Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 20:20
Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
20. quietness in his belly ] Rather as above. The belly is the seat of appetite; the words mean, because he felt and displayed a restless insatiable greediness.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Surely he shall not feel quietness – Margin, as in the Hebrew know. The sense is, he shall not know peace or tranquility. He shall be agitated and troubled. Wemyss, however, renders this, Because his appetite could not be satisfied. Noyes, Because his avarice was insatiable. So Rosenmuller explains it. So the Vulgate renders it, Nec est satiatus renter ejus. The Septuagint, Neither is there safety to his property, nor shall he be saved by his desire. But it seems to me that the former is the sense, and that the idea is, that he should not know peace or tranquility after he had obtained the things which he had so anxiously sought.
In his belly – Within him; in his mind or heart. The viscera in general in the Scriptures are regarded as the seat of the affections. We confine the idea now to the heart.
He shall not save of that which he desired – literally, he shall not escape with that which was an object of desire. He shall not be delivered from the evils which threaten him by obtaining that which he desired. All this shall be taken from him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly] I have already remarked that the word beten, which we translate belly, often means in the sacred Scriptures the whole of the human trunk; the regions of the thorax and abdomen, with their contents; the heart, lungs, liver, c., and consequently all the thoughts, purposes, and inclinations of the mind, of which those viscera were supposed to be the functionaries. The meaning seems to be, “He shall never be satisfied he shall have an endless desire after secular good, and shall never be able to obtain what he covets.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He shall not feel quietness in his belly, i.e. he shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his mind in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty conscience knoweth that he deserves; and partly because they shall be speedily taken away from him. He still continueth the metaphor of a glutton, whose belly is not quiet until it hath vomited up that wherewith he had oppressed it.
Of that which he desired, i.e. any part of his good and desirable things, but he shall forfeit and lose them all.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. UMBREITtranslates, “His inward parts know no rest” from desires.
his bellythat is,peace inwardly.
not saveliterally,”not escape with that which,” &c., alluding toJob’s having been stripped of his all.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly,…. Or happiness in his children, so some in Bar Tzemach; rather shall have no satisfaction in his substance; though his belly is filled with hid treasure, it shall give him no contentment; he shall be a stranger to that divine art, but ever have a restless craving after more, which is his sin; but rather punishment is here meant, and the sense is, that he shall have no quiet in his conscience, no peace of mind, because of his sin in getting riches in an unlawful way:
he shall not save of that which he desired; of his desirable things, his goods, his wealth, his riches, and even his children, all being gone, and none saved; respect may be had particularly to Job’s case, who was stripped of everything, of all his substance and his children.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(20) Quietness in his belly.Because he knew no quietness within him, (Comp. Isa. 57:20-21.) he shall not save ought of that which he desireth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. That which he desired Because he knew no rest in his craving, (literally, belly,) he shall not escape with his dearest; meaning, perhaps, the children of Job. Hitzig strains the Hebrew when he translates it, “what he desires, escapes him not.” In this and the preceding verses Zophar insinuates that Job was extortionate and grasping; this accounted for the completeness of the destruction.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 20:20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
Ver. 20. Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly ] i.e. Peace in his conscience, satisfaction in his soul; but as he is still coveting more, being sick of a dropsy or bulimy, as it were; so he hath many inward gripings and grabbings, worse than any belly ache or sickness of the stomach; he never eateth to the satisfying of his soul, as the righteous man doth, but the belly of the wicked shall want, Pro 13:25 . His meat is so sauced, and his drink so spiced, with the wrath of God, that he hath no joy of it. His belly is pained, his mind is in perpetual turmoil, while, like a ship laden, but not filled up, he hath enough to sink him, but not enough to satisfy him.
He shall not save of that which he desired
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
feel = know, or experience.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 20:20-29
Job 20:20-29
ZOPHAR’S PROPHECY OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION FOR JOB
“Because he knew no quietness within him,
He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.
There was nothing left that he devoured not;
Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
The hand of everyone that is in misery shall come upon him.
When he is about to fill his belly,
God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him,
And will rain it upon him while he is eating.
He shall flee from the iron weapon,
And the bow of brass shall strike him through.
He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body;
Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall:
Terrors are upon him.
All darkness is laid up for his treasures:
Afire not blown by man shall devour him;
It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
The heavens shall reveal his iniquity,
And the earth shall rise up against him.
The increase of his house shall depart;
His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the heritage appointed unto him by God.”
“He draweth it forth” (Job 20:25). The reference is to an arrow, the projectile discharged by the bow. The picture is that of a fatal wound.
“The heavens shall reveal his iniquity” (Job 20:27). “This is a direct contradiction of the great hope expressed by Job in Job 19:25; and this serves here, in case there should have been any doubt in Job’s mind, to identify Job as the `wicked man’ Zophar is talking about throughout this chapter.”
It is most significant that Zophar contradicted Job 19:25. That “great hope” as Kline called it, was far more than a “hope.” It was a confident assurance expressed in the boldest and most dogmatic terms, “I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER L1VETH” Satan’s anger and savage hatred at once appeared in Zophar’s lying interruption.
Zophar’s speech was satanic, oriented absolutely against all truth. “His speech contains no hint that the wicked might repent, make amends, and again be restored to God’s favor.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 20:19-20. A glance at the statements of God as to the righteousness of Job (Ch. 1:8) will show this paragraph to be a false accusation.
Job 20:21-22. Just at the time when Job was the most prosperous it was all taken from him. All of this was a true statement but it was not for the reason that Zophar was contending it to have been.
Job 20:23-24. This passage shows a false claim. Job did not “flee” from the condition in the sense of resenting it. Instead, his attitude was indicated by the wonderful expression found in Ch. 13:15.
Job 20:25. This verse was supposed to describe Job as being like a man who ran from a weapon but who was overtaken by it. That was another false claim although the affliction had been great enough to be compared to the worst of weapons.
Job 20:26. Fire not blown means a weak fire, one not fanned into a strong blaze. Even such a weak fire would consume Job because he was unworthy to survive. The last of the verse means that any who might wish to remain with Job would be brought down.
Job 20:27-29. There is nothing new in this paragraph. It repeats the same line so often let out before and describes the lot of any man who would disobey God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Surely: Ecc 5:13, Ecc 5:14, Isa 57:20, Isa 57:21
feel: Heb. know
Reciprocal: Lev 25:14 – General Psa 109:18 – so let Pro 10:3 – but Luk 12:20 – God Rom 11:9 – their table
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 20:20. Surely he shall not feel quietness, &c. He shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his mind, in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty conscience assures him he deserves, and partly because they shall be speedily taken away from him. He shall not save of that which he desired That is, any part of his good and desirable things, but he shall forfeit and lose them all.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God’s swift judgment of the wicked 20:20-29
Zophar explained that while the wicked greedily fill their own bellies, God sends His anger into their bowels (Job 20:23). In other words, the poor health that accompanies overindulgence is God’s instrument of judgment on the wealthy wicked. If God does not punish him this way, he will still not escape, because God will catch him some other way (Job 20:24-25; cf. Job 16:13). After he died, God would burn up his possessions and family in judgment as He already had done in Job’s case (Job 20:26; cf. ch. 1). Rather than anticipating divine vindication on the earth, Job should expect God to reveal his iniquity and the earth to rise up against him (Job 20:27; cf. Job 16:18-19).
Was Zophar correct in his assessment of the wicked person’s fate? He was correct in saying that God judges sin, but he was wrong in claiming that God’s judgment always takes place during our earthly lifetime. He was also inaccurate in saying that Job was the type of person he described.