Chapter 20

Zophar sheweth the state and portion of the wicked.

1. Then answered Zophar. This is Zophar’s second speech. His purpose is to show that no matter how high a wicked man may be exalted, no matter how prosperous he may become, God will humble him and cause him to suffer. The application to Job is too obvious to be overlooked. Chapter 19 has closed with a warning from the lips of Job. Zophar resents Job’s shifting the menace of punishment onto his friends, when Zophar is certain that Job alone is guilty.

2. My thoughts. Zophar’s thoughts are not calm reflection or profound meditation. He is agitated. His thoughts seem to be tumbling over each other for expression.

I make haste. Zophar admits his hasty and impetuous temperament.

3. The check. Probably Zophar refers to what Job had said at the close of his speech (ch. 19:29). Or he may refer to the rebuke of ch. 19:2. Also, he cannot have forgotten what Job had said in reply to Zophar’s former speech (ch. 12:2). Zophar is saying, in effect, “You have accused me falsely, and my resentment impels me to reply.” This verse reveals Zophar’s character; he is excitable and impetuous. He could scarcely wait until Job had finished—then he broke out hotly.

My understanding. It is not uncommon for an impetuous person to maintain that he speaks from the dictates of calm wisdom.

4. Knowest thou not? The question is sarcastic, as were the questions of Eliphaz (ch. 15:7–13). Zophar is saying that all history proves his point.

5. For a moment. This verse explains Zophar’s solution of the problem of the prosperity of the wicked. He admits that they may shout with triumph, but the joy is momentary. In part, Zophar is right; but his argument is weak in that he fails to recognize that a sinner may seem to triumph all through his mortal life (see Ps. 37:35, 36; 73:1–17). The shortness of the triumph of the wicked is one of the main topics of dispute between Job and his opponents. Eliphaz and Bildad have both maintained the same view as Zophar (Job 4:8–11; 5:3–5; 8:11–19; 15:21, 29). Job is differently convinced. He has seen the wicked “live, become old, … mighty in power” (ch. 21:7). He has seen them “spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave” (ch. 21:13). He is not ready to admit the generalizations of his friends. Job shows greater insight than his friends—an insight born of suffering.

6. To the heavens. Another way of describing the heights of achievement and influence that the wicked may reach (see Ps. 73:9; Dan. 4:22).

8. As a dream. A figure of the instability of the wicked. Nothing is more unreal and fleeting than a dream.

9. The eye also. Zophar uses almost exactly the language regarding the sinner that Job had used regarding himself (Job 7:8, 10; cf. Job 8:18; Ps. 103:16).

10. Please the poor. Perhaps in the sense of being beggars of beggars.

Restore. This verse pictures the humiliation of the proud, prosperous sinner to the place where he seeks the favor of the poor and is forced to give them his wealth.

11. His bones are full. The line reads, literally, “his bones are full of his youth,” that is, full of youthful vigor. There seems to be no need to supply the words, “of the sin.” Without them the next line may be understood as saying that youthful vigor will lie down in the dust.

12. Be sweet. This verse begins a new stanza. Wickedness has its pleasure, but it is shallow and transitory.

13. Though he spare it. Wickedness tastes good. The sinner hates to part with his folly and his pleasure. He is like the child who seeks to make a piece of candy last as long as possible.

14. Is turned. Sin swallowed turns bitter and becomes like the poison of the asp.

15. Vomit them up. An expressive way of depicting the divine judgment that Zophar believes is in store for the wicked.

17. Honey and butter. Compare Ex. 3:8, 17; 13:5; Deut. 26:9, 15; Isa. 7:22; Joel 3:18. Prosperity was dependent upon an abundant water supply. The “butter” was probably curded milk.

18. Shall he restore. In order to compensate those whom he has robbed, the wicked man will have to give them wealth that he has earned honestly.

19. Forsaken the poor. These charges of mistreating the poor are now, for the first time, insinuated against Job. Later on, they are openly brought by Eliphaz (ch. 22:5–9). Job denies these charges (ch. 29:11–17).

20. Not feel quietness. The line reads literally, “because he knew no quietness in his belly,” that is, his rapacity was never satisfied.

Shall not save. He will not be able to retain the things accumulated by his greed.

21. Meat. Heb. Хokel, “food.”

Look for his goods. The LXX here reads, “Therefore his good things shall not flourish.”

22. In straits. Prosperity will not exempt him from perplexity.

23. The fury. Zophar is obviously applying these words to Job. In the midst of his prosperity, Job was brought low. Zophar’s words are intended to cut deep. He tries to set forth Job as a sinner, suffering the fury of God’s wrath.

24. He shall flee. God is pictured as waging war on the sinner, who tries without success to escape.

25. Glittering sword. Heb. baraq, literally, “lightning,” used figuratively here of a flashing arrowhead. The graphic picture seems to be of the wicked man trying to remove an arrow from his body. The terrors of imminent death are upon him. The inference is that Job is like such a person.

26. Secret places. The sentence reads literally, “all darkness is reserved for his treasures.” The idea is probably that every kind of calamity awaits the treasures that the wicked man has gathered together and laid up for himself.

Fire not blown. This was probably a fire not kindled by human hands. Zophar may allude to the “fire of God” (ch. 1:16) that burned Job’s sheep and servants.

27. Reveal his iniquity. This is Zophar’s reply to the appeal that Job made in ch. 16:18, 19, to heaven and earth to bear witness for him. Heaven, he says, instead of speaking in his favor, will reveal his iniquity. Earth, instead of taking his part, will rise up against him.

28. Increase. God’s wrath will cause all these things to disappear like a flood that flows away.

29. This is the portion. This conclusion is similar to that which Bildad drew at the close of his speech (ch. 18:21). By this flourish Zophar intended to convey to Job the idea that he could expect no other fate than that which he was suffering.

This concludes Zophar’s contribution. He does not appear in the third round of speeches. His speech represents the narrow-minded, legalistic, critical attitude of the friends at its height. It is scarcely possible to emphasize more fearfully and graphically than Zophar does, the theory that the wicked rich man is punished by God. To Zophar, Job is a godless man, who is enduring the results of his own sins. He is guilty of unjust gain; therefore God consumes his possessions. Zophar seeks to stifle the new trust in God that Job has expressed. No suggestion of kindness or sympathy is discernible.