0164. Zophar the Naamathite

Zophar the Naamathite

"Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said" (Job_11:1).

Zophar, the Naamathite, is the man who professes to walk in the light. He is on close terms with God. He knows all about how to help poor Job.

1. He tells Job, "O, that God would speak and open His lips against thee." Zophar’s second speech is even more bitter.

"The triumphing of the wicked is short,

And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. * *

They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?

He shall fly away as a dream and not be found,

Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. * *

The Heaven shall reveal his iniquity,

And the earth shall rise up against him."

Zophar knows nothing of the imputed righteousness of Christ. He can think of Job only as a sinner under wrath. He breathes in his first speech one ray of light–that if Job would prepare his heart and stretch out his hands, and put away his iniquity; he might have hope.

But one thing is foreign to Zophar’s eyes. When Balaam would have cursed Israel; he, instead, spoke only good of Israel. Why? Because God had hold of Balaam’s mouth and spoke forth His words. Therefore Balaam said: "God hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel."

God looks at His children through the Blood of the Cross. Our sins are on Him. He has borne them all away. We are an unclean thing, but He hath made us white as snow. We are hidden in Him; and who can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?

Zophar has no vision of God as "a gracious God," and no vision of God in mercy toward the guilty.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR