Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 20:4
Knowest thou [not] this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
4 10. The prosperity of the wicked is brief
4. Knowest thou not this old ] i. e. knowest thou not this to be or to have been of old, lit. from for ever. “This” which is from of old and from the time man has been upon the earth is the fact that the felicity of the wicked is brief ( Job 20:5). On “hypocrite” see ch. Job 8:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Knowest thou not this of old – That is, dost thou not know that this has always happened from the beginning of the world, or that this is the invariable course of events. His purpose is to show that it was the settled arrangement of Providence that the wicked would be overtaken with signal calamity. It was so settled that Job ought not to be surprised that it had occurred in his case. Zophar goes on to show that though a wicked man might rise high in honor, and obtain great wealth, yet that the fall would certainly come, and he would sink to a depth of degradation corresponding to the former prosperity.
Since man was placed upon earth – Since the creation; that is, it has always been so.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 20:4-5
That the triumphing of the wicked is short.
The triumph of the wicked
The words of the text are indisputably true, though misapplied. In the world there is, alas! very often a triumphing of the wicked. Sometimes We see it on a grand scale, as in the cases of Pharaoh, or of Nero. Sometimes we see it on a small scale. There is great mystery in this apparent triumph of evil. Many a suffering saint has been perplexed by this feature of the Divine government (Psa 23:1-6).
I. Some thoughts as to why the wicked should be allowed to triumph for a season.
1. God is a God of patience and long-suffering. He does not cut short the day of grace, even of the most ungodly, but gives them space for repentance. And even if this is of no avail, yet it is a display of His own attributes, and leaves the impenitent more completely without excuse.
2. This triumph may be permitted for a time, as a chastisement to His people, or to His world. God uses the wicked as unconscious instruments in executing His will, and especially in inflicting chastisement on His backsliding people.
II. There is another, and how different a triumph, the triumph of the Christian. His triumph is not over the weak and suffering, but over the strong–the world, the flesh, the devil. (George Wagner.)
The triumphing of the wicked short
I. The triumph mentioned. The term used by Zophar is of very general meaning. It signifies the joy which is displayed by the conqueror on account of the successes which have attended him. It is to be understood as referring to the boast which ungodly men often make of their achievements. The term applies to the general conduct of all those who set Gods laws at defiance, and by their life show who take pleasure in the ways of sin. The enjoyment of transgression is the triumph of ungodliness.
II. The shortness of the triumphs of man.
1. In regard to the object itself. It is a conquest which circumstances put into their hands. But see how unstable is war.
2. The expression is also true as it regards the term of human life. The period allotted to man, even the longest period, is only a small portion of time. Death will soon overtake the ungodly, and put a final termination to all his plans and purposes; he will hurry the soul before the Judge of quick and dead, to give account of the deeds done in the body. Then will appear the value of the one thing needful. This subject teaches the people of God not to despond, not to judge or conclude that the wicked are happy, because they seem to prosper and triumph. It teaches the believer the obligations under which he lies to God for grace–grace which has enlightened his mind–grace which has led him to Christ, to believe in Him, and find mercy and peace–grace which has guided his steps, and enabled him to bear patiently all the ills of life, in the hope of a triumph forever. (F. Rogers Blackley.)
And the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.
Against hypocrisy
Prejudice or passion will miserably warp the judgment. It will hide from us what we know not, and cause us to pervert what we do know. This is exemplified in the friends of Job. Job had hinted to them the evil and danger of their conduct (Job 19:28-29). And Zophar, irritated at the caution, replies with great severity. His words, however, though misapplied, suggest to us two very important truths respecting sinners.
I. Their prosperity is transient. Of sinners, some make no profession of religion, and others a false profession. Each of these characters may enjoy, for a while, great prosperity the profane are often exalted to places of dignity and power. They prosper in all their labours for wealth and preferment. They triumph, as though no evil should ever happen unto them (Psa 73:3-12). Hypocrites also frequently are held in estimation (Rev 3:1). They are objects of envy to many an humble and contrite soul. They will boast of experiences which might well be coveted. And even attain considerable heights of joy (Mat 13:20). But their prosperity will be of short duration. The hypocrite shall have a period put to his dissimulation. He shall soon appear in his proper character (Deu 32:35). In comparison of eternity, the duration of his joy will be but a moment.
II. their ruin will be tremendous. The ungodly will in due time be visited for their offences. They will then perish.
1. To their own eternal shame.
2. To the astonishment of all that knew them. The question Where is he? refers primarily to the utter extinction of the ungodly. Address–Know you not this? Know you not that this has been so from the beginning of the world? Does not the Word of God assert that it shall be ill with the wicked? (Isa 3:11; Psa 9:17.) Does not the most authentic history in the world prove it to have been so? (Sketches of Sermons.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Knowest thou not this of old] This is a maxim as ancient as the world; it began with the first man: A wicked man shall triumph but a short time; God will destroy the proud doer.
Since man was placed upon earth] Literally, since ADAM was placed on the earth; that is, since the fall, wickedness and hypocrisy have existed; but they have never triumphed long. Thou hast lately been expressing confidence in reference to a general judgment; but such is thy character, that thou hast little reason to anticipate with any joy the decisions of that day.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. This which I am now about to say. How canst thou,
thou, I say, who pretendest to such an exact and universal knowledge of men and things, be ignorant of so notorious a thing, which wicked men sensibly feel, and good men diligently observe, and all men are forced to acknowledge, one time or other?
Of old, i.e. from the experience of all former ages.
Since man was placed upon earth, i.e. since the world was made, and there were any men to observe Gods government of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Knowest thou [not] this of old,…. Or “from eternity” g, from the beginning of time, ever since the world was; as if he should say, if you are the knowing man you pretend to be, you must know this I am about to observe; and if you do not know it, you must be an ignorant man, since it is an ancient truth, confirmed by all experience from the creation; not that Job could know it so early, he was not the first man that was born, nor was he made before the hills, but was of yesterday, and comparatively knew nothing; but the sense is, that this about to be delivered was an old established maxim, of which there had been numerous instances,
since man, or “Adam”,
was placed upon earth; referring to the putting of Adam in Eden to dress the garden, and keep it; and every man, ever since, is placed on earth by the ordination, and according to the will of God, where and for purposes he pleases: the instances Zophar might have in view are perhaps the expulsion of our first parents out of paradise, the vagabond state of Cain, the destruction of the old world by a flood, and of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven; which show that God, sooner or later, gives manifest tokens of his displeasure at sin and sinners, by his punishment of them for it. What he means is as follows.
g “ab aeterno”, Junius & Tremellius, Drusius, Codurcus, Schmidt, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Knowest thou this This gives the only sign of a reply that either he or his friends deign to make to the grand confession of faith, I know, etc. (Job 19:25-27.) Zophar regarded Job as a consummate hypocrite, and worthy of fiercest rebuke, rather than of “the communion of saints.” In this lies, probably, their profound silence with regard to Job’s proposed inscription on the rock. Or, if Zophar reply at all, it is to remind Job that the coming of the Goel shall be to take vengeance on the wicked, such as Job, (Job 20:26,) and hence the greater reason why he should repent. Job’s wisdom is not “from eternity,” nor does it date back to the creation of man, as is evident from his not knowing that the triumphing of the wicked is short. The question is intensely ironical. Job knows so much of what will take place after death, and yet knows nothing of this world. He knows that God cares for “the dust” of such hypocrites as he, and yet does not know that the triumphing of the wicked is for a moment. If with his “understanding” he grasp the eternity to come, he must have been from eternity himself.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 20:4-7. Knowest thou not, &c. The latter clause of Job 20:4 might as well have been rendered, Since Adam was placed on the earth. There is no reason to doubt but that this passage refers to the fall, and the first sin of man; the date agrees; for the knowledge here taught is said to arise from facts as old as the first placing man upon earth: the sudden punishment of the iniquity corresponds to the Mosaic account; the triumphing of the wicked is short, his joy but for a moment. Above all, the nature of the crime, and of the punishment here described, are strong presumptions on this side: Adam’s ambition was, to be like God, and he had the tempter’s word to assure him that he should be so: how aptly is this ambition described in the passage before us: Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds! that is, as the Syriac and Arabic versions render the verse, “Though in his pride he ascend up to heaven, yet shall he perish for ever.” Adam’s punishment was death: To dust shalt thou return. The punishment, as described in this book, is, He shall perish for ever: but how, or in what manner? Why, like his own dung; i.e. by returning to earth again. That the Chaldee paraphrast understood this whole passage to relate to the fall, seems evident by his expression in the 4th verse, where he takes notice, of the accuser or tempter, as well as of the offenders: Gaudium impiorum finitur cito, et laetitia delatoris ad momentum; the joy of the impious finishes quickly; and the gladness of the accuser at the moment. What delator, or accuser, do we read of at the time of Adam’s being placed upon the earth, except the tempter? to whom the name of the adversary, or accuser, was afterwards appropriated; and it is the character, in this very book, of the spirit permitted to plague and torment Job: which is one evidence, by the bye, that the paraphrast understood the same person to have been concerned in both cases, in the tempting of Adam, and in the tormenting of Job. Our own version, the Vulgate, and Montanus’s, agree in one sense; the joy of the HYPOCRITE is but for a moment: but who is this hypocrite, appearing at the very first placing upon earth? It was neither Eve nor Adam: they were bold and hardy, and distrustful of God, but showed no guile or hypocrisy in the whole transaction. But the tempter’s part was all hypocrisy: he shewed great concern for the prosperity of those whom he meant to destroy, and well deserves this character; and the Chaldee paraphrast has reason for fixing it upon him. See Bishop Sherlock’s Use and Intent of Prophesy, Dissert. 2: p. 209.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 470
AGAINST HYPOCRISY
Job 20:4-7. Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
PREJUDICE or passion will miserably warp the judgment. It will hide from us what we might know, and cause us to pervert what we do know. Never was this more strongly exemplified than in the friends of Job. Had they calmly considered, they might have comforted him in his affliction; but, by a hasty misapplication of acknowledged truths, they most unjustly and cruelly condemned him. Job had hinted to them the evil and danger of their conduct [Note: Job 19:28-29.]. And Zophar, irritated at the caution, replies with great severity. His words, however, though misapplied, suggest to us two very important truths respecting sinners:
I.
Their prosperity is transient
Of sinners, some make no profession of religion, and others a false profession. Each of these characters may enjoy, for a while, great prosperity
[The profane are often exalted to places of dignity and power: they prosper in all their labours for wealth and preferment. They not only despise, but perhaps persecute the godly: they triumph, as though no evil should ever happen unto them. This the Psalmist saw with deep regret [Note: Psa 73:3-12.].
Hypocrites also frequently are held in estimation [Note: Rev 3:1.]. They are objects of envy to many an humble and contrite soul. They will boast of experiences which might well be coveted; and even attain considerable heights of joy [Note: Mat 13:20.]. Their excellency may mount up to the heavens, and their heads reach unto the clouds.]
But their prosperity will be of short duration
[Death will speedily seize upon the most stout-hearted sinner. Then all, which he gloried in, shall come to an end. None of his pomp shall follow him, or his wealth be carried with him. The hypocrite also shall have a period put to his dissimulation: he shall soon appear in his proper character. The all-seeing God will discover the secrets of his heart. Nor is this time at any great distance [Note: Deu 32:35.]: in comparison of eternity, the duration of his joy will be but a moment.]
Then will they experience a sad reverse
II.
Their ruin will be tremendous
The ungodly will in due time be visited for their offences. They will then perish;
1.
To their own eternal shame
[Many portions of Scripture appear to us indelicate; but Gods representations of sin are surely just, and well calculated to make us nauseate and lothe it. Such is his description of the ways of sinners [Note: 2Pe 2:22.]; and such his declaration respecting their end [Note: Compare Rev 3:16. with the text.]. They will perish under circumstances of disgrace and ignominy. Christ will not deign to own them before his Father [Note: Mat 10:33.]. The angels will come forth to execute the vengeance of God upon them. The saints would even thrust them out of heaven if they should seek admittance there [Note: Luk 13:28.]. The damned themselves will insult them with bitter taunts [Note: Isa 14:9-16.]: nor shall they ever cease to be objects of contempt and abhorrence. This is told us in the plainest terms [Note: Pro 13:5. Dan 12:2.]. Nor, while they retain, as they must, their character, is it possible that their situation ever should be changed [Note: Rev 22:11.].]
2.
To the astonishment of all that knew them
[The question, Where is he? refers primarily to the utter extinction of the ungodly; but it may well be considered also as an expression of surprise. The wicked little think where their course will terminate. If the rich mans request had been granted [Note: Luk 16:23; Luk 16:27-28.], what reply would his surviving brethren have made so soon as that in the text [Note: They would most probably have exclaimed, Where it he! in hell! lifting up his eyes in torments! Is it really so? We never could have thought it: we had no doubt but that he was happy: he seemed to us as worthy and blameless a character as any: nor had he himself any doubts but that he was going to heaven.]? The hypocrites also often escape detection in this world. Perhaps they were celebrated, after their departure, as eminent saints. We may conceive that their dearest friends, or their associates in holy exercises, may inquire after them in heaven. What surprise and horror must seize them, when they hear of the doom which the heart-searching God has passed upon them [Note: If a Minister is to have those as his joy and crown of rejoicing, who were truly converted by his ministry, we may, not improperly, suppose a degree of disappointment, if he miss those, concerning whom he had entertained the most sanguine hopes. We may suppose him, upon the first discovery, to say, Where is he! What, he in hell! I often feared that I myself should go thither; but who would have ever thought that HE should? The Lord grant that this may never be realized by any of us!]!]
AddressKnow you not this?
Know you not that this has been so from the beginning of the world?
[Does not the word of God assert, that it shall be ill with the wicked [Note: Isa 3:11. Psa 9:17.]? Does not the most authentic history in the world prove it to have been so [Note: Where are now the antediluvian scoffers, the haughty Pharaoh, the treacherous Judas, the worldly-minded Demas, the heretical Hymeneus? &c.]? Does not conscience itself testify that it shall be so still?]
If you know, do you not consider this?
[Can any thing be more worthy of our consideration? If we have but a moment, should we not improve that moment? Are we willing to perish in this ignominious and awful manner?]
Let us live no longer in the neglect of religion
[The gratifications of sense can last but for a little time; but the consequences of neglecting God will endure for ever. Surely the care of the soul is the one thing needful.]
Nor let us rest in a form of godliness without experiencing its power
[It will avail us little to deceive our fellow-creatures. The higher we have been in their estimation, the deeper will be our disgrace. Let us then go to Christ for the remission of past sins: let us approve ourselves to him in future, as servants that need not be ashamed, and labour to be sincere and without offence until his coming again.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(4) Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, (5) That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? (6) Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; (7) Yet he shall perish forever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? (8) He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. (9) The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place anymore behold him. (10) His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. (11) His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. (12) Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; (13) Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: (14) Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. (15) He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. (16) He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him. (17) He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. (18) That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein. (19) Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; (20) Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. (21) There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. (22) In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. (23) When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. (24) He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. (25) It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. (26) All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. (27) The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. (28) The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. (29) This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
I have not interrupted the perusal of the whole discourse of Zophar’s, for there is no break in it from beginning to end. The observations arising out of it, therefore, are general observations, which may as well be taken in one point of view as separately. The chief scope of his preaching is, to show the misery of the wicked, and the prosperity of the righteous. And if Zophar had connected the subject as referring to this life and another, and then insisted upon it that wickedness, must sooner or later, produce misery, all would have been well. But by confining his observations to the limits of this life only, and going upon that ground, that GOD never did, nor ever would afflict the righteous, he miserably mistake’s the truths of GOD, and the universal experience of the faithful in all ages. Had he read the history of the Patriarchs, the cruel treatment of Joseph; the bondage of Israel in Egypt, and the like, he would have found the fallacy of his arguments; or had he known, what we know, of JESUS and his sorrows. And the Reader will take notice I hope, that to this ignorance, must be ascribed all the ill reasoning of all the discourses of Job’s three friends. If we keep this therefore in view as we read their sermons, then we shall learn how to make the suitable improvements from them, and under this restriction, we shall find many striking observations, well deserving our notice and regard. How beautifully doth Zophar describe, the wretched state of even the most prosperous sinner. How short are his triumphs; how fleeting and unsubstantial all his joy. Though he maketh his nest on high, and his head reacheth the clouds, yet this is only to make his fall more grievous and heavy. His name, his dwelling place, his memory, how soon forgotten. His sins lie down with him in the grave. His conscience, his thoughts, his whole heart always in alarm. What a finished representation of misery, doth Zophar give of the miserable state of wicked men while they live, and of the terrors in which they often die. But as the discourse of Zophar was directed personally to Job in all this, how unkind and unjust was the whole of his reasonings. How much sweeter is that short, but decisive passage of GOD by the prophet; Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. Isa 3:10-11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 20:4 Knowest thou [not] this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
Ver. 4. Knowest thou not this of old ] Whether Zophar intended his own conscience or not before, he here appealeth to Job’s; and secretly taxeth him of going against it, or, at least, of gross ignorance; knowest thou not this, which every one knoweth that is not a mere novice, and which is proved by the examples and experiences of all ages? to wit, Malis male esse, that it shall be ill with the wicked. This is a generally received maxim, and the histories of all ages do plainly and plentifully confirm it. Hinc collige, diligenter observanda esse, &c. (Merlin). Hence we may well gather, that God’s judgments against wicked persons are to be diligently observed out of the histories of all ages, both divine and human.
Since man was placed upon the earth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Knowest thou not this? This was Zophar’s reply to Job in Job 19:25, implying that Job had no such hope.
of old = from of old.
man. Hebrew. ‘adam. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thou not: Job 8:8, Job 8:9, Job 15:10, Job 32:7
man: Gen 1:28, Gen 9:1-3, Psa 115:16
Reciprocal: Joh 9:32 – the world
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 20:4-5. Knowest thou not this Which I am now about to say; of old From the experience of all former ages; since man was placed upon the earth Since the world was made, and there were any men to observe Gods government of it; that the triumphing of the wicked is short Hebrew, , mikarob, is from near, that is, from, or for a little time; they have not long enjoyed it, and it will shortly vanish. And the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment This he adds by way of reflection upon Job, who, though he cleared himself of gross wickedness, yet, he judged, was guilty of deep hypocrisy.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The brief prosperity of the wicked 20:4-11
Zophar reminded Job that everyone knew the wicked only prosper for a short time (cf. Job 15:29). Job 20:5 is his thesis statement. The description of the wicked that Zophar proceeded to draw fit Job very well, and it must have wounded him deeply. The life of the wicked is brief (Job 20:4-11), their pleasure is temporary (Job 20:12-19), and their death is painful (Job 20:20-29). [Note: Wiersbe, pp. 42-44.]