun must do it.
2. It is instruction in the wisdom of God. And that He would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Gods wisdom is profound; it has its secrets. Gods wisdom is double, it is many folded; fold within fold, without end.
3. It is faith in the forbearing love of God. Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth. (Homilist.)
Multitudinous words
I have always a suspicion of sonorous sentences. The full shell sounds little, but shows by that little what is within. A bladder swells out more with wind than with oil. (J. Landor.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XI
Zophar answers Job, and reproves him severely for his attempts
to justify himself; charges him with secret iniquity, and
contends that God inflicts less punishment on him than his
iniquities deserve, 1-6.
Shows the knowledge and perfections of God to be unsearchable,
and that none can resist his power, 7-11.
Warns him against vanity of mind, and exhorts him to repentance
on the ground that his acceptance with God is still a possible
case, and that his latter days may yet become happy and
prosperous, 12-20.
NOTES ON CHAP. XI
Verse 1. Zophar the Naamathite] Of this man and his friends, see Job 2:11. He is the most inveterate of Job’s accusers, and generally speaks without feeling or pity. In sour godliness he excelled all the rest. This chapter and the twentieth comprehends all that he said. He was too crooked to speak much in measured verse.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite,…. The third of Job’s friends, that came to visit him, [See comments on Job 2:11]; and who perhaps might be the youngest, since his turn was to speak last; and he appears to have less modesty and prudence, and more fire and heat in him; than his other friends; though he might be the more irritated by observing, that their arguments were baffled by Job, and had no manner of effect on him, to cause him to recede from his first sentiments and conduct:
and said; as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1 Then began Zophar the Naamathite, and said:
2 Shall the torrent of words remain unanswered,
And shall the prater be in the right?
3 Shall thy vain talking silence the people,
So that thou mockest without any one putting thee to shame,
4 And sayest: my doctrine is pure,
And I am guiltless in Thine eyes?
5 But oh that Eloah would speak,
And open His lips against thee,
6 And make known to thee the secrets of wisdom,
That she is twofold in her nature –
Know then that Eloah forgetteth much of thy guilt.
When Job has concluded his long speech, Zophar, the third and most impetuous of the friends, begins. His name, if it is to be explained according to the Arabic Esauitish name el – assfar ,
(Note: Vid., Abulfeda’s Historia anteislamica ed. Fleischer, p. 168.)
signifies the yellow one ( flavedo ), and the name of the place whence he comes, pleasantness ( amaenitas ). The very beginning of his speech is impassioned. He calls Job’s speech , a multitude of words (besides here, Pro 10:19; Ecc 5:2), and asks whether he is to remain unanswered; , responsum non feret , from , not the sense of being humbled, but: to be answered (of the suppliant: to be heard = to receive an answer). He calls Job , a prater (distinct from , a ready speaker, Exo 4:10), who is not in the right, whom one must not allow to have the last word. The questions, Job 11:2, are followed by another which is not denoted by the sign of a question, but is only known by the accent: Shall not thy , meaningless speeches (from = , ), put men ( , like other archaisms, e.g., , always without the article) to silence, so that thou darest mock without any one making thee ashamed, i.e., leading thee on ad absurdum? Thou darest mock God (Hirzel); better Rosenmller: nos et Deum. The mockery here meant is that which Zophar has heard in Job’s long speech; mockery at his opponents, in the belief that he is right because they remain silent. The futt. consec., Job 11:3., describe the conduct of Job which results from this absence of contradiction. Zophar, in v. 4, does not take up Job’s own words, but means, that one had better have nothing more to do with Job, as he would some day say and think so and so, he would consider his doctrine blameless, and himself in relation to God pure. occurs only here in this book; it is a word peculiar to the book of Proverbs (also only Deu 32:2; Isa 29:24), and properly signifies the act of appropriating, then that which is presented for appropriation, i.e., for learning: the doctrine (similar to , the hearing, , and then the discourse); we see from the words “my doctrine is pure,” which Zophar puts into the mouth of Job, that the controversy becomes more and more a controversy respecting known principles.
Job 11:5 With , verum enim vero , Zophar introduces his wish that God himself would instruct Job; this would most thoroughly refute his utterances. is followed by the infin., then by futt., vid., Ges. 136, 1; (only here and Isa 40:2) denotes not only that which is twice as great, but generally that which far surpasses something else. The subject of the clause beginning with is understood, i.e., divine wisdom: that she is the double with respect to ( ( ot , as e.g., 1Ki 10:23) reality ( , as Job 5:12; Job 6:13, essentia , substantia ), i.e., in comparison with Job’s specious wisdom and philosophism. Instead of saying: then thou wouldst perceive, Zophar, realizing in his mind that which he has just wished, says imperiously (an imper. consec., or, as Ewald, 345, b, calls it, imper. futuri , similar to Gen 20:7; 2Sa 21:3): thou must then perceive that God has dealt far more leniently with thee than thou hast deserved. The causative (in Old Testament only this passage, and Job 39:17) denotes here oblivioni dare , and the of is partitive.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Address of Zophar. | B. C. 1520. |
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, 2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified? 3 Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed? 4 For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. 5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee; 6 And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
It is sad to see what intemperate passions even wise and good men are sometimes betrayed into by the heat of disputation, of which Zophar here is an instance. Eliphaz began with a very modest preface, ch. iv. 2. Bildad was a little more rough upon Job, ch. viii. 2. But Zophar falls upon him without mercy, and gives him very bad language: Should a man full of talk be justified? And should thy lies make men hold their peace? Is this the way to comfort Job? No, nor to convince him neither. Does this become one that appears as an advocate for God and his justice? Tantne animis coelestibus ir?–In heavenly breasts can such resentment dwell? Those that engage in controversy will find it very hard to keep their temper. All the wisdom, caution, and resolution they have will be little enough to prevent their breaking out into such indecencies as we here find Zophar guilty of.
I. He represents Job otherwise than what he was, Job 11:2; Job 11:3. He would have him thought idle and impertinent in his discourse, and one that loved to hear himself talk; he gives him the lie, and calls him a mocker; and all this that it might be looked upon as a piece of justice to chastise him. Those that have a mind to fall out with their brethren, and to fall foul upon them, find it necessary to put the worst colours they can upon them and their performances, and, right or wrong, to make them odious. We have read and considered Job’s discourses in the foregoing chapters, and have found them full of good sense and much to the purpose, that his principles are right, his reasonings strong, many of his expressions weighty and very considerable, and that what there is in them of heat and passion a little candour and charity will excuse and overlook; and yet Zophar here invidiously represents him, 1. As a man that never considered what he said, but uttered what came uppermost, only to make a noise with the multitude of words, hoping by that means to carry his cause and run down his reprovers: Should not the multitude of words be answered? Truly, sometimes it is no great matter whether it be or no; silence perhaps is the best confutation of impertinence and puts the greatest contempt upon it. Answer not a fool according to his folly. But, if it be answered, let reason and grace have the answering of it, not pride and passion. Should a man full of talk (margin, a man of lips, that is all tongue, vox et prterea nihil–mere voice) be justified? Should he be justified in his loquacity, as in effect he is if he be not reproved for it? No, for in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin. Should he be justified by it? Shall many words pass for valid pleas? Shall he carry the day with the flourishes of language? No, he shall not be accepted with God, or any wise men, for his much speaking, Matt. vi. 7. 2. As a man that made no conscience of what he said–a liar, and one that hoped by the impudence of lies to silence his adversaries (should thy lies make men hold their peace?)–a mocker, one that bantered all mankind, and knew how to put false colours upon any thing, and was not ashamed to impose upon every one that talked with him: When thou mockest shall no man make thee ashamed? Is it not time to speak, to stem such a violent tide as this? Job was not mad, but spoke the words of truth and soberness, and yet was thus misrepresented. Eliphaz and Bildad had answered him, and said what they could to make him ashamed; it was therefore no instance of Zophar’s generosity to set upon a man so violently who was already thus harassed. Here were three matched against one.
II. He charges Job with saying that which he had not said (v. 4): Thou hast said, My doctrine is pure. And what if he had said so? It was true that Job was sound in the faith, and orthodox in his judgment, and spoke better of God than his friends did. If he had expressed himself unwarily, yet it did not therefore follow but that his doctrine was true. But he charges him with saying, I am clean in thy eyes. Job had not said so: he had indeed said, Thou knowest that I am not wicked (ch. x. 7); but he had also said, I have sinned, and never pretended to a spotless perfection. He had indeed maintained that he was not a hypocrite as they charged him; but to infer thence that he would not own himself a sinner was an unfair insinuation. We ought to put the best construction on the words and actions of our brethren that they will bear; but contenders are tempted to put the worst.
III. He appeals to God, and wishes him to appear against Job. So very confident is he that Job is in the wrong that nothing will serve him but that God must immediately appear to silence and condemn him. We are commonly ready with too much assurance to interest God in our quarrels, and to conclude that, if he would but speak, he would take our part and speak for us, as Zophar here: O that God would speak! for he would certainly open his lips against thee; whereas, when God did speak, he opened his lips for Job against his three friends. We ought indeed to leave all controversies to be determined by the judgment of God, which we are sure is according to truth; but those are not always in the right who are most forward to appeal to that judgment and prejudge it against their antagonists. Zophar despairs to convince Job himself, and therefore desires God would convince him of two things which it is good for every one of us duly to consider, and under all our afflictions cheerfully to confess:–
1. The unsearchable depth of God’s counsels. Zophar cannot pretend to do it, but he desires that God himself would show Job so much of the secrets of the divine wisdom as might convince him that they are at least double to that which is, v. 6. Note, (1.) There are secrets in the divine wisdom, arcana imperii–state-secrets. God’s way is in the sea. Clouds and darkness are round about him. He has reasons of state which we cannot fathom and must not pry into. (2.) What we know of God is nothing to what we cannot know. What is hidden is more than double to what appears, Eph. iii. 9. (3.) By employing ourselves in adoring the depth of those divine counsels of which we cannot find the bottom we shall very much tranquilize our minds under the afflicting hand of God. (4.) God knows a great deal more evil of us than we do of ourselves; so some understand it. When God gave David a sight and sense of sin he said that he had in the hidden part made him to know wisdom, Ps. li. 6.
2. The unexceptionable justice of his proceedings. “Know therefore that, how sore soever the correction is that thou art under, God exacteth of thee less than thy iniquity deserves,” or (as some read it), “he remits thee part of thy iniquity, and does not deal with thee according to the full demerit of it.” Note, (1.) When the debt of duty is not paid it is justice to insist upon the debt of punishment. (2.) Whatever punishment is inflicted upon us in this world we must own that it is less than our iniquities deserve, and therefore, instead of complaining of our troubles, we must be thankful that we are out of hell, Lam 3:39; Psa 103:10.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
JOB – CHAPTER 11
ZOPHAR’S FIRST ADDRESS TO JOB
Verses 1-20:
HE CONSIDERS JOB TO BE BOTH A HYPOCRITE AND A LIAR
Verses 1, 2 indicate that Zophar the Naamathite considered Job to be a man with a multitude of words, full of talk, without any moral grounds for complaint. He had no grounds for being justified from, relieved of, or acquitted from his pain and affliction. Orientals jumped to the conclusion that anyone who talked a lot had a big lip, was trying to cover up his own sins, Pro 10:18-19.
Verses 3, 4 caustically inquire whether or not Job’s lies, devices, or vain boasting should make men refrain from judging him harshly, Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30. He concluded that Job’s contention that he was innocent of any grave sin was a mockery, hypocritical, else he would not be suffering so severely, wrongly supposing that all affliction comes from personal quilt of sin. Zophar was offended that Job claimed his doctrine or teaching was pure and he was clean in the eyes of the Lord. Job had maintained his sincerity and integrity, not that he was faultless, Deu 32:2; Pro 4:2; Job 2:3; Job 2:10.
Verse 5 adds that Zophar longed for God to speak out openly and rebuke or condemn Job for what he had said about himself, Job 6:10; 1Pe 3:15. Like Eliphaz and Bildad his attitude was merciless, Gal 6:1-2.
Verse 6 continues Zophar’s wish that the Lord would relate to Job the “secrets of wisdom,” which were double that which Job had! 1Co 1:25. Then Zophar “gigged” Job that God was “expecting” or requiring. him to suffer less than his iniquity really deserved, mercilessly and ignorantly prejudging him, Ezr 9:13; Psa 106:45; Mal 3:6.
Verse 7 rhetorically asks, “you can not by searching find out the Almighty God to perfection, can you?” No, nor had he indicated that he could. Such was a wicked insinuation or innuendo against the actual character of Job, Job 5:9; Job 26:14; Ecc 3:11; Isa 40:28; Mat 11:27; Rom 11:33; 1Co 2:10; 1Co 2:16; See also Psa 139:6.
Verse 8 adds that “it (Divine wisdom) is as high as heaven (exalted).” What can one do against it? It is deeper than hell, so what can one know of it, of its perfection, Isa 55:8-11; 1Co 3:18-20.
Verse 9 continues that this wisdom is longer than the earth and broader than the sea, immeasurable in dimension, as further expressed, Psa 139:8; Rom 11:33.
Verse 10 asserts that if the Lord should cut off, shut up, or gather a court to hear Job’s complaints, who would be able to hinder Him from continuing the same afflictions if He so desired? Job 9:11-12.
Verse 11 declares that the Lord knows vain men, sees their wickedness; And Zophar asks whether or not Job did not think the Lord would consider all wickedness, even that he imagined Job had hypocritically covered up in his own life, Pro 28:13; Psa 10:11; Psa 10:14; Psa 35:22; Psa 94:11.
Verse 12 discloses that vain, hollow, empty, or shallow-minded man who would be wise is born as or like a wild ass’s colt, obstinate, stubborn, kicking, rebellious, and obstreperous, against God and holiness, even from birth. Every human being is born with a bend or disposition of enmity against God, holiness, and right; Sin is as natural to men by birth as swimming is to a duck, barking to a dog, or hopping to a rabbit, Psa 51:5; Psa 58:3; Jas 1:15; Eph 2:3. The idea is that man is unsubdued toward God in spirit, from birth, as surely as the wild ass is untamed from birth, Job 39:5-8; Jer 2:24; Gen 16:12.
Verses 13, 14 recount Zophar’s appeal to Job that if he would be right at heart with God he must stretch out his hands toward the Lord, in prayer, to confess his sins, and put away deeds of lawlessness which he had done, far from him, vowing to do them no more. He was further counseled not to let wickedness reside in his tabernacles, his holy body, purposes or desires, Pro 16:1; Psa 10:17; 1Ch 29:18. See also 1Sa 7:3; Job 5:8; Luk 12:47; Psa 143:6; Psa 66:18.
Verses 15, 16 assure Job that he would be able to lift up his face without spot or being ashamed and humilated. He would then be firm, free from fear, Gen 4:5; Job 22:26; 1Ti 2:8. He was assured by Zophar that he would then forget his misery, that it would leave him like waters that have passed away, as when a stream runs dry, Job 6:17; Isa 65:16.
Verse 17 adds that when Job’s heart was made right with God he would have vision clearer than the noon day sun, Pro 4:18; It is added that he will then shine as hopeful and cheerful as the morning sun, Psa 37:6.
Verse 18 describes a state of hope and foundation of security to give Job rest, when he had become right with God. Yet, Job had and held this hope, even when Satan was testing him, almost beyond human endurance. Except these good-time friends did not understand, Rom 5:3-5; He did not turn back on or renounce God through all his afflictions, Job 2:10; Jas 5:10-11.
Verse 19 asserts that when Job has done just what Zophar has prescribed he will then lie down to rest, like an animal, a quadruped, and no one should make him afraid, Psa 4:8; Pro 3:24; Isa 14:30; Gen 49:14. He added that then many would make suit to him, be sweet, kind to, or caress him for following Zophar’s counsel, Pro 19:6.
Verse 20 concludes Zophar’s counsel to Job, stating that the “eyes of the wicked” would fail, meaning that if Job didn’t follow his prescribed advice he would be acting wicked as an obstinate sinner, and look vainly for relief from his afflictions, Deu 28:65. “They shall not escape,” meant that every refuge of hope would flee from Job if he did not do just as Zophar had counseled him, Psa 142:4; Pro 11:7. The entire premise of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar was that Job was a conceited, lying, wicked hypocrite who was trying to cover up guilt of personal sins for which he was suffering, a very erroneous premise, Joh 9:3; Joh 11:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
ZOPHAR, THE CONCEITED CRITIC
Job 11:1-20.
WHEN, in my consecutive studies of Job, I came to this 11th chapter, I hastily glanced at its discussion in Joseph Parkers Peoples Bible, and was led to announce as my subject, Zophars Sound Counsel. Never was a theme more inappropriate to a text. Parker, commonly correct, here illustrates the fact that we cannot follow blindly the most competent of mortals. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man (Psa 118:8).
The proper interpretation of this chapter, Zophars first speech, follows the consideration of certain probabilities. The first of these is the likely youth of this man. In patriarchal days, age determined order. Eliphaz, the first spokesman, was unquestionably the eldest man; Bildad younger; Zophar the youngest. That he was educated, a full graduate of a good university, further equipped by a theological seminary course, is most probable. The man who imagines that high grade schools are modern, needs to consider Moses and Daniel, Isaiah and Paul. What present-day products compare with them? The school of the prophets was an established institution, and no man knows how aged, in Elijahs day. If one would know the rise of the university idea, let him read Gen 4:19-22.
Yes, Zophar was a full university graduate and probably had the full seminary course, and was egotistical, irreverent and insulting, as his words abundantly illustrate. His speech to this great and
grand old man reminds one of the rowdy conduct of the Rochester, N. Y. theological students, when at Buffalo Baptist Convention, Modernism was justly pilloried by middle aged and mighty men.
His name is suggestive. Four definitions are given in the dictionaries. The Oxford Bible says it means a chatterer; Joseph Parkers Peoples Bible says the yellow one; Youngs Analytical Concordance, rough, and Smiths Dictionary says a sparrow. You can take your choice. My judgment is, in this instance, he was all foura light weight chatterer, with a yellow streak in him, and uncouth in his attitude.
JOBS ARGUMENTS EXASPERATED HIM
He took exception to Jobs torrent of words.
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified? (Job 11:1-2).
A correct translation of his sentence would be, Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said, Should not the torrent of words be answered? Bildad had made a comparatively brief speech in explanation of Jobs suffering. It is recorded in the twenty-two verses of the 8th chapter. Job had replied at length, requiring two full chapters, the 9th and 10th, in which to express himself. It was to that fact that Zophar referred, and doubtless to the additional one that he spake not only at length but spake rapidly and eloquentlya torrent of words.
Such an answer from Job was all unexpected. He was a farmer. What right has a farmer to be an orator? Zophar was a scholar, and a farmers eloquence is a scholars irritation!
What right has Magnus Johnson, United States Senator from Minnesota, to be a speaker to whom thousands will listen, when, as the politicians and newspapers tell us, he is nothing but a dirt farmer? It must have been a great trial to Douglas, the educated and illustrious politician, to hear Abraham Lincoln speak, and speak so wellAbraham Lincoln, the uncouth looking; Abraham Lincoln, the graduate of no university; Abraham Lincoln, the raw-boned, ungainly farm-product. To this day it must be difficult for university men to properly appraise and keenly appreciate the Gettysburg speech. What right had a man, without university training, to deliver the most finished oration of American history?
You recall how, when Christ once healed a blind man, he was brought to the Pharisees and they questioned him as to how he had received his sight. He told them in the simplest way of the Masters miracle. They responded, Give God the praise: we know that this Man is a sinner. He answered, One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see (Joh 9:24-25). Later when he practically admitted that he would be a disciple of Jesus, they reviled him and said, We are Moses disciples, and the man made a remarkable answer, Herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth (Joh 9:28; Joh 9:30-31). This argument exasperated them. They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born m sins, and dost thou teach us? the meaning of which was, Who are you, anyhow? You are a social nobody; you are without scholarly attainments or official station. Why such presumption? and they cast him out.
The aristocracy of learning is the truest aristocracy on earth. It represents personal merit and prodigious endeavor, and is not to be brought to the low level of the aristocracy of wealth or inherited station; but, while it is the truest aristocracy on the earth, it is the most egotistical, overbearing and intolerant. It is never unconscious of its own attainments, and Zophar is not only a university graduate, but an ancient illustration of that egotism.
He made out that Job was all mouth (Job 11:2). The King James version says, Should a man full of talk be justified?
Joseph Parker translates it, Should a man all mouth be justified? The disrespect and irreverence of such a speech becomes evident when one remembers the character and attainments of the man to whom it was addressed. We have a saying, What you are speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say, a sentence supposed to represent supreme sarcasm, but even that pales before Zophars supercilious speech, Should a man who is all mouth be justified? The remark reminds one again of what the defeated politicians had to say concerning Magnus Johnson. They nicknamed him Magnavox and said that he did not need to go to Washington in order to be heard when he spoke, as he was wholly capable of yelling across the country and making himself understood, all of which sarcasm has a certain suggestive basis, but it also represents exasperation, and voices disgruntled defeat.
It is a rule that people who talk all the time are shallow; and people who talk too much, say what were better left unsaid; but here again the law of the English language obtains, Every rule has its exceptions. We know people who are incessant talkers and yet seldom speak either an idle or a thoughtless word. Mr. Bryan was an illustration of that fact. His opponents said that he could wind up his mouth and set it going and leave it for two hours and find it working perfectly when he returned. A sufficient retort is that, even in Mr. Bryans absence, his mouth would say more sensible things than the average mans mouth is able to express, he being present. This defense applies to Job. His answer to Bildad is supremely effective, so much so that Zophar realized its sufficiency and sought to minimize its effect by holding it to scorn. It is the trick of the mere debater. Yea, it is the attempt of the immature to turn the laugh on age, experience and wisdom.
He concluded by reminding Job that boasting is not brain (Job 11:3). The King James version reads, Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed? The word lies should be translated boasting or devices. Should thy boasting make men hold their peace? Is thy boasting such a proof of brains that you imagine there is no answer, and your mockery an evidence of your lack of modesty?
It is easy to see why the graduate makes this grave charge. In the 9th chapter, Job acknowledged the truth of what Bildad had said as to his sinfulness, but justly reminded his critic of the fact that all his charges applied to himself and all other men; that we are all gone astray, that there is none that doeth good, no, not one; and while he kept up the personal pronoun through the whole procedure, he so perfectly generalized the principles, that Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar all realized that Jobs remarks applied to them, and that they were in no sense either free from sin or exempt from judgment.
That is where the worm turns. That is where an argument becomes a boomerang and, gaining velocity in its circuit, strikes a heavy blow on its back journey. It is amazing how many men there are who feel insulted if you bring their wisdom or conduct or character to the level of your own. The Pharisee in Gods Temple was perfectly willing to have the publican pray, God be merciful to me a sinner, but would be offended to have him change the plea to, God be merciful to us sinners.
A certain university professor once attempted to prove to me that evolution was true by stating that the brighter students of his class uniformly accepted it, showing how it appealed to open and logical minds. When I remarked that if he would permit me to come into his class and present the other side, he might find half of them rejecting it, he answered, You think highly of yourself, to which I felt impelled to retort, Yes, I might prove almost as bright as you are!
I am not sure that Zophar was a university professor, but I should not be at all surprised to have it so proven. One strong argument in favor of the notion is the answer Job will give when once this professor has come to silence and given the old man a chance, No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you!
JOBS ARGUMENT ANGERED HIM
He objected to the claim of orthodoxy in language and life. For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes (Job 11:4). One searches in vain through Jobs speech to discover these words. They are doubtless Zophars interpretation of Jobs remark, Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things (Job 6:30)? It is not altogether an unfair interpretation. Job did mean to say that he was teaching the truth and that he not only knew the difference between right and wrong, but was seeking to do the former and eschew the latter. The claim carried for Zophar a double offense. Some men cannot brook the claim of orthodoxy. They hate the very term. Doctrine to such men is a synonym for dogma, and they bristle against both.
The day in which we live is peculiarly opposed to doctrine and has set its face like a flint against orthodoxy. Both terms are everywhere spoken against. We are told that the period of dogmatism is past forever, and that doctrinal preaching is non-acceptable. The uneducated prefer anecdotes to doctrines, and slang phrases to elaborate eloquence, and the scholarly demand smooth words in essay form, suggesting possibilities, yea even probabilities, but asserting nothing!
If Christ were here with us, His I say unto you would be charged to braggartism and self-assertion an uncultured cock-sureness. If John were alive and writing We know, he would be taken in hand and told that a little more modesty became the mortal mind. If Paul were back thundering his declarations or penning his positives, that Apostle would be a marked man and the whole denominational machinery would be set in order to silence this disturber of the peace, this independent propagandist, this ecclesiastical Bolshevist.
But the fact remains that where no doctrine is taught, no true teaching is done. The relation of truth to life is positive and logical. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Orthodoxy, in conception, is basal to orthodoxy in conduct. The man who entertains wrong philosophy, fills his mind with mistaken convictions, and follows slavishly, science falsely so-called, cannot keep the path of the just, nor practice the greater virtues of a Christian life. The greatest single need of the Church of God at this time is the revival of doctrinal preaching, which is only another way of saying that we need Biblical teaching.
He was the proponent of philosophy vs. theology (Job 11:5). Like many a scholar, he did no independent thinking, but accepted the current opinion of the day. With Eliphaz and Bildad, he shared the mistake of the millenniums, namely, the belief that a mans affliction suggests Gods frown, and that sickness and suffering are Gods sore judgments against sin. The whole Book of Job has as its main point the disproving of that falsehood, and the Scriptures are replete with illustrations of that mistake. The disciples of Christs day were still entertaining the same philosophy, hence the question, Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered them, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him, but to this moment men have not apprehended His meaning. In other words, the devils sorest afflictions only suffice to provide opportunity for Gods grace. When the devil has done his worst against us, then God often comes in to do His best for us. It was not God who saw to it that Joseph was hated, thrust into the pit, sold into slavery, cast into prison, forgotten and neglected and lied aboutthat was the devils doing; but it was God who brought him forth from prison, provided proofs of his innocence, and secured his appointment to the office of Egyptian premier.
It was not God who smote Peters wifes mother with a fever, but it was God, in Christ, who rebuked the fever and imparted health.
It was not God smiting Christ, afflicting Him with sufferings and death, but it was God who gave Him a victory over the grave and raised Him to His own right hand. It was not God who tied the feet of Judson and, swinging them into the air, left him for twenty-three months to sleep in a mud-hole at Oung-pen-la with only his shoulders touching the ground, and it was not God who brought sickness to his wife, and finally death in the very time when these trials were on, but it was God who brought him out of that prison and made him to be an apostle of faith to his persecutors and a lamp to India the precursor of the coming light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Let us be done forever with this wretched, false, devilish philosophy that afflictions are Gods frowns against sin, and let us learn that even when Satan smites, God is great enough and gracious enough to take the devils blow and so change it as to make it a mere chastening, for our good, compelling all things to work together to the believers blessing.
Zophar sought by definition to destroy Jobs God (Job 11:5-11). In ancient literature there is no more perfect piece of modernism! Dr. Parker not only misjudged Zophar, counting him a conservative, when he is a radical, but utterly misinterprets this tribute to God, in regarding it an eloquent expression of the Gospel. It is a deliberate attempt to so define God as to confuse Job. It is one of those elaborate definitions of God that leads nowhere and practically loses the thought of personality.
O, that God would speak, and open His lips against thee;
And that He would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
Canst thou by searching find out God? const thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
If He cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder Him?
For He knoweth vain men: He seeth wickedness also; will He not then consider it?
This is a description of an infinite thing rather than of an individualthe language of philosophy rather than of theology; high soundingnot satisfactory ! Paradoxical as it may sound, this is a piece of ancient modernism and reminds one of Lyman Abbotts force, and Gerald Birney Smiths God twined in nature, and of a piece with the pantheism of the Rig-Veda. It is more and more a question as to whether modernists have any God. I finished reading a few days since a volume entitled, The Evolution of Man, produced by Prof. Richard Swann Lull, Chair of Vertebrate Paleontology, Yale; Harry Burr Ferris, professor of Anatomy, Yale; George Howard Parker, professor of Zoology, Harvard; James Rowland Angell, president of Yale; Albert Galloway Keller, professor of Science of Society, Yale, and Edwin Grant Conkling, professor of Biology, Princeton. In the volume of over 200 large pages, treating upon a subject that would involve God, if any theme under heaven could, they complete their work and never call His Name, and the only remote reference to Him is involved in a scornful statement concerning what they claim to be Dr. Lightfoots account of the creation by the Trinity. God is not in all their thoughts, and yet these are men holding professorships and drawing salaries from schools, two of which, at least, were founded by most ardent orthodox and believing men! To be sure, Professor Conkling has, in a tract, taken up the question of God, and announced that He made the amoeba first, and out of that simple, single-celled life, through an infinite stretch of time, developed all living things; and Professor Conkling believes that the God who did that is greater than the God of the Genesis conception. All of which reminds one again of the statement some one recently made, namely, that an educated man can argue eloquently any conceivable proposition.
The evolutionary hypothesis, insofar as it relates to God, seems to think that God has been experimenting for a few septillions of years to discover what He could do. Having worked from the simple to the complex, He finally reached the chimpanzee stage of development; then, splitting that family into two branches, He left one to go its wild way in animal form, dumb tongued, and with undeveloped brain; but He worked on the other to see what He could make out of it, and after 500,000 to a million years, He accomplished homo sapiens, and reached the end of His inventive genius. Certainly these gentlemen, as William Jennings Bryan says, carry their quivers full of aeons. Dealing with an eternity, they are generous in their use of time. Their common talk in millions, billions and trillions of years, reminds one of the Illinois farmer who visited his brother in the Ozarks. Seeing some lank, gaunt animals racing the woods, he asked, What are they? Hogs, was his brothers reply. What kind? Razor backs, we call em. Whats that one doingrubbing that tree? Hes a stroppin hisself. How long does it take to fatten a hog like that? Four or five years. Why. John, why dont you get Poland China hogs and in six months you could produce a pig that would weigh more than that kind in five years. Well, suppose I could. Whats time to a hog anyhow? Modernists argue after a kindred manner concerning their god. To them, time is nothing. If he wants to spend an eternity working up from an electron to an amoeba, whats it to us? We answer, Not a thing ! Thats with Him. Our objection to the time question is two-fold:
First, natures testimonies do not demand such aeons for mans history, nor even hint that he has had an existence upon the earth for a longer space than Genesis accords him; and second, the Scripture statement as to the method of his creation, while it in no sense descends to details, is clear, and teaches that he was made directly, and practically instantly, by the wisdom and will of God, and bore the Divine image from the beginning.
But Zophars speech continues:
JOBS ORIGIN AND DESTINY INTERESTED HIM
He was an advocate of the theory of the animal origin of man. Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild asss colt (Job 11:12)in other words, though he begins like the beast.
This is modernism again3500-year-old modernism. It would be an interesting procedure if it were not such a pathetic endeavor, this tracing of man to his animal origin. It is the custom now with books on science to prove this animal origin by embryonic parallelisms. It just so happens in nature that there are certain similarities between the foetus of a pig, rabbit, monkey and man. Tracing these out elaborately, they conclude that they came from a common origin, forgetting what Professor Albert Galloway Keller of Yale has admitted in his chapter on Societal Evolution, An analogy is no proof of anything. Consider the enthusiast who described the life cycle of the butterfly and wound up triumphantly, Now, who shall say there is no proof of immortality? Proof demands facts; ever more facts; all sorts of facts bearing on the subject.
Unfortunately for the animal origin of man, facts are wanting. We agree absolutely with Professor Keller that an analogy is a specifically selected fact or relation picked out of many possibilities because it is thought most vividly to set forth some idea already developed and fixed in the mind. It is not the search for truth that the analogy user is after; it is the exposition of a position already taken.
That is the exact truth concerning the expositors of Darwinism. They are forever on the search for something that will hint or illustrate or suggest the possibility of their propaganda.
It is well known that Professor Du Bois, two years before he found the bones of the missing link, told his friends he was going to find it, and it is admitted that Haeckel was so keen for evidence that he manufactured the same!
But Zophars animal origin of man leaves the uses of life still to be considered, and a further study of the text will show that
He held that lifes evolution was by way of self-help.
If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward Him;
If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.
For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:
Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:
And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning (Job 11:13-17).
This again is the mark of the modernist. He will not have the Gospel truth, salvation by grace, but like his early predecessors, he proposes to work out his own salvation, preparing his own heart, putting away his own iniquity, letting not wickedness dwell in his tabernacles, lifting up a face without spot, being steadfast, fearless, and coming to old age clear as the noon day sun, shining as a cloudless morning. It is a pleasing prospectit is the appeal of materialism. It is a gospel with God left out. It is a salvation without a Saviour. It is a new gospel with a vengeance. And yet it is a gospel against which Paul inveighed, writing to the Ephesians, (Eph 2:8-9), For by grace cure ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. And later to Timothy (2Ti 1:9), Saved * * * * not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Tennyson writes,
We hold it truth with him who sings,
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That man may rise on stepping stones of their dead selves
To higher things.
But the Scriptures know no such doctrine, so far as the souls salvation is concerned. Our own energy brings us a certain claim to temporal success. Our conduct determines our standing with men. Our works bring their social, political and financial rewards, but salvation is of grace; though an angel preach else, it is not the Gospel!
Finally, Zophar regarded temporal success the souls sufficient victory.
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee.
But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost (Job 11:18-20).
Personal security, rest and safety, sleep undisturbedthese are commonly supposed to be the characteristic features of the upright in contrast to the failures and fears of the wicked, but as presented by Zophar, they seem to refer to this life only. That is another expression of his modernism. Many modernists are now telling us we have nothing to do with eternity. Our position is to make the most of time. Materialism takes little stock in immortality and seldom concerns itself with what shall lie beyond the grave. Let it be understood that the saved man need not be indifferent to temporal success. It is a great thing to stand in the midst of your fellows with no spot on your face; to be regarded by them as steadfast and fearless; to keep oneself serene and let all sorrows pass over as the waters that pass away, and ones age clear as the noon day, and ones countenance bright as the morning; but while the reading of Wm. Matthews Getting on in the World, or Self Help by Smiles, is an admirable thing for boys and girls, and has stirred and enthused hundreds of them to industry, frugality and nobleness of endeavor, they fall short of the Gospel! God doesnt propose a plan for this life only, but presents also the program for eternity. The Gospel talks of Heaven and of hell. The Gospel everywhere recognizes a hereafter. The Gospel even questions that temporal success is anything if followed by eternal failure, as in the instance of Dives; and temporal failure is not so terribly regrettable if succeeded by eternal success, as illustrated by Lazarus.
We are told that Philip Deneri, the great teacher, had a brilliant student who confessed to him that he had chosen his profession for life. He would take the course that fitted him for law and graduate from the same. Deneri said, Then what? Select my place of practice and secure patrons. And then what? Rise to position among barristers and be honored by my fellows. And then what? Make my calling a medium of value and grow rich as well as honored. And then what? In old age, retire and live out my life in comparative ease. Thereupon Philip Deneri raised his voice and cried, And then WHAT?
That is the point at which the Gospel steps in, the place at which orthodoxy speaks; the problem for which conservatism has a solution in the terms of God, Heaven, eternity. Zophar had no gospel!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
FIRST SPEECH OF ZOPHAR
Zophar follows in the same train with his companions. Misled by the same false principlegreat sufferings prove great sinshe acts the part, not of a comforter, but of a reprover and an exhorter.
I. His reason for speaking (Job. 11:2-4).
Should not the multitude of words be answered? &c. His reason involves Jobs censure. Bitterly reproves him
(1) As a mere talker (Job. 11:2). Should a man full of talk be justified?
(2) As a vain and lying boaster (Job. 11:3). Should thy lies make men hold their peace?
(3) As a proud despiser of others; When thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
(4) As a self-righteous pretender to perfection, both in his principle and his practice (Job. 11:4). For thou hast said, my doctrine (speech, teaching, principles) is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. Observe
(1) Even good men can speak and act towards others like the carnal and unconverted.
(2) Religious professors very often misunderstand and misjudge Gods tried people.
(3) Believers greatest trials sometimes from their own brethren in the faith. Christ a merciful as well as faithful High Priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Heb. 2:17-18; Heb. 4:15).
II. Zophar desiderates Divine teaching for Jobs conviction (Job. 11:5).
But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee! God speaks with a strong hand (Isa. 8:11). None teacheth like Him. Such teaching needed alike by saint and sinner. Necessary
(1) for conviction;
(2) for consolation. Divine teaching imparts
(1) the knowledge of ourselves;
(2) the knowledge of God. God opens his lips
(1) against the sinner, for his conviction;
(2) for him, for his consolation. Spake in time past to the fathers in divers manners. Speaks now
(1) In His Word;
(2) By His Spirit. The Spirits office to convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Joh. 16:8). The Word of God sharper than any two-edged sworda discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Its office to pierce, to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow (Heb. 4:12).Two things desired as the result of Divine teaching in Jobs case; both important for shutting the mouths of complainers against God:
1. The discovery of Gods transcendent and unsearchable wisdom (Job. 11:6). That he would shew thee the secrets (hidden depths) of wisdom, that they are double to that which is (or, for they are manifold, or there are doublings,complications or intricaciesin his understanding).All complaints against the Divine procedure and our own lot proceed from ignorance of Gods designs. What I do thou knowest not now. Gods judgments a great deep. His way in the sea. Depth of riches, both in the wisdom and knowledge of God. His ways past finding out, yet all just and true. God not to be traced but trusted. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, &c.
2. The discovery of Jobs own sinfulness as much greater than his sufferings. Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth (or consigns to oblivion in thy favour, or remits to thee [a part] of thy iniquity, or punishment). True, even in Jobs case, on the supposition that his sufferings were the punishment of his sins. Any affliction in this life only a part of what all sin deserves. The rich man in torments probably no worse than his neighbours (Luk. 16:19-23). His sin not even mentioned by the Saviour. Probably only worldliness and self-indulgence, with its natural consequence, heedlessness of the wants and woes of others. His belly and the world his God. To offend in one point of Gods law makes a man guilty of all. Sin, knowingly committed, nothing less than rebellion against God; causeless anger and hatred against another, equivalent in Gods sight to murder. Equally subjects a man to the penalty of hell-fire (Mat. 5:22; 1Jn. 3:15). Covetousness a species of idolatry (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5). Earth a place of mercy and forbearance. The full punishment of sin reserved for another state.
III. Zophar chides Jobs presumption, and enlarges on the unsearchableness of the Almighty (Job. 11:7-9).
Canst thou by searching find out God (or, wilt thou find out the search, or deep wisdom of God?) Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection (or wilt thou find out perfectly, or penetrate to the perfection of the Almighty?) It is as high as heaven (margin, the heights of heaven); what canst thou do [in attaining to it, viz., the deep wisdom or perfection of the Almighty]; deeper than hell (Sheol, or Hades, the invisible spirit-world, supposed to be in the lower parts of the earth), what canst thou know? (or how wilt thou understand it?) The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. Poetical description of the Divine wisdom and knowledge, and in general of
The Unsearchableness of God
God unsearchable to finite creatures
1. In His Person. His Nature or Essence beyond creature ken. As easy for an insect to comprehend mans nature as for man to comprehend his Creators. The more the Grecian sage studied the question, what is God? the more he felt himself lost in it. Hence the altar of Athens with the inscription: To the Unknown God. In God is both that which may be known, and which may not be known (Rom. 1:19). That He is, and what He is, may be known; how He is, and how far He is, is beyond a creatures capacity to know. God capable of being apprehended, but not of being comprehended. A little child may apprehend God; a seraph cannot comprehend Him. God is incomprehensible in His mode of being as the One God; still more as the Three in One. To know that God is and what He is, necessary for an intelligent creatures happiness: to know how He is, were it possible, could only gratify his curiosity. God only known as He is pleased to reveal Himself. Reveals Himself
(1) In His works;
(2) In the human consciousness;
(3) In His word;
(4) Most of all in His Son Jesus Christ. Christ the image of the invisible God; He that hath seen Him hath seen the Father (Col. 1:15; Joh. 14:9). The incarnation, life, and death of Jesus Christ,the final, full and authentic exhibition of the Divine character and perfections. Eternal life, to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent (Joh. 17:3).
2. His Perfections. Gods Perfections or Attributes are
(1) Natural or essential, as His Omniscience and Omnipotence;
(2) Moral, as His justice and goodness. God unsearchable in both kinds. The universe a theatre for the display of His perfections. A God everywhere present, and everywhere working,sustaining the vibrations of an animalcule and the revolutions of a planet; watching over a sparrow, and giving orders to an archangel; and doing all in infinite wisdom, and justice, and goodness,may well be unsearchable.
3. In His Purposes. The history of the world and of the universe, as well as of each individual, the evolution of these purposes (Act. 15:18; Act. 2:23). His purposes unsearchable (Rom. 11:33; Psa. 92:5). Deep in unfathomable mines, &c.
4. In His Performances. God unsearchable in His works of creation. Examples: The contents of a drop of stagnant water, as examined with a microscope; the starry heavens, as seen through Lord Rosses telescope. Modern astronomy gives a meaning to the heights of heaven undreamt of in the days of Zophar. Geology, on the other hand, reveals displays of Divine power and wisdom in extinct worlds or creations far beneath our feet.
5. In His Procedure. Gods dealings in providence both in regard to angels and men, the human race and the individuals composing it, unsearchable. Evil permitted in His own universe. The incarnation and death of His own Son an atonement for it. Man the object of that merciful provision; sinning angels excluded from its benefit.
Lessons from the unsearchableness of God:
1. Modesty and humility in judging of Gods person or perfections, His works or His ways.
2. Submission to His will, and acquiescence in His providence.
3. Implicit trust in His wisdom and goodness.
4. Reverential, loving, and admiring adoration. The result of the contemplation of Gods works and ways in the apostle (Rom. 11:33-36), and in the glorified in heaven (Rev. 15:3-4).
IV. Adduces Gods resistless power and all-seeing eye as arguments to move Job to repentance (Job. 11:10-12).
1. His Almighty power (Job. 11:10). If He cut off (margin, make a change, as He has done in Job and his family; or, if He seize as a criminal, as He has done in Jobs case), and shut up (as in prison; or, deliver over, i.e., to an officer for trial), or gather together (an assembly or court to try the criminal)who can hinder him? (margin, turn him away.) Awful picture of a sinner arrested by Divine justice. A sinner in the hands of an angry God! Escape or rescue equally impossible. The only hope of safety for a sinner lies in submission. Same sentiment uttered by Job himself (ch. Job. 9:4; Job. 9:12-13). Argument used by God (Psa. 50:22); by Jesus (Mat. 5:25-26); by the Apostle (Heb. 2:3; Heb. 10:31).
2. His Omniscience (Job. 11:12). For He knoweth vain men; He seeth wickedness also; will He not then consider it? Another weighty argument for a sinners repentance. To elude Gods eye as impossible as to escape from His hand. No darkness or shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. All things naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Further considerations, however, necessary to bring a sinner to repentance. Felix trembled, and said to the preacher: Go thy way for this time. Only the apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ able to soften and subdue the sinners heart. As addressed to Job, these arguments were
(1) Inapplicable; Job not the sinner Zophar supposed.
(2) Useless; Job probably more keenly sensible of these truths than Zophar himself. Arguments, in order to move and benefit, need to be not only sound and solemn, but suitable and seasonable.One important part of a preachers duty to consider the character and condition of those whom he addresses.Zophars application of the foregoing arguments (Job. 11:12). For vain man would be wise (or but let a vain, or empty, hollow-headed man become wise) though man be born as the wild asss colt, (or, and let the wild asss colt be born a man). The latter part of the verse, as thus read, an Arab proverb. Wild ass, used by the Arabs as a term of reproach. Probably the whole a proverbial maxim of the ancients. Apparently an exhortation rather than a statement. Contains truth in reference to man in general.
1. Man left to himself, ever since the fall, is vain. Empty of real goodness and sound spiritual understanding. There is none that understandeth; there is none that doeth good. Even the sages of antiquity professing themselves wise became fools (Rom. 1:22).
2. Man is now by nature froward and self-willed as a wild asss colt. Like that animal, mans disposition is to be free and uncontrolled. The child, like the man, wishes to be its own master. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us? Who is the Lord, that I should serve Him? Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us. Frowardness, self-will, and intractableness, Gods frequent complaints against Israel. All day long have I stretched out my hand towards a disobedient and gainsaying people. The heart of man fully set in them to do evil. Madness in mens hearts while they live. The constant tendency of mans fallen nature to break loose from the restraints of Divine authority. Apart from grace, man, after his hardness and impenitent heart, treasures up wrath against the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5).
3. A change of character and disposition necessary in order to mans well-being either here or hereafter. The vain man must become wise. The wild asss coltfroward, self-willed, independentmust become a man, thoughtful, submissive, obedient. The second part of Christs call in the Gospel: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls (Mat. 11:29).
4. Such a change nothing less than a new birth. The wild asss colt must be born in order to become a man. A new birth necessary to froward, self-willed, independent man, in order to his entering the kingdom of God, whether on earth or in heaven. The teaching of Jesus (Joh. 3:7). The promise (Eze. 36:26). The prayer (Psa. 51:10). The experience of it (Tit. 3:5). The exhortation, as addressed to Job, was
(1) Inapplicable. Job neither a fool nor, except perhaps in his trouble, especially when worried by his friends, a wild asss colt.
(2). Uncharitable, because inappropriate. Charity thinketh no evil; hopeth all things.
(3). Rude. No part of wisdom in a preacher or monitor to apply harsh terms and ill names, even indirectly. Be courteous. Hearers neither to be flattered on the one hand nor libelled on the other.
(4). Unfeeling. No consideration made of Jobs intense sufferings and accumulated trials. Zophar pours vinegar instead of oil on Jobs wounded spirit. Sympathy in a preacher necessary to success. Want of sympathy argues want of sense.
V. Persuasion to repentance, on the ground of personal advantage (Job. 11:13-20).
The whole passage a noble strain of moral Oriental poetry. Perhaps quoted from the ancients by Zophar, from its supposed applicability to Jobs case. Exhibits the views prevalent at the period. The teaching that of the Old Testament or pre-Evangelical platform. Holds forth more especially the promise of earthly comfort and prosperity as the result of repentance and piety. Similar sentiments expressed by Eliphaz (ch. Job. 5:8; Job. 5:17-26); and by Bildad (ch. Job. 8:5-7). Frequent in the Psalms and Proverbs; as Psalms 1, 37, 128; Proverbs 3, 4, ,
8. In order to personal profit, the passage to be read in the light of New Testament truth. The lamp of the New Testament to be carried with us in exploring the dark chambers of the Old. In the New Testament, the promises of future good are mainly connected with the Lords second appearing (Act. 3:19-21; 1Th. 1:9-10; Tit. 2:11-13). The posture of New Testament believers that of strangers and pilgrims on the earth; the object of their desires and affections, the things that are above; their spirit, contentment with such things as they have (Heb. 13:5; Heb. 13:14; 1Pe. 2:11; Col. 3:1-2; 1Ti. 6:8). The passage contains
1. The terms proposed, or the duty recommended (Job. 11:13-14). The condition a true turning to God. Three steps indicated
(1). A preparation or right disposition of the heart (Job. 11:13). If thou prepare (or set right) thine heart. Always represented as the first step in seeking God (1Sa. 7:3; 2Ch. 19:3; 2Ch. 30:19; Ezr. 7:10; Psa. 78:8; Psa. 78:37). Implies(a) Serious consideration; (b) Firm purpose; (c) Suitable frame and disposition; (d) Removal of secret sin. The heart naturally biassed, and needs to be made straight; unstable, and needs to be made steadfast. Sincerity and earnestness essential in seeking God.
(2). Earnest prayer. If thou stretch forth thine hands towards Him. A common attitude in Old Testament devotion (Psa. 36:9; Psa. 143:6; Isa. 1:15). Examples: Moses (Exo. 9:33); Ezra (Job. 9:5); Solomon (1Ki. 8:22). Includes(a) Confession of sin; (b) Supplication for mercy.
(3). Amendment of life (Job. 11:14). If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles (or tents,Arab chiefs required more than one for their household;wickednessnot to be allowed in any of them. Several copies and ancient versions, however, read the word in the singular). Sin to be put away both from our persons and our premises. Iniquity,injustice or wrong doing not to remain in our hand; wickedness,any kind of open sinnot to remain in our house. Zacchus an example of the first (Luk. 19:8); David of the second (Psa. 101:7). A man is greatly responsible for what is done in his household. Domestic, as well as personal sins, to be looked after and put away. The commendation of Abraham (Gen. 18:19); The neglect of Eli (1Sa. 2:12; 1Sa. 2:17; 1Sa. 3:11; 1Sa. 3:14); The resolution of David (Psa. 101:2; Psa. 101:7). Observe
(1) A striking gradation in the putting away of sin;from the heart, from the hand, from the house.
(2) True religion begins with the heart, and ends with the life.
(3) Sin not only to be put away, but far away. Present impressions not to be trusted. All occasions and temptations to relapses to be avoided.
2. The promises annexed (Job. 11:15-19). The promises suppose pardon and acceptance of the penitent, with his consciousness of it. This promised in the Old as well as in the New Testament, upon sincere confession and repentance, with faith in the Sacrifice (See Psa. 32:1; Psa. 32:5; Pro. 28:13; Isa. 1:17; Isa. 55:6-7.) The promises here are
1. A cheerful confidence before God and men (Job. 11:15). Thou shalt lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear. Sense of pardon gives serenity of aspect. A purged conscience makes an uplifted countenance. Without spot,either of guilt or its consequences. A face unabashed by guilt or shame, unsullied by grief or tears. Spots on the conscience transfer themselves to the countenance. Spots of guilt removed by the sprinkled blood; spots of grief by the consciousness of it. Conscious guilt makes the countenance to fall; sense of pardon and acceptance lifts it up (Gen. 4:5-6; Luk. 18:13; 1Jn. 3:21.) The face sooner and better lifted up by pardon than by prosperity.
2. Deliverance from present suffering (Job. 11:16). Thou shalt forget thy misery and remember it as waters that pass (or, have passed) away. Inward, if not outward misery, removed by sense of pardoning mercy (Psa. 32:1; Psa. 32:5; Psa. 51:8-14). Inward suffering sooner or later the fruit of sin. The remembrance of previous sorrow swallowed up by present joy. Trouble forgotten through long continued triumph. Remembrance of grief often only an enhancement of joy. No trace left of the winter-torrent that has passed away. Your joy no man taketh from you. The desolating flood that has disappeared only remembered with thankful joy. So the pardoned soul has still in remembrance, the wormwood and the gall.
3. Abiding peace and joy (Job. 11:17). Thine age shall be clearer than the noonday (or, a period, or happy age, shall arise to thee, brighter than, &c.); and thou (or it) shalt shine forth, thou (or it) shalt be as the morning (or, now thou art in darkness, but then thou shalt be as the morning). Light out of darkness, the experience of a penitent and pardoned soul (Hos. 6:3). The light and joy of acceptance like the noonday for brightness; like the morning for increase. The path of the just, the justified and sanctified in Christ, a light increasing in brightness unto the perfect day (Pro. 4:18). The believers joy not diminished by manifold trials (1Pe. 1:6). Like oil poured on water, comes always to the surface. At times unspeakable and full of glory (1Pe. 1:8).
4. Safety and security (Job. 11:18-19). Thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt aig about thee (making preparation, according to patriarchal custom, for a new abode; or, now thou art ashamed but then, &c.), and thou shalt take thy rest in safety; also, thou shalt lie down (as a shepherd with his flock), and none shall make thee afraid. Hope in Gods mercy through Christ, the only foundation of real security. Divine protection one of the sweetest of new covenant blessings. Christs sheep safe in His hands and in those of His Father (Joh. 10:28; Joh. 10:30). Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Preservation of the soul an Old as well as New Testament promise (Psa. 121:7). Oriental tents and travellers exposed to danger from robbers, wild beasts, and reptiles; believers souls exposed to no less peril (Col. 2:8; Col. 2:18; 1Pe. 5:8; 2Co. 11:3).
5. Influence among men (Job. 11:19). Many shall make suit to thee. The mark of a great, if not a good man. Many entreat the favour of the prince (Pro. 19:6). The same promised to the Church or Bride of Christ (Psa. 45:12). So Abimelech made suit to Abraham, entreating his favour and alliance (Gen. 26:26-29. Pardoned people are praying people; and praying people are Israels,princes that have power both with God and men (Gen. 32:28). Gods presence with a believer the ground of true greatness. He that has power with God likely to have influence among men. We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you (Zec. 8:23). Believers are kings and priests to God. Their duty so to walk as to gain respect to their profession. An ill sign with a professor when nobody seeks the favour of his prayers. A believers privilege so to carry Christ about with him that men shall feel his influence, as those who sought only to be in Peters shadow. The true character of a pardoned and accepted person is to have so much of Christs loving spirit as to carry with him a constant benefaction. Made sweet and gracious by Gods favour on them, and His spirit in them, believers carry with them the unconscious influence of a sweet and gracious atmosphere. A pardoned man, walking with Christ and imbibing His spirit, as sure to be perceived as a bag that carries sweet perfume. The privilege and duty of believers to exhale so much of Christs loving nature as, like modest and half-hidden violets, to attract others to them by their fragrance. This, as well as the other promises, realised in Jobs after experience, but not in the way imagined by Zophar (ch. Job. 42:7-9).
VI. The contrasted case of the ungodly (Job. 11:20) Includes
(1) Anxiety and disappointment. The eyes of the wicked shall fail,anxiously looking in vain for the possession of good and deliverance from evil. A time when it is too late to knock even at mercys door. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me (Pro. 1:28.
(2) Perplexity and hopelessness. They shall not escape. (Heb. Refuge has perished from them). Calamity, sooner or later, overtakes the Christless and impenitent, from which escape is impossible. Because I called and ye refused,I also will laugh at your calamity (Pro. 1:24-26). How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? (Heb. 2:3; Heb. 10:26-27).
(3) Ruin and despair. Their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost (margin, as a puff of breath). The hope of the impenitent and Christless proves as vain and unsubstantial as a puff of breath. Their expectation terminates with their life. Having chosen death rather than life, they obtain their choice. All they that hate me love death. (Pro. 8:36.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
F. PIETY AND PROSPERITYZOPHARS RECOMMENDATION: REPENTANCE (Job. 11:1-20)
1. Jobs punishment is less than he deserves. (Job. 11:1-6)
TEXT 11:16
1 1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 Should not the multitude of words be answered?
And should a man full of talk be Justified?
3 Should thy boastings make men hold their peace?
And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
4 For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure,
And I am clean in thine eyes.
5 But oh that God would speak,
And open his lips against thee,
6 And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom!
For he is manifold in understanding.
Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
COMMENT 11:16
Job. 11:1Zophar, the third of Jobs friends, enters. He is the least original and most vitriolic of Jobs counselors. He is more intense in asserting Jobs guilt than Job is his innocence. In fact, Zophar claims that Job should be thankful that he does not get all the suffering that he deserves. His speech falls into three sections: (1) Zophar wishes that God would break His silenceJob. 11:2-6; (2) Gods wisdom is beyond human comprehensionJob. 11:7-12; and (3) Restoration from Jobs present situation is contingent on repentanceJob. 11:13-20. He neither appeals to personal experience, as does Eliphaz, nor to the wisdom of the ancients, as does Bildad. His authority is identical with Gods authority; and his wisdom is self-authenticating. Therefore, Job fails to heed his advice at his own peril. The literary form of his speech is similar to that of Bildad, esp. Job. 11:2-6 to Job. 8:2; Job. 11:7-12 to Job. 8:3-4; and Job. 11:13-19 a to Job. 8:5-7. A thematic difference is that Bildad defended divine justice, while Zophar defends divine wisdom which must be defended against Jobs scandalous criticism. But like the other two friends, he, too, suggests that Jobs repentance is imperative if restoration to a happy prosperity is to be anticipated. His fundamental heresy, which is shared by contemporary western man, is that happiness will elude all non-prosperous persons.
Job. 11:2Zophar is annoyed by Jobs long speech.
Job. 11:3The word boasting, which is found in the A. V., comes from a Hebrew word generally meaning idle talk, i.e., babbling. Job has denied the doctrine of retributive justiceJob. 6:28; Job. 6:30; Job. 9:21; Job. 10:15; and in Zophars theology this means mocking at religion (A. V. when thou mockest)Isa. 16:6; Jer. 48:30.
Job. 11:4My doctrine is pure was understood by his friends to be an attack on their wisdom, by claiming a superior understanding. The phrase in thine eyes refers to Gods eyes. The problem isIf Job is saying that he is pure in Gods eyes (the Hebrew says I am pure in your eyes), why is he complaining about Gods injustice?[145]
[145] Some suggest a solution by changing one vowelhayitiI am, to hayita you are.
Job. 11:5Zophar believes that if God would break His silence, then Job would hear his indictment from God Himself.
Job. 11:6Gods wisdom is beyond the human minds comprehension. The Hebrew word hisplayim means double, not manifold. A. V. the sense is that God knows both the hidden and non-hidden. The last line declares that God gives Job less than he deserves.[146]
[146] E. F. Sutcliffe, Biblica. XXX, 1949, p. 67important discussion of the last line of verse six.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XI.
(1) Zophar, the third of Jobs friends, has a clearly defined character, distinct from that of the others; he is the ordinary and common-place moral man, who expresses the thoughts and instincts of the many. Eliphaz was the poet and spiritual man, who sees visions and dreams; Bildad was the man who rested on authority and appealed to tradition; Zophar is the man of worldly wisdom and common sense. In some respects he is the most offensive of the three. He is astonished that Job has not been silenced by the replies of the other two, and thinks he can do no less than help to silence him. Thus he at once begins with a multitude of words, and full of talk, and lies, and mockery. Zophar stands on a lower level, and drags Job down to it. He refracts his protestations of innocence against himself, and charges him with iniquity in making them. His longing also to come into judgment with God (Job. 9:32) he turns back upon himself, being confident that it could not fail to convict him were he to do so.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ZOPHAR’S FIRST ADDRESS. 1. Then answered Zophar Eliphaz had modestly confirmed his views by an appeal to the revelation of a spirit; Bildad, by recourse to the wisdom of the ancients; Zophar, the youngest of the three, relies upon himself. “At first,” says Jahn, “his discourse is characterized by rusticity; his second address adds but little to the first; and in the third dialogue he has no reply to make.” The other two friends had looked upon Job’s sufferings as the chastenings of God, rather than punishments. Zophar, on the other hand, regards them as solely punitive. The address opens with painful vituperation, but proceeds in noble language to describe the infinite wisdom of God a wisdom that comprehends and arraigns the human heart. In contrast man at best is, as Zophar says, but hollow-headed and perverse from his birth. With beautiful imagery he portrays the happiness and security of the just, and concludes, like Bildad, with the doom of the wicked.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 11:12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.
Job 11:12
[24] Matthew Henry, Job, in Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Modern Edition, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1991), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Proverbs 1:1-6.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Job’s Dialogue with Three Friends – Job 3:1 to Job 31:40, which makes up the major portion of this book, consists of a dialogue between Job and his three friends. In this dialogue, Job’s friends engage in three rounds of accusations against Job, with him offering three defenses of his righteousness. Thus, Job and his friends are able to confirm each of their views with three speeches, since the Scriptures tell us that a matter is confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses (2Co 13:1). The underlying theme of this lengthy dialogue is man’s attempt to explain how a person is justified before God. Job will express his intense grief (Job 3:1-26), in which his three friends will answer by finding fault with Job. He will eventually respond to this condemnation in a declaration of faith that God Himself will provide a redeemer, who shall stand on earth in the latter days (Job 19:25-27). This is generally understood as a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ to redeem mankind from their sins.
Job’s declaration of his redeemer in Job 19:23-29, which would be recorded for ever, certainly moved the heart of God. This is perhaps the most popular passage in the book of Job, and reflects the depth of Job’s suffering and plea to God for redemption. God certainly answered his prayer by recording Job’s story in the eternal Word of God and by allowing Job to meet His Redeemer in Heaven. I can imagine God being moved by this prayer of Job and moving upon earth to provide someone to record Job’s testimony, and moving in the life of a man, such as Abraham, to prepare for the Coming of Christ. Perhaps it is this prayer that moved God to call Abraham out of the East and into the Promised Land.
The order in which these three friends deliver their speeches probably reflects their age of seniority, or their position in society.
Scene 1 First Round of Speeches Job 3:1 to Job 14:22
Scene 2 Second Round of Speeches Job 15:1 to Job 21:34
Scene 3 Third Round of Speeches Job 22:1 to Job 31:40
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Zophar Tries to Reprove Job
v. 1. Then answered Zophar, the Naamathite, v. 2. Should not the multitude of words, v. 3. Should thy lies, v. 4. For thou hast said, My doctrine, v. 5. But oh, that God would speak and open His lips against thee, v. 6. and that He would show thee the secrets of wisdom, v. 7. Canst thou by searching find out God, v. 8. It is as high as heaven, v. 9. The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea, v. 10. If He cut off, v. 11. For He knoweth vain men, v. 12. For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Job 11:1-20
Zophar, the Naamathite, the third of Job’s comforters (Job 2:11), and probably the youngest of them, now at last takes the word, and delivers an angry and violent speech. He begins by accusing Job of having spoken at undue length, and at the same time, boastfully and mockingly (verses 2-4). He then expresses a wish that God would take Job at his word, and really answer him, since he is sure that the result would be to show that Job had been punished much less than he. deserved to be (verses 5, 6). Job’s complaints against the justice of God’s dealings he meets by an assertion of God’s unsearchableness and perfect wisdom, which he contrasts with the folly of man (verse 7-12). Finally, he suggests that a stricken man, being guilty, should humble himself, put away his iniquity, and turn to God, in which ease he may expect a restoration to favour. Otherwise, he has only to look for wretchedness, failure, and despair (verses 18-20).
Job 11:1
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said (see the comment on Job 2:11).
Job 11:2
Should not the multitude of words be answered? A “multitude of words” is often reproved in Scripture, and taken as a sign of either folly (Ecc 5:8) or sin (Pro 10:19). Job had certainly been somewhat unduly verbose, and laid himself open to the taunt hero launched against him; but neither had brevity been studied by his other friends in their previous answers (Job 4:1-21; Job 5:1-27; Job 8:1-22.), nor is it greatly studied by Zophar here. And should a man full of talk be justified? literally, a man of lips‘ which may mean either “a great talker” or “a man who makes many professions.” There is a widespread prejudice against a great orator, and a widespread notion that a good cause does net need many words.
Job 11:3
Should thy lies make men hold their peace? or, thy boastings (see the Revised Version; and comp. Isa 16:5; Jer 48:30). Zophar probably refers to such passages as Job 9:20, Job 9:35; Job 10:7, Job 10:15, where Job might seem to have justified himself altogether. And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed I It is not quite easy to see what in Job’s speeches up to this point could be regarded as “mocking.” But perhaps Zophar would have thus characterized the following passages: Job 6:13, Job 6:14, Job 6:25-27; Job 7:12; Job 9:22-24.
Job 11:4
For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure. Job had certainly not said this in so many words. In fact, he had not spoken of his “doctrine” (), nor had he called either his doctrine or his conduct absolutely pure (). But, no doubt, he had maintained, in a certain sense, his innocency; not, indeed, his entire freedom from sin or guilt, but his honest endeavour to serve God and lead a good life. This was the real point disputed between him and his “comforters;” they argued, from his sufferings, that he must be a “chief sinner;” he maintained, from the testimony of his conscience, that he was free from all heinous sins. And I am clean in thine eyes (see above, Job 9:30; Job 10:7).
Job 11:5
But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee! “Oh that God would do,” i.e. “what thou hast challenged him to do”show thee wherein he contends with thee! (comp. Job 10:2). Then how would thy reasonings be confuted, and thy boastings be brought low!
Job 11:6
And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom! In God are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid away” (‘ Col 2:3). Zophar wishes that he would reveal to Job this wisdom, or a portion of it, as, in that case, all his pride and self-confidence would be confounded and fall away. That they are double to that which is! This phrase is very obscure. Some translate, “For he (i.e. God) is twice as wise as thou;” others, “That it (i.e. wisdom) is manifold in effectual working;” others, again, “That they (i.e. the treasures of wisdom) are double (or manifold) in substance.” Perhaps this last rendering is to be preferred. The treasures of wisdom that are hid away in God have many depths, secret and unexplored; they “lie, as it were, fold over fold, in unexpected complexities, defying the shallow and unscrutinizing gaze” (Professor Stanley Leathes). If they were revealed to Job, they would astonish, confound, silence, him. Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth. “Be sure,” i.e; “that God, so far from inflicting on thee a more severe punishment than thou deservest, in reality excuses much of thy guilt, and punishes thee less than is thy due.” This is Zophar’s conclusion from his general knowledge of God’s dealings with man (comp. Ezr 9:13).
Job 11:7
Canst thou by searching find out God? literally, Canst thou attain to the searching out of God? Canst thou suppose, that is, that, whatever thy wisdom, learning, subtlety, sagacity, power of insight, thou wilt be able to search out and fully know the character, attributes, modes of thought and action, of the Most High? No. In one sense, all men do well to profess them. selves “Agnostics”not that they can know nothing of God, but that they can never know him fully, never exhaust the knowledge of him. As the apostle says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God l how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?” (Rom 11:33, Rom 11:34). Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? rather. Canst thou attain to the perfection of the Almighty? understand, i.e; his inconceivable perfectness.
Job 11:8
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? literally, heights of the heavens; what canst thou do? But the meaning is probably that expressed in the Authorized Version. God’s perfectness is unattainable by man’s thought, as the heights of the heavens are by his feet. Deeper than hell; literally, than Sheol, or the receptacle of the dead (see the comment on Job 10:21). St. Paul speaks of the “deep things,” or rather, “the depths” ( ) of God (see 1Co 2:10). What canst thou know? How small a part of the Divine nature can any man thoroughly comprehend and know!
Job 11:9
The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. Zophar’s metaphors are drawn from the objects which, to his mind, exceed in extent all others. “The earth” and “the sea” represent to him the illimitable.
Job 11:10
If he cut off; rather, if he advance (comp. Job 9:11). And shut up; or, imprison. Or gather together; rather, and call to judgment (see the Revised Version). If God, that is, advance against a man in hostile fashion, seize and imprison him, and then call him to judgment, what is to be said or done? who can interfere with him? Matters must take their course. There is no ground for complaint It is simply God’s mode of administering justice on the earth. Who can hinder him? literally, who can turn him sway? i.e. interfere with his action, interrupt it, divert it.
Job 11:11
For he knoweth vain men. God is justified in these his judgments, even though he does not implead the man or bring him to account, or hear what he has got to say (Job 9:1-35 :39), since he intuitively and at once “knoweth vain men;” sooth, that is, into the ground of the heart, and recognizes vanity, pretence, false seeming, so that he can judge infallibly without the forensic apparatus wherewith human tribunals are rightly surrounded, on account of the weakness and fallibility of human judges. He sooth wickedness also. If God can detect in a moment vanity, pretence, false seeming, much more can he detect actual wickedness; which Zophar assumes to have been detected in Job’s case. Will he not then consider it? rather, even though he consider it not (see the Revised Version). God does not need to pause and ponder and “consider” each case. He knows, without any such lengthened consideration, whether a man is true to him or not.
Job 11:12
For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt; rather, and a vain man may get understanding, and the colt of a wild ass become a than. Zophar seems to mean that, through Divine discipline, such as that described in Job 11:10, a vain, foolish, puffed-up man may be reclaimed and become a man of understandinga stubborn and untamed one, wild as the colt of a wild ass, grow into a real man, i.e. acquire sense and discretion. If this is the meaning, undoubtedly Job is glanced at (so Schultens, Dillmann, and Canon Cook).
Job 11:13
If thou prepare thine heart. Having indicated God’s righteousness by these general remarks (Job 11:7-12), and implied that Job’s complaints are vain and futile, Zophar, in conclusion, addresses Job once more directly: “If thou () prepare thine heart,” cleanse it, that is, of all defilement, direct it, and set it straight (see Psa 78:8) before God, then such and such results (set forth in verses 15-19) will follow. And stretch out thine hands toward him. The outward act of worship must follow the inward movement of the heart, for the turning to God to be complete.
Job 11:14
If iniquity be in thine hand. Zophar assumes this to be probable, nay, almost certain. He has already told Job that God has exacted from him less than his iniquity (, the same word) deserves (verse 6). Conformably with this view, he now suggests that it would not do for Job to stretch out to God in prayer a hand full of iniquity, and that therefore, previously to making his supplication, he would do well to lay his iniquity aside. In a general way, the advice is excellent; but it was insulting to Job, who denied that he had any definite act of sin on his conscience. Put it far away; i.e. repent of it, confess it to God; if the case admits of it, make reparation or restitution. And let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles; or, in thy tents. The insinuation seems to be that Job is a robber chief, and that his tent and the tents of his followers are full of ill-gotten spoils, the fruit of his raids upon the defenceless.
Job 11:15
For then; rather, surely then (see the Revised Version). Shalt thou lift up thy face without spot. At present, Zophar implies, he could not do so. The stain of many sins was on him (Job 11:6, Job 11:11, Job 11:14). Yea, thou shalt be steadfast; literally, moltenperhaps “pure as refined metal” (see Isa 1:25), perhaps “bright as a metallic mass.” And shalt not fear. “Shalt be freed,” i.e.,” from all the fears that disturb thee now” (see Job 3:26; Job 6:4; Job 7:14; Job 9:28, etc.).
Job 11:16
Because thou shalt forget thy misery. All thy past misery shall be clean swept away from thy remembrance, because of the happy condition whereto thou shalt be raised (see Job 11:18, Job 11:19). “Sorrow’s memory” is not always “a sorrow still.” And remember it as waters that pass away; i.e. remember it no more than a man remembers the shower that has passed away or the pool that is dried up.
Job 11:17
And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; literally, shall arise above the noonday; i.e. “exceed it in splendour.” Instead of the “thick darkness” to which Job is looking forward (Job 10:21, Job 10:22), he shall bask in a light brighter than that of the sun at noon. Thou shalt shine forth. The Hebrew cannot possibly bear this meaning. The uncommon word used is allied with , “obscurity,” and, if a verb, should mean “thou shalt be obscure,” rather than “thou shalt shine forth.” But it is perhaps a substantive, meaning “darkness;” and the translation of the Revised Version is perhaps correct: “Though there be darkness.” Thou shalt be as the morning. “Thy light,” as Professor Lee explains, “shall gradually rise and expand itself far and wide.” It shall dispel the darkness, and take its place,” shining more and more unto the perfect day” (Pro 4:18).
Job 11:18
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope. Job, entering on this second period of prosperity, would be and feel secure; safe, i.e.‘ from any return of calamity, because hope would once more animate him and be his predominant feeling. No doubt “hope springs eternal in the human breast;” and when Job’s prosperity was actually restored (Job 42:12-16), these anticipations had their fulfilment; but, as uttered by Zophar, there is a ring of insincerity about them, and we cannot but feel that his object in expatiating at length on the details of Job’s coming happiness is not to console and encourage his friend, but rather to annoy and exasperate him, since the entire basis on which he builds is the assumption of Job’s heinous guilt (verses 3, 6, 11, 14), and the prosperity which he promises is to follow upon an acknowledgment of guilt and a putting sway of iniquity (verses 13, 14), which he knew that Job wholly repudiated. Yea, thou shalt dig about thee. So Schultens, who understands it to mean that Job shall dig a moat around his habitation, to make himself perfectly secure. The verb has, however, two other meanings”to investigate” or “search out,” and “to blush;” and it is taken here in each of these meanings by some critics. Our Revisers translate, “Yea, thou shalt search about thee;” and so Canon Cook and Professor Stanley Loathes. Rosenmuller, on the other hand, and Professor Lee render the words by “Though thou shouldst blush,” or “be ashamed.” It is difficult to decide between such high authorities; but the fast that Job uses the verb in the sense of “search,” “look after,” in Job 39:29, and does not elsewhere use it in either of the other senses, should incline us to accept the rendering of the Revised Version. And thou shalt take thy rest in safety; or, securely; i.e. with a sense of being in perfect security.
Job 11:19
Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; i.e. there shall be no more raids on the part of Sabeans (Job 1:15) or Chaldeans (Job 1:17) to affright and injure thee. Yea, many shall make suit unto thee. On the contrary, thy aid shall be invoked, thy interference on their behalf prayed for, by many.
Job 11:20
Had Zophar ended with Job 11:19 Job might possibly have taken some comfort from his speech, holding out, as it did, a hope of restoration to God’s favour and a return to happiness. But, as if to accentuate the unfavourable view which he takes of Job’s conduct and character, he will not end with words of good omen, but appends a passage which has a ring of malice, menace, and condemnation. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail; or, waste away‘ grew weary, i.e.‘ of looking for a help that does not come, and a deliverer who does not make his appearance. And they shall not escape; literally, their refuge is perished from them. And their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost; rather, shall be the giving up of the ghost. They shall have no other hope but deatha manifest allusion to Job’s repeated declarations that he looks for death, longs for it, and has no expectation of any other deliverance (see Job 3:21, Job 3:22; Job 6:7, Job 6:8; Job 7:15; Job 10:1, Job 10:18. etc.). Such, says Zophar, is always the final condition of the wicked.
HOMILETICS
Job 11:1-6
Zophar to Job: 1. The opinions of a dogmatist.
I. ZOPHAR‘S OPINIONS CONCERNING JOB. A severe but wholly unfounded indictment.
1. Loquacity. Job’s previous orations, so full of lofty sentiment and fervent emotion, he characterizes as “a multitude of words,” and Job himself as “a man full of talk [literally, ‘a man of lips’].” Prolixity in speech, though not a violation of God’s Law, is certainly a breach of good taste. Words should never be employed except to represent thoughts, and should always be carefully selected and skilfully compacted. If brevity he the soul of wit, it is also the heart of wisdom. Mere talkativeness is a fool’s gift (Ecc 5:3), and a frequent occasion of sin (Pro 10:19). On the other hand, “even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding’ (Pro 17:28). A wise man, also, is never so much in danger of being mistaken for a fool as when he forgets to put a bridle on his tongue. God’s people should be “swift to hear, slow to speak.”
2. Boasting. Job’s vehement language Zophar describes as “big talk “the noisy declamation of a loud-mouthed controversialist, who talks his opponents down by sheer force of clamour, foolishly supposing he has thereby overcome them in argument. Words of truth and soberness should be used by all (Act 26:25). Religious men especially should be careful, particularly in the hearing of weak brethren, of extravagant assertions as to either their own piety or their thoughts about God. Job’s asseverations came near overstepping the limits of a just moderation; yet they appeared worse than they were because of Zophar’s failure to understand them. or sympathize with their speaker.
3. Mockery. Job’s sentiments Zophar pronounced to be wholly of an infidel tendency. But what Job scoffed at was only the representation of the Divine character and government which had been given by Eliphaz and Bildad. It may argue audacity and self-conceit to arraign the popular dogmas of the day; but one may do so, it is hoped, without being justly chargeable with impiety and unbelief.
4. Hypocrisy. Job’s steadfast assertion of personal integrity seemed to Zophar mere religious pretence. But if a man, who is at heart insincere, may yet be esteemed righteous by his fellows (Mat 6:1-6), it is not impossible that one, who seems a hypocrite in man’s eyes, may in God’s sight be “perfect and entire.”
II. ZOPHAR‘S OPINIONS CONCERNING GOD. Zophar suggests that, if God appeared to Job, he would be found:
1. Irresistible in teaching. “Oh that God would speak, and open his lips against [or, ‘with thee’]” (verse 5). Thy complaints would then be silenced by the convincing light of God’s revelations! What Zophar here desiderated for his friend has been practically granted to all. “God manifest in the flesh,” “the Man Christ Jesus,” who appeared in the fulness of the times, is God’s Answer to all preceding and subsequent centuries perplexed with the dark problem of existence. No solution of life’s enigma but God’s ever satisfies a soul. God can accomplish what no human teacher can (Job 36:22); he can exhibit to the soul truth in its naked purity, causing it to commend itself to every man’s conscience, and, whether accepted or rejected, putting to silence all doubts and questionings as to its import (1Co 2:4-13; 2Co 4:2; 1Th 1:5).
2. Unsearchable in wisdom. “And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is [or perhaps, that it is fold upon fold’].” True wisdom lies deep. Its secrets are seldom patent to superficial observation. Hidden fold over fold, their discovery is a work of labour, the fruit of profound reflection, the result of Heaven’s revelation. Even that wisdom which is purely mundane requires patient, painful, persevering study (Pro 2:3, Pro 2:4); much more “that wisdom which cometh from above” (Jas 3:17). Most of all the wisdom of the Divine mind lies fold upon fold, deep, intricate, unfathomable, unsearchable, and therefore undiscoverable by man except through Divine revelation (see homiletics on next paragraph).
3. Merciful in judgment. “Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity [literally, ‘forgets for thee of thy guilt’]” (verse 6). Designed for Job’s humiliation, the exhortation, nevertheless, contains precious truths.
(1) That God can forget a man’s guilt, suffer it to drop out of his mind in such a way that it shall never plead against him for punishment (Isa 43:25; Rom 3:26).
(2) That God, in point of fact, forgets a portion of every man’s guilt, since otherwise no man could stand before him (Psa 130:3). Zophar failed to see
(3) that God can forget all a sinner’s trespass, and exact from him nothing of what he deserves.
Learn:
1. That all the opinions of a good man are not necessarily correct.
2. That it is sometimes harder to be just to one’s fellow-men than it is to be fair to God.
3. That man’s ideas of God and truth may be arraigned without incurring the charge of infidelity.
4. That men often behold sins in others which they cannot, though they should, see in themselves.
5. That good teaching should not be rejected, even though rudely proffered.
6. That even vulgar dogmatists may sometimes utter lofty truths.
7. That God is more merciful than even the best of men think.
Job 11:6
A sermon on the Divine forbearance.
I. THE DESERT OF SIN.
1. The nature of it. The punishment of deathtemporal, spiritual, and eternal.
2. The severity of it. Were this penalty exacted from each transgressor to the full, it would mean the extinction of every spark of terrestrial happiness, the withdrawal from the sinful soul of every gracious influence, the absolute cessation of hope of eternal felicity beyond the grave, with all the misery which such a melancholy state of being would entail.
3. The certainty of it. That is, unless the execution of this awful penalty can be delayed. That it can, constitutes the glad tidings of the gospel. But where the gospel of the grace of God is not permitted to interpose for the sinner’s rescue, the infliction of this appalling retribution is inevitable.
4. The justness of it. To some minds it seems scarcely consistent with absolute equity to inflict so tremendous a chastisement upon feeble men for the trifling defalcations of a short lifetime. But this objection springs from imperfect notions of the heinousness of sin as committed against an infinite God and a holy Law. Besides, the penalty is that of the Divine Law, and we know that the Law is holy (Rom 7:12).
II. THE FORBEARANCE OF GOD.
1. The proof of it.
(1) Our own lives attest this.
(2) God’s Word affirms this.
(3) God’s providential dealings with men in general discover this.
2. The reason of it.
(1) In mercy to man, because he willeth not that any should perish.
(2) In justice to Christ, from whom the full penalty hath already been exacted.
(3) For the honour of himself, the glory of his grace being the highest motive by which God can be actuated.
III. THE INSTRUCTION OF MAN. “Know thou;” meaning that precious lessons should be derived from the study of so grand a truth.
1. Submission. It should silence all murmurings against afflictive dispensations.
2. Repentance. It ought to fill the human spirit with devout contrition.
3. Hope. It should teach man to “account the long-suffering of our God salvation.”
Job 11:7-12
Zophar to Job: 2. God’s wisdom and man’s folly.
I. THE PERFECTION OF DIVINE WISDOM.
1. Unsearchable. Zophar’s interrogations (verse 7) may signify either that man can never fully understand God, or that man’s wisdom can never fully equal God’s. Taken either way, they mean that the Divine wisdom, already described as “fold upon fold” (verse 6), transcends the comprehension of a finite mind. Whether the knowledge of God attainable by the speculative reason is a real and immediate knowledge of God as he is, or “nothing more than a tissue of ambitious self-contradictions which only indicate what he is not” (Mansel, ‘Limits of Religious Thought,’ lect. 4.) may be relegated to philosophers and metapyhsicians to determine. It is certain the Divine Being is unsearchable by man in his essence (Job 36:26; Job 37:23), in his Person (Gen 32:29; Jdg 13:18; Joh 1:1; Joh 10:30), in his attributes (Psa 147:5), e.g. in his wisdom (Isa 40:28; Rom 11:33), in his works (Job 5:9; Job 9:10), and in his ways (Nah 1:3; Rom 11:33). Hence man’s wisdom can never equal God’s. Man’s wisdom at the best can be fully comprehended; God’s cannot.
2. Infinite. That which renders the Divine wisdom unsearchable is its infinitude (verses 8, 9). The wisdom displayed by Deity in the creation, decoration, and preservation of the universe does not exhaust the fulness that his Godhead contains. Could the human mind explore the former in every possible direction, there would still remain in each an infinitude beyond, representing the deep things of Eloah, and the perfection of Shaddai. Most impressively does the language convey the thought of man’s inferiority to God in respect of wisdom. For if man by his utmost efforts cannot reach unto the perfection of the erect ureaif there be heights in heaven which he cannot scale, and depths in Sheol to which he cannot penetrate, if even the wide-rolling, far-resounding sea baffles him with its mysteryhow much less should he hope to reach unto the perfection of the Creator?
3. Irresistible. “If he,” i.e. the Almighty, acting under the guidance of his wisdom, “cut off [literally, ‘should arrest’] and shut up,” or imprison, “and gather together,” i.e. a court to try man his prisoner, “then who can hinder him?” (verse 10).. A graphic picture representing
(1) God’s ability to pursue, arrest, and shut up In prison those who offend against his holy Law, as he did with Adam and Eve (Gen 3:8, Gen 3:9), with Pharaoh (Exo 14:23), with Jon 1:4; as he still does with wicked men, pursuing them with the hot foot of an avenging providence (Pro 13:21), apprehending them with the strong hand of an awakened conscience (Act 2:37; Act 16:30), and as he will yet do with the finally impenitent who despise his offered grace (Mat 10:28; Mat 13:42; 2Th 1:9).
(2) The certainty that God will yet bring the ungodly into judgment at the last day (Job 21:30; Ecc 3:17; Mat 24:30; Mat 25:31; Rom 14:10; Heb 9:27), since he often does so prelusively and premonitorily on earth (Pro 11:31; Psa 58:11). And
(3) the impossibility of any one being able to either contend with him in argument or outwit him with chicanery (Job 9:4, Job 9:12, Job 9:14). Men may seem at present to reply successfully against God, denying his existence, ignoring his providence, impeaching his justice, vindicating themselves and repudiating the charges of his Law; but when God holds the great assize it will be seen how utterly vain as well as preposterously foolish have all their endeavours been.
4. Omniscient. God knows vain men, and thoroughly comprehends their wickedness, without requiring to reflect upon either them or it. His knowledge of men is
(1) universal: “He knoweth men,” i.e. he knows them all;
(2) particular: “He knoweth vain men,” he knows their characters and their works;
(3) continuous, he constantly observes them; and
(4) intuitive, he knows them at once and thoroughly, with all-seeing, all-searching glance. And this omniscience lays the basis for God’s invincibility in judgment.
II. THE CONSUMMATION OF HUMAN FOLLY. In contrast to the transcendent wisdom of Eloah, Zophar depicts men, and in particular Job, as:
1. Morally worthless. “Vain men,” literally, “men of nothingness,” men devoid of principle, and “hollow men,” he styles them. The appellation is by no means incorrect, as descriptive of man’s natural condition; man being now, in consequence of sin, emptied of all goodness and spiritual understanding.
2. Naturally witless. Prone to entertain exalted notions of his own wisdom, man is naturally senseless as a wild ass’s coltwhich also is not wholly astray from the truth, the estate of man from his birth being one of much ignorance, especially with regard to things Divine.
3. Essentially heartless. Zophar designs to say that hollow-hearted man can only be humanized by the salutary discipline of affliction. The change wrought upon him by the fierce discipline of life is as great as it would be for a wild ass’s colt to become a man. But this implies that man is by sin dehumanized and without a heart.
4. Absolutely hopeless. Delitzsch reads, “But before an empty head gaineth understanding, a wild ass would become a man;” thus teaching that man’s folly is irremediable. This black picture, however, is not in all points according to truth. Sinful man may be born again, may obtain a new heart, may acquire an enlightened understanding, and may eventually be arrayed in stainless moral purity.
Learn:
1. To revere the transcendent majesty of him who is infinite and unsearchable in wisdom.
2. To trust the providential government of him who is “wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.”
3. To believe the gracious revelations of him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
4. To accept the heavenly gifts of him who “hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence.”
5. To cherish deep humility before him “whose foolishness is wiser than men,” and before whom man’s highest wisdom is but folly.
6. To be thankful to him whose “manifold wisdom” hath been revealed for the enlightenment and salvation of foolish men..
Job 11:13-20
Zophar to Job: 3. An exhortation to repentance.
I. THE ACTINGS OF PENTIENCE.
1. Preparation of the heart. “If thou prepare [literally, ‘direct’] thy heart‘” i.e. towards God. True penitence is a heart-work, beginning in the heart, relating to the heart, and carried on by the heart, though not without Divine assistance (Pro 16:1).
(1) An arduous work; the verb implying serious purpose, fixed resolution, continuous effort; and the concentration of the heart upon anything, much more upon what is spiritually good, being ever a task of supreme difficulty (Jer 17:9).
(2) A complex work; the right setting or directing of the heart involving self-examination, to discover where the heart is wrong; serf-humiliation, or sincere sorrow on account of that wrongness of heart which is discovered; and self rectification, or the immediate, conscious, and deliberate reversal of that state of wrong (Psa 119:59; Jer 31:18, Jer 31:19; Hos 6:1).
(3) A necessary work; Scripture invariably representing this Godward direction of the heart as a constituent element in true repentance (1Sa 7:3; 2Ch 20:33), as the want of it is no less strongly stigmatized as a mark of impenitence and sin (Psa 78:8).
(4) A personal work; sinful man having many aids in the task expected of him, such as the external teaching of the Word, and the internal illumination of the Spirit, but still being himself held responsible for its actual performance.
2. Elevation of the soul. “If thou stretch out thine hands towards him,” i.e. God; the lifting up and stretching forth of the hands being a common devotional attitude (Exo 9:33; Ezr 9:5; 1Ki 8:22), and hence a frequent biblical symbol of the outgoing and ascending of the soul to God in prayer (Psa 63:4; Psa 143:6; Isa 1:15). Such exercise implies a sense of the soul’s need of God, a yearning of the soul after God, a perception of the soul’s distance from God, an inward persuasion that this distance may be diminished, if not entirely removed, and the human soul again be at peace with God, and a fervent application that such confidential and loving relationship between the two may again be restored.
3. Reformation of the life. “If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.” This, no less than the two preceding, is indispensable to a complete work of penitence. Mere amendment of the external walk and conversation does not amount to, and will certainly not serve as a substitute for, the cleansing of the heart. On the other hand, the work of inward purification, though it could stand alone, would not suffice without a corresponding rectification of the daily life. True repentance consists in sorrowful acknowledgment of sin, and tearful supplication of mercy, followed by a steadfast resolution after new obedience. Beginning in the heart with the detection of sin, and proceeding to the lip with the confession of sin, it terminates in the life with the renunciation of sin (1Sa 7:3; Psa 34:14; Isa 1:16; Isa 4:1-6 :7; Jer 7:5; Mat 3:8). And this renunciation must be complete.
(1) The sin itself must be put away; all kind of itopen wickedness, secret iniquity, personal transgression, domestic wrong-doing, so far as this latter lies within one’s power (Gen 18:19; 1Sa 2:12, 1Sa 2:17; 1Sa 3:11, 1Sa 3:14; Psa 101:2, Psa 101:7).
(2) The separation effected must be thorough and final; sin being required to be not merely put away; but put far awaycast forth, like Hagar and Ishmael; like the scapegoat, into a land not inhabited, never to return.
II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE PENITENT.
1. Cheerful confidence before God. (Verse 15.) Instead of cowering sorrow-stricken and shame-covered, like a trembling criminal, before his judge, filled with confusion and unable to lift up his head (Job 10:15), Job would be able to stand erect and firm, like a molten statue sitting squarely on its base, with no trace of tears upon his countenance, and no stain of punishable guilt upon his conscience. Nothing fills the soul with trembling and apprehension, or relaxes the cords and sinews of the heart, like a sense of unpardoned sin (Psa 38:8). Nothing sooner shades the brow with gloom, or banishes the light of joy from the countenance (Gen 4:5, Gen 4:6; Luk 18:13), than the loss of Divine favour. On the contrary, nothing so effectually restores serenity of aspect and courageousness of soul to the individual as a consciousness of pardon. When the spot of guilt is removed from the conscience, the tear of sorrow is soon wiped from the face. A forgiven penitent may afterwards encounter affliction; but, sustained by the peace of God which passeth understanding, he can even joy in tribulation (Rom 5:3).
2. Perfect happiness in himself. (Verse 16.) That complete exemption from adversity would infallibly attend the repenting transgressor, was incorrect; that the inward comforts and enjoyments of the pardoned sinner would so surpass his former anguish as to cause it to be entirely forgotten, was as precious and consoling as it was true. The greatest happiness attainable or conceivable on earth is the joy of salvation, the joy which no man taketh from its possessor, the joy unspeakable and full of glory, which springs from a sense of acceptance with God. However deep the iron of conviction may have been driven into the penitent’s soul, however bitter the anguish that may have racked his spirit, the moment the stricken heart is visited with a sense of Heaven’s favour, it “remembereth no more the anguish for joy” that it has been forgiven. The only thing that can effectually drive out sorrow from the soul is the entrance of Heaven’s joy.
3. Radiant prosperity in life. (Verse 17.) Job’s after-career should be one of unclouded prosperity, which should shine around him with a brilliance outdazzling the noonday sun, and should never know decline or diminution; if it did, that decline would only be a gentle shading down as from meridian splendour to morning brightness, that diminution but a temporary obscuration, to be followed by the breaking forth of dawn. All this is, of course, true of the path of the just, only when spiritually considered.
4. Complete security on earth. “And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope.” This marks the ground of the good man’s confidence. Assurance of God’s favour to an Old Testament saint was equivalent to a guarantee of permanent prosperity; to a New Testament believer it is tantamount to a promise of spiritual enrichment. Hence hope inspires the Christian with a feeling of security (Psa 31:24; Psa 146:5; Rom 5:5; Eph 6:17; 1Th 5:8). The following clauses indicate the completeness of the saint’s confidence. “Yea, thou shalt dig about thee [or, ‘look around thee, inquiringly,’ searching into all possibilities of danger, and finding none], thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid.” So did David (Psa 3:5, Psa 3:6; Psa 4:8), and so may all God’s people, however circumstanced.
5. Growing influence among men. “Yea, many shall make suit unto thee;” literally, “shall stroke thy race,” or caress thy cheeks, by way of flattery or supplication, perhaps both (Pro 19:6). A remarkable testimony to the influence of piety, which “would be more respected if it were more known” (Hutcheson). God’s Israels have power with men as well as with God (Gen 32:28), and Christ’s followers are the salt of the earth (Mat 5:13). Hence the favour and friendship of saints and of the Church are frequently coveted and even solicited by the unbelieving and ungodly (Gen 26:26-29; Psa 45:12; Mat 25:8).
III. THE DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT.
1. Bitter disapointment‘ “But the eyes of the wicked shall fail,” shall waste away with vain and anxious looking and longing for help which cometh not. He who expects God to either visit him with benign salvation or bless him with temporal prosperity while indulging in sin, is cherishing an ill-grounded hope. God may do the latter for wise purposes of his own; the former he cannot do. To anticipate that he will is to entertain a foolish dream (Job 8:14, Job 8:15).
2. Certain destruction. “They shall not escape;” literally, “their refuge perishes from them.” As wicked men will not reach the good they look for, so neither will they avoid the evil they are afraid of. “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished;” “The expectation of the wicked is wrath.” Sooner or later calamity will overtake and overthrow the ungodly (Isa 13:9; Mal 4:1; Eph 5:6; 1Th 5:3). Thanks to Divine grace, a refuge has been provided for the penitentGod himself (Psa 46:1), or the hope of the gospel (Heb 6:18); but “how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb 2:3).
3. Final despair. “Their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost;” literally, “the breathing forth of the soul or life,” i.e. it shall cease, and become utterly extinct. “The expectation of the wicked shall perish.” “A wicked man’s hope is but a cold coal, and an evanishing thing. It is but like a sob or two of a dying man, and then he is gone” (Hutcheson).
Learn:
1. True happiness and true religion begin at the same point and in the same thing, viz. penitence.
2. When a soul returns to God in penitence, God never fails to return to it with prosperity, if not temporal and material, at least spiritual and eternal.
3. Though true piety does not look for a reward on earth, it most commonly finds one.
4. The damnation of the impenitent is as certain as is the salvation of the penitent.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Job 11:1-20
Humble yourselves beneath the mighty hand of God.
Zophar, the youngest of the friends, now comes forward once more to beat down the complaint of Job with the old arguments and commonplaces. To support his words, he does not appeal to a vision like Eliphaz, nor rely on the wisdom of the ancients like Bildad, but depends on his own understanding and zealous though narrow instinct for God. His whole speech is an example of the beauty and, at the same time, the defect of religious zeal. In anxiety for God’s honour he forgets to be considerate of his fellow-man. The general contents of the speech may be characterized as the rebuke of human ignorance.
I. INDIGNANT DENUNCIATION OF HUMAN COMPLIANT. (Verses 1-4.) He terms Job’s outpourings a “torrent of words,” “vain talk,” and impious “mockery,” a scoffing; and Job himself is an idle “prater.” Further, he stoutly sums up all Job’s speeches as meaning shortly this: “My teaching is pure, and I am guiltless in God’s eyes.” Job, in fact, has stepped quite out of his place, in Zophar’s opinion, laying down principles and doctrines instead of meekly and penitently suffering in silence. It is an unjust view, manifestly; and we should be warned against the danger, in pleading for God, of being unjust and unfair, hard and uncharitable, to our fellow-man. To fetter the tongue, to attempt to lay fetters on the free course of the mind, especially in its moment of sorrow, may be to inflict a cruel injury on a sensitive heart.
II. WISH FOR GOD‘S APPEARANCE. (Verses 5, 6.) He desires that God in the fulness of his revelation, in the complete disclosure of knowledge and truth, may convince Job how “doubly strong” is Wisdom in her nature and penetrating power (verse 6). Here would Job learn that, so far from being unjustly punished, God has rather passed by much of his guilt, and punishes him far less than he deserves. Here two defects are contrasted.
1. Half-knowledge of God. This according, to Zophar, is Job’s condition. He has but a partial understanding of God; and the little that he sees he misapplies, and so is led into perplexity and passion. Zophar, assuming guilt in Job, deems, and wrongly, that Job is tempted to think only of his innocence, and to overlook his great and hidden sins. In the end (Job 38:1-41.), when God does manifest himself, Job does recognize that he is but a half-knower, but not that he is a hypocrite.
2. But there is, on the other hand, the assumption of knowledge on the part of the rebuking speaker which is not less a fault. This is, indeed, the error of all the friends, and it awaits the Divine answer. In seeking to remove the mote from Job’s eye, they are unconscious of the beam in their own. These differences may be reconciled if we bear in mind the great saying of St. Paul, that we see but in part, and know but in part, and that all perplexities are solved by an absolute faith in the Divine love. We see again and again illustrated in Divine things the truth that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”
III. CHALLENGE TO HUMAN IGNORANCE: THE UNSEARCHABLENESS OF GOD. (Verses 7-9.) All measures of vastness, all ideas of infinity, are called in to impress this thought. The might and the wisdom of God are high as the unscalable heaven, deep as the dark lower world (comp. Job 22:12; Job 26:6). The infinity of God embraces the whole earth, and reaches beyond; it is longer than the firm land, broader than the broad sea, so that before it there is nothing too lofty, too obscure, too remote. It is the fixed thought-embrace of the universe. Will mortal man, then, be guilty of the folly of quarrelling with God’s wisdom and power, and so incur the full weight of his judgment? Rather let him be dumb, and open not his mouth, and say, “Thou hast done it.”
IV. HUMAN IGNORANCE CONVICTED AND ABASHED BEFORE THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. (Verses 10-12.) If God holds judgment with this supreme wisdom and power, then plainly man, be he never so stupid and obstinately ignorant of his guilt, must forthwith become conscious of it; and though he were furious and wild as a wild ass (comp. Job 39:5, Job 39:8), he must be subdued by that omnipotent power into tameness and docility. “The wild ass is now born as a man,” converted by the terror of that moment of judgment. So speaks Zophar with caustic rebuke of what he considers the contumacy of Job. He seems to turn the language of Job, in Job 9:11, et seq‘ to his own purpose. Thus the arrival of the Judge to execute judgment is in the rush of a rapid storm (Job 9:10). He “passes bye” and thereupon follows the “shutting-up” or arrest of the accused, that he may not escape during the judgment; and then the “gathering together” of the people to hear the judgment.
V. WORDS OF HOPE AND PROMISE. (Job 9:13-20.) Severe as are the speeches of the three friends, they yet have a clear apprehension of the eternal gospel of God’s mercy, and insist on the unfailing hope set before the true penitent in that gospel.
1. Conditions.
(1) (Job 9:13.) The “direction,” or “preparation,” or setting straight, of the heart. This is the first thing. Crooked feelings, perverted principles, must be rectified. There must be sincere penitence. Happiness does not begin with the outward life to pass into the inward; the process is the reverse. And the restoration must be in the same order. If the inward life be purified, the outward will flow into peace.
(2) Along with this there must be the “spreading forth of the hands to God;” in other words, true prayer. The symbol is put for the thing signified, the rite for the reality. Very significant and beautiful was the Hebrew attitude of prayer. It expressed longing, urgency, the effort of the soul to seize and hold fast the unseen power and grace in time of need.
(3) (Job 9:14.) There must be the removal of all previous iniquity from the home as well as the heart. Every vestige and association of it must be swept awayall that might remind the soul of forbidden pleasures, and tempt it into renewal of its sin. It might be well for a man in the endeavour to make his repentance thorough and sincere, and might help his mind to form new associations, to renew the face of his dwelling from top to bottom, and cast out all articles of furniture, pictures, utensils, etc; that might bring up the thought of former evil. For some minds it would at least be a wholesome discipline. At all events, let nothing be left undone to cleanse the heart, the imagination, the inward chambers of the soul, in preparation for the coming of the gracious renewing, consecrating presence of the Divine Guest.
2. The consequences of return to God.
(1) Courage (Job 9:15), fresh, calm, and strong. Referring to Job’s complaint (Job 10:15) that he is compelled to bow his head in ignominy before the unworthy, his friend declares that he will be enabled to lift it up in the face of day. How serene the face, how clear the glance, how assured the step of the man who has no coward secret of ill in his heart, who by confession and repentance has made the mighty God his Friend!
(2) Oblivion of sorrow. (Verse 16.) Is memory on the whole a greater blessing or torment? Alas! Job has lately found it to be the latter. The “remembering happier things” has proved his “crown of sorrow.” Like a returning tide, it has cast his wrecked treasures at his feet. But on the turning of his heart to God these bitter memories shall be carried away, as on a flowing stream, till they pass out of sight and disappear. Thank God that we can remember; but thank God, too, that we can forget!
(3) A season of brightness. (Verse 17.) Even if the darkness come, it will be comparatively light like the morning-exactly opposite to Job 10:22. For there is no darkness to him who has God as the Guest of his soul.
(4) Rest unbroken by danger (Job 10:18, Job 10:19); cheerful hope in toil; the respect and homage of friends and suitors. For there is something magnetic in piety and goodness; it seems a kind of amber which attracts to itself. Such will be, ever are, the fruits of a heart free from guile, and at peace with God. Zophar’s enthusiastic picture is fitted to kindle a love of virtue and piety; but its exclusion of the facts and relations of life renders it but partially true, like the maxims of his two friends. We must be content to feel that there is a truth, and a very deep and Divine truth, in this sequence, without denying that there are complications of this truth with others, as in the case of Job, which God and eternity can alone unravel.
VI. DARK PICTURE, IN CONTRAST, OF THE WICKED. (Verse 20.)
1. The languor of vain longing. Their eyes waste and consume with watching and tears for a dawn that never comes (comp. Psa 6:7).
2. Escape from the prima of their woe is denied.
3. Hope and life are together extinguished.J.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Job 11:1-6
Self-complacency condemned.
Even the lowly and humble are liable to over-estimate their own goodness, and the more so if roused to self-justification. All imperfect human judgments, given as Job’s were, under the influence of deep feeling, are liable to be coloured, to be overdrawn and extravagant. Job’s long speech in his own justification is likened by Zophar to a torrent. Zophar, like his companions, may judge Job harshly, wherein lies his error and theirs; but his words have a vein of truth in them. He is right in condemning the self-complacent, who can prate freely of his own goodness, whether he is judging Job rightly or wrongly.
I. SELF–COMPLACENCY APT TO BURY ITSELF IN A MULTITUDE OF WORDS. It would almost seem that the mere abundance of Job’s answers to all the accusations raised against him excites his friend’s retort. Yet how true is it that the self-complacent one, willing to justify himself, finds arguments in abundance! And, being on his defence, he is liable to view things with a prejudiced eye. The man “fall of talk” is in danger of burying truth in “the multitude of words.” The greater need for guarding against the perils of exaggeration by how much many words are used. A strict watch necessary when the tongue runneth over.
II. SELF–COMPLACENCY SHOWN ESPECIALLY IN SELF–JUSTIFICATION. This the point of Zophar’s accusation. This the constant danger. A man at peace with himself, rightly or wrongly believing in his own innocence, is most liable to justify himself. The lowly self-accused spirit is freed from this especial danger. Self-justification shows the standard by which life is judged to be a low one. As men rise in goodness, and so in their clearer discernment of the true nature of righteousness, they are bowed down in self-abasement. The self-justified has but a poor and very imperfect standard of right before his eyes. “Shall no man make thee ashamed?” Therefore
III. SELF–COMPLACENCY HIDES THE JUDGMENT OF GOD FROM THE EYES. The man comes up to his standard. He is open to no more teaching. His “doctrine is pure;” he is “clean”at least, in his own “eyes.” Such a man in danger of perverting judgment. To close the eyes to the Divine judgment upon the life, even though that judgment be severe, is to do irreparable harm to the character. Let the true light shine, though it reveal faults of the gravest kind and bring down the pride of men to the very earth. Zophar may not intend to accuse Job of intentional lying, but he does accuse him of error. Men must err in their judgments if the standards by which they judge are false. The eye blinded by self-complacency cannot see that which, if clearly seen, would condemn.
IV. SELF–COMPLACENCY REBUKED BY AN ACCURATE VIEW OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENTS. To this Job was ultimately brought. We see him in the processin the way. If God “speak,” if he “open his lips,” his words are sure to condemn. If he shows “the secrets of wisdom,” then would appear his gracious forbearance, and, even in the case of the heavily afflicted, it would be revealed that he “exacteth less than iniquity deserveth.” One day the clear light will shine, and not Job only, but every perplexed and suffering son of Adam, will see that the Lord is gracious and merciful, that he does not render to man the whole fruit of his evil doings. He remembers the frailty and error of men’s judgments, and is patient and forgiving.R.G.
Job 11:7-12
Man humbled before God.
Vain man reasons upon the ways of God, and presumes to penetrate to the depths of the Divine wisdom. A professed wisdom lands him in folly. To scale the heavens is as easy as to “find out the Almighty to perfection,” to fathom the depths of the Divine designs. Job and his friends and hosts of others of us attempt to explain the name and ways of God, but our efforts are vain, and but expose a folly equal to our ignorance.
I. THE DIVINE NATURE AND THE DIVINE PURPOSES INFINITELY BEYOND THE POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN. How soon may a prudent reflection on either of these assure men that they “cannot attain unto” them! “High as heaven, deeper than hell,” “longer than the earth,” “broader than the sea,”these are the terms used by Zophar in his just description. As well may man attempt to touch the height of heaven, to reach to the depth of Hades, to stretch his arms to compass sea and land from the far cast to the distant west, as to pretend to comprehend, within the compass of his feeble and limited knowledge, an adequate estimate of the Divine nature, an adequate understanding of the Divine counsels,”to find out God.”
II. As the Divine Name is incomprehensible by man, and the Divine ways past his searching out, so is it equally BEYOND THE POWER OF MAN TO HINDER THE WORKING OUT OF THE DIVINE PURPOSE. In his ways God hides his wise design. He worketh towards a definite end. Men may oppose it in their folly or sinfulness, or seem to hinder it in their error. But like an onflowing tide it bears all before it. “Who can hinder him?” His work is an omnipotent work, as his Name is infinite. Against the might of God it is vain for feeble man to oppose his strength, or the energy of his will. The Divine “kingdom ruleth over all.”
III. It is, therefore, utterly IMPOSSIBLE FOR MAN TO ESCAPE THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT OF ALMIGHTY GOD. Zophar would thus shut up Job unto self-abasement. Revealing his impotence before God, his inability so much as to know the Divine Name, or to grasp with his understanding the widespread ways of the Most High, he would compel Job to abasementto a confession of guiltiness, to the wisdom of casting away his vain self-assurance, that of God he may be made wise. All these purposes are good in themselves, but the covert implicationGod is angry with thee; God judgeth thee; “he seeth” thy “wickedness”is harsh and erroneous. Like his brethren, he errs in the method of applying his good principles. Yet is it wise for all men
(1) to learn their impotence before God; to bow to the Divine ways;
(2) to assure themselves of the wisdom and goodness of the hidden purposes of God;
(3) to commit themselves in lowly reverential trust to the overruling power and government of God. Thus the intractable one shall become gentle, docile, and obedientthe “wild ass’s colt” will become a man.R.G.
Job 11:13-19
The invitation to repentance.
All Job’s friends would lead him to repentance. They see the judgments of God upon him in his afflictions. They know of no other cause for afflictions than as a punishment for wrong-doing. The conclusion is clear, “Thou hast sinned.” This underlies all their speeches. But they have rightly seized the truthGod forgiveth the iniquity of the repentant. Therefore they urge their entreaty to their friend in one word, “Repent.” And Zophar reveals to Job the method of repentance, the encouragement to it, and its reward.
I. THE METHOD OF REPENTANCE.
1. “Prepare thine heart.” Give the heart its true directionfrom evil towards God.
2. “Stretch out thine hands towards God”in prayerthe true sign of repentance, the sign of lowly self-abasement, the very confession of sin, the opening of the heart with the lips to renounce evil, to sue for pardon. The hands stretched towards God is the human sign of return to him.
3. Put away iniquity. The actual renunciation of evil, forsaking and abandoning it with the heart and hands and voice lifted to God, is the certain and indubitable evidence of true repentance. No sorrow for sin becomes repentance until sin is by the sorrowing heart renounced. “If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away.”
II. THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO REPENTANCE.
1. “Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot,” i.e. of guilt. Thy heart, cleared of its guilt, shall be free and joyful.
2. And with consciousness of the Divine forgiveness thou wilt be able to look up without fear”to lift up thy face”to God.
3. Then sorrow shall be supplanted by peaceful joy. “Thou shalt forget thy misery.” Thy grief shall leave no more trace than waters that flow by.
4. Then brightness shall dawn upon thy life, over its remainder shall be a time of gladness; “as the morning shalt thou be.”
III. THE REWARD OF REPENTANCE. The encouragements to repentance are in themselves part of its reward, though that reward will be only truly, because only perfectly, found in the subsequent days of the life. Beautifully and cheeringly does this friend paint the rich prosperity of later days even to the overwhelmed sufferer. Although an error lurks beneath it all, which the teaching of the entire book is designed to correct; yet out of the bright encouragements, as out of an early morning, the full promise of blessing to the repentant arises. “Thou shalt be secure.” The sense of security will take possession of the breast from which condemnation is removed. The assurance of the Divine forgiveness is a pledge of the Divine love, and the forgiven one hides in the God against whom in his folly he had sinned. Hope illumines the future, and his spirit, braced with holy courage, takes its rest in safety. He can lie down in peace and sleep, for he has gained a new trust in God. He defies his foes. Prosperity returns; “many make suit unto him: Such is the rich reward promised to Job by his friend, should he repent of his sin. True, as a great principle for human conduct it, however, lacks a correctness of application, for Job is not suffering for his sins. But every smitten one may learn the wisdom, the comfort, and the happy consequence of true repentance.R.G.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Job 11:1
Zophar, the man of the world.
After the seer and the pedant comes Zophar, who poses as the man of the world. He can pretend to no supernatural illumination, neither has he any claims to put forth on the score of learning; but he thinks he knows men, he prides himself on his common sense, the ways of the world are familiar to him. Even from his low standpoint he thinks he can detect enough to condemn Job. We may see in Zophar the characteristics of a man of the world in his treatment of moral and religious questions, when he presents himself as a devout man and friendly adviser.
I. HE IS ORTHODOX. Zophar entirely agrees with the main position of Eliphaz and Bildad. He accepts the doctrines of the visionary when they have been endorsed by conventional society, and he echoes the traditions of antiquity after he has ascertained that they are not regarded as obsolete in his time. He has not the spiritual individuality to be singular. He will always side with the majority. The fear of Mrs. Grundy is ever before his eyes. It is bad form to be a heretic. Conventionality is orthodoxy with this man, and conventionality is the rule of his life.
II. HE IS A MAN OF THE TIMES. He would rather despise the dreams of the visionary and the sayings of the pedant. He thinks himself a modern man. But he is no power in his day, for he is but the creature of his age. It is the duty of Christians not to follow the age, but to rule it. When the worldly Christian follows it, he enslaves himself, and does his best to subject the kingdom of heaven to the prince of this world. We ought to understand our times, sympathize with their need, use their advantages, work for their progress, but never be their creatures and drudges.
III. HE IS BLIND TO THE GREATEST TRUTH. The whole spiritual world is a nonentity to this man. Being religious and orthodox, he talks the language of Divine things; but his words are meaningless counters. The reality of those things is quite beyond his grasp. He thinks he knows men, but he only sees one side of the world. A whole hemisphere of human experience is turned away from his gaze. He is like a person on this world looking at the moon, seeing one side in varying phases, but never able to catch a glimpse of the other side of it. The truly spiritual, the generous, the mystical, are all obscure to him. We cannot know the best truth till we are liberated from the shackles of conventionality.
IV. HE IS CENSORIOUS. Zophar joins his two friends in their condemnation of Job. The man of the world thinks himself broad-minded. Very often he is not over-scrupulous on moral questions that touch his own interest. But no one can be harder in condemning those who transgress the customs of the circle in which he moves. His religion has no softening, sweetening influence on him. It only seems to make him sour and disagreeable. So-called Christians of this stamp are the greatest possible hindrances to the progress of the gospel. It is their conduct that makes so many people hate the Christian religion.W.F.A.
Job 11:2
The provocation of a reply.
Zophar will not take the trouble to be courteous. He rudely addresses Job as a “man full of talk.” He has been irritated by the “multitude of words” that Job has poured forth. The very volume of the patriarch’s discourse provokes the man of the world to make a reply.
I. THE OVERFLOW OF FEELING FINDS VENT IN A MULTITUDE OF WORDS. Speech is not all calculated and purposeful. Sometimes it is aimless and reckless. It is not always directed to the end of telling some fact or influencing some person. It may be just the irrepressible outcome of emotion. The most taciturn become eloquent when in a passion. Excitement needs a safety-valve. The swollen river must have a vent or it will overflow its banks. The hottest words do not always lead to the most violent actions; but the fire that burns under unnatural restraints is likely to burst forth at length in the most fearful conflagration. Let us be patient with the hasty, passionate words of souls that are deeply moved, not weighing them nicely, nor treasuring them up for future accusation.
II. PASSIONATE WORDS CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE UNSYMPATHETIC. Zophar is vexed at Job’s eloquence. One reason is that he cannot understand it. The man of the world is always angry with what he cannot comprehend. It annoys him to think that there may be more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in his philosophy. The highest poetry is to him but a multitude of words. He is wearied with ‘The Faery Queene;’ ‘Paradise Lost’ is tedious to him. Browning he regards as a juggler with language. Even in Scripture the deepest utterances of psalmist and prophet are but empty words. Christ spoke in brief sententious utterances, graphic if enigmatic; yet even Christ’s discourses are but dead words to those who will not lend a sympathetic ear. We always misjudge our fellow-men when we do not sympathize with them; then the deepest utterances of their hearts are but “sound and fury signifying nothing.” A Pilate could never understand the prayers of Gethsemane.
III. A MULTITUDE OF WORDS PROVOKES REPLY. Zophar is roused to answer Job with more asperity than he would have shown if the patriarch had maintained the dignified silence with which he had received his friends. This is unreasonable, unkind, wrong; still it is only what must be expected under the circumstances. The world will not be reasonable or kind in its treatment of us. Therefore it may be well for us to be on our guard against noisy opposition beyond what is inevitable. Self-restraint is a grace which brings its own reward. The abandon of passion is certain to lead to vexation of spirit.
IV. THE PATIENCE OF GOD ENDURES A MULTITUDE OF WORDS. He does not hear us for our much speaking. There is no virtue in long prayers (Mat 6:7). But deep feeling will find expression in unceasing prayer. Then our Father listens with more patience than our friends, show to us. Job had good reason to be thankful that he could make his complaints to Heaven. God was more patient than Zophar. He is ever ready to listen to the cries of his children.W.F.A.
Job 11:5
Oh that God would speak!
Zophar’s wish is most ungenerous. Feeling his own inability to give a complete reply to the complaints of Job, he expresses a desire that God may interpose and give the requisite answer. He really wants God to come as his advocate and speak on the side of conventional orthodoxy. But though he is now moved by an uncharitable thought, the desire that he is led to express is significant of a common need of mankind. Both Job and his accusers look for a Divine interposition, and long for a clear utterance of God’s mind.
I. IT IS NATURAL TO DESIRE A DIVINE VOICE. This desire springs out of our spiritual instincts. We cannot shake it off. It is almost universally felt among all races of men, and it becomes only deeper and more urgent with the progress of spiritual culture. The animals betray no signs of any such wish. We alone feel as orphans, as exiles from home; we alone crave a voice from heaven. This is but natural. The child longs to hear from his father. The perplexed looks for a guide, the sorrowful for a comforter, the wronged for an advocate. Will God come and solve the great riddle of existence?
II. IT IS UNREASONABLE TO EXPECT TO HEAR GOD‘S VOICE WITH THE OUTWARD EAR. By our materialism we pervert the natural instinct that cries out for God. We Live so much in the body that we come to overvalue the experience of our senses. It seems to us that we should be better satisfied if we could hear God’s voice sounding like the voice of our human friend. We forget that the senses may be subject to illusion. If we heard a voice as from heaven we could not be sure that it came from God. Moreover, it is not well that God should cut the knot and explain every mystery at once. We are not yet ready to receive all truth. It is good for our discipline that our patience should be tried, and that we should walk by faith.
III. GOD HAS SPOKEN. We listen for the thunder and ignore the still, small voice. But God is ever speaking to us in his Spirit through our consciences. He has given more explicit revelations of his truth through the inspiration of prophets and apostles. The circulation of the Bible is the going forth of God’s voice. Christ is the incarnate Word of God. What Zophar wished for has in a measure appeared in Christ. The old craving for a Divine oracle is met in the best way by the advent of our Lord as “the truth” (Joh 14:6).
IV. GOD WILL SPEAK MORE FULLY AT THE END OF THE DAYS. God appeared at the end of Job’s trials. A grand theophany in final judgment is promised us (Zec 14:4). Even in the light of the gospel many problems are still obscure. Christ did not bring the answer to every question when he appeared on earth. He brought sufficient light for saving knowledge, but he left us to walk by faith. Thus we may still crave the complete revelation, when God shall speak once more, vindicating the right and clearing the mystery of providence. Meanwhile. the nearer we walk to Christ the more of his voice can we hear, and the less perplexed shall we be; for he who follows Christ will not walk in darkness (Joh 12:35).W.F.A.
Job 11:7
The unsearchable depth of God.
It has been said that Zophar shows “some touch of the base courtier spirit and motive” in thus eulogizing the wisdom of God. He seems to wish to secure God on his side. While he rebukes Job he flatters God. Nevertheless, though his motive may be unworthy, the question which he here raises is real and important.
I. GOD‘S THOUGHT IS UNFATHOMABLY DEEP.
1. It must be so because God is infinite. If we could understand God completely, it would be clear that he was but as one of us. A dog cannot fathom the thought of a man, because the inferior being can never enter into the depths of the experience of one greater in faculty. No creature can measure the mind of the great Creator.
2. It is found to be so in experience. We are continually baffled by riddles of providence. We are puzzled to find our calculations false, and our explanations unsatisfactory. We fail to understand the object and meaning of God’s mysterious dealings with us.
II. WE CANNOT BUT DESIRE TO FATHOM THE DEPTHS OF GOD‘S THOUGHT. NO inquiry can be more intensely interesting. God is the Source and controlling Power of our lives, and everything depends on what he thinks about us. Therefore true theology is no idle study of the cloister; it is the most practical inquiry concerning what most intimately affects our vital interests in time and in eternity. But apart from personal considerations, the study of God is the study of what is highest, best, and most wonderful in the universe. Can any more lofty employment for the human intellect be found? Is it not grossly unnatural for the child not to care to know about his father? Surely it is wrong to check an inquiring soul in its search after God, even when it seems to go sounding on through dim and perilous ways.
III. MEN HAVE MADE FOOLISH CLAIMS TO HAVE FATHOMED THE DEPTHS OF GOD. Zophar did this even while appearing to honour the vastness and mystery of the Divine thought; for he assumed that he knew God’s idea, and that this was just identical with conventional orthodoxy. His was the common error of extreme dogmatists. Creeds may be excellent as clear, concise confessions of belief; but the moment a finality is claimed for them they cease to be a help, and become a positive stumbling-block and hindrance to truth. We cannot define God; he escapes all the bounds of the largest words. When we attempt to draw a circle about him we tacitly assume that he is not an Infinite Being.
IV. OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS REAL, BUT PARTIAL. We cannot “find out the Almighty unto perfection.“ We cannot know God perfectly, cannot know all of God. We may know much of him. He is not represented in the Bible as the Unknowable, nor to Christians as “the Unknown God.” Indeed Christians can say, “We know that we know him” (1Jn 2:3). Our knowledge is not merely a knowledge of our thought about him; and theology is not simply the science of man’s religion. We know God truly, as far as our knowledge extends. Yet we know but a very little of God. Therefore let us learn humility, patience, faith. We can never know all, but we may know more. Therefore let us “follow on to know the Lord” (Hos 6:3).W.F.A.
Job 11:13-19
The blessedness of returning to God.
Zophar draws a beautiful picture of the joys and blessings of restoration to God, and, though its implied background must have spoilt it for Job by suggesting that the patriarch was a great sinner needing repentance, in itself the picture is true and helpful.
I. THE PROCESS OF RETURNING TO GOD.
1. By a right condition of the heart. The heart is first to be set right. We can only return to God with our heart. The heart wandered; the heart must come back. Going to church is not necessarily going to Cod. Beginning to attempt good works is not always entering the kingdom of heaven. We must begin with inward and deeper things.
2. By a personal approach to God. The hands are to be stretched out to him. This is the posture of a suppliant. It is the attitude of prayer, but it signifies more than the offering of a petition; it suggests that the helpless man is stretching out to God for deliverance, that the penitent child is trying to get near to his Father. We cannot be saved while we remain at a distance from God as our sin and ruin consist in our departure from God, so our restoration is accomplished in our personal return to him.
3. By a repentant renunciation of sin. Sin must no longer dwell in our tabernacles. We cannot recover God while we retain sin. The repentance must not only consist in confession and sorrow. The sin itself must be cast off. Until we are willing to do this in heart and life no restoration is possible. It was wrong and unfair of Zophar to assume that Job needed to come to God as a penitent, for the suffering man had done this long before his troubles, and he was already a redeemed and honoured servant of God. But till we have thus actively repented we cannot be restored. Zophar’s principle applies to all who have not yet forsaken their sins.
II. THE HAPPY RESULTS OF THUS RETURNING. Zophar must be blamed for the narrowness, the unspirituality, and the conventionalism of his picture. Restoration to God brings higher blessings than Zophar dreamed of naming, and, on the other hand, it does not always bring the swift and visible rewards which he portrayed with sympathetic eloquence. Yet we may gather some hints of the blessings of restoration even from the partial lights of his picture.
1. Freedom from guilt. The restored penitent will “lift up” his “face without spot.” The old stain has gone. Confidence takes the place of the shame of sin.
2. Fearless steadfastness. “Yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear.” An evil conscience is timorous. The cure of sin brings strength and stability.
3. Forgetfulness of the sad past. It will go like the waters of the winter torrent, that disappear and leave their stony course dry in the summer heat. The sorrow seems to be eternal while we have it. But not only is time a healer; forgiveness and restoration hasten the process.
4. A bright reputation. This was Job’s old possession, but he seemed to his friends to have lost it. Sin tarnishes a good character. But forgiveness and restoration prepare for a new Christian character. The darkness gives place to bright daylight.
5. Perfect security. The restored man can lie down in peace, fearing nothing, for God is with him.W.F.A.
Job 11:18
(first clause)
The security of hope.
I. IT IS OF THE NATURE OF HOPE TO GIVE A SENSE OF SECURITY. If a man thinks himself safe, he will go forward confidently; if he expects he can win, he will throw his energy into what he is doing; if he is sure of victory, he will not shrink from the foe. When hope has faded out of a man’s life, he may still pursue his course with the doggedness of despair; but his step has lost its elasticity and his eye its fire.
II. HOPE TENDS TO CREATE REAL SECURITY. The loss of confidence is itself a weakness. When we expect to fail, we prepare failure for ourselves. On the other hand, a calm, fearless progress makes for success. There is a foolish sanguineness which only dreams of the joys that are to drop into one’s lap unsought and unearned. But a true and sensible hope will not be thus blind and indolent. It will be the inspiration of effort. If we have hopes of victory over sin and of a useful Christian life, we are spurred on to attempt to realize them. Hope is necessary in Christian work. A hopeless missionary is not likely to be very fruitful.
III. A BASELESS HOPE LEADS TO A FALSE SECURITY, Hope may be a mere snare. Possibly the sanguine man is living in a fool’s paradise. His hope may be altogether without foundation, and if so, in trusting to it he will only sink down to ruin. We need to have a reason for the hope that is in us (1Pe 3:15). Safety is not proportionate to confidence. Although, as we have just seen, hope simply as a subjective feeling does tend to victory, yet if it is quite groundless, its tendency will not be strong enough to overcome tangible obstacles.
IV. CHRIST HAS GIVEN TO US A TRUE AND INSPIRING HOPE.
1. It is true. Christ does not content himself with soothing our fears and instilling a sense of restfulness and confidence. That would be a fatal course, like drugging a patient with morphia instead of curing his disease. But when Christ instils the feeling of hope, he does so by setting before us good reasons for hope. The Christian hope is based on the revelation of God’s love, on the atoning work of our Lord, on his resurrection and triumph. He is our Hope (Col 1:27), and all that gives worth to him and his work gives weight to the Christian hope.
2. It is inspiring. The great hope of Christ is that sin shall be conquered and the kingdom of heaven come in power.
(1) This is inspiring to the individual. No one of us need be satisfied with a low tone of Christian life. It is open to all to rise to great heights of holiness and fruitful living. The hope is in Christ, not in ourselves; and his resources are unlimited, his riches unsearchable (Eph 3:8).
(2) This is also inspiring for the Church. The weary battle of the ages is destined to ultimate victory. Christ, not the devil, must triumph at last. Difficulties press upon us and discouragements grow thick around us, yet the cause of God cannot fail The promise of victory should inspire the hope which helps forward the accomplishment.W.F.A.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
CHAP. XI.
Zophar reproves Job for justifying himself: he declares God’s wisdom to be unsearchable; but that it would be well with Job, if he would repent.
Before Christ 1645.
Job 11:1. Then answered Zophar Zophar, highly provoked that Job should dare to call in question a maxim so universally assented to as that urged by his friends, immediately charges him home with secret wickedness. He tells him, that he makes not the least doubt, were the real state of his heart laid open, it would be found that God had dealt very gently with him; Job 11:2-7. That he was highly blame-worthy for pretending to fathom the depths of divine Providence, a talk to which he was utterly unequal; that, however his wickedness might be concealed from men, yet it was open and bare to God’s all-seeing eye. Could he, then, imagine that God would not punish the wickedness that he saw? Job 11:7-11. That it would surely be far more becoming in him to submit, and give glory to God, by making an ample confession and full restitution: in that case, indeed, he might hope for a return of God’s goodness to him; but the way he was in at present was the common road of the wicked, whose only hope was annihilation; Job 11:12-20. Heath.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
III. Zophar and Job: Chaps. 1114
A.Zophars violent arraignment of Job, as one who needs in penitence to submit himself to the all-seeing and righteous God:
Job 11
1. Expression of the desire that the Omniscient One would appear to convince Job of his guilt
Job 11:2-6
1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said:
2Should not the multitude of words be answered?
and should a man full of talk be justified?
3Should thy lies make men hold their peace?
and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
4For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure,
and I am clean in Thine eyes.
5But oh that God would speak,
and open His lips against thee;
6and that He would show thee the secrets of wisdom,
that they are double to that which is!
Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
2. Admonitory description of the impossibility of contending against Gods omniscience, which charges every man with sin:
Job 11:7-12
7Canst thou by searching find out God?
canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
8It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do?
deeper than hell, what canst thou know?
9The measure thereof is longer than the earth,
and broader than the sea.
10If He cut off, and shut up,
or gather together, then who can hinder Him?
11For He knoweth vain men;
He seeth wickedness also; will He not then consider it?
12For vain man would be wise,
though man be born like a wild asss colt.
3. The truly penitent has in prospect the restoration of his prosperity; for the wicked, however, there remains no hope:
Job 11:13-20
13If thou prepare thine heart,
and stretch out thine hands toward Him;
14if iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away,
and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.
15For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot;
yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear.
16Because thou shalt forget thy misery,
and remember it as waters that pass away;
17and thine age shall be clearer than the noonday;
thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
18And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope;
yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
19Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid;
yea, many shall make suit unto thee.
20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail,
and they shall not escape,
and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The comparative violence of this new arraignment of Job is to be explained by the fact that he in his last discourse had positively maintained his innocence, and had accused God quite openly and directly of injustice. Zophar, the youngest and the least considerate of the three friends, opposes him on this head with the declaration that God the All-wise and All-seeing, would observe in him, as in all men, enough of sin to justify the stern infliction of punishment on him (Job 11:6). He indeed gives direct expression to the thought that the suffering which Job endured was well-deserved punishment for sin (Job 11:11), that sincere repentance was required of him (Job 11:14), and that on condition of such repentance could he hope for restoration to his former prosperity, that in any other case the sad doom of the wicked would surely be before him (Job 11:20). [In his first appearance he is hot, and eager, and peremptory, but widely more gentle and less coarse than hereafter. Eliphaz brings forward his earnest exhortation, overawed by its divine majesty, and trembling when he recollects how he received from heaven the truth which he utters for Jobs advantage. Bildad reposes not on revelation, but on the human consciousness. Zophar, the private dogmatist, and as suchhaving nothing to fall back on with dignitythe hottest and most intolerant, has only his own of course, it cannot but be, with which to silence his obstinate adversary. Davidson.] His discourse falls into three divisions: 1. The expression of a desire for such a declaration from the All-wise God as would convince Job of his guilt (Job 11:2-6); 2. A description intended to warn Job of Gods exalted knowledge, by virtue of which He charges on every man his sins (Job 11:7-12); 3. An inculcation of the necessity of repentance as the only condition of recovering his former prosperity (Job 11:13-20). Parts 1 and 2 are Double Strophes, consisting of small strophes of three or two verses each. Part 3 contains three such shorter strophes or groups of verses.
2. First Division, or Double Strophe. The expression of the desire that the Omniscient One would appear to convince Job of his guilt (Job 11:2-6).
First Strophe: Job 11:2-4. A censure of the high-flown and impenitent discourse of Job.
Job 11:2. Shall the multitude of words ( , as in Pro 10:19; Ecc 5:2) remain unanswered, or shall a babbler (lit. man of lips, , to be distinguished from , a man of words, i.e., an eloquent speaker, Exo 4:10) be in the right?, literally to be justified, to be declared in the right, to wit, by allowing him the last word. The beginning of the discourse resembles that of Bildad, Job 8:2. At the game time there may be detected a slight tone of apology, that the speaker undertakes to say any thing, notwithstanding his youth. [If Zophars name, which signifies chirper or chatterer, was expressive of his character, these words might have been applied to himself. Wordsworth.]
Job 11:3. Shall thy vain talk ( from , ) [E. V.: too strong, lies, rather chatter, idle babbling] put men (, archaic expression for or [like other archaisms, e.g., , always without the article. Del.], comp. Job 11:11; Job 19:19; Job 22:15, etc.) to silence, so that thou mockest [God (Hirzel); better Rosenmller: nos et Deum. Del.], without any one putting thee to shame?viz., by refuting thee.The fut. consec., as also at the beginning of the following verse, denotes that into which Job might be betrayed by mens silence. It bears, therefore, since the principal verb continues the question of the preceding verse, a modal impress: so that thou darest to mock and to say, etc. (so correctly Umbreit, Hirzel, Vaihinger, Hahn, Delitzsch, etc., while Ewald, Stickel, Dillmann [Carey], etc. remove altogether the interrogative character of our verse, and make it to consist of two co-ordinate affirmative clauses.
Job 11:4. My doctrine is pure., in the Book of Job occurring only here, very common, however, in Proverbs (comp. also Deu 32:2; Isa 29:24), signifies not a mere assumption, or opinion (Hahn), but something appropriated from tradition, a truth taught in accordance with tradition, especially in respect to moral conduct, therefore, in brief, moral teaching, or doctrine in general. With regard, therefore, to this his doctrine, the substance of his moral axioms and rules of living, Zophar reproaches Job with maintaining (or rather he says that he would maintain, if encouraged by the silence of others): it is pure, i.e., it is immaculate and infallible ( as in Job 8:6; Job 33:9; Pro 16:2, etc.). And yet more than this: even against God would he maintain that he was pure in His eyes (comp. Job 9:21; Job 10:7). He would therefore, in addition to the purity of his principles, maintain also that of his life, a result which seems to Zophar the height of absurdity, and which seems to him to mock every holy ordinance of God.
Second Strophe: Job 11:5-6. Expression of the wish that God Himself might personally interpose to punish Jobs arrogant falsehoods.
Job 11:5. But oh that Eloah would speak and open His lips against thee.After here follows first the Infinitive (as in Exo 16:3); then, however, in b, and in the following verse Imperfects: comp. Gesen. 136, 2. [The subject of the Inf. is emphatically placed before it. Oh, that Eloah would speak! See Ewald, 329, c.] A forcible (verum enim vero) introduces the whole optative clause and puts it, in a measure, in opposition to the wish that God might come, previously uttered by Job himself (Job 9:34 seq.), thus: verily, would He but come, there would be an immediate end to thy boasting.
Job 11:6. And make known to thee the secrets of His wisdom, that it is twofold in true knowledge. in a somewhat different sense from that found above in Job 5:12; Job 6:13; here in a more theoretic (scientific) sense. , lit. that which is doubled, i.e., in general that which is much greater than something else, which far surpasses it [hence manifold would, according to our mode of expression, be more exact than twofold. The explanation of some that the word is used here by way of comparison, as though the meaning were that Gods wisdom is double thine, or twice as great as thou canst imagine, is inadequate. The word is absolute, and although dual in form, is to us plural, or intensive in meaning=Gods wisdom is fold upon fold! how then canst thou presume to judge it, as though able to see through it? For this intensive use of the dual comp. , Job 11:17, lit. double brightness, i.e., the superlative brightness of noonday.E.]. Comp. Isa 40:2. The subj. of , viz., referring back to , is here omitted, because it is identical with the obj. of the principal clause; comp. Gen 2:4; Isa 3:10 (Ewald, 336, b). [E. V. herethat they are double to that which isis scarcely intelligible.] So must thou know [, Imperat. consec., presenting the necessary consequence of the fulfilment of that wish; comp. Ewald, 347, a) [Delitzsch; Instead of saying: then thou wouldst perceive, Zophar, realizing in his mind that which he has just wished, says imperiously ] that Eloah remits to thee of thy guilti.e., leaves much of it out of the account against thee, lets it go unpunished. The in is accordingly partitive, to be expressed by somewhat of, much of, , lit. to bring into forgetfulness, oblivioni dare, a causative Hiphil, occurring elsewhere in the O. T. only in Job 39:17.
3. Second Division, or Double Strophe: Describing, with an admonitory purpose, the impossibility of contending against Gods omniscience, which charges every man with sin, Job 11:7-12.
First Strophe: Job 11:7-9. [Gods wisdom unsearchable.]
Job 11:7. Canst thou reach the depths [in the Germ.: den Grund erreichen: lit. to reach the bottom] in Eloah, or penetrate to the uttermost parts [zum Aeussersten hinandringen] in the Almighty?, search (Job 8:8), is used here sensu objectivo=that which is to be searched, the ground of any thing (so in Job 38:16); here, therefore, the hidden depth [ground, basis] of the divine nature. , on the contrary, denotes the finishing, the terminus, i.e., the end, the extremity of the same divine nature [Wordsworth: canst thou arrive at the limit of God? Canst thou attain to the horizon of the Almighty?] (comp. Job 26:10; Job 28:3; Psa 139:22; Neh 3:21). The first question accordingly describes God as unfathomable, the second as illimitable or immeasurable; the former conveys the notion of absolute mystery, the latter that of absolute greatness and incomprehensibility. [The nature of God may be sought after, but cannot be found out; and the end of God is unattainable, for He is both: the Perfect One, absolutus; and the Endless One, infinitus. Del.] Many moderns, after Eichhorn (e.g., John Pye Smith: The Scripture Testimony of the Messiah, 6 Ed., Vol. I. 11; Vol. II. 240) [also E. V.] take in the active sense of searching or discovering, and in the sense of perfection. This, however, yields for both members a less suitable sense, and assigns to a signification which it can nowhere be proved to have. [Conant and others (so also E. V.) regard the clause as adverbial: Canst thou find out the Almighty to a perfection? i.e., to a perfect comprehension of Him. Neither of Conants reasons for this rendering is valid. (1) The parallelism does not favor it, but contrariwise. finds its parallel in ; the former belonging to the category of depth, the latter to that of length, which accounts for the preposition . (2) The accentuation does not favor it, but the reverse. Munach puts in precisely the same connection with the final verb in this member, as in the former member.E.]
Job 11:8. Heights of heaven: to wit, are the distances which lie between our perception and the extremity of the Almighty, the dimensions with which we seek to measure His infinitude. Hence the question, vividly annexed to this exclamationwhat canst thou do?emphasizing the helplessness and powerlessness of man over against that which is immeasurable. To this corresponds the second member:deeper than the underworld (are the hidden depths, the grounds of the Godhead, or of the Divine Wisdom)what knowest thou? what can thy knowledge do in view of such depths? In so far as the phrase heights of heaven points back to the idea of the , while the phrase deeper than the underworld points to that of the , the position of the two members of this verse seems to be inverted as regards those of the ver. preceding. It is to be observed that the ruling idea here, as well as in the following verse, is throughout that of the Divine wisdom (omniscience), or the Divine nature on the side of wisdom and intellectual perfection, as the connection of the passage with Job 11:6 clearly shows.
Job 11:9. Longer than the earth is its measure, and broader is it than the sea:viz. the Divine wisdom, the immeasurableness of which is here described according to all the four dimensions, according to the height and depth, and also according to the length and breadth, as in Eph 3:18 these same four dimensions are used in describing the absoluteness of the love of God in Christ. Our translation: longer than the earth is its [lit. her] measure, rests on the reading with He mappiq, which is to be regarded as an abbreviated feminine form for (comp. Job 5:13, for : also Zec 4:2, etc.). The Masorah, indeed, favors , with He raphatum, with which reading the word would be the Accus. of nearer definition (according to its measure, in measure). But the separation between the Accus. of relation and its ruling word produced by a word intervening, would give here, where is omitted, a somewhat harsh construction, to which the simpler rendering given above is to be preferred.
Second Strophe: Job 11:10-12. [The judicial intervention of God supposed.]
Job 11:10. If He passes by [, as in Job 9:11; E. V. incorrectly cut off], and arrests, and calls to judgment (lit. summons an assembly, implying that the process of a trial was public, and the verdict rendered and executed by the assembled people: comp. Eze 16:40; Eze 23:46; 1Ki 21:9). [One might almost imagine that Zophar looks upon himself and the other two friends as forming such an assembly: they cannot justify him in opposition to God, since He accounts him guilty. Del.]Who will oppose Him? present a protest in behalf of the accused as though he were not guilty. Comp. in general Job 9:11-12, which description of Jobs Zophar here reproduces in part word for word, but with quite another purpose, viz. to defend, not to condemn or assail Gods justice [vav apod. with fine effectwho, as you say (Job 9:12) would? Dav.].
Job 11:11. For He [emphatic, ; whether others know it, or not] knows evil men ( , lit. men of vanity, of falsehood, [people who hypocritically disguise their moral nothingness. Del.], as in Psa 26:4; comp. also Job 22:15), and sees wickedness without considering it:i.e. without watching it with strenuous and anxious strictness (comp. Job 34:23), the moral qualities of His creatures being at every moment unveiled to His omniscience. [Finely magnifying the Divine Insight, which is omniscient, and is so without effort. Dav.] This is the only rendering of which accords with the context (comp. already Aben Ezra; non opus habet, ut diu consideret; among moderns Hirzel, Dillm., Del., etc.). Far less natural are the explanations of Ewald: without his (the wicked) observing it; of Umbreit, Stickel, Hahn: without his (the wicked) being observed; of Schlottman: and (sees) him who observes not, who is without understanding.
Job 11:12. So must (even) a witless man acquire wisdom, and a wild asss foal be born over a man.This interpretation, which is the one substantially adopted by Piscator, Umbreit, Ewald, Schlottm., Vaih., Heiligst., Dillmann [Renan, Hengst., Wordsworth], and generally by most moderns, is the most suitable among the numerous interpretations of this difficult verse. The connection by the with the verse preceding, shows that this verse should indicate what effect the judicial intervention of the Omniscient God ought to have on man, even though he be a stubborn sinner and devoid of understanding. , lit. a man bored through, i.e. a hollow man, hence one void of understanding, a man without intellectual and moral substance; comp. the phrase .Again, (of which is in apposition, not in the genitive), signifies lit. a foal, a wild ass, i.e., a wild-ass-foal (comp. the phrase , used in almost the same sense of untamed wildness in Gen 16:12).Both these expressions, as well as those of the preceding verse, are chosen not without reference to the conduct of Job, who seems to Zophar to be an obstinate fool (comp. Job 2:10); although not pointed directly at him, they inflict on him a sensible cut [see Job 12:3, where with evident reference to the of this passage, Job with indignant scorn says E.], and they at the same time facilitate the transition to the following admonitions. Observe also the intentional and witty paronomasia [both of sound and sense] between and : the empty man is to be made a man of substance [der Hohlkopf soll beherzt gemacht), the void in his head is to be filled up as it were by a new heart. [Observe in addition the assonance of the closing words of each member, and .Davidson adopts essentially the same construction of terms and clauses as that given here, but gives to the verse a different tone. Instead of regarding it as a grave declaration of what should be the result of the judicial intervention of God, he regards it as a sarcastic denial of wisdom to man:But a witless man would be wise, and a wild ass colt be a born man! a man who is a fool would arrogate wisdom to himself, and though a wild ass colt, he would claim humanity. This, however, would be a tone of remark entirely out of harmony with what precedes, and with what follows. Davidson characterizes the interpretation adopted above as excessively artificial and unhebraistic in construction: a strange charge surely to come from one who adopts the very same construction, except that he gives it a different coloring. Equally wide of the mark is the objection that Job himself did not exhibit the result which Zophar here says ought or might be expected to follow.Hengstenberg remarks on the contents of the verse according to our interpretation: We have here the first passage of Scripture which speaks of a regeneration.E.] The following varying explanations are to be rejected as being in part against the connection, in part too harsh, or grammatically inadmissible. 1. An empty man is without heart, i.e. without understanding, etc. (Gesenius, Olshausen), [Conant, Noyes, Merx, Rodwell.Against this it may be argued that such a privative use of Niphal is unexampled in Hebrew, and especially as Dillmann urges, that the sentiment thus expressed is self-evident and trite, and takes away the whole force of the paronomasia].2. But man, like a hollow pate, has he understanding, etc. (Hirzel). [Violates the accentuation, and produces an affected witticism. Del.]3. Man isat his birthas one empty furnished with a heart, i.e. he receives an empty undiscerning heart (Hupfeld). [Opposed to the future verbs, and to the correlation of and ].4. Ignorant man flares up, or becomes insolent, etc. (Vulgate, Stickel, Welte [Carey], etc. [Does not bring out the proper antithesis between and . Why should the man of whom it is affirmed that he has a bold defiant heart, be described as ? This meaning is, moreover, less suitable to the connection. See remarks below at the end of the verse.The same objections apply to] 5. An empty man becomes stubborn (Bttcher).6. Before an empty head gains a heart (understanding), a wild asss foal will be born again a man (Rosenm., Hahn, Del., Kamphausen, etc.)
[In determining the meaning of this difficult expression the following considerations should have controlling weight. (1) The evident antithesis of and . Now as can be referred only to man in his sinful hollowness, emptiness, must describe the opposite, or man as endowed with a heart to understand, appreciate, and profit by Gods dealings. (2) The assonance of and , as well as the striking homogeneousness of thought between the two terms, the one describing the process of endowing man with , the distinguishing characteristic of manhood, the other the process of becoming a man, being born, here being born again a man, suggests that the verse is most probably a synonymous parallelism, the same essential thought being repeated in both members. (3) The gravity of the connection forbids our regarding the verse as simply a piece of witty irony. The verses preceding are a solemn description of Gods procedure against man in judgment; the verses following a solemn appeal to Job to repent and return to God. This verse in like manner is far more likely to be a grave earnest affirmation of truth than the opposite. (4) The practical drift of the connection makes it probable that the verse is not a description of the sinner in his perversity, but in the possibilities of his restoration. As the result of Gods severe disciplinary processes empty man may or should be filled with a heart, and a wild asss foal may or should be born over a man. This being the case, if thou direct thine heart, etc., thou shalt lift up thy face without spot, etc. Thus understood, it will be seen that the verse furnishes a suitable sequel to Job 11:10-11, and a suitable preparation to Job 11:13 seq.(5) It seems exceedingly probable to say the least, that Jobs language in Job 12:3 a is his direct reply to the implied reproach in this verse. There he claims that he has as well as the friends, a claim which is most satisfactorily explained by supposing that he was stung to make it by understanding Zophars language here to imply that he needed to be put in possession of .E.].
4. Third Division: An admonition to repentance and conversion as the only means by which Job can recover his former prosperity, and escape the terrible doom of the wicked: Job 11:13-20.
First Strophe: Job 11:13-15. A period, consisting of Job 11:13 as hypothetical antecedent, Job 11:15 as consequent, and Job 11:14 as a regularly constructed parenthesis.
Job 11:13. (But) if thou direct thy heart (prepare it, bring it into a proper condition, not: give it the right direction towards God, Del. and others; nor again: establish it, Hirzel [not pertinent, because Zophar has not in his mind so much perseverance in godliness as a return to it, Dav.]), and spread forth thy hands unto Him, viz., in prayer and penitent supplication for mercy; comp. Job 8:5, and for the same phrase , manus supinas (palmas) extendere, comp. Exo 9:29; Exo 9:33; 1Ki 8:22; Isa 1:15.
Job 11:14. If iniquity is in thy hand, put it far away, and let not evil dwell in thy tents (comp. Job 5:24); this being the antecedent condition of the success of Jobs prayer according to Zophars mode of thinking, which indeed is not in itself a theory of legality or work-righteousness (comp. Psa 34:13(12) seq.; 1Pe 3:10; Isa 1:15 seq.), but which in the present case does nevertheless proceed from a narrow judgment, and is excessively offensive to Job.
Job 11:15. Surely, then thou shalt lift up thy face (comp. on Job 10:15) without spot:i.e., without consciousness of guilt, and without any outward sign of the same cleaving to thee, (Dillm.) lit. away from, here equivalent to without, comp. Job 19:26; Job 21:9; 2Sa 1:22; Pro 20:3; and shalt be steadfast without fearing; shalt be firmly fixed in thy new prosperity, without having to fear any further judgments of God., Part. Hoph. of , lit. fused into solidity, quasi ex re fusus (comp. 1Ki 7:16. [We must not lose the fine idea of one state arising out of another, a state of fluidity Job 6:14) passing over into solidity; playing on Jobs past and future. Dav.].
Second Strophe: Job 11:16, Job 11:17. Continuation of the promise of well-being to the penitent.
Job 11:16. For thou shalt forget trouble, shalt remember it as waters that have passed away: as something therefore that is never to come back, that has disappeared forever. [When we think of water that has flowed away, we think of it as something which does not return, or rather we think no more about it at all, for with its disappearance even the remembrance of it is gone. Dillmann]. The pronoun here is emphatic: for thou thyself wilt forget trouble, thou and none other, no stranger (comp. Job 19:27) [or, as Davidson: thou, unlike others, who escape calamity, but are haunted by its memory; or, as Hengst: thou, who just now canst think no other thought than of thy suffering]: giving an emphasis to the personal application of this peroration, which would be lost if, with the Pesh. and Hirzel, were changed to .
Job 11:17. And brighter than the glory of noon (, as in Job 5:14 b) arises (for thee) the future. , lit. that which creeps along slowly, which passes by unobserved (from , to glide) hence time in general, either in the sense of the world, that which is temporal, (Psa 17:14; comp. Hupfeld on the passage, Psa 49:2); or in the sense of life, lifetime, future, as here and in Psa 39:6 (5); Psa 89:48 (47), etc. [, an exquisite image, lift itself up, disentangle itself from the accumulated, crushing darkness of the present, increasing in brilliancy ever as it disengages itself. Dav.]. For in , (with brighter to be supplied) comp. Mic 7:4.Should it be dark, it will be as the morning;i.e., if any darkness should come, if dark adversity should befall thee (, 3d Pers. Fem., with neut. signification: not 2d Pers., shouldest thou become dark, as Schlottm. would explain) it will then ever be as bright as on a clear morning: evidently an intentional reversal of the gloomy picture of his future in Job 10:22, which Job had himself drawn. [His climax there was that his daylight should be as darkness; Zophars promise is that his darkness shall he daylight. Dav.Gesenius (in Thes.) Ewald, Conant, etc., prefer taking as a noun, darkness, written , or , as found in a few MSS., and as read by the Syr. and Chald.Bernard, Hengstenberg, and others render the verbthou shalt fly up, i.e., soar out of the depths of thy misery to the heights of prosperity; a rendering which destroys the antithesis between this verse and Job 10:22.E. V.: thou shalt shine forth seems to be a paraphrase of this last rendering, suggested perhaps by the frequent comparison of the beams of light to the wings of a bird.E.]
Third Strophe: Job 11:18-20. Conclusion of the promise of prosperity, with an admonitory reference to the joyless end of the wicked.
Job 11:18. And thou hast (thou shalt have, Perf. consec.) confidence, because there is [, with the force of a real and lasting existence, Del.] hope (for thee, comp. Job 14:7, also the opposite of this hopeful condition, described above in Job 7:6); and thou shalt search about (to ascertain, viz., whether all that pertains to thy household is in a state of order and security; comp. Job 5:24 b), shalt lie down securely, viz., for sleep; comp. Ps. 4:9 (Psa 4:8). here certainly to spy out, as in Job 39:21; Job 39:29; not to blush (), to be ashamed, as though were a concessive antecedent clause: and even shouldest thou be put to shame (in thy confidence), thou canst still lie down in peace, Rosenm., Hirzel, [Carey], an unsuitable weakening of the sense, which is at variance with the remainder of the bright promises contained in these verses. [Against this conditional sense is the affirmative use of the corresponding form in the parallel member. Con. It is inadmissible, since it introduces a sadness into the promise. Del.]. The rendering of Hengstenberg is altogether too artificial: and thou hast dug, i.e., dug a trench for protection around thy house [and so E. V.thou shalt dig about thee], a sense which the reference to Job 3:21; Job 39:21 is scarcely sufficient to justify.
Job 11:19. Thou liest down without any one making thee afraid; as peacefully and securely, that is, as the beast, or the cattle, which no foe terrifies; comp. Gen 49:9; Isa 17:2.Yea, many shall seek thy favor, lit. stroke, or caress thy face (Del. thy cheeks) flatter thee; comp. Pro 19:6; Psa 45:13 (12). Instead of being despised, and covered with ignominy, (Job 10:15) thou shalt be highly honored, and greatly courted.
Job 11:20. But the eyes of the wicked waste away, in vainly looking for help, in unsatisfied yearning for good (comp. Job 17:5) and every refuge vanishes from them; lit. away from them, poet. for ; and their hope is the breathing out of the soul;i.e., all that they have still to hope for is the breathing out of their soul (comp. , Job 31:39; Jer 15:9), hence the giving up of the ghost, death (not a state where their desires will remain eternally unfulfilled, as Delitzsch explains.) [Zophar here makes use of the choicest expressions of the style of the prophetic Psalms, Delitzsch. If we compare with each other the closing words of the three friends, Job 5:26 sq; Job 8:22 b; Job 11:20, the advance, which each makes beyond his predecessor, is unmistakable. Dillmann.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. This first discourse of Zophars resembles that of Eliphaz, and still more that of Bildad, both in respect of the rebuke with which it begins (who can hear such words in silence? etc.) and in respect of the union of promise and warning at the close. It proceeds from the same theological and ethical premises as those of the two previous speakers, in so far as it puts Gods absolute perfection and exaltation (here more particularly on the intellectual side, the illimitability of His knowledge and His wisdom) in solemn and emphatic contrast with the short-sighted limitation of man, and thence derives mans obligation in all circumstances to draw nigh to God as a penitent, and to confess himself before Him as guilty and deserving of punishment. Not less does it resemble those two preceding arraignments of Job in respect of form, in the strength of its expressions, in the poetic loftiness and figurative richness of its descriptions, qualities which shine forth with especial brilliancy in the passage where the Divine wisdom is described as being high as heaven, deep as hell, long as the earth, and broad as the sea (Job 11:7-9). Moreover the comparatively correct orthodoxy of its positions and arguments, the absence of everything that would decidedly contradict the doctrinal and ethical tradition of pious Old Testament worshippers of Jehovah (worshippers of Eloah), the circumstance that nowhere is there even any excessive work-righteousness and legal harshness visible (particularly not in Job 11:14)all this exhibits Zophar to us as a kindred soul with Eliphaz and Bildad, and his stand-point as most intimately related to theirs.
2. That, however, which marks the difference between this discourse, as to its contents and tendency, and those of the two former speakersa difference, too, which is not to the advantage of the speakeris its tone, which is immeasurably more violent. Its attack on the sorely tried sufferer, who so greatly needed a merciful and tender treatment, is harsher, more pointed and personal. At the very beginning (Job 11:2-3) the bitter charge is hurled at his head that his speech was a torrent of words and empty talk. To the expression an empty pate, which is here applied to him, is added in Job 11:11-12 a description of vain, hollow-pated, stubborn people (who are like the wild ass), which points with unmistakable significance to Job. And in the closing passage (Job 11:20), which points out the hopeless destruction of the wicked, there is no trace of the delicacy and urbanity of his two predecessors, at the close of whose discourses, the tone of promise altogether predominates over that of threats and warnings. The discourse at this very point shows a decidedly perceptible advance beyond the two which precede towards inconsiderate harshness. Eliphaz barely appended a slight warning; Bildad briefly blends it with his promise by way of contrast; Zophar adds a verse which already looks like the advanced picket of an army of similar harsh menaces in chs. 15, 18, 20 (Ewald). Again, the exceedingly personal and unqualified way in which Zophar in Job 11:6 reproaches Job with his guilt, and suggests that there must be not a little of it that is overlooked by God, as well as the not less personal and humiliating demand that he should repent and renounce all unrighteousness as a conditio sine qua non of his restoration to divine favor (Job 11:13 seq.) exhibit a certain advance on the part of this speaker beyond the stand-point of the two former. Instead of reckoning himself as belonging to those who need repentance and purification, as Eliphaz does very distinctly, and Bildad also, at least to some extent, Zophar, when he reminds Job of the duty of acknowledging his sins and repenting of them, speaks only in the second person. He thus sets himself up before him as a rigid censor and accuser, and assumes the character of an advocate of God, who himself needs no correction. As a consequence all that he says in the way of positive instruction, or produces out of the store of his monotheistic Chokmah-tradition, loses for Job its proper moral value and its determining power. Even the description of the abysmal vastness and unsearchableness of the Divine nature and intelligence in Job 11:7 seq., grand as it is in itself, must seem cold to Job, and pass away without leaving any impression on him; for no softening ray of heartfelt brotherly love, and of a humble realization of grace falls on this magnificent picture of the Divine omniscience and wisdom. That picture can and should in truth produce only terror and trembling; for in whichever of the four directions we turn, whether toward the heights of heaven, or the depths of hell, or the lengths of the earth, or the breadths of the sea, nowhere do we discover any bridge hospitably inviting and facilitating our advance. We find no experience, not even a presentiment of the love-power of Christs cross, which fills and pervades the abysmal depths of the divine nature. There is to be found as yet no trace of that knowledge of God, which Paul in Eph 3:18 describes as a comprehending what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height: a comprehension which indeed belongs only to the saints of the New Dispensation, which is produced only by the cross of the Redeemer as the solution of all contradictions (comp. also Eph 4:8-10), and which can be acquired and appropriated only at the feet of the Crucified One.1 The deficiency in this knowledge of God, which Zophar here exhibits is indeed on his part essentially not criminal, resting as it does on the fact that neither to him, nor to his associates, nor to Job himself, had the mystery of justification by faith been openly revealed as yet (comp. Brentius: Zophar and the other friends of Job seem to be entirely ignorant of what the Gospel and faith in Gods promise can effect; they argue against Job as though no one could ever be justified before God by faith), and that as to his general position he belonged to that immature and imperfect stage of development in the education of the human race, when it was impossible as yet to advance beyond a rigid contra-position of the Godhead and the creature. He must, however, be to the last charged with criminal and guilty conduct in this, that he uses his insight into that heavenly immeasurable superiority of the Divine knowledge over the human (or, which is the same thing: his doctrine that the divine wisdom represents all men as sinful and foolish) with merciless severity against Job, deeply wounding him with it as with a sword, without making even a single attempt to soften the application, or to use this two-edged weapon in a considerate and conciliatory spirit.
3. It is easy to see accordingly what in Zophars discourse must be censured as one-sided and unfriendly, and what on the other hand remains as really beautiful and valuable religious and moral truth. The latter is limited essentially to the inspired eulogy of the Divine wisdom and omniscience in Job 11:7 seq.,a description which in power and beauty is not, indeed, equal to that presented in the introductory part of Psalms 139., but which furnishes nevertheless one of the most note-worthy Old Testament parallels of that passage. It is in the more detailed exhibition of the individual beauties and profound truths of this eulogy of Divine wisdom that we are principally to find the
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Suggestions of this Discourse.It is neither necessary nor advisable to subdivide it in thus treating it. For as Job 11:2-5 are simply introductory to the main theme, so Job 11:13-20 show how the wisdom of the Most High, incomprehensible in itself, and His omniscience, can alone become comprehensible to man, thus furnishing the basis for the practical and hortatory part, in which every homily on such a theme as the present one must find its issue. The whole is to be left in its organic connection. The following hints however may serve for the treatment of particular passages.
Job 11:7. colampadius: By the four greatest dimensions of the greatest things the idea of supreme perfection is conveyed. Wisdom is higher than the heaven, deeper than hell, broader than the sea, and longer than the earth, for its greatness is not included within all of these. For the heaven of the heavens cannot contain Thee, says Solomon in his prayer (1Ki 8:27).Cocceius: It is no longer necessary that we should wish for one who might either ascend to heaven, or descend to hell or depart beyond the sea. In Christ we have One who came from heaven, who returned from hell, who measures the earth and the sea with a span. In Him all things are open and clear to us.Starke: If man is not capable of searching out so many things in nature, how much less can he with his narrow understanding comprehend Gods nature, and His wise government (Wis 9:16)!Hengstenberg (on Job 11:10 seq ): It is here that we first see quite clearly in what respect Zophar asserts the claims of the Divine wisdom against Job, as being that, namely, by virtue of which God penetrates the depths of the human heart and life, which to man himself are utterly inaccessible and hidden. He in rendering His judgment has all facts and data at His control, whereas to man only a small part is accessible.
Job 11:13 seq. Cocceius: As there was impudence in the Pharisees lifting up of his hands (Luk 18:11 seq.), so there is deception in the hypocrites beating of the breast. These gestures easily degenerate. The best prayers are those which make the least noise, and which are poured out in the secret recesses of the heart to Him who seeth in secret, and rewardeth openly, who is the Hearer of the heart, not of the voice, as Cyprian says.Starke: True penitence and believing prayer are the means by which calamity is warded off, and prosperity and blessing procured (Jdt 8:12 seq.) With true repentance, however, there must be associated (as in the case of Zacchus, Luk 19:8) an earnest purpose to reform the life.
Job 11:15 seq. Brentius: What therefore shall be to the man who directs his own heart, who stretches out his hands toward God, and who purges his works of sin? He dares to lift up his face before God, without spot, without crime; for if conscience, sin, or Satan should accuse us it is God who justifies; it is Christ who died and rose again, and the Christian shall rise together with Him. All these promises are fulfilled in the Church, in which by faith tears are wiped away, and mourning disappears (Rev 21:4); the body indeed suffers pain, but the inward man is renewed day by day (2Co 4:16).
Job 11:20. Starke: The Divine threatenings are to be applied to the soul that rests in careless security, but not to the soul that is tried with temptation and anguish (2 Thess. 5:14).Hengstenberg; Job had spoken of death as his only hope. Very true, says Zophar, it is the only hope, if thou remainest as thou art! Zophar is quite right in making all Jobs hope, and all his salvation depend on his knowing himself as a sinner. His error begins only when he comes to determine more particularly the way and mode of recognizing sin, whenthat ishe treats sinners and transgressors as convertible terms. In his sense Job could not acknowledge himself a sinner.
Footnotes:
[1]It is a favorite thought of many of the Church Fathers that the Cross of Christ is a power which mediates and reconciles the discords and oppositions between all parts of the universe (as though accordingly it sent its roots down into the under-world, its head up into heaven, while with both arms it lovingly embraced the broad expanse of earth and air). This thought is elaborated for the most part in connection with Eph 3:18 (Job 4:8-10), but occasionally also with reference to Job 11:8-9. So by Basil the Great (comm. on Isaiah 2); by Gregory of Nyssa (Catech. Magna, c. 32); by Rufinus (Expositio Symb. Apostolici); by Coel. Sedulius (Mirabilia Div. V. 297, 54); by John of Damascus (De fide orthod. iv. 12), etc. The same may be said of many modern mystics and theosophists, such as Baader, St. Martin. Grres, J. F. v. Meyer. Comp. especially the last nameds Bltter f. hohere Wahrheit, Vol. VIII., page 145 seq.: The Cross points upward and downward, to the right and to the left; this fourfold direction designates the All, on which and from which its influence acts. Its head uplifts itself to the throne of God, and its root reaches down to hell. Its arms stretch out from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, from pole to pole. In it heaven and earth are united, in it appeased; in it things which are most strongly opposed are reconciled and made one. Comp. also the remarks of colampadius, Cocceius, etc., cited below [Homiletical and Practical].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
We have in this Chapter the remonstrance of a third friend of Job, and much to the same purpose as the two former. Zophar the Naamathite takes up the subject against Job, and reasons on God’s justice in Job’s calamities.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, (2) Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified? (3) Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed? (4) For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.
Of all the friends of Job, this Zophar seems the most unfriendly. The others had, in some measure, softened their speeches, with fair words; but this man is outrageous to an excess. He calls Job’s reasoning lies and mockery. Poor Job! surely Satan must have had a hand in this. And Reader let us from hence discover, that the arch fiend doth make use even of our friends, when other resourses fail him, to exercise the faith and patience of GOD’S children. Our LORD tells us that a man’s foes, are they of his own household. Mat 10:36 . And no doubt never more so, than when in exercises like these of Job, they cooperate with the great enemy of our salvation, to persecute for the cause of CHRIST.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 11:1 ; Job 11:16
In her journal, Marie Bashkirtseff observes, of one of her girlish sorrows: ‘There is one thing that troubles me; to think that in a few years I shall laugh at it all and have forgotten’. Two years later there is another entry: ‘It’s two years now, and I don’t laugh at it, and I have not forgotten’.
Job 11:6
Every fresh region man breaks into reveals new wonders, and with them new enigmas, calling upon him to solve them or perish. There is a special complication, a pressure in our own day, which is not to be answered by an unmeaning clamour against rational enlightenment. We cannot stay the current that is bearing us onward so swiftly, but we may guide our course upon it, looking to the stars above. In our anxious and inquiring age… men shall find their safety, not in placing faith and science in an unreal opposition, not in closing their eyes to the revelation of God’s power, but in opening their hearts to the secrets of His wisdom, double to that which is.
Dora Greenwell.
Job 11:7
Poor ‘Comtism,’ ghastliest of algebraic spectralities origin of evil, etc. these are things which, much as I have struggled with the mysteries surrounding me, never broke a moment of my rest. Mysterious! so be it, if you will. But is not the fact clear and certain! Is it a ‘mystery’ you have the least chance of ever getting to the bottom of! Canst thou by searching find out God? I am not surprised thou canst not, vain fool.
Carlyle.
Job 11:8
Is this confessed inadequateness of our speech, concerning that which we will not call by the negative name of the unknown and unknowable, but rather by the name of the unexplored and inexpressible, and of which the Hebrews themselves said: It is more high than heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? is this reservedness of affirmation about God less worthy of Him than the astounding particularity and licence of affirmation of our dogmatists, as if He were a man in” the next street? Nay, and nearly all the difficulties which torment theology, as the reconciling God’s justice with His mercy, and so on come from this licence and particularity; theologians having precisely, as it would often seem, built up a wall first, in order afterwards to run their own heads against it.
Matthew Arnold.
Limits
Job 11:8
These questions were put by an extraordinary contradiction of human manner. They were put by Zophar, a citizen of the fair Naamath a lovely place, full of flowers: a place that the summer might have haunted, and have lingered until the last beam of light faded behind the hills. Yet this was one of the most rough-spoken men of his day; in this respect the environment and the man were mismatched. Zophar was an accuser, a man of rough tongue; he could not be civil until after he had been rude. He told Job that he, the wasted one, was ‘a man of lips,’ in the Hebrew tongue, a word-chopper, a gabbler in the face of heaven’s patience, and that Job knew nothing about his own case. The ideal and poetic Eliphaz had spoken, and Bildad the sort of middleman that interprets poetry to prose, and makes the dull dog try to understand a word here and there and Zophar comes up with the climax of brutality. There is a candour that is not lovely, there is an outspokenness that had better have choked itself before it began to speak. Yet every now and then for we have called the man a self-contradiction Zophar comes squarely down on the bedrock of fact and experience, and treats the whole deitic question with wonderful pith, setting it out in glittering generalizations and stunning Job as if by new proverbs.
I. Zophar called Job back to beginnings, to realities, to limitations. Said he in effect, See thee, this is the length of thy tether; thou hast seen a dog straining his neck as if he would get beyond the length of his iron chain, and he could not do it, but he nearly choked himself in the process; be wise; this thing deitic is higher than heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? ‘Do,’ ‘know’ nearly all the verbs in one couplet.
II. We cannot know the Godhead, for it is higher than heaven, deeper than Hades; it belongs to all the unmeasured space, all the infinite intellectual territory, which has not yet been crushed into maps and made part of some elementary geography. But though I cannot measure the sun, I can enjoy the sunlight. That is my province, then; I cannot measure his diameter, but I can hail his summer and welcome his morning and bathe my cold life in his warm radiance. That is what we can do, and that we are called upon to do. We cannot count the sands upon the seashore, but we can walk over the golden path, and let the blue waves break in white laughter on our feet as we traverse that highway of beauty and vision. We cannot put the Atlantic into a thimble, but we can traverse it, sail upon it, turn it into a highway, utilize it, and make it not the separater, but the uniter of the nations.
So our not knowing and our not being able to do need not prevent our enjoyment and our service and our discipline. Do not imagine that you can get rid of religion by any intellectual act: there still remain the moral duties, the ten commandments, the eternal Sinai. Fool is he who thinks that there is no field beyond his own hedge, and that he has really nothing to do with religion because he cannot find out unto perfection the Almighty Father and Creator of all. To know that we do not know, that is wisdom; to know just where we ought to end, that is understanding.
III. ‘What canst thou do? What canst thou know?’ We can know Jesus; He speaks the language of little children; we have heard Him say, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,’ and it was just like our mother talking.
‘What canst thou do?’ We can do the commandments; at least, we can begin to do them; it will take us a long time to penetrate into their metaphysic, but we can begin to do their practical commands at once; we can make an effort in that direction. If Christianity had scented pillows to offer on which the head of weariness could rest, and if it could have some comfortable provision made on its return from slumber, Christianity would become quite a popular religion, but it is known by the badge called the Cross; its home is in Gethsemane and on Golgotha; its command is, Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.
Let us not, therefore, think that we are called upon to give great intellectual answers to unfathomable questions, but we are called upon to do good according to our opportunities, and to redeem the time, and to wait patiently for the Lord, who will give us wider horizons and more enduring suns.
Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. II. p. 98.
References. XI. 13-15. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 129. XI. 16. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvi. No. 2676.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The First Speech of Zophar. I.
Job 11
Commentators have not much to say of Zophar that can be considered favourable. By what seems an inexplicable consent they seem to have agreed to condemn Zophar as irascible, contemptuous, supercilious, and the like. We hardly feel that the condemnation is just. The speech is before us, and every man can form his own opinion about it, but our contention will be that within the four corners of this speech there is really no reason to pour contempt upon the speaker. We have been told that Eliphaz was a seer, a man who saw sights in the darkness, a man of wondrous intuition; that Bildad was great in tradition, in ancient literature, and fortified himself by the consolidated wisdom of the ages; and of Zophar it is said that he represented the commonplace thought or the popular orthodoxy of his day. It is easy to say this, and it would seem that the temptation to some minds is too strong to be resisted when there is an opportunity to condemn some one. There is a cant that prides itself in running down what it calls the commonplace orthodoxy of the day. Even assuming Zophar to occupy that point of view, and to repeat with some distinctness and almost positiveness the dogmas which had been established in his time, we must remember that a man is not necessarily a genius because he is a heretic If it were so, the world would die of genius. There are so many heretics, little heretics and great heretics, and heretics of every degree between the two points; so that if heresy were a sign of genius who could bear the splendour of its blaze? It would consume an earth some eight thousand miles through it. And if all this were significant of independence of mind, where would be society, common esteem, mutual trust and regard? What, therefore, if we venture to put in one word for orthodoxy, and not to gather up all the conclusions of long centuries, and turn them out with contempt as though they had been encumbering the ground, or hindering the education of the world? Narrow interpretations of them may have been doing so, petty sectarian limitations of them can do nothing but mischief; but then there is a right interpretation of orthodoxy as well as a narrow and imperfect one. Our steady contention has been that all the great thoughts that have ever influenced the world for good belong to the evangelical line of thinking, when that line is properly discerned, measured, and applied: unhappily, knavish hands have been laid upon it, and minds unequal to the occasion have endeavoured to deal with it, and therefore an unworthy reputation has been attached to it, an unworthy reputation amounting to a positive stigma. Still, we must be just. We cannot gratefully forget our best ancestors. We ought not to be the men who are put away from our old standpoints simply by the wave of some man’s hand, when we are not sure that there is anything in the hand but its power of waving. Let us, therefore, stand by Zophar, so far at least as to examine what he says, carefully and patiently, and if we find it to be such very vile commonplace let us say so, and join the majority; if, on the other hand, we find the man to be a clear thinker, and a good, strong, terse, pointed speaker, let us say so, and weigh well what he has declared.
It has been supposed that Zophar was young; certainly the youngest of the three comforters, because in Oriental lands great deference was paid to age, and certainly juvenility would not speak until a multitude of days had declared itself. Probably, therefore, Zophar was comparatively young. He was supposed to be coarse. Truly he did speak to Job in a tone to which Job himself had not been accustomed. But what is coarseness? Is there any one handy and final definition even of that term? Is not even that word a relative one? and may there not be a moral indignation hardly distinguishable from what some men call coarseness? Surely there may be a time in human controversy and in religious conflict when men may speak words that are somewhat wanting in mere decoration and ornament, and they may come down too squarely and positively upon what they believe to be realities. But it is not the part of refinement to talk much about the coarseness of other men. It will probably be found, that the more a man is a gentleman the more gentlemen he discovers round about him. Do not be terrified by the criticism that calls a man from whom it differs a man of coarse and violent speeches. “Zophar” perhaps there may be an explanation in his name. If a certain line of etymology be chosen, we shall find that Zophar means “the yellow one.” And all yellow men are impulsive, hopeful, radiant; they are going to leap over the hills; and as for the rivers, they will dry them up by the ardour of their enthusiasm. Men ought not to be blamed for being yellow-haired and yellow-skinned: for they had no choice in the matter. We must have some yellow ones amongst us bright, impulsive, daring, enterprising men. They cannot all be black. The world owes a good deal to its yellow sons, its men of fire, its men who speak first and think afterwards: its leaping men who bound on, if haply it be only to come back again and say, There is no road down there. Let us be gentle, considerate, just: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. One colour cannot understand another. There are colours that shrink away from one another, saying, We have nothing in common; do not mix us, or you will be affrighted by the hideous result. One man can hardly understand another; yet the less he understands him the more prone he may be to condemn him. All men are God’s children. We are all parts of the great family in heaven and on earth. The Eliphaz who sees visions, the Bildad who remembers history, the Zophar who is enterprising, adventurous, daring, almost to imprudence, all belong to the great household presided over by the living God; and it must not be the part of one brother to exclude or condemn another. There is an unfortunateness even in the matter of natural spirits. It is surely no little weight to carry to see in every man something bright, in every darkness some shining star, and to hear in every wind some whispered gospel. The very buoyancy of some men becomes to them in periods of reaction a great suffering. Then Zophar was a “Naamathite.” That word means “pleasantness,” land of the sunshine, country of the morning; a fair genial soil that caught the earliest rays of the orient. So we have a man of highly-strung spirit; bright, dashing, enthusiastic, full of sunshine; a man who had lived on sunlight all his days: what wonder if with some brusqueness he clears his way to the centre, and says with considerable definiteness that Job is too great a talker to be much of a reasoner? All these things are matters of inference. Certainly in the ancient times names were significant of character; it may be, therefore, that the explanation of what is condemned in Zophar may be really constitutional.
But let us hear the speech, and judge by its manner and its reasoning:
“Should not the multitude [torrent] of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?” ( Job 5:2 ).
What justification had Zophar for describing Job’s speech as a torrent a very cataract of words? He had some justification. Certainly the astounding eloquence of Job was likely to bring upon him some criticism of this kind. Let us take our English Bible as a help towards verbal measurements. Bildad had made a speech which occupies twenty-two verses of the English Bible; Job returned an answer which occupies fifty-seven verses of the same book, and many of the verses are longer. Job seemed to become all words in this marvellous response. Then consider how an impatient man measures a speech. An impulsive hearer measures a speaker by his own impulsiveness. He wants the speaker to sit down that he himself may have a chance of standing up. There are men who could listen for hours, and think the speaker too short; they would have him proceed with his argument and complete it like an edifice designed in exquisite proportions, and coloured so as to express the highest meanings. There are other men who cannot sit still. The most of men are lacking in that power: they are anticipating the speaker, answering an argument before they hear it, multiplying the words by their own impatience, so that even when a reasonably long speech is concluded they call it “a torrent of words.” There are some men who have made no little mark in their country’s progress who have been condemned on the ground of “verbosity.” “And should a man full of talk be justified?” Rather, “And should a man of lips be justified?” A Hebraism suggesting that Job was “all lips,” had lost every feature but his “lips,” and all round about him he was “lips,” simply a talking and word-multiplying machine. No doubt this kind of characterisation of Job’s eloquence is the explanation of the severity with which Zophar has been treated by his critics. But honesty sometimes takes short cuts to the end it proposes to reach. Zophar may have been terse and honest. Yet Zophar is philosophically correct If a man runs out in words only, he is enfeebling himself, contracting his own capacity, occupying a wrong standpoint in relation to all the mysteries and energies of the universe. Silence is often, if not always, golden.
“Should thy lies [rather, boasting] make men hold their peace?” ( Job 5:3 ).
The word is not “lies,” in the sense of charging Job with speaking direct and known falsehoods; but Job is boasting, defending himself, holding up his own virtue, and saying, Look at it: it is like a piece of pure porcelain, without flaw or rent or hair’s-breadth of inferiority. Job has been making toys, and exhibiting all these toys to his three visitors, and Zophar has become impatient with the exhibition. “And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?” We have seen that there was a tone of mockery in Job’s reply to Bildad? We remember that in the ninth chapter, Job 11:2 , wherein Job exclaims, “I know it is so of a truth,” we found that to be a latent sarcasm; not at all evident in English as it stands before us, but a hidden mockery and jibe, as who should say, Of course, ye wise men, I perfectly understand what ye are talking about: you want to display your wisdom, whereas I know that your wisdom is folly. Zophar did not like mockery; and his resentment of it was all the better because it was not himself who was mocked. Up to this time he has not spoken; when, therefore, he charges Job with mockery he really defends his own companions in this visit of condolence, for it was their speech which elicited the mockery of the patriarch.
What, then, was Zophar’s point of view? Precisely that of the former speaker. We see no difference between the introduction of Zophar’s speech and the introduction of Bildad’s. Bildad said ( Job 8:2 ), “How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?” Zophar said, “should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?” Why, then, shall Bildad be reckoned with the philosophers, and Zophar reckoned with impertinent men? Up to this time they have had nothing but words to answer, and yet the words have been absolutely and flatly contradicted by the very facts which Job represented. This was the position the men occupied; they said, The words of Job are one thing, and the condition in which Job is living is another, and there is no harmony or consistency between the two. When words are not borne out by facts it is right to characterise them by such terms as “a strong wind.” If the men had met for talk only if they had said, Let us appoint a meeting for the sake of speaking to one another as much as we possibly can, Job would have been facile princeps . Who could talk like Job? What other man had such command of dignified speech and illustration? But there was no meeting for mere talking: the men had come together to address themselves to a particular set of circumstances, and Job was not speaking to these, but speaking miles above them, and might have delivered precisely the same speeches if he himself had been in flourishing and prosperous circumstances.
The reply of Zophar, therefore, was not wanting in justice. Take instances which will at once illustrate this position. When a man who is a bankrupt prates about financial skill, declares that he could occupy with advantage the position of chief financial director of the country, when he delivers long lectures upon the political economy of nations, who can forget that he is a bankrupt, and is therefore, by so much, without being coarse, a liar? Consider the case well: the man is telling all the country how its finances ought to be managed; he is finding flaws in every statement, exposing the errors of every statistical demonstration: he is an incarnate pence-table. What a Chancellor of the Exchequer he would make! How by some baton he would wave all tumult into harmony and music! But the painful thought recurs that he is himself a bankrupt. That must tell against him. He will come to be regarded as a man full of talk; his speech will be considered as “a strong wind,” his eloquence will be described as “a torrent of words,” why? Because his speech and his condition do not accord the one with the other. Yet he may possibly be the genius he claims to be. So singularly are we constituted, that there is hardly a man anywhere who is able to manage, at least in words, the finances of his country, who could pay his own personal obligations. Take another instance. If you find a man who is prepared to teach people how to speak how to speak their native tongue with clearness, precision, daintiness, finely-toned emphasis, exquisite effect; if all this be upon his prospectus, and when you go to see the teacher you find him a mumbling man, who cannot pronounce any one word in his mother-tongue as it ought to be pronounced, the facts will be somewhat against him; you will say, This is mere talk, mere boasting, mere pretence: should thy boastings make men hold their peace? Zophar was in presence of exactly such conditions. Job was boasting of his integrity and his virtue; yet all the while he was lying on the ground, as it were, covered with sores, wholly dismantled, unmanned, lacerated as by the whip of heaven; and Zophar, feeling that God was a God of justice, had in his heart at least the thought If this man had not somehow sinned, he would not have been lying in exactly these circumstances. Zophar’s education upon this point might indeed have been incomplete: probably we shall find that to be the case; but a man who lives in one century cannot be rich with the wisdom of the century that is to come: he must be the contemporary of himself as well as the contemporary of other men, and can only walk according to the light of the day in which he lives. Zophar’s theory was: If men do good, God will keep them in security and in honour; if men do evil, God will cast them out of the castle of his providence, the sanctuary of his benediction, and they shall be left to bear the rough winds of heaven without a roof to cover them. He found Job in this kind of condition, and reasoned inwardly, if not outwardly, that Job must have been committing some secret and unexplained iniquity. What do we say when a diseased man lectures his friends upon the subject of health? When, sitting up with somewhat of a cripple’s gait, he says you ought to rise at such an hour in the morning, or keep such a programme of daily culture and discipline, obey the laws which he will enumerate that you may the better recollect them, and then promises that you will be healthy, strong, robust, radiant, and happy, who can resist casting just a side-glance at least at the lecturer, and who can hinder his heart from saying, “Physician, heal thyself”? Now it was exactly in such circumstances that Job appeared at least to his three comforters. He was lecturing upon integrity, and virtue, and perfectness of character, and right relations to heaven, and if the men did now and then wonder why he should have been smitten thus, they were but human in their reasoning. On the other hand, all these men the great financier, the imperfect speaker, the diseased lecturer upon health may have a distinct function, characterised by high utility: if they will make themselves warnings, and not examples, they will accept the intimations of providence and be faithful to the purpose of God. Let a man who himself has failed say, “Look at me, and beware: I will tell you where I got wrong; I began at the wrong point, I took hold of everything by the wrong end; I will deliver you a short address upon my blunders, not upon my excellences for I have few that by hearing me recite my errors you may at least have the chance of avoiding them. Then infirmest men have a place in human education, unfortunate lives have something to say to us, unsuccessful baffled men may come and claim to speak to us all, and we should listen with both ears, and with our whole heart, because we may even now, though life is far advanced, be enabled to turn right round and begin again; and the young, if wise, will accept the monitions of history, and profit by the failures of other men.
One closing word of application. May we not have argued about providences when we ought to have prayed respecting them? May we not sometimes have betaken ourselves to defences of personal conduct, when we ought to have betaken ourselves to searching scrutiny into motive and thought and purpose? The question is not what defence we have before men, but what answer we have to the living God. Job has already discovered this, and has not kept back the truth. We have heard him say, if man will contend with God, man cannot answer God one of a thousand: in other words, God has not only a solitary case against us, an individual lapse, a particular and namable iniquity, saying to each man, You have got wrong only once, and these are the facts; the charge which God has against man is a charge of total collapse, so that when we have concluded one defence we must enter upon another; we no sooner bring to a period our most resonant defences than another impeachment is hurled upon us, and we have to reply to the still larger accusation. There is none righteous, no, not one; all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. We can deal with the case after one of two methods: we can make it a matter of words, trying to build ourselves round with a wall of expression, rhetoric, eloquence; or we can throw ourselves down before the living One, saying God be merciful to me a sinner: I do not see everything; thou seest things as they really are: I am conscious of infirmity, incompleteness, irresoluteness, and I know myself too well to begin a plea of self-justification God pity me; Christ save me; Spirit of the living God, do not abandon me!
Notes
Bildad (“son of contention,” if Gesenius’ derivation be correct), the second of Job’s three friends. He is called “the Shuhite,” which implies both his family and nation. Shuah was the name of a son of Abraham and Keturah, and of an Arabian tribe sprung from him, when he had been sent eastward by his father. Bildad takes a share in each of the three controversies with Job (viii., xviii., xxv). He follows in the train of Eliphaz, but with more violent declamation, less argument, and keener invective. His address is abrupt and untender, and in his very first speech he cruelly attributes the death of Job’s children to their own transgressions, and loudly calls on Job to repent of his supposed crimes.
Eliphaz, the chief of the three friends of Job. He is called “the Temanite;” hence it is naturally inferred that he was a descendant of Teman (the son of the first Eliphaz), from whom a portion of Arabia Petraea took its name, and whose name is used as a poetical parallel to Edom in Jer 49:20 . On him falls the main burden of the argument, that God’s retribution in this world is perfect and certain, and that consequently suffering must be a proof of previous sin (Job 4 , Job 5 , Job 15 , Job 22 ). His words are distinguished from those of Bildad and Zophar by greater calmness and elaboration, and in the first instance by greater gentleness towards Job, although he ventures afterwards, apparently from conjecture, to impute to him special sins. The great truth brought out by him is the unapproachable majesty and purity of God (Job 5:12-21 , Job 15:12-16 ). But still, with the other two friends, he is condemned for having, in defence of God’s providence, spoken of him, “the thing that was not right,” i.e., by refusing to recognise the facts of human life, and by contenting himself with an imperfect retribution as worthy to set forth the righteousness of God. On sacrifice and the intercession of Job all three are pardoned, Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
The First Speech of Zophar. II.
Job 11
“For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes” ( Job 11:4 ).
This is both right and wrong. Everything depends upon the relations in which we set the statement which is now made. Job had made this whole affair into a question of words the larger words and better called in the fourth verse “doctrine,” a word which comes from a root which signifies “to receive.” Job had received certain teaching, certain theories of the universe and of human life, and in spite of all contradictory facts he declared that his doctrine was pure, and that he himself was clean in God’s eye. Yet it was wrong to make this controversy a personal question at all. What is any one man, though great as Job, that he should set himself up against the whole scheme of things as it has been interpreted for ages? The three comforters represented old time, historic teaching, actual human experience, and they brought all that they knew of human history to bear upon a solitary instance; and their reasoning was: The whole scheme of things cannot give Way before a particular instance: after all, Job represents but one set of facts: somehow or other he has come into very unhappy relations with other things; but we must not break up the universe, and reconstruct it, in order to harmonize all things with Job’s experience. Job never leaves the personal aspect of the case. Nor was this to be wondered at He suffered so deeply and so largely, not only as to himself but as to his family and to his property; it was natural, therefore, that he should make a very highly personal matter of the whole thing. Yet, if he could have taken the larger view, he would have seen what never discloses itself to merely personal suffering and individual experience; he would have caught a glimpse of the largeness of things; and if he had set up his personal grief against the woe which moans at the heart of the universe, he would have felt that his sorrow after all was not so large and important as he had at one time supposed it to be. The instruction of the narrative is that we must enlarge our view. Even in personal suffering we must take the social or universal conception of things; we must bring the power of an endless life to bear upon the things of the passing moment: in a word, we must govern time little, dying, misleading time by solemn, grand eternity.
Zophar’s reply was, therefore, fearlessly critical; then it became deeply religious. “But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee!” We three have spoken, but our words seem to have produced no effect. Human words come back to human speakers; human controversy swings round a very little sphere: oh that God would join this solemn talk, and speak to thee from high heaven! God is in this, matter somewhere: up to this point, so far as we know, he has been silent, oh that he would just utter one sentence! it would be brighter than the morning light, it would be larger than the whole firmament as to its meaning: we wrestle, and endeavour to explain; we attempt to sympathise, but all our efforts are futile. There comes a time in human experience when we say, with great meaning in our voice, God must take up this thing; Eliphaz the seer has spoken, Bildad the traditionalist and historian has spoken, Zophar the fearless and orthodox critic has spoken, and we make no progress in the cultivation of this desert, oh that God would begin the work! That same point occurs in individual training, in family experience, in national affairs; we are brought round again and again to the vital point, at which there is startled out of us some cry for religious illumination and comfort. Zophar would therefore refer Job to God. “And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom,” the inner causes, the hidden springs, the vital lines. Wisdom is always secret, but there becomes an aggravated secret in wisdom when we think we have answered the first mystery. Wisdom is all difficult; it is intervolved, complicated, wrought into itself with curious working so that one part belongs to another, and the whole constitutes a revelation. Wisdom is not a thing to be snatched at. We do not acquire wisdom by simply opening our eyes, and walking abroad, and returning to our usual occupations and enjoyments; wisdom is as hidden silver that must be dug for; yea, we must search for it, we must begin early, and work long, and tarry whilst the light lingers: my son, get wisdom, get understanding; with all thy gettings get understanding: she is to be run after, sought after, suffered for; she comes after long wooing, yea, after fullest sacrifice and devotion. Have no faith in superficial wisdom, in ready answers, in off-handed deliverances from immediate evil. Get on the vital line; connect yourselves with the Well-head of the universe; live and move and have your begin in God. Many have the letter of wisdom who have not its spirit. Zophar points Job to the secrets of wisdom, the little, minute, hidden beginning of things; he would bring him back to germs, and molecules, and the very plasm of wisdom. Knowledge is less than wisdom: wisdom is ennobled, sanctified, and rightly-directed knowledge; yea, it is more than this; it cannot explain itself, but it is justified of its children; it comes up again and again in a thousand forms and hues, and time confirms with willing endorsement all its predictions and all its principles. Then Zophar would have Job shown that the secrets of wisdom “are double to that which is.” An extraordinary expression in English. The meaning is, that he would have Job see that the secrets of wisdom are fold upon fold; not simplex that which is on the surface, one only, to be taken up and laid down with ease, a work that a child might do; but complex, one fold upon another, one fold passing through another, manifoldness, as the Revised Version has it, “manifold in effectual working”; that is, not superficial, not lineal, not comprehensible at a glance, but a matter of interpenetration, mutual balancing, a mysterious, continuous, beneficent working together. Zophar said, therefore, in effect Oh that God would show thee how rich wisdom is in holy secrets, and how more than double everything is! What an intertangled and complicated creation we live in! What an amazing labyrinth! Yet he who has the clue can thread all its mazes and find his way to God. This is not the man to be condemned by commentators, as they have condemned Zophar. He seems now to have laid hold of the centre and reality of things. There may have been something exasperating in his tone, or the commentators could not have been so hard upon him; but the exasperation was only vocal: surely here is a soul that grapples with vital difficulties, and that hands heaven’s own key to the man who stands perplexed before a gate which he cannot open. We should think much about this complication of affairs. All things work together for good to them that love God. Life is not a long, straight, monotonous path, from the beginning of which we can see the end: nature is engaged in a marvellous chemistry; she is very particular, too, that we should compound our elements and constituents aright, not only that we should have the right things, but the right proportions of them; otherwise that benign Alma Mater will see that the result comes out wrong, and afflict us with keen disappointment Everything in nature is working together with some other thing; yea, who shall say whether all things are not coherent, mutually related, the whole body knit and “compacted by that which every joint supplies”? Better, therefore, often be quiet. Blessed is the man who can stand still and say, God must work out the residue of this process, for I can do nothing further: I will look on, I will pray for keen eyes that I may see somewhat of God’s method, for he only can perfect that which is begun in wisdom. Let us stand there. Do not believe in any superficial theory of life. Distrust anything that comes before you with a bald simplicity. Life is not a series of unrelated pebbles; it is not a mere proximity of atoms; it is a coherent, massive, united temple, whose pinnacles glitter in the smile of God. Put away from you every teacher who gives you to feel that life is but a varied flippancy, and that the most frivolous mind can comprehend any portion of the ways of God.
Zophar, having been fearlessly critical, and deeply religious, now turns and becomes morally just. Hear what he says at the end of the sixth verse: “Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.” The meaning would seem to be this: Job, thou hast occupied thine own point of view long enough, now endeavour to take God’s point of view, and look at all circumstances from that high altitude. This we are bound to do, if we would be just even towards God. We see only our own personality, we feel only our own suffering; we do not set ourselves at the head and spring of things, and observe how all the universe is affected by what is known as coming under the term sin or iniquity, yea, we have gone so far as to say that the sinner hurts only himself; we say of some poor wanderers, After all, they do but injure themselves; the drunkard injures himself. Nothing of the kind. No man liveth unto himself in any sense. No sin can be committed without a shadow passing over the face of the whole universe. We have trifled with sin; and because we have lost the right conception of sin we have lost the right conception of grace. Zophar takes the right ground; he says, Whatever suffering any man endures, he endures less than God might in justice inflict upon him. That is a grave and solemn doctrine. If that is true it should itself be to us a great comfort. If we have anything left of life or hope, God has not inflicted upon us all the punishment which one sin deserves. We must not take our own definition of sin, as if we had been present in eternity and foreseen the whole structure of the universe, all its processes and its destiny: what sin is must be revealed to us: another voice, not our own, must tell us what sin really means. One solitary rebellion has in the heart of it this meaning, namely, God must be dethroned. Is that the meaning of one lie? Yes. Is that the signification of one self-willed thought? It is. Not on the surface. We seem to have run into the easy but culpable method of considering that only one sin has been done. There is no sin that is only one sin. Every sin belongs to an innumerable progeny and ancestry and association. The great lesson, therefore, which Zophar teaches is, that however much we may be suffering, if God were to be really just in inflicting upon us an adequate punishment we should be crushed out of existence. Let us, then, take God’s standpoint. Do not limit the field of inquiry. Do not suppose that there is only one party to the great controversy which rends human life. How if it should turn out at last that our very punishment has been meted to us in mercy? What if at the end it should be found that: adversity was a veiled evangel sent from heaven to bring us home?
Now see how grand a conception Zophar has of the nature of the living God:
“Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea” ( Job 11:7-9 ).
We have come to the same conclusion even with regard to inferior quantities and forces. We are able to confirm the testimony of Zophar. Take space. How glibly we speak about it! We lay a measuring-line upon it, and say, This line is five hundred thousand millions of miles long! Is there any continuation of that line? Yes. What is the whole sum, O thou arithmetician, man of numbers? The arithmetician says I cannot tell; the mathematician may tell. What is the sum-total of space, O mathematician, the glorified arithmetician, the arithmetician with wings? Tell us, thou adventurous calculator. And the mathematician hands down to us a symbol. We ask him what is the meaning of this symbol, and he says it stands for infinity. Is that all thou canst tell us about space? Yes. When we have gone through a certain number of miles we pause, and say, The rest is infinite. You say that about space? Yes. Not about a life, or a theology, or a mysterious doctrine, but about plain space the thing we ourselves occupy? And the mathematician answers Yes: measurement expires in infinity, so be it Take time: we count our days by thousands; we speak about “ancient history,” and we speak also, eloquently, about “future ages”; now tell us, how many are there of them? And the answer is a negative. We can speak of millions of years multiplied by millions of years; yea, taking a very huge figure we can cube it will that express the duration of time? The answer is a negative. Then how shall we represent the proper duration of time? The answer is, by this expression, namely For ever and ever. Poor arithmeticians, miserable calculators! We sent you out to bring back the whole thing scheduled and put down before us in plain figures, and see you have come pantingly back, and say, Space runs off into infinity; time expands into for ever and ever. Is that all you can tell us? That is all! Why, then, if this be so about space and time, what about life, the duration of sentient existence, the continuity of all that we mean by the higher faculties of man? Tell us, thou biologist; thou wilt be able to speak with a clearer tongue than the mathematician, or the man who philosophises about time; thou art a more severely scientific man: What is life? hast thou seen it? No. Touched it? indirectly. Measured it? never. Space runs into infinity, time runs into eternity, life runs into GOD! Who, then, are the fanatics, the enthusiasts? Not they who take a solemn view of the universe; not the men who reason by analogy, saying, If space can but be represented by infinity, and time by eternity, it is at least possible that life can only be truly represented by the term God, the all, the infinite, the eternal, as applied to sentiency, to all the mystery of life. Here, then, we take our stand. We believe in these holy principles. They elevate us; they ennoble us; they save us from all the mistakes of flippancy; they humble us; they chasten us; they make us pray.
Selected Note
Zophar, one of Job’s three friends and opponents in argument (Job 2:11 , Job 11:1 , Job 20:1 , Job 42:9 ). He is called a Naamathite, or inhabitant of Naamah, a place whose situation is unknown, as it could not be the Naamah mentioned in Jos 15:41 . Wemyss, in his Job and his Times (p. 111), well characterises this interlocutor: “Zophar exceeds the other two, if possible, in severity of censure; he is the most inveterate of the accusers, and speaks without feeling or pity. He does little more than repeat and exaggerate the arguments of Bildad. He unfeelingly alludes ( Job 11:15 ) to the effects of Job’s disease as appearing in his countenance. This is cruel and invidious. Yet in the same discourse how nobly does he treat of the divine attributes, showing that any inquiry into them is far beyond the grasp of the human mind, and though the hortatory part of the first discourse bears some resemblance to that of Eliphaz, yet it is diversified by the fine imagery which he employs. He seems to have had a full conviction of the providence of God, as regulating and controlling the actions of men; but he limits all his reasonings to a present life, and makes no reference to a future world. This circumstance alone accounts for the weakness and fallacy of these men’s judgments. In his second discourse there is much poetical beauty in the selection of images, and the general doctrine is founded in truth; its fallacy lies is in its application to Job’s peculiar case. The whole indicates great warmth of temper, imflamed by misapprehension of its object and by mistaken zeal.”
Prayer
Almighty God, if thou wilt hear us, in Jesus Christ thy Son, thy hearing shall be as an answer. It is good to speak unto the Lord; our souls are enlarged and ennobled as they look up from the cross to seek the Father that is in heaven. We have found thee in Christ; he has told us thy will and thy purpose, and somewhat of thy method, and we are now enabled to say, Thou hast done all things well. All things become more beautiful and greater and tenderer as we associate them with thy name and strength; they are sacred when we know that they are thine. The grass of the field is thine, though today it is, and tomorrow it is cast into the oven and is forgotten. Still, even a day is part of thine eternity, and a grass-blade is part of thy property. Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without our Father. Thou dost notice all things, our downsitting and our uprising; thou dost beset us behind and before, and lay thine hand upon us, and take an account of all our ways. Surely when thou art seeking for us thou art seeking for thyself: how else could thy love be so great, so burning, so free, so universal? Are we not made in the image and likeness of God? Is not the seal of divinity upon us even in our weakness? Are we not conscious that we are more than ourselves? Truly we have felt in our hearts uprisings and throbbings which have told of things that are infinite in mystery and in glory. We understand nothing, but how much we feel, what we know by our hearts, what understanding we have through our love; these are the ways by which thou dost come into our spirits, and by which thou dost set up thy kingdom within us. We know how poor we are, and weak and foolish, yea, how sinful, how criminality is written upon all we are and do; and yet below all, and round about all, and higher than all, there are signs of divine regard and infinite possibility, and amid all the garments of sin we feel the beating and pulsing of immortality. We bless thee for these feelings, though they are not daily, though they come but now and then yet in their very coming they show us that they would come more frequently, and that one day, if we live in Christ and Christ live in us, we shall be free of all hindrances and limitations, and shall serve in heaven, in the freedom of the blessed, without weariness, without sense of failure, and with ever-increasing joy, and thankfulness, and rest. Pity all hearts that need thy tenderest ministry. Some hearts are broken, some spirits are wounded, some lives are but a gathering up of disappointment and anxiety: come thou whose delight it is to heal, and restore gladness to the soul that is in distress. Work, thou Mighty One; control and rule and reign thou only; for thy right it is; and give us all to feel, through the cross of Jesus Christ, the blessed Son of God, how sweet a delight is obedience, how gracious a life is led when it is led in the Spirit of the Cross. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
The First Speech of Zophar. III.
Job 11
There is a vital expression in the fourth verse, “For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure.” We have come upon an age which cares little for doctrine. We are, in fact, somewhat afraid of that antiquated term. We prefer anecdote to doctrine, and concrete instances to elaborate spiritual demonstrations. An anecdote will be remembered and rehearsed when the finest argument ever invented by human genius, and ever supported by human eloquence, is utterly forgotten. “‘T is true: and pity ‘t is ‘t is true.” For what is life without doctrine; that is to say, without teaching, without sound intellectual conviction, without high moral purpose, without that solid and dignified reason which is at once the crown and glory of human life? Why this contempt as regards doctrine, when every action ought to be an embodied philosophy? Every attitude we take upon every question ought to express an inward and spiritual conviction. Where the doctrine is wrong the life cannot be right We are not now speaking of purely metaphysical doctrine, but of that vital teaching which affects all thought and the outgoing of all life: and if a man is operating upon wrong philosophies, wrong principles, mistaken convictions, all the issue of his life is but an elaborate and mischievous mistake. In this instance, however, Zophar corrected Job because he understood that Job was making the whole case only a matter of words. If by “doctrine” you understand nothing but words, then any contempt you may award to it may be justly bestowed. Zophar thought that Job was refining too much, balancing words, inventing and colouring sentences, and making a kind of verbal rainbow round about himself: therefore he took to a severe chastisement of the patriarch. Zophar was mistaken; Job was really basing his argument on those sound and eternal principles which give security to life and hope to all futurity.
Then in the twelfth verse we come upon a still stranger expression:
“For vain man would be wise, though man be born like ft wild ass’s colt,” ( Job 11:12 )
Nobody has explained these words to any other person’s satisfaction. Each commentator has a view of his own. The one which seems to be supported by the strongest reasoning is that which represents Zophar as saying: Man is born low down; still, there is something in him that kindles at the very word Wisdom: he is like a wild ass’s colt by nature; he is made up of a strange mystery of passion and selfishness, ignorance and philosophy, but all the time there is something in him that says: Go forward, climb higher; even yet the lower nature may be vanquished, and the higher nature may be assumed and possessed and enjoyed. It is something to have amongst us men who speak words of hope. It would be dreary living if our prophets were to take simply to upbraiding us because of the lowliness of our origin; they would be children of night, they would belong to the school of darkness, who kept harping upon the fact that we were born like a wild ass’s colt, and there is no hope of our ever becoming anything else. Blessed be those brighter-minded men who come amongst us, saying: However low-born you were, you may become a prince; however humble your origin, you may stand among the crowned ones in light; however poor your beginning a beginning in orphanage and poverty and lowliness you may become wealthy in thought, in purest feeling, and in philanthropic devotion. Listen to these voices: they come from above; they confirm the divinity of their message by the very tenderness of their humanity.
Now Zophar, the much condemned, follows the example of Eliphaz, and concludes his speech by a very noble appeal. He writes what we may call a spiritual directory. He preaches to one man, and so preaches that every word is marked by gravity, sympathy, and wisdom; therefore he was a great preacher. They are poor preachers who can only address a thousand people at once. Sometimes it is said by persons who would say better if they knew better that an audience of ten thousand men is enough to inspire any speaker. Nothing of the kind. He is the great preacher who sees the one man. He who sees one man aright sees all men, and he is a hireling and a left-handed labourer who can never rise to the dignity of the occasion except when inflamed by numerical appearances. See Zophar: how his voice deepens and sharpens, how his eye kindles, how he comes a pace nearer the patriarch when he begins to preach to him! What a discourse it was! Not one waste word in it all. What a gift of terseness! How Zophar could strike without wounding, be precise without being severe, and preach a gospel such as the poor, beclouded, fear-driven heart needed to hear. Therefore, to return to the point from which we started, we cannot join the nearly universal condemnation which has been poured upon Zophar; we rather draw towards him as if with some sense of old kinship. We somewhat like even his sword. Wherever he strikes he cuts the object right in two; there is no mangling, no mere wounding, no half-done work: it was a scimitar that cut off whatever it aimed at. Then how tender he could become, how philosophical, how gracious, how sympathetic! We have seen how he looked up to God, and described him in terms that have never been surpassed for graphic vividness and spiritual grandeur. Few men could turn from that upward look, and fasten their eyes pityingly upon human suffering, and address that suffering as Zophar addressed the patriarch. Let us regard this concluding part of his speech as what we have termed a spiritual directory; then we shall see what we ought to do in similar circumstances.
“If thou prepare thine heart” ( Job 11:13 ).
That is vital talk. This man is not playing with the occasion. He says in effect: All great questions turn upon the condition of the heart: these are not circumstances in which men may be wordy, opinionative, justifying themselves by long-continued arguments that have nothing in them of really sound sense: the heart must be prepared. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” He may never tell what is in his heart. The heart has wondrous power of self-involution and impenetrable secrecy: it looks out of the eyes, yet no man may see it; it observes, but is not observed; it whispers to itself in a tone so low that no one else can hear it; it dreams, it invents, it creates little heavens for its own enjoyment; it reconstructs the universe in imagination that it may luxuriate in it, and even in silence it may be holding festival, and when nothing seems to be going on the heart may be holding high revel. A marvellous, mysterious, impenetrable thing is that awful human heart! Zophar took his stand upon these convictions, and said, “If thou prepare thine heart,” and then he adds the prepared heart will have an effect upon the hands “and stretch out thine hands toward him” make even a mute appeal. In Oriental lands the outstretched hands were a sign of prayer; though not one word was spoken, yet the opened palms meant an appeal, the uplifted hands meant human need of divine help. A very graphic image; a most suggestive attitude. What have we in this double exercise a heart prepared, hands stretched out? Zophar says, If thou canst assume these two positions, certain consequences will follow, and none can prevent their issue.
“If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away” ( Job 11:14 ).
Zophar insists upon both hands being open. He will not have one hand outstretched towards heaven, and the other doubled in miserlike grip upon some idolised sin; he will have both hands up, both hands open, all the fingers spread out, so that no jugglery shall be able to conceal even the shadow of a sin. Zophar was in very deed a practical preacher. He did not seek to please his audience, but to profit those who listened. He would speak directly, pithily, clearly, vitally. There was no escaping that man; he burned with earnestness. But Job might assume the attitude of a man whose heart was prepared, and whose hands were ready to receive blessing, and whose hand was not concealing iniquity, and yet he might have left his little idols all at home. Zophar knew that, and therefore he went home with Job and said “Let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles:” clean out the corners: sweep out the recesses: tear out every secret thing: turn all upside down. What wonder if some of the commentators have disliked this young speaker yellow-haired, radiant man, flaming prophet of the soul? What age could stand such preaching as Zophar’s? There is nothing pleasant in it. It is wholly destitute of anecdote. It is all direct appeal. Zophar never takes his eyes from Job; he leaves Job under no false impression as to his purpose, and the meaning of that one solemn interview.
Having complied with all these conditions, what is the issue according to Zophar?
“For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear” ( Job 11:15 ).
And by no other process could that consequence be realised. It is in vain to daub the wall with untempered mortar; it is worse than vain to call, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. The only way to get rid of fear is by the consolidation and continual increase of faith; where such increase takes place, love concurrently grows, and perfect love casteth out fear. Observe the attitude of the good man: his face is lifted up, without spot, without stain, without blush, without one sign of servility; he has become right with God, and, therefore, he lifts up his face, without sign of trepidation or apprehension or misgiving. A wonderful blessedness this to be without fear! Who has attained that wealth? Who does not look down as if he were afraid to look up, as if the heavens might burn him with scorching fire did he but turn an eye to their exceeding height? Who is altogether without fear? Find in fear a sign of inferiority, conscious weakness, or conscious sin; or sign of inadequate or failing physical constitution. Do not regard all fear as meaning that God is judge, and that his whole look towards the life is a look of condemnation. Nothing of the kind. Some men are, born children of fear. They are not to be blamed; the fear is constitutional; is to be explained by physical causes and influences: wherever such a man is to be found he is to be cheered, encouraged, lovingly stimulated; he is to be told that the body is fighting against the mind, and he is to be called upon to see that the mind goes forth to the battle conscious that it can put down the body even in its most passionate clamour. Without such discrimination great harm will be done. Men who are constitutionally dull, fearful, apprehensive will be discouraged, and will turn away from the sanctuary, and will seek at forbidden altars the recruital and renerving of their depressed system. On the other hand, where the fear is really spiritual, and comes out of conscious sin, let there be no mistake about the matter; then Zophar must talk; his words must be like sharp swords, and his appeals must be accentuated as if with flame. Let every man judge himself.
About the misery that is historical, what has Zophar to say? He makes a beautiful reference. He becomes a poet when he touches the days of vanished grief
“Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away” ( Job 11:16 ).
Is it not true that there is something in us which enables us soon to forget misery? One fair disclosure of sunlight makes us forget all the darkness of the past. Who can remember Night when he stands amid the whitening and glorious Morning? The two things cannot be present together in the memory. Wherever there is true light there is no darkness. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Walk as children of the light, walk in God; and as for the night of misery, we may have it recorded for the sake of our chastening in times of high prosperity, but as an active, energetic, and hindering influence it is forgotten, and has no more any power against us. But do not men delight to recall the days of misery? Is it not a peculiarity of human nature that we like to tell what sorrows we have had, to enumerate them in painful detail, as if there were a kind of joy in their very recollection and re-statement? If we were right with God we should talk much about mercies, deliverances, happy providences, times of sunlight, days of festival, hours of reunion, and should have no memory for miseries that afflicted us long ago. Let us grow towards thankfulness, appreciation; and there is only one way of growing towards these high realisations, and that is by the way described by Zophar a preparation of the heart, an outstretching of the hands, a putting away of iniquity from the palms, and a cleansing of the tabernacle of all wickedness.
Then he tells Job about the future:
“And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning” ( Job 11:17 ).
In other words, Thou shalt never be an old man: however many thy years, thy lightness of heart, thy buoyancy of spirit, thy conscious union with God, will make thee forget the burden of the days, and thou shalt be young for ever: at eventide there shall be ample light. “And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee” ( Job 11:18-19 ). Why, this was the gospel before the time! What has Paul ever said more than this? In kindred eloquence he has told us that all things are ours, that all triumphs over life, death, principalities, powers, things present, things to come; but in no degree does he excel the lofty altitude which was attained by Zophar the Naamathite. But all this preaching on the part of Zophar and of Paul puts a tremendous responsibility upon us. What if we who profess the religion of Jesus Christ are as fear-driven as the men who hold the cross of Christ in contempt? What if we, who profess to be seeking a country out of sight, are in reality anxious about the country that now is and about building upon foundations in the dust? What if we who appear to be sandalled for a journey are willing to tarry at any wayside inn that will give us meat and drink free of cost? What if we perpetrate the irony of attempting to look to heaven whilst in reality we are looking all the time at the earth? If these consequences are to flow from this spiritual condition, and if we have not realised in some degree these effects, do we not cause a tremendous suspicion to rest upon the reality of our Christian profession?
Now all the men have spoken; we are now, therefore, in a position to look at the case as if it were in some measure complete. Job has spoken, and spoken much; Eliphaz, and Bildad, and Zophar have spoken; but they are up to this point every one of them in the dark. As to the reality of the case with which they are dealing, they know nothing. The case has never been explained to Job; the three comforters know nothing about the reality of the conditions which they are attempting to discuss: they are all inflamed with some measure of unfriendliness to Job, because they believe that he has sinned in secret, and is therefore reaping the black harvest of the seed which he has sown. And what do we at any time understand about the reality of our own condition? We speak of our trials: who can account for their origin? Who knows what God may have said to the enemy of souls about us? Who can tell what scheme, proposed in hell and for the moment sanctioned in heaven, is taking effect in relation to our faith and our integrity? The Lord said unto Satan: Job will withstand thee; thou canst not destroy his faith: all will be well in the long run. The devil said: I will break him up; I can shatter that man: take away from him his wealth, his family, and all his happy circumstances, break up the environment and he will curse thee to thy face. The Lord said No: life is not a question of environment in its largest aspects; take away everything he has, but leave his life, and Job will conquer. About this Job knew nothing, the three friends knew nothing; the great controversy was proceeding whilst these men were all in ignorance as to its origin and purpose. The same holds good in regard to ourselves. We understand nothing. We can explain nothing. We ought to throw ourselves back upon history, and ask to be instructed and sobered by the monitions of the past. This view we might take: Job was being tried without Job knowing why; it may be that we are being tried also, that by the constancy of our faith we may disappoint the devil, and inflict upon him the humiliation of a noble and consistent contradiction. Take that view of your circumstances; take that view of your trials. The Lord has laid great responsibilities upon us, and he has said of us, My people will yet conquer; they may be tempted and sorely tried and impoverished; they may be orphaned and desolated and left without friends, but at the last they will stand up a conquering host. Blessed be God, he seems even now, by some mysterious exercise of his grace, to have faith in us: he will not believe the devil; he will say of us, They will yet conquer. This is the true method of education. Stimulate your scholars; place faith in them; say to the boy when he goes forth to the day’s battle: You will conquer, you will win, you will come back at night full of joy; hold up your head, and you will return like a hero, bringing with you the spoils of war. Never send the child out under a cold cloud, under a threat, or under the feeling that you expect to be disappointed; rather cheer him with the thought that you expect him to come back with his shield or on it; not a wound in his back; if slain, slain in the front, facing the foe. It would seem as if God were now so trying us, and looking upon us, and as if he had pledged his word that at the last the soul of his Son shall be satisfied.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
(See the Job Book Comments for Introductory content and general conclusions and observations).
V
THE FIRST ROUND OF SPEECHES
Job 4-14.
This debate extends from Job 4-31 inclusive. There are three rounds of speeches by all the four except that Zophar drops out in the last round. Each round constitutes a scene in Act II of the drama.
In this chapter we will discuss Scene I and commence with the first speech of Eliphaz (Job 4-5) the points of which are as follows:
Introduction (Job 4:1-2 ). In his introduction he deprecates grieving one so afflicted but must reprove Job,
1. For weakness and inconsistency. The one who had instructed, comforted, and strengthened others in their troubles, faints when trouble comes to him (Job 4:3-5 ).
2. Because Job had neither the fear of God nor personal integrity, for the fear of God gives confidence, and integrity gives hope, but Job’s complaint implies that he had neither confidence nor hope, therefore he must be devoid of the fear of God and of integrity (Job 4:6 ).
3. Because the observation of the general trend of current events argued Job’s guilt. The innocent do not perish; those who reap trouble are those who have sowed trouble and plowed iniquity. Ravening lions, though strong and terrible, meet the hunter at last (Job 4:7-11 ).
4. Because revelation also convicts him. Eliphaz relates one of his own visions (Job 4:12-17 ), very impressively, which scouted the idea that mortal man could be more just than God, or purer than his maker. But Job’s complaint seemed to embody the idea. Eliphaz argues from his vision that a pure and just God crushes impure and unjust men and suggests the application that Job’s being crushed reproves his impurity and injustice (Job 4:18-21 ).
5. Because Job’s outcry against God was foolish and silly, and since no angels would hear such complaint, or dare to avert its punishment (Job 5:1-2 ) there can be no appeal from the supreme to the creature.
6. Because observation of a particular case illustrates Job’s guilt (Job 5:3-5 ). The circumstances of this case seen by Eliphaz, make it parallel with Job’s case; a certain foolish man took root and prospered for a while, but the curse smote him suddenly and utterly; his children perished, his harvest was eaten by the hungry, and all his substance was snatched away.
7. Because these results are not accidental, nor of earthly origin, but must be attributed to God who punishes sin. Because man is a sinner he is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward (Job 5:6-7 ).
The remedy suggested to Job by Eliphaz is as follows:
1. Take your case to God confession of sin and repentance are suggested (Job 5:8 ) who will exalt the penitent (Job 5:11 ) as certainly as he has frustrated their craftiness (Job 5:12-14 ) and so the poor may have hope after the mouth of their iniquity is stopped (Job 5:15-16 ).
2. Instead of murmuring, count yourself happy in receiving this punishment, and after penitence expect restoration of prosperity (Job 5:17-27 ).
On comparing this analysis with that given by Dr. Tanner (see his Syllabus on the speech of Eliphaz) it will be noted that the author here differs widely with Tanner in his analysis and interpretation of this speech. Tanner presents Eliphaz as assuming the position that Job was a righteous man and that God would deliver him. The author presents Eliphaz as taking the position that Job had sinned, which was the cause of his suffering and that he should confess and repent; that he should count himself happy in receiving this punishment, and thus after penitence expect the restoration of prosperity. It will be recalled here that the author, in commending the Syllabus of Dr. Tanner noted the weakness of his analysis at this point.
There are several things notable in this first speech of Eliphaz, viz:
1. The recurrence in all his speeches of “I have seen,” “I have seen,” “I saw,” showing that the experience and observation of a long life constituted the basis of his argument.
2. The good elements of his arguments are as follows: (1) He refers to the natural law of sowing and reaping (Cf. Gal 6:7 ); (2) the sinner’s way to happiness is through confession and repentance; (3) chastisement of an erring man should be recognized as a blessing, since it looks to his profit (Cf. Pro 3:11 and the use made of it as quoted in Heb 12:5 ).
3. The bad elements in his speech are as follows: (1) His induction of facts ignores many other facts, particularly that all suffering is not penal; (2) He fails in the application of his facts, since the case before him does not come in their classification; in other words, through ignorance he fails in his diagnosis of the case, and hence his otherwise good remedies fall short of a cure.
4. The exquisite simplicity and literary power of his description of his vision, makes it a classic gem of Hebrew poetry.
The following points are noted in Job’s reply (Job 6-7) :
1. The rash words of my complaint are not evidence of previous sins, but the result of immeasurable calamities from the hand of God. They cannot be weighed; they are heavier than the sandy shores which confine the ocean; they are poisoned arrows from the quiver of the Almighty which pierce my very soul and rankle there; they are terrors marshalled in armies by the Almighty (Job 6:1-4 ).
2. The braying of an ass and the lowing of an ox are to be attributed to lack of food, not meanness. Let the favorable construction put upon the discordant noise of hungry animals be applied to my braying and lowing (Job 6:5 ), for in my case also there is the hunger of starvation since the food set before me is loathsome and without savor (Job 6:6-7 ).
3. I repeat my prayer to God for instant death, because I have not the strength to endure longer, nor the wisdom to understand (Job 6:8-9 ; Job 6:11-13 ) but while exulting in the pain that slays me, my consolation still is, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One (Job 6:10 ).
4. Instead of moralizing on the causes and rebuking suspected sins, friends should extend kindness to one ready to faint, even though he forsake the fear of God (or lest he forsake, Job 6:14 ). This is like the story of the drowning boy who asked the moralizing man on the bank to help him out first and then inquire into the causes of his mishap.
5. In your treatment of me, ye are like a deceitful brook, roaring with water only while the snow on the mountains is melting, but being without springs, directly you run dry. The caravans from the desert that come to it hoping, turn aside from its dusty channels and perish. So you that seemed like a river when I was not thirsty, put me to shame by your nothingness now that I thirst. Compare “Wells without water . . . clouds without rain” in Jud 1:12-13 .
6. Is it possible that you condemn me because you apprehend that otherwise I might ask you for help? In your moralizing are you merely hedging against the expectation of being called on to help a bankrupt sufferer, by furnishing a reward or ransom for the return of my stolen flocks and herds? Do you try to make me guilty that you may evade the cost of true friendship (Job 6:21-23 )? I have asked for no financial help, but for instruction. How forcible are right words !
7. But you, instead of explaining my calamities have been content to reprove the words of my complaint, extorted by the anguish of my calamities, words that under the circumstances should have been counted as wind, being only the speeches of one that is desperate.
8. The meanness of such treatment in your case would prompt in other cases to cast lots for the orphans of the dead and make merchandise out of a stranded friend by selling him as a slave (Job 6:27 ). This is a terrible invective, but more logical than their argument, since history abundantly shows that some believers in their creed have done these very things, the argument being that thereby they are helping God to punish the wicked.
9. He begs them to turn from such injustice, look on his face and behold his sincerity, concede his ability to discern a thing which is wicked, and accept his deliberate statement that he is innocent of the things which they suspect (Job 6:28-30 ).
10. He laments his case as hopeless (Job 7:1-10 ). Here Job asks if there is not a warfare to man and his days like the days of a hireling. His waiting for relief was like a hireling waiting for his wages, during which time he is made to pass months (moons) of misery. In this hopeless condition he longs for relief and would gladly welcome death from which there is no return to the walks of this life.
11. Job now lifts his voice in complaint to God (Job 7:11-21 ). In the anguish of his spirit he could not refrain from complaining that God had set a watch over him and terrified him with dreams and visions. He was made to loathe his life and again to wish for death. Then he closes this speech by raising the question with the Almighty as to why he would not pardon him if he had sinned (as his accusers had insinuated) and take away his iniquity. Here he addresses God as a “watcher of men”; as one who had made him a target for his arrows. Now we take up the first speech of Bildad, the Shuhite (Job 8 ).
The substance of this speech is as follows:
1. He charges that Job seeks to make himself better than God, then he hints at the sins of his children and insinuates that Job does not pray, for prayer of the right sort brings relief (Job 8:1-7 ).
2. He exhorts Job to learn the lesson from the past. The wisdom of the fathers must be good. Therefore, learn the lesson of the ancients (Job 8:8-10 ).
3. He contrasts the fate of the wicked and that of the righteous, reasoning from cause to effect, thus insinuating that Job’s condition was the result of a cause, and since (to him) all suffering was the result of sin, the cause must be in Job (Job 8:11-22 ).
The substance of Job’s reply is,
1. True enough a man cannot be righteous with God, since he is unable to contend with him. He is too wise and powerful; he is invincible. Who can match him (Job 9:1-12 )?
2. Praying does not touch the case. He is unjust and proves me perverse. Individual righteousness does not avail to exempt in case of a scourge. He mocks at the trial of the innocent and the wicked prosper. Then Job says, “If it be not he, who then is it?” This is the climax of the moral tragedy (Job 9:13-24 ).
3. There is no daysman betwixt us, and I am not able to meet him in myself for Judgment (Job 9:25-35 ).
4. I will say unto God, “Why? Thou knowest I am not wicked.” Here it will be noted that a revelation is needed in view of this affliction (Job 10:1-7 ).
5. God is responsible for my condition; he framed and fashioned me as clay, yet he deals with me as milk or cheese; it is just the same whether I am wicked or righteous; changes and warfare are with me (Job 10:8-17 ).
6. Why was I born? or why did I not die at birth? Then would I have escaped this great suffering, but now I must abide the time until I go into the land of midnight darkness (Job 10:18-22 ).
The substance of Zophar’s first speech is this:
1. What you have received is not as much as you deserve; you are full of talk and boastful; you are self-righteous and need this rebuke from God (Job 11:1-6 ).
2. You cannot find out God; he is far beyond man; he is all-powerful and omniscient; man is as void of understanding as a wild ass’s colt (Job 11:7-12 ).
3. Put away your wickedness; you need to get right and then you will be blessed; you should set your heart and house in order, then all will clear up; then you will be protected from the wicked (Job 11:13-20 ).
Job’s reply to the first speech of Zophar embraces three chapters, as follows:
1. No doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you; I am not inferior to you; you mock and do not help; I, though upright, am a laughingstock and you, who are at ease, have contempt for misfortune; God brought this about (Job 12:1-6 ).
2. Learn the lessons from nature; the beasts, the birds, the earth, and the fishes can teach thee; everybody knows these things; the ear tries words and the palate tastes food, and wisdom is learned by age (Job 12:7-12 ).
3. God is the source of wisdom and power; he deals wisely with all men; he debases and he exalts (Job 12:13-25 ).
4. I understand it all as well as you; ye are forgers of lies; ye are physicians of no value; your silence would be wisdom; you speak wickedly for God, therefore your sayings are proverbs of ashes and your defenses are defenses of clay (Job 13:1-12 )
5. Why should I take my life in my hand thus? I want to be vindicated before I die; “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him”; I know that I am righteous; therefore I have hope (Job 13:13-19 ).
6. He pleads his cause with God; he asks two things of God, viz: (1) that he would put an end to his bodily suffering and (2) that he would abstain from terrifying him; then he challenges God to call him; then he interrogates God relative to his sins, God’s attitude toward him and his dealings with him; and finally charges God with unjust dealings with him (Job 13:20-28 ).
7. Man that is born of woman is frail and sinful; man’s weakness should excite pity with the Almighty; that which is born of an unclean thing is unclean and since a man’s days and months are numbered, why not turn from him as an hireling and let him rest (Job 14:1-6 ).
8. The hope of a tree, though it be cut down, is that it will sprout again but man’s destiny to lie down in death and rise no more till the heavens pass away should be a cause for mercy from God (Job 14:7-12 ).
9. In despair of recovery in this life Job again prays for death; that God would hide him in the grave till his wrath be past; that he would appoint him a day, in the hope that if he should die he would live again; his destiny is in God’s hands and therefore he is hopeless for this life (Job 14:13-17 ).
10. Like the mountain falling, the rock being removed out of its place and waters wearing away the stones, the hope of man for this life is destroyed by the providences of God; man is driven by them into oblivion; his sufferings become so great that only for himself his flesh has pain and only for himself his soul mourns (Job 14:18-22 ).
In this round of speeches the three friends have followed their philosophy of cause and effect and thus reasoning that all suffering is the effect of sin, they have, by insinuations, charged Job of sin, but they do not specify what it is. Job denies the general charge and in a rather bad spirit refutes their arguments and hits back at them some terriffic blows. He is driven to the depths of despair at the climax of the moral tragedy where he attributes all the malice, cunning, and injustice he had felt in the whole transaction to God as his adversary. They exhort him to repent and seek God, but he denies that he has sinned; he says that he cannot contend with the Almighty because he is too high above him, too powerful, and that there is no umpire, or daysman, between them. Here Job is made to feel the need of a revelation from God explaining all the mysteries of his providence. In this trial of Job we have ‘Satan’s partial victory over him -where he led Job to attribute the evils that had come upon him to God. This is the downfall in Job’s wrestle with Satan. He did not get on top of Job but gave him a great deal of worry. We will see Job triumphing more and more as he goes on in the contest.
QUESTIONS 1. What the points of Eliphaz’s first speech?
2. What things are notable in this first speech of Eliphaz?
3. What the points of Job’s reply (Job 6-7)?
4. What the substance of Bildad’s first speech?
5. What the substance of Job’s reply?
6. What the substance of Zophar’s first speech?
7. What Job’s reply?
8. Give a summary of the proceedings and results of the first round.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Job 11:1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
Ver. 1. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite ] With a most bitter invective, savouring more of passion than charity. Zophar rejoineth, or rather revileth innocent Job, misinterpreting his meaning, Job 11:4 , and laying to his charge, 1. Loquacity, or talkativeness; 2. Lying; 3. Scoffing at God’s good providence, and men’s good counsel; 4. Self-conceitedness and arrogance, besides rashness, boldness, &c. For want of better arguments against him, he falls foul upon him in this sort. And if the adversaries of the truth do the like by us (as our Saviour saith they will, Mat 5:11 , and as himself, after Job and many other of his members, had the experience of it), we must not be overly troubled. Zophar signifieth a watcher, he watched for Job’s halting, and took him up before he was down; he is styled the Naamathite from Naamah (a city in the land of Uz, eighteen miles from Job’s Pyramis, saith Adricomius), which signifieth fair. But he dealeth not so fair with his friend as had been fit, for he giveth him no honour or respect at all, but treateth him with singular sharpness and violence, or rather virulence, of speech: hear him else.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job Chapter 11
We must carefully remember that, although the Book of Job is inspired, it would be a great mistake to concede that the speeches are inspired. Certainly Satan’s words were not inspired, and they are recorded there; and it is part of the profit of the Book that we have the mistakes of the speakers. Every one of the three friends was very much mistaken in what he said, and Job himself also. It is only when we come to Elihu that we get the mind of God as far as a man is inspired, and then we have Jehovah’s own word clearing up all the difficulty.
This is very important, because there is a kind of hazy idea that seeing they are found in the Bible the speeches of different people are also inspired. The Book is inspired to begin with; but we have to judge of the utterances, say of king Saul, or even of David, whether what they said was so or not, for it is not that everything which they said in their daily life was inspired. It might be more or less true; it might be sometimes really and absolutely true; but that is all a question of searching and comparing scripture with scripture. Then it comes direct from God or from a prophet, or from an apostle – the inspired writing – all that is absolutely the word of God. But not so where we have a historic scene – whether it is in Samuel, Kings or Chronicles, or whether it is in the Book of Job, where we have actual conversations given us by the Spirit of God – it would be quite a mistake to imagine that, because God gives us the speeches, therefore the speeches represent His mind.
It is perfectly plain from the solution at the end of the Book that they did not represent His mind. Now take this man Zophar – a great deal that he says is very true, but it does not apply to the purpose. It was all misused. It was based upon the assumption that whatever God allows now is really the judgment of God. But that is not the case. The devil now is the ruler; he is the one that actuates men. The spirit of evil works in the sons of disobedience, and everything is now out of course. Therefore to reason from things as they are now is to be guilty of a very great mistake. In short, it is to put what happens now into the place which the judgment of the Lord will have by and by before the throne. Then there will be the mind of God pronounced upon all our words and all our ways; but the present time is a state of confusion, and men are not at all as they ought to be, and even. God’s children are very far from being as they will be. Everything is now imperfect and short of the mind of God. And still more, all the things that take place on earth are a mass of confusion, and judgment has not yet returned to righteousness. Judgment will never return to righteousness till the Lord sits upon His throne. Now, there is judgment in the hands of people who are themselves as bad criminals very often as the men whom they transport or hang. They might be thoroughly wicked men, and enemies of God in the most frightful manner; still, bad as they may be personally, they are very often honest in carrying out the law of the land fairly.
We all know that there may be sad mistakes in point of judgment; but the day is coming when judgment will return to righteousness. They have not got righteousness to return to – they are simply unrighteous men; and it is remarkable that the apostle Paul brands the judges of the law in his day as being unjust (1Co 6:1 ). Yet for all that God employed them. There were magistrates; there were judges; and God called them unjust when it was a question of His own people who had a far higher character of righteousness as their standard. They knew Christ; and all these things that these Corinthians were going to law about ought to have been settled among themselves – in the presence of them all. They were therefore exceedingly wrong in going on like the world. The world must go to the law-court. What could they do? They could not settle things themselves. They have not got the authority the court has. They go there, and on the whole they get their questions fairly well settled. But the children of God have quite another tribunal; and the apostle says it is so easy to settle these matters of an outward kind that the very least in the church might be asked to do it. He did not, of course, mean that the least in the church are the proper people to settle it, but it is a stigma upon their going before the world; and, of course, the most proper in the assembly are the people that ought to look into these things; those that have most experience and weight. It is merely the apostle putting shame upon the worldly spirit of the age. Here we are in a world where we are all apt to make mistakes; through ignorance sometimes, and very often through will of one kind or another that blinds us; but the mercy of God watches over all.
So here we find Zophar taking it all into his own hands. Why, if he had been a divine person, he could not have spoken more authoritatively. It was perfectly plain to him that Job was a bad man, and that he was a very vain man who liked to hear himself talk, and that he had no regard for other people, for there he was abusing them. In short, it is a very bad speech this of Zophar, most disrespectful to Job, and proud and haughty on his own part; and the more so as he was the youngest of the three, and consequently the one least capable. “Should not the multitude of words” – that is all he would allow on Job’s part – “be answered, and should a man full of talk be justified? Should thy lies – “think how far he went – “Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest” – that was all he considered it – “shall no man make thee ashamed? For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.” Now Job had never said either. He had never said that his doctrine was pure. What he said was, that he held to God and to His ways. And what he said about his conduct was that he was not a hypocrite. He acknowledged that he might have sinned in some way unknown to himself that accounted for all this terrible storm of affliction that bore his soul down to the dust. And that was his difficulty; he did not know quite. He believed that he had been walking with a good conscience before God; and they were not able to say anything – they could bring nothing against him. All said alike, and judged him in a most severe and unmerciful manner. So he asked that God would speak. Well, God did speak; and when God spoke it was not to the honour of Zophar, nor of Bildad, nor of Eliphaz even – here very much more quiet and calm of spirit than Zophar. But for all that it was owing to the intercession of Job that the anger of the Lord did not fall upon those three men. It might have been their death had it not been for the intercession of Job.
Zophar says some things that are very excellent – properly applied. He says, “Canst thou by searching find out God?” Well, nobody can; God must reveal Himself. “Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” Only if God speaks. “The measure thereof is longer than the earth” – certainly, and that was a very insufficient measure – the earth – “and broader than the sea.” He might have taken in all the universe. “If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?” There is no doubt about His power, no limit to it. “For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also.” All these are insinuations against Job. “Will he not then consider it? For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.” Well, no doubt. That is man’s condition now through the fall, that sometimes his acts can only be compared to those of a beast – uncontrollable, like a wild ass – or even to those of a savage beast, that consumes and destroys before it, like a lion or a bear. Man is capable of doing all these things. “If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards him.” Now there, was excellent advice. That was just what Job did require – to wait upon God till God gave him the answer, as to how it was that all this had come upon him. But Zophar’s notion was all wrong.
“If iniquity be in thine hand” – that was not what it was; it was not a question of iniquity, but of God dealing with Job’s satisfaction with himself. Job was a truly pious, God-fearing man; but he had a high idea of his own character. That is what no soul ought ever to allow. It is altogether wrong for a person to rest in himself, no matter how unblemished he may be, no matter how he may truly wait upon God day by day. There is no rest in any creature, least of all in ourselves. It was One that was coming. And now there is One that is come, so that we have the understanding of “Him that is true.” But in Job’s day he evidently did not understand all this. “For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear,” and so Zophar pursues down to the end of the chapter in very proper language. But his thought was all wrong, because he supposed there was some great wickedness unseen and unknown. Why then did he suppose it, if it was not seen and known?
We have the most remarkable instance of the opposite of this in the New Testament. One of the twelve was a dishonest man, and was about to betray the Lord Jesus. The Lord, who knew it perfectly, never brought it out in such a way as to act upon the consciences of the eleven. He allowed it to go on to the very last, and it was only when the dishonest one had passed out of their hands, and was himself on the way to death – and death by his own hands, as well as the death of the Lord by the hands of the Jews and Gentiles – that then the Lord no longer allowed it. If the Lord had meant them to judge Judas He would have made it manifest before. But He meant on the contrary that if he had made it manifest before, Scripture would not have been fulfilled. Scripture had declared that that man was the man to betray the Lord, and therefore it must go on to the end – to the betrayal. The Lord would not therefore open out the wickedness of Judas until it was before all the world.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
answered = spake. See note on Job 4:1.
Zophar. See note on Job 2:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Shall we turn to the eleventh chapter of the book of Job.
And in chapter 11 we hear from Job’s third friend, old Zophar, and he gets his two cents worth in. Now for you that weren’t here last Sunday night, we remember that the sons of God were presenting themselves to God and Satan came with them. And God did a little bragging on his servant, Job. And Satan said, “Yes, but You’ve so prospered him. Job, or anybody for that matter, would serve You if they were blessed as much as Job is. And You’ve put a hedge around the fellow; I can’t get to him. Take away the hedge. Let me take away his possessions; he’ll curse You to Your face.” And so the Lord said, “All right. You can take away his possessions, but you leave him alone.” And so Satan, operating within the limitations that God placed upon him. And Satan stripped Job of all of his possessions, his children even. And when Job received the word finally that his children were wiped out, he fell on his face and he said, “Naked I came into the world, naked I am going out. The Lord has given; the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And in all of these things Job did not curse God, nor did he charge God foolishly.
So it came to pass in another day that the sons of God were presenting themselves to God, and Satan also came with them. And God said the Satan, “Where have you been?” And he said, “Oh, going around the earth.” The Lord said, “Have you considered my servant Job? Good man. He’s upright. He’s perfect. He loves good; he hates evil. And in spite of all of what you’ve done, you were wrong about him. He didn’t curse Me.” And so Satan offered, really, a second suggestion concerned Job in which he expressed really what the psychologists tell us are the basic instincts of man, and that is self-preservation. Skin for skin. Yea, all that a man has will he give for his skin. Will he give for his life. “You see, You haven’t let me touch him. Let me hit him. Let me get at him and he’ll curse You to Your face.” So God said, “All right, do what you would want, but don’t take his life. Spare his life.”
So Job was afflicted with these horrible boils from the head to the toe. Running, putrid sores. Painful. He lay out in the dust, in the ashes. As the sores would dry they would just form clods on his body. He’d take a piece of broken clay and just scrape himself. Absolutely miserable condition. His wife looked at him one day and said, “Honey, why don’t you get it over with? Why don’t you just curse God and die?” Job said, “We’ve received good from God, should we not also receive evil?”
There were three men from the east, reputed wise men who knew Job because Job was the greatest man in all of the east because of the abundance of his possessions prior to his being stripped. And they came to commiserate with him in his misery. And they sat there in silence for seven days as they saw the misery of their friend. And after seven days, Job opened up his mouth and cursed the day that he was born. Cursed the fact that he was alive. Cried out for death. And his friends began to more or less rebuke him. They began to suggest and intimate that no one could suffer this much unless he was some kind of a horrible sinner. That though he appeared outwardly to be a good man, yet he must be hiding some dreadful sin, or seeking to hide it, but God wouldn’t let him hide it, and this surely is punishment from God for the evil that he has done.
Now, we know better than that because we had the first two chapters where we got the insight to what was happening. So we know how wrong is the evaluation of man concerning the situation. It’s interesting how that we so often think that we know all the answers. And this is sort of Zophar’s position. You know, he really knows just what it’s all about. He knows all about God, and he’s a religious dogmatist. And he now makes his speech as we get here to chapter 11, and rebukes Job, and again the innuendoes of evil and so forth in Job. So these are the discourses that the friends will speak and then Job will answer them. And then the next friend will speak up and try to put Job down, and Job will answer him. And the conversation is going back and forth between Job and his friends. A friend will speak, then Job responds, and this is the way the book of Job moves.
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Should not the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified? ( Job 11:1-2 )
Job, do you think you can just justify yourself with your mouth? A man who says all of the things you’re saying, should you just let it go?
Should your lies make men hold their peace? ( Job 11:3 )
Now you see, he’s accusing him of being a liar.
and when you mock, shall no man make thee ashamed? For you have said, My doctrine is pure, I am clean in thine eyes. But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee ( Job 11:3-5 );
Well, the first chapter God did speak. God said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? An upright man. He loves good. He hates evil.” You see, God had spoken and given His evaluation of Job. Now this friend Zophar said, “Oh, if God would only speak! You know, tell us what He knows about you.”
He would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know ye therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserves ( Job 11:6 ).
“Job, you listen, if God would really lay it on for all you’re got coming, it’d be worse than what you’ve got now.” Isn’t that a great way to comfort a friend who’s really hurting? No wonder Job cried out, “Miserable comforters are all of you.” What a way to comfort a man. “Hey, man, you’ve got it easy. If God would really lay it on you like you’ve got coming to you, you’d be in much worse shape that this.”
And so, an interesting question though. He said, “Can you by searching find out God? Can you find out the Almighty unto perfection?” And the answer is really no. Man, through an intellectual quest, cannot find out God. You will never understand God completely. Now one of our problems is that we are always seeking to understand God. We are always asking God, “Why, Lord, did You allow this? Why, God, has this happened to me? Why, Lord, am I in this condition?” We’re trying to understand God. But I have found that why’s can be a cesspool. You can drown in it. “Why did God?” The answer is, we don’t know the why’s of God. God does many things that I do not understand. I don’t understand why a child is born blind. I don’t understand why someone is crippled for life. I don’t understand why children starve to death. There are a lot of things that I don’t understand. I don’t understand why we have to suffer. I don’t understand why we experience sorrow. I don’t understand why my brother and father were killed in a plane crash. A lot of things I don’t understand.
That is why it is important that you have certain foundational truths upon which you stand. You see, there are certain things that I know. They are foundational truths, they are underneath, I rest upon these, I stand upon these. I know this: that God loves me. In spite of what happens, I know God loves me. In spite of what I might experience, I know God loves me. What tragedy might befall me in my path of life, I know that God loves me. And it’s important that you know this. It’s important that you have this as an undergirding, foundational truth. Because when you don’t understand what’s happening, you’ve gotta fall back on what you do understand, and I do understand God loves me. I do understand that God is far wiser than I am and He can see much more than I can see. I do know that my vision is very limited. I know that the spectrum that I can see is very small. I know that God has a much broader vision than I have. He can see the end from the beginning. Not only is His vision much broader than mine, but His wisdom is much expanded from mine. And though I do not understand, thank God I no longer have to understand all of the things that have happened to me. As long as I understand that God loves me and my life is in His hand and that He is working in me according to love and His wisdom, doing what is best for me as He knows what is best. I, by faith, rest there. Lord, You know what’s best for me. Lord, You love me. Lord, You’re in control of my life. So, whatever. I don’t understand why God allowed His own Son to suffer on the cross in order to redeem such as me. There are a lot of things about God that I don’t understand. But it isn’t necessary or important that I do understand them. It is only necessary that I commit my life completely to God, come what may.
Now if you only commit yourself as far as you understand, if you’re only, “Because I am blessed, I’m prospered and all, and therefore I love God and serve God because, you know, I’m prospered so much by God,” then what are you going to do in the day of adversity? Should you be stripped of that which you have? What can you do then? But if you’ve learned to trust in God completely and commit to God completely your life, then you can handle the things that come along your path. So who by searching can find out God? You can’t. This is one of the problems man has run up against. He sought to intellectually search for God and understand God, but God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. No matter how much you may search for God intellectually, there always comes that point where you’ve got to leave the area of reason and take the step of faith to touch Him. Now my intellect can tell me an awful lot about God. My intellect surely brings me to the consciousness and the awareness that God exists. I’m not so stupid as to think this whole thing could have come about through spontaneous generation, or just fortunate accidents. All of the life forms, the variables of the life forms, witness to me of the wisdom of the Divine Creator.
I love nature. I love to study nature. I love the quirks of nature. I love to study the little fish down in Panama that shoots water at the bugs that are on the twigs. Quite accurate. Hits them with a blob of water, they fall, and then his swims up and grabs them. Now how long did it take for that little fish to develop the capacity to spit that little bit of water, to develop the accuracy? How did he survive before he learned how to do it? Things like that fascinate me. Surely there is a Creator. Surely there is an original cause. My intellect can carry me a long way, but there comes the place where I have to, ultimately, to really reach God, leave the realm of the intellect and take the step of faith. “All right, God. I believe. I trust. I commit.” A step of faith. I’ll never understand God completely; God said I won’t. He said, “My ways are not your ways. My ways are beyond your finding out” ( Isa 55:8 ). So who can understand God perfectly?
It is as high as heaven; what can you do? deeper than hell; what can you know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, it’s broader than the sea. If God decides to cut off, or shut up, or gather together, who can hinder God? [Who can stop the purposes of God?] For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it? For vain men would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt. If you prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands towards him; If iniquity be in your hand, put it far away, let not wickedness dwell in your tents ( Job 11:8-14 ).
So he’s now turning to Job and saying, “Look, you know, if you prepare your heart and stretch out your hand to God, make sure you don’t have any wickedness in your hands, and let your tabernacles be clean.”
For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shall not fear: Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as the waters that pass away: and thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; and shine forth, and thou shalt be as the morning. And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yes, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none will make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee [or shall come to thee and do obeisance]. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost ( Job 11:15-20 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
The words we are about to read were spoken by one of Jobs three friends, or what if I call them his three tormentors? These men did not speak wisely, and their argument was not altogether sound; but, for all that, in the instance before us, Zophar the Naamathite spoke that which was truthful. Although he made a great mistake in turning it against Job, yet what he said was in the main correct, and we may learn from it as we read it. Remember, dear friends, that whenever you read the words of these three men, you must take them with a good many grains of salt. They are not to be accepted as if they were Gods Word, because they are not. Those three men were mistaken in many points, yet very much of what they said was weighty and valuable, and is still worthy of our careful consideration.
Job 11:1-3. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified? Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
This was a very bitter and cruel speech, and Zophar was not using the language of friendship, or even of common courtesy. First, he charged Job with being a great talker, a man full of talk. No doubt Job did speak well and eloquently; but to retort upon him that he was a man abundant in words, was a very cruel thing, especially when he was in such a condition of distress and suffering. Yet, dear friends, it is an evil thing to be men of tongue, and not of hand; it is a dreadful thing to be men or, for the matter of that, women either who are full of talk, and therefore have no room for anything else. There are some people who seem to think that, simply by their volubility, they can carry all before them I In such a case, we may say with Zophar, Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified? But he went beyond these questions, and charged Job with downright lying because he had pleaded his own innocence: Should thy lies make men hold their peace? Zophar also insinuated that Job fumed and frothed, as it were, and spoke folly, which he certainly did not do, for he spoke in solemn, sober earnest if ever a man did.
Job 11:4. For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.
Job did not say that; at least, he did not say it in so many words. He did endeavor to prove his own innocence of the false charges that were brought against him; but he never said that he was clean in Gods eyes.
Job 11:5-6. But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee; And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is!
Oh, that God would enable you, dear friends, to see your sin, and make you perceive that there is a double meaning in his law, a deep, underlying, spiritual meaning, as well as that which is apparent on the surface, so that a man may be guilty of transgression even when he thinks it is not so! Oh, that God would unveil the secrets of his wisdom so as to make you see that he is wiser than all his works, that his hidden wisdom is double that which you have been able to perceive in nature, or in providence, and infinitely greater than he has ever made to appear before mens eyes.
Job 11:6. Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
That was a hard thing for Zophar to say to Job; but, still, it was true, and it is true in the case of all of us: He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Even when a man sits down among the ashes, robbed of all his property, and bereaved of all his children, and when he has to scrape himself with a potsherd because of his many sore boils, even then it may be truly said to him, God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
Job 11:7. Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection!
What wonderful questions these are! How they ought to convict those who glibly talk of God as if they could measure him with a foot rule, and understood exactly what he ought to do and ought to be. We are constantly meeting with statements that such-and-such a thing, which is revealed in Scripture, cannot be true, because it is inconsistent with the modern idea of the benevolence of God. Our only answer to the cavillet is, Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
Job 11:8-9. It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know! The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
God is incomprehensible by any finite mind; and he is omnipotent, too.
Job 11:10. If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him!
If he sees fit to destroy men, or for a while to make them prisoners; or if he pleases to gather them together, and multiply them like the hosts of heaven, who can hinder him?
Job 11:11. For he knoweth vain men he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it?
Wickedness hidden under the vail of night, God sees as clearly as in the blaze of noon. Wickedness which never comes out of the heart, but tarries there, and does not lead into overt action, God sees it: Will he not then consider it? Of course he will.
Job 11:12. For vain man
That is just what man is by nature; the best of men are vanity emptiness:
For vain man
Job 11:12. Would be wise,-
He pretends to wisdom; he wishes to be thought wise; he likes to wear a wise mans title: Vain man would be wise,
Job 11:12. Though man be born like a wild asss colt.
As untamed, as ignorant, as willful as a wild asss colt, are we by nature. Zophar seems to think that he has sufficiently rebuked Job for pretending to be wise, and for complaining that God was dealing unjustly with him; so now he begins to admonish him to repent:
Job 11:13-18. If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away: And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning. And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
It is a great mercy when God enables men to pursue their daily callings, and to take their nightly rest in safety; and it is a still greater mercy when they feel secure, whether they live or die, because they have a good hope concerning the hereafter. It is an unspeakable blessing when sin is washed away, and a man can lift up his face to God without spot, and walk in the light of Jehovahs countenance all the day long.
Job 11:19-20. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail,
Carefully notice this very solemn prophecy, the eyes that have looked upon sin with pleasure, the eyes that have flashed with lascivious desire, the eyes that have dared to look towards God with defiance or derision, the eyes of the wicked shall fail,
Job 11:20. And they shall not escape,
To what place could they escape from God, when he is everywhere? During the days when the Roman empire extended all over the world, people said that the whole earth was one great prison for Caesars enemies; and the universe itself is a vast prison for those who are condemned of God. Where shall they go to avoid arrest? Whither shall they fly to get beyond Gods reach? They cannot escape anywhere. There is neither hole nor corner, even in the bowels of the mountains, or in the flinty hearts of the rocks, where a sinner can hide himself from the hand of God: They shall not escape,
Job 11:20. And their hope
The last thing that ever dies, their hope
Job 11:20. Shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
Like death itself, their hope shall be. Then, if their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost, what hope is there for them? Let us not have our portion with them, else we shall be as hopeless as they are.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Job 11:1-6
Job 11
ZOPHAR’S FIRST SPEECH:
ZOPHAR HAS THE SAME OLD THEORY BUT A WORSE ATTITUDE;
ZOPHAR CHARGES JOB WITH GROSS WICKEDNESS
Job 11:1-6
“Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said,
Should not the multitude of words be answered?
And should a man full of talk be justified?
Should thy boastings make men hold their peace?
And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure,
And I am clean in thine eyes.
But oh that God would speak,
And open his lips against the,
And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom!
For he is manifold in understanding.
Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less
than thine iniquity deserveth.”
“Thou sayest, My doctrine is pure” (Job 11:4). Job had not promulgated any new doctrine, “But Zophar’s point in this seems to be that, in rejecting the theology of his friends, Job was implicitly claiming to have superior understanding.”
With a friend like Zophar no man would need an enemy. These brutal words, addressed without feeling either of compassion or sympathy, to Job, of whom Zophar claimed to be a friend, are unsurpassed for sheer stupidity and cruelty. If his words had even been true, which they were not, he should have had the grace to keep his mouth shut instead of telling Job that his terrible sufferings were not only deserved, but that Job’s wickedness demanded even worse sufferings than he was enduring.
Note progression in the speeches of the three friends. Eliphaz spoke only in generalities, implying that Job was a sinner but not actually saying so. Bildad went further and flatly declared that Job’s children had been destroyed because of their sins. To all of this, Job replied emphatically that he was not wicked. Then here Zophar the third friend, “Made a direct attack against Job.” He called him a long winded talker that mocked God, accusing him of gross sin and wickedness.
Some scholars have viewed Zophar as “a profound theologian,” but this writer finds no evidence whatever of any such excellence in Zophar. He was not wise, but ignorant. He pretended to know God’s wisdom, but he didn’t. As a personal representative of the devil in this encounter he adopted the guise of “the roaring lion,” one of the masks of the evil one; and it is not hard to believe that his attack upon Job’s integrity represented the worst that Satan could bring against God’s “perfect man,” Job.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 11:1-2. The third one of the “friends” was the next speaker. It should be observed that no attempt was made to meet the arguments of Job; all that Zophar could do was to accuse him of talking too much.
Job 11:3. Accusations of falsehood were all the remarks that could be thought of.
Job 11:4. This verse is a false acccusation, for Job never claimed to be “clean” in the sense that Zophar used it. Thine refers to God and Job knew that he was not perfect in the sight of the Lord. He only claimed that his afflictions were not sent from God as a special punishment.
Job 11:5. The time will come when God will speak, but Zophar will be one against whom he will direct his divine remarks.
Job 11:6. That which is means that the wisdom which is known to man is much less than the wisdom of God. The last half of the verse is the same theory that has been claimed from the beginning.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
When Job had ceased, Zophar, the last of the three friends, answered him. His method was characterized by even greater plainness than that of Bildad. Indeed, there was a roughness and directness about him absent from his friends’ manner. This may either reveal a man of different temperament, or that now, with greater definiteness and daring, Job had denied their philosophy by affirming his innocence.
He first affirmed the necessity for answering, describing Job as “a man full of talk,” and declaring that his boastings could not silence his friends. Zophar’s complaint against him is expressed in the words:
Thou sayest, my doctrine is pure, And I am clean in thine eyes.
He wished that God would speak. If He would, then Job would know that all his suffering was less than his iniquity. Job had affirmed the wisdom of God, and yet, in the thinking of Zophar, had questioned it. Therefore, in a passage full of beauty, he reaffirmed it, and insisted that this God of wisdom knows men. He intended to declare to Job that even though he might not be conscious of his own sin, yet sin was there, and God saw it.
This is again a restatement of the same philosophy as that of his friends. He was arguing from the suffering of Job to his sin. If Zophar was rough of manner, his desire and hope for Job may be observed, for his description of the prosperity which will come if he but set his heart right is longer and more beautiful than that of either Eliphaz or Bildad.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Canst Thou by Searching Find out God?
Job 11:1-20
Zophar waxes vehement as he censures Jobs self-justification and his refusal to acknowledge the guilt which his friends attribute to him. There is some truth in his allegations, though it was cruel to goad Job with them, notwithstanding his repeated protestations.
It is quite true that many of us are filled with self-complacency, because we judge our best by others worst. It may be also that we have a very poor conception of what God is and asks. It is best for us to strike our breasts with the publican and to confess ourselves the chief of sinners.
What a magnificent challenge is that of Job 11:7-12! Canst thou reach Gods depths, or His perfections, or His heights? But, oh my soul, remember that through all His unsearchable depths God is love. For the closing paragraph see r.v. Job had said he could not lift up his face, Job 10:15, but when sin is put away, we may exchange glances with our Father.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Job 11:7-8
Zophar’s question made Job burn with passion. Over three chapters, in alternate hope and despair, but always with fierce intensity, turning and returning his thoughts, but always reasserting against his woes his unconquerable knowledge of God, his unconquerable trust, Job’s reply spreads itself before us. The question is, Can a man find God?
I. Look at nature; that is Job’s first cry. “Ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee,” etc. Wherever I look I see life. Where does the life come from? Here are Job’s words: “In God’s hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.” Can I by searching find out God? Yes. I look for Him in nature, and I know Him there as intelligence and life.
II. Then Job passes on. Look now at man, he cries; see the changes of the world, the breaking down and raising up of men, wise men turned fools, bonds of kings loosed, the mighty overthrown. Who has done this? Man himself alone? The one clear thing in it all is that man is proved to be the creature of Another’s will. It is He whom I have found in nature, God the Lord.
III. Then Job turns to the personal question, the question pressed upon him by his dull and meddling friends, who in his trouble began to preach to him. He throws himself in a passionate despair of trust on God. I have nothing else to look to, and I will cling to that, no matter if death come. And he does cling to it, mean it.
IV. “Can man by searching find out God?” Yes. There is no need to seek Him in the unreachable heavens, or in the depths of the invisible darkness to look for Him. He is here in the life, and intelligence, and beauty of nature. He is here in the conduct of the world. He is here in the sense I have of my own righteousness before Him. He is here in the sense of an absolute justice, even though that justice punish me. He is here in my undying, unquenchable trust that He is mine and I am His for ever.
S. A. Brooke, The Spirit of the Christian Life, p. 347.
References: Job 11:7.-H. Melvill, Voices of the Year, vol. ii., p. 1. Job 11:7-9.-W. English, Church Sermons, vol. ii., p. 26. Job 11:12.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 314. Job 11:13-15.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 129. Job 11-S. Cox, Expositor, 1st series, vol. v., p. 123; Ibid., Commentary on Job, p. 141. Job 11-17-A. W. Momerie, Defects of Modern Christianity, p. 104.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 11 Zophars First Address
1. Jobs multitude of words rebuked (Job 11:1-6)
2. The greatness and omniscience of God (Job 11:7-12)
3. That Job repent and receive the Blessings (Job 11:13-20)
Job 11:1-6. The third friend of Job is in every way the weakest. Speaking last he must have been the youngest of the three. He lacks the dignity of Eliphaz and the gentleness of Bildad, nor does he possess the depths of either. Evidently Jobs speech has taxed his patience and irritated him.
Should not thy mass of words be answered?
And a man so full of talk, should he be justified?
Can thy boastings make men hold their peace?
And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
For thou sayest My doctrine is pure
And I am clean in His eyes.
But Oh that God might speak
And open His lips against thee.
That He would show thee the secrets of wisdom,
That is manifold in effectual working!
Know therefore that God exacts not more
than thine iniquity deserveth.
One can almost feel the boisterous spirit in which this rebuke must have been delivered.
Job 11:7-12. He now reminds Job of the greatness and omniscience of the God whom he accused. Could he by searching find out God or find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. But more than that He is an omniscient God, the searcher of hearts. He knoweth vain men and seeth iniquity also. So far it all seems well.
Job 11:13-20. So far all sounds well, but now he follows the same argument as his friends. He too believes that Job is a wicked man who has hidden iniquity, and that this must explain his affliction. So he turns exhorter and calls on him to repent. Set thine heart aright, he tells Job; stretch out thy hands towards Him. Put iniquity away, do not permit iniquity to be in thy tents! He talks as if he is very sure, more so than Eliphaz and Bildad, that Job is guilty of much sin. Then he draws a charming picture of the blessed results if Job confesses and repents. He would forget his misery as waters that are passed away.
Everything is painted by him in the rosiest colors as if he knew what God would do for Job. The time did come when Job got richer blessings than those outlined by Zophar. And what Zophar said, Yea, many shall make suit unto thee (marginal reading: entreat thee), came actually true when Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had to humble themselves before this Servant of God. Zophars final word is a warning of the fate of the wicked. It was meant for Job. The blunt, rough way of Zophar, who does not contribute anything new and fresh to the controversy, makes Job more confident that he is right and he gives a remarkable answer.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Zophar
Zophar is a religious dogmatist who assumes to know all about God; what God will do in any given case, why He will do it, and all His thoughts about it. Of all forms of dogmatism this is most irreverent, and least open to reason.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Zophar: Job 2:11, Job 20:1
Reciprocal: Job 42:7 – Eliphaz
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 11:1. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite How hard is it to preserve calmness in the heat of disputation! Eliphaz began modestly: Bildad was a little rougher: but Zophar falls upon Job without mercy. Those that have a mind to fall out with their brethren, and to fall foul upon them, find it necessary to put the worst colours they can upon them and their performances, and, right or wrong, to make them odious. Zophar, highly provoked that Job should dare to call in question a maxim so universally assented to as that urged by his friends, immediately charges him home with secret wickedness. He tells him that he makes not the least doubt, were the real state of his heart laid open, that it would be found God had dealt very gently with him, Job 11:2-7. That he was highly blameworthy to pretend to fathom the depths of divine providence, a task to which he was utterly unequal: that, however his wickedness might be concealed from me, yet it was open and bare to Gods all-seeing eye; could he therefore imagine that God would not punish the wickedness he saw? Job 11:7-11. It would surely be far more becoming in him to submit, and give glory to God, by making an ample confession and full restitution. In that case, indeed, he might hope for a return of Gods goodness to him; but the way he was in at present was the common road of the wicked, whose only hope was annihilation, Job 11:12-20. Heath and Dodd.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 11:3. Thy lies; that is, thy device, as in the margin; jactantias tuas, thy boastings, the delicacy of thy turns of speech, to extenuate thy sins: He does not mean gross lies and untruths, because he speaks with deference in Job 11:14, If iniquity be in thy hand. This princely patriarch possessed a mind highly enlightened with regard to providence, and was incomparably eloquent, yet totally dark with regard to the case of Job. Those three men ceased to answer Job, it is said, because he was righteous in his own eyes: Job 32:1.
Job 11:6. The secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is. The LXX, , that it is double what is with thee; it infinitely transcends the wisdom thou hast displayed, or art acquainted with.
Job 11:12. Vain man would be wise. Ergo vir fungosus corde induatur. Schultens. Then man is elated with vanity of heart, though born like the asss colt, in all his efforts to justify himself before the Almighty. The Vulgate reads, Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur, et tanquam pullum onagri se liberum natum putat. Vain man is elated with pride, and thinks himself born free as the wild asss colt; that is, proud and self-sufficient, he asserts a haughty independence, and forgets his responsibility to God.
Job 11:17. Thine age shall be clearer than the noon-day. Nothing can exceed the pleasures felt in the contemplation of a countenance full of days, full of wisdom, and full of grace. Such, no doubt, were the aspects of Job, after his restoration.
Job 11:18. Thou shalt be secure from the wild beasts, and invading foes. Two grand promises to patriarchs in ancient times.Thou shalt dig; that is, prepare thy sepulchre in the assurance of hope. So all the fathers, and our Bede interpret this text. It cannot mean the low idea of digging wells for cattle; of wells he had an ample supply.
REFLECTIONS.
In the sixteenth century, in the university of Oxford, when one day the disputations were open to the public, a poor countryman was often noticed to attend. He was asked why he so frequently attended the hall, seeing he did not understand the terms; for at that time literature and theology were spiced with Latin phrases from the school-men. The poor man answered, that although he did not understand the terms, yet he knew very well who was best at argument, for he who was worsted always grew angry. This remark applies to Zophar. Confident that God was righteous in his judgments, and that Job must be wicked in his practice, he had no patience to hear a man testify his innocence, seeing God had fought against him with robbers, with lightnings, and with a great wind. But both his friends having pleaded for God in vain, and having no resource of arguments, except putting the old ones in a new dress, he endeavours to supply the defect by the vehemence of passion. Should thy lies impose silence on the public; and when thou mockest at the fairest vindications of providence, shall no man make thee ashamed? Thou hast justified thyself; thou hast impeached the Lord; thou hast said, my doctrine is pure, I am clean in my own eyes.
Zophar, conscious of the weakness of his argument to demonstrate the peculiar guilt of Job, implores heaven to advocate his cause. Oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee; that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom, which are double to what mortals know.
Zophar, confident that God exacted of Job less than his iniquity deserved, presumes that his pleas of innocence arose from his ignorance of providence. Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? The motive which induces him to afflict a mortal is high as heaven, what canst thou do? It is deep as hell, what canst thou know? All these are sublime reasonings on the grandeur and perfections of God. So St. Paul exclaimed, when he viewed the judgments of God on the jews, and the conversion of the gentiles; oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God: how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Zophar traces back the ignorance of humankind to its real cause, original sin. Vain man would be wise, and he affects to know, though born like the wild asss colt; a beast so unmanageable that he mocks at the driver: Job 39:5; Job 39:7. Here is a plain declaration, that however apt children may be to learn vanity and play, yet in the acquisition of sacred knowledge, and in the efforts of devotion, man is obstructed in the progress by a depravity of heart entailed from his birth. The emphasis is not here laid on ignorance, which is common to every creature, but on the peculiar untractableness of the wild ass.
Zophar, having relieved himself by a warm effusion of soul, next exhorts Job, if he would in this manner stretch out his hands to God, and call upon him in prayer, to put away his sin whatever it might be. This also is sound advice. No man should approach the just and holy One, but with a pure purpose, with unfeigned repentance, and all its proper fruits. The plowing of the wicked is sin: and if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer.
If Job thus approached God, he is promised that not the curse, but the blessing, should be his portion. His confidence should be restored; he should lift up his face without spot. He should have no fear, he should be delivered from his trouble, he should forget his misery, and shine in prosperity like the meridian sun. On the other hand it is intimated, though in the third person, that the eyes of the wicked should fail, and that in their last moments they give up the ghost with the utmost horror and reluctance, being destitute of hope.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 11:1-20. Speech of Zophar.Job has shown that the assumption, that on account of the Divine righteousness only human sin can be the cause of misfortune, leads to the worst conclusions as to Gods nature. What answer can the friends make? (Duhm). Job has charged God with a brutal misuse of His strength and a refined cruelty to His creature:
Oh it is excellent to have a giants strength
But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.
Zophar, the youngest and most fiery of the friends, simply sees in Jobs questionings about God, a denial of the Divine omniscience. If God treats Job as a sinner, He cannot be in error. Again, therefore, he calls Job to repent.
He begins by criticising Jobs verbosity: words and nothing else are his defence (Job 11:2 f.). Job declares that his walk is pure (emending my doctrine into my walk, Duhm, Peake). But if God were to accept Jobs challenge to meet him, the result would be very different from Jobs anticipation (Job 11:5 f.). Let Job know that God by no means remembers against him ail his sin. Zophar here breaks out into a panegyric on the Divine wisdom (Job 11:7-9). God knows the iniquity of the wicked, without considering it, i.e. intuitively (Job 11:11). With Job 11:13 Zophar begins his exhortation. Let Job turn to God and stretch out his hands in prayer to Him, let him put away his sin (Job 11:14). Then follows the promise, Then Job shall be able to lift up his face (cf. Job 10:15) and be steadfast (contrast fluctuating feelings, Job 9:27 f.). His misery shall pass away (Job 11:16 f). He shall be secure, because there is hope (contrast Jobs despondence, Job 7:6; Job 9:25, Job 10:20, etc.). He shall search about him (as one does before lying down to rest), and shall sleep in safety (Job 11:18). Many shall seek his favour (cf. Job 29:7-10, Job 29:21-25, and contrast Job 19:18, Job 30:1-10).
Job 11:20 gives the dark reverse to the picture of the happiness of the righteous. Bildads prediction of the fate of the wicked is here repeated, but whereas he identified the wicked with Jobs enemies, Zophar leaves open the possibility that Job himself may be included in that category, and in the last line significantly alludes to Jobs repeated wish that he may die (Peake).
Job 11:6. Last clause lit., God brings a part of thy sins into forgetfulness for thee.
Job 11:7. First clause, mg. is to be followed rather than text.
Job 11:10. Zophar takes up Jobs own words in Job 9:11 f. Duhm thinks the verse is out of place here altogether: it suits Jobs idea of Gods arbitrary sovereignty, not Zophars conception of His unsearchable wisdom. He therefore omits as a marginal note out of place. Shut up means put in prison, gather for judgment (cf. Psa 50:5).
Job 11:12 is very difficult. Perhaps the best translation is: and so an empty man becomes wise, and a wild asss colt is born a man. This yields a good connexion with the preceding verse: God chastens the wicked, and so the empty man becomes wise. The change is as if a wild asss colt were born a man (probably a proverbial illustration). The wild ass is an emblem of Undisciplined freedom (Job 39:5), and thus of rebellion against God (Jer 22:4).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
ZOPHAR’S CRUEL ACCUSATION
(vv.1-6)
Zophar was likely the youngest of the three men, and what he lacks in maturity he makes up for in bitter accusation against Job. He did not have such restraint as Eliphaz, nor such ability for argument as Bildad, but he does not restrain his bad temper. His appeal was not to his observation (as was that of Eliphaz), nor to the traditions such as Bildad had learned, but rather to his own intuition. He considered he instinctively knew the answer to Job’s dilemma, and thought that Job needed only to learn “the secrets of wisdom” (v.6) as Zophar discerned them. He was evidently the most arrogant of all three friends of Job, the most self-confident.
He immediately attacks Job for his “multitude of words.” Those words were too much for him to answer, so he resorts to the subterfuge of accusing Job of being merely “full of talk,” and “empty talk” at that (v.2). He did not stop to consider that Job’s words had been directed to God, not to him, but seems to think that he can answer satisfactorily for God! He was going to show Job that if Job could talk, he could talk too: he would not hold his peace. He accused Job of mocking, which was not true: Job was too intensely distressed to mock, but Zophar thought he needed to be reproved (v.3). Since Job had indicated his doctrine was pure and his conduct clean, Zophar was actually accusing God of being remiss in not speaking out against Job! (v.4), so that Zophar does what he thinks God ought to have done! He knew Job had criticised God, but now he was doing the same without realising it! He had found the secrets of wisdom (or he just knew these secrets by intuition), and he wished God would show such secrets to Job! These secrets were double what men generally realised, but Zophar knew them! (vv.5-6). Zophar even knew that God was punishing Job less than his iniquity deserved! Who told this to Zophar? Only his own superior intellect.
ZOPHAR AFFIRMS GOD’S INSCRUTABLE GLORY
(vv.7-12)
Following his unfair accusations against Job, Zophar now tells Job in effect that he is unable to discern the deep things of God. Certainly it was true that Job could not search out the depths of God’s wisdom, or “find out the limits of the Almighty.” Did Zophar think God has any limits? He is infinite, not limited in any way. Zophar applied his words only to Job, but they were just as applicable to Zophar too! But he thought himself so wise that he did not need to learn, as Job did. God’s thoughts are higher than the heaven, deeper than Sheol (v.8). No one can know them unless God reveals them. Their height and depth are first mentioned, then their length and breadth (v.9). These things are all mentioned in Eph 3:18, as matters now revealed in Christ, yet still “passing knowledge,” for indeed the actual glory of Christ is infinitely beyond our understanding, though revealed to us in a very real and wonderful way by the Spirit of God. We do know Him, yet at the same time realise how little we know Him.
Zophar continues to speak in verse 10, “If He pass by, and shut up, and call to judgment, who can hinder him” (JND). This may well be considered. No one can thwart the judgment of God when it comes. Of course Zophar, in speaking thus, considered that God was judging Job, which was not the case. “For He knows deceitful men; He sees wickedness also. Will He not then consider it?” (v.11). Thus Zophar implied that Job was both deceitful and wicked, and that the proof of this was present in that God had considered Job’s state and was judging him for it.
“Yet a senseless man will make bold, though man be born [like] the foal of wild ass” (v.12 – JND). It is true that senseless men will boldly assert themselves, though their very nature is that of such rebellion that is evident in a wild donkey’s colt. But Zophar did not mean that as a general observation; rather he considered Job as a senseless man acting stubbornly, and not really recognising the greatness of the glory of God.
ZOPHAR’S ADVICE TO JOB
(vv.13-20)
Since Zophar thinks that he has established the proof of Job’s guilt and has shown Job something of the greatness of God, then he proceeds to urge Job to change his ways. He does not say in what Job has been guilty, but is sure he must be guilty of something. “If you would prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands toward Him; if iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away, and would not let wickedness dwell in your tents; then surely you could lift up your face without spot; yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear; because you would forget your misery, and remember it as waters that have passed away, and your life would be brighter than noonday” (vv.13-17). Zophar thought he was giving Job the remedy for his depressed condition, but his diagnosis was totally wrong and his remedy was therefore not what Job needed.
Yet he is sure that if Job would simply take his advice, the results would be of great blessing to Job. He would be secure and take rest in safety, he would lie down without fear, and many would court his favour (vv.18-19). Before Job’s deep trial, many indeed had sought Job’s favour, and Zophar thought that since this was not true now, the only reason could be Job’s falling into sin. In fact, he implies this in adding, “But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope – loss of life!” (v.20). He is warning Job that if he does not take Zophar’s advice he will not escape, but end in dreadful judgment.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
5. Zophar’s first speech ch. 11
Zophar took great offense at what Job had said. He responded viciously with an aggressiveness that outdid both Eliphaz and Bildad. Zophar was a dogmatist.
"He . . . attempted heavy handed shock treatment to get through to Job." [Note: Smick, "Job," p. 917.]
"The Naamathite is the least engaging of Job’s three friends. There is not a breath of compassion in his speech. . . . His censorious chiding shows how little he has sensed Job’s hurt. Job’s bewilderment and his outbursts are natural; in them we find his humanity, and our own. Zophar detaches the words from the man, and hears them only as babble and mockery (Job 11:2). This is quite unfair. Zophar’s wisdom is a bloodless retreat into theory. It is very proper, theologically familiar and unobjectionable. But it is flat beer compared with Job’s seismic sincerity." [Note: Andersen, p. 156.]
"What Job needed was a helping hand, not a slap in the face." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 26]
"How sad it is when people who should share ministry end up creating misery." [Note: Ibid. Cf. Romans 12:15.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Zophar’s rebuke of Job 11:1-6
Four things about Job bothered Zophar: his loquacity (Job 11:2), his boasting (Job 11:3), his self-righteousness (Job 11:4), and his ignorance (Job 11:5). Job 11:5-6 are full of sarcasm. Zophar believed Job deserved much worse punishment than God was giving him (Job 11:6 b).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
XI.
A FRESH ATTEMPT TO CONVICT
Job 11:1-20
ZOPHAR SPEAKS
THE third and presumably youngest of the three friends of Job now takes up the argument somewhat in the same strain as the others. With no wish to be unfair to Zophar we are somewhat prepossessed against him from the outset; and the writer must mean us to be so, since he makes him attack Job as an empty babbler:-
“Shall not the multitude of words be answered?
And shall a man of lips be justified?
Shall thy boastings make people silent,
So that thou mayest mock on, none putting thee to shame?”
True it was, Job had used vehement speech. Yet it is a most insulting suggestion that he meant little but irreligious bluster. The special note of Zophar comes out in his rebuke of Job for the mockery, that is, sceptical talk, in which he had indulged. Persons who merely rehearse opinions are usually the most dogmatic and take most upon them. Nobody reckons himself more able to detect error in doctrine, nobody denounces rationalism and infidelity with greater confidence, than the man whose creed is formal, who never applied his mind directly to the problems of faith, and has but a moderate amount of mind to apply. Zophar, indeed, is a man of considerable intelligence; but he betrays himself. To him Jobs words have been wearisome. He may have tried to understand the matter, but he has caught only a general impression that, in the face of what appears to him clearest evidence, Job denies being any way amenable to justice. He had dared to say to God, “Thou knowest that I am not wicked.” What? God can afflict a man whom He knows to be righteous! It is a doctrine as profane as it is novel. Eliphaz and Bildad supposed that they had to deal with a man unwilling to humble himself in the way of acknowledging sins hitherto concealed. By pressure of one kind or another they hoped to get Job to realise his secret transgression. But Zophar has noted the whole tendency of his argument to be heretical. “Thou sayest, My doctrine is pure.” And what is that doctrine? Why, that thou wast clean in the eyes of God, that God has smitten thee without cause. Dost thou mean, O Job! to accuse the Most High of acting in that manner? Oh that God would speak and open His lips against thee! Thou hast expressed a desire to state thy case to Him. The result would be very different from thy expectation.
Now, beneath any mistaken view held by sincere persons there is almost always a sort of foundation of truth; and they have at least as much logic as satisfies themselves. Jobs friends are religious men; they do not consciously build on lies. One and all they are convinced that God is invariable in His treatment of men, never afflicting the innocent, always dealing out judgment in the precise measure of a mans sin. That belief is the basis of their creed. They could not worship a God less than absolutely just. Beginning the religious life with this faith they have clung to it all along. After thirty or forty years experience they are still confident that their principle explains the prosperity and affliction, the circumstances of all human beings. But have they never seen anything that did not harmonise with this view of providence? Have they not seen the good die in youth, and those whose hearts are dry as summer dust burn to their sockets? Have they not seen vile schemes prosper, and the schemers enjoy their ill-gotten power for years? It is strange the old faith has not been shaken at least. But no! They come to the case of Job as firmly convinced as ever that the Ruler of the world shows His justice by dispensing joy and suffering in proportion to mens good and evil deeds, that whenever trouble falls on any one some sin must have been committed which deserved precisely this kind and quantity of suffering.
Trying to get at the source of the belief we must confess ourselves partly at a loss. One writer suggests that there may have been in the earlier and simpler conditions of society a closer correspondence between wrong doing and suffering than is to be seen nowadays. There may be something in this. But life is not governed differently at different epochs, and the theory is hardly proved by what we know of the ancient world. No doubt in the history of the Hebrews, which lies behind the faith attributed to the friends of Job, a connection may be traced between their wrong doing as a nation and their suffering as a nation. When they fell away from faith in God their obedience languished, their vigour failed, the end of their existence being lost sight of, and so they became the prey of enemies. But this did not apply to individuals. The good suffered along with the careless and wicked in seasons of national calamity. And the history of the people of Israel would support such a view of the Divine government so long only as national transgression and its punishment were alone taken into account. Now, however, the distinction between the nation and the individual has clearly emerged. The sin of a community can no longer explain satisfactorily the sufferings of a member of the community, faithful among the unbelieving.
But the theory seems to have been made out rather by the following course of argument. Always in the administration of law and the exercise of paternal authority, transgression has been visited with pain and deprivation of privilege. The father whose son has disobeyed him inflicts pain, and, if he is a judicious father, makes the pain proportionate to the offence. The ruler, through his judges and officers, punishes transgression according to some orderly code. Malefactors are deprived of liberty; they are fined or scourged, or, in the last resort, executed. Now, having in this way built up a system of law which inflicts punishment with more or less justice in proportion to the offence imputed, men take for granted that what they do imperfectly is done perfectly by God. They take for granted that the calamities and troubles He appoints are ordained according to the same principle, with precisely the same design, as penalty is inflicted by a father, a chief, or a king. The reasoning is contradicted in many ways, but they disregard the difficulties. If this is not the truth, what other explanation is to be found? The desire for happiness is keen; pain seems the worst of evils: and they fail to see that endurance can be the means of good. Feeling themselves bound to maintain the perfect righteousness of God they affirm the only theory of suffering that seems to agree with it.
Now, Zophar, like the others full of this theory, admits that Job may have failed to see his transgression. But in that case the sufferer is unable to distinguish right from wrong. Indeed, his whole contention seems to Zophar to show ignorance. If God were to speak and reveal the secrets of His holy wisdom, twice as deep, twice as penetrating as Job supposes, the sins he has denied would be brought home to him. He would know that God requires less of him than his iniquity deserves. Zophar hints, what is very true, that our judgment of our own conduct is imperfect. How can we trace the real nature of our actions, or know how they look to the sublime wisdom of the Most High? Job appears to have forgotten all this. He refuses to allow fault in himself. But God knows better.
Here is a cunning argument to fortify the general position. It could always be said of a case which presented difficulties that, while the sufferer seemed innocent, yet the wisdom of God, “twofold in understanding” (Job 11:6) as compared with that of man, perceived guilt and ordained the punishment. But the argument proved too much, for Zophars own health and comfort contradicted his dogma. He took for granted that the twofold wisdom of the Almighty found nothing wrong in him. It was a naive piece of forgetfulness. Could he assert that his life had no flaw? Hardly. But then, why is he in honour? How had he been able to come riding on his camel, attended by his servants, to sit in judgment on Job? Plainly, on an argument like his, no man could ever be in comfort or pleasure, for human nature is always defective, always in more or less of sin. Repentance never overtakes the future. Therefore God who deals with man on a broad basis could never treat him save as a sinner, to be kept in pain and deprivation. If suffering is the penalty of sin we ought all, notwithstanding the atonement of Christ, to be suffering the pain of the hour for the defect of the hour, since “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” At this rate mans life-again despite the atonement-would be continued trial and sentence. From all which it is evident that the world is governed on another plan than that which satisfied Jobs friends.
Zophar rises to eloquence in declaring the unsearchableness of Divine wisdom.
“Canst thou find the depths of Eloah?
Canst thou reach to the end of Shaddai?
Heights of heaven!
What canst thou do?
Deeper than Sheol!
What canst thou know?
The measure thereof is longer than the earth,
Broader is it than the sea.”
Here is fine poetry; but with an attempt at theology the speaker goes astray, for he conceives God as doing what he himself wishes to do, namely, prove Job a sinner. The Divine greatness is invoked that a narrow scheme of thought may be justified. If God pass by, if He arrest, if He hold assize, who can hinder Him? Supreme wisdom and infinite power admit no questioning, no resistance. God knoweth vain or wicked men at a glance. One look and all is plain to him. Empty man will be wise in these matters “when a wild asss colt is born a man.”
Turning from this, as if in recollection that he has to treat Job with friendliness, Zophar closes like the other two with a promise. If Job will put away sin, his life shall be established again, his misery forgotten or remembered as a torrent of spring when the heat of summer comes.
Thou shalt forget thy misery;
Remember it as waters that have passed by;
And thy life shall rise brighter than noonday;
And if darkness fall, it shall be as the morning.
Thou shalt then have confidence because there is hope;
Yea, look around and take rest in safety,
Also lie down and none shall affray thee,
And many shall make suit unto thee.
But the eyes of the wicked fail;
For them no way of escape.
And their hope is to breathe out the spirit.
Rhetoric and logic are used in promises given freely by all the speakers. But not one of them has any comfort for his friend while the affliction lasts. The author does not allow one of them to say, God is thy friend, God is thy portion now; He still cares for thee. In some of the psalms a higher note is heard: “There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.” The friends of Job are full of pious intentions, yet they state a most unspiritual creed, the foundation of it laid in corn and wine. Peace of conscience and quiet confidence in God are not what they go by. Hence the sufferer finds no support in them or their promises. They will not help him to live one day, nor sustain him in dying. For it is the light of Gods countenance he desires to see. He is only mocked and exasperated by their arguments; and in the course of his own eager thought the revelation comes like a star of hope rising on the midnight of his soul.
Though Zophar fails like the other two, he is not to be called a mere echo. It is incorrect to say that, while Eliphaz is a kind of prophet and Bildad a sage, Zophar is a commonplace man without ideas. On the contrary, he is a thinker, something of a philosopher, although, of course, greatly restricted by his narrow creed. He is stringent, bitter indeed. But he has the merit of seeing a certain force in Jobs contention which he does not fairly meet. It is a fresh suggestion that the answer must lie in the depth of that penetrating wisdom of the Most High, compared to which mans wisdom is vain. Then, his description of the return of blessedness and prosperity, when one examines it, is found distinctly in advance of Eliphazs picture in moral colouring and gravity of treatment. We must not fail to notice, moreover, that Zophar speaks of the omniscience of God more than of His omnipotence; and the closing verse describes the end of the wicked not as the result of a supernatural stroke or a sudden calamity, but as a process of natural and spiritual decay.
The closing words of Zophars speech point to the finality of death, and bear the meaning that if Job were to die now of his disease the whole question of his character would be closed. It is important to note this, because it enters into Jobs mind and affects his expressions of desire. Never again does he cry for release as before. If he names death it is as a sorrowful fate he must meet or a power he will defy. He advances to one point after another of reasserted energy, to the resolution that, whatever death may do, either in the underworld or beyond it, he will wait for vindication or assert his right.