Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Ver. 1. _Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said_] "If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest," Proverbs 29:9. Christ piped to that crooked generation, John mourned to them, but all to no purpose; abs... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for [this] I make haste. Ver. 2. _Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer_] _q.d._ Whereas I had thought, O Job, to have spoke no more to thee (for I see I do but lose my sweet words), thy last comminatory expressions have altered my resolution.... [ Continue Reading ]
I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. Ver. 3. _I have heard the check of my reproach_] Zophar conceived himself disgraced as well as menaced by Job; and this kindled him. Some are of so testy a nature, saith one, so skittish and unquiet humo... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
That the triumphing of the wicked [is] short, and the joy of the hypocrite [but] for a moment? Ver. 5. _That the triumphing of the wicked is short_] Heb. That the shouting of the wicked is from near, it is of no long standing, but like a blaze of thorns, that is quickly extinct, or as a bubble in t... [ Continue Reading ]
Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; Ver. 6. _Though his excellency mount up to the heavens_] Though he conceit himself, and would have others hold him to be, more than a man, and to accord him divine honour. If his pride ascend even up to heaven, so th... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 20:7 [Yet] he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where [is] he? Ver. 7. _Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung_] Than the which nothing is more filthy and detestable. See this exemplified in Herod, Haman, Boniface VIII, bloody Bonner buried in... [ Continue Reading ]
_He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night._ Ver. 8. _He shall fly away as a dream, &c._] As a delightful dream is soon forgotten, so shall it be with the hypocrite. His felicity is merely imaginary, his joy is but as the commotion o... [ Continue Reading ]
The eye also [which] saw him shall [see him] no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. Ver. 9. _The eye also which saw him shall see him no more_] He shall be utterly out of sight, out of mind; unkent, unkist, as the northern proverb hath it. See Job 7:8; Job 7:10, where Job speaketh as... [ Continue Reading ]
His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. Ver. 10. _His children shall seek to please the poor_] _Tenuiores sunt ipsis tenuibus,_ saith Junius; shall be poorer than the poorest, and full glad to comply with them, and humour them, to beg with them, if not t... [ Continue Reading ]
His bones are full [of the sin] of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. Ver. 11. _His bones are full of the sin of his youth_] Foul practices have so grown up together with some sinful people, that they may say of them as the strumpet Quartilla did of her virginity, that she could... [ Continue Reading ]
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, [though] he hide it under his tongue; Ver. 12. _Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth_] As poison swallowed in some pleasing meat or drink. Agrippina, in poisoning her husband, Claudius the emperor, tempered it in meat he most delighted in. Poison given in... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 20:13 [Though] he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: Ver. 13. _Though he spare it, and forsake it not_] This is the same in sense with the former verse, and the second time repeated, that Job might know that he was the man here meant; _Ut qui in malis artibus sibi... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 20:14 [Yet] his meat in his bowels is turned, [it is] the gall of asps within him. Ver. 14. _Yet his meat in his bowels is turned_] Sour sauce be hath at length to his sweet meats, viz. gripes and throbs of conscience, terrors and tortures inexpressible; a greedy vulture feeding upon his entrai... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly._ Ver. 15. _He hath swallowed down riches_] As wild beasts do their prey, as the greater fishes do the lesser, greedily, easily, suddenly, irrecoverably, as the fire swalloweth up the fuel, as the... [ Continue Reading ]
He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. Ver. 16. _He shall suck the poison of asps_] That lieth in his head, whence also it hath its name in the original. _See Trapp on "_ Job 20:14 _"_ _Caput aspidis suger,_ saith the Vulgate. It is said of the toad that he hath in his... [ Continue Reading ]
He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. Ver. 17. _He shall not see the rivers, the floods_] That is, that plenty and abundance of all good things that cometh in to the righteous, _Velut confertim, certatim, et affatim,_ a confluence of all manner of comforts and con... [ Continue Reading ]
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]. Ver. 18. _That which he laboured for shall he restore_] (Great pains he hath taken to small purpose) in hope to make himself h... [ Continue Reading ]
Because he hath oppressed [and] hath forsaken the poor; [because] he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; Ver. 19. _Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor_]. Heb. Because he hath crushed or broken in pieces. The original word importeth (as one well observeth) tyrannical... [ Continue Reading ]
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 ha... [ Continue Reading ]
There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. Ver. 21. _There shall none of his meat be left_] Zophar still pursueth the allegory of the belly; and in all striketh at poor Job, who had scarce a bit of bread to eat, but yet was not without the hidden manna, the fea... [ Continue Reading ]
In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. Ver. 22. _In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits_] The covetous man never hath a sufficiency (but is as greedily gasping still after more, as if he were not worth a halfpenny),... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 20:23 [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. Ver. 23. _When he is about to fill his belly_] It appeareth, by this expression, that it was belly timber wherein the wicked man placed his sufficiency,... [ Continue Reading ]
He shall flee from the iron weapon, [and] the bow of steel shall strike him through. Ver. 24. _He shall flee from the iron weapon_] _i.e._ While he seeks to shun one mischief he shall fall into another; and when he thinks to run from death he runs to it. God, who can do what be will with his own ba... [ Continue Reading ]
It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors [are] upon him. Ver. 25. _It is drawn, and cometh out of the body_] That is, the arrow out of the quiver, or the sword out of the sheath, as the Vulgate translateth it. By a like metaphor the body is... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 26. _All darkness shall be hid in his secret places_] That is, saith Diodati, wheresoever he shall think to find a place of safeguard there shall he me... [ Continue Reading ]
The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. Ver. 27. _The heaven shall reveal his iniquity_] Job had called heaven and earth to record his innocence, Job 16:19. This is not to do now, saith Zophar, for all creatures have conspired thy ruin, and contributed thereun... [ Continue Reading ]
The increase of his house shall depart, [and his goods] shall flow away in the day of his wrath. Ver. 28. _The increase of his house shall depart_] All his posterity shall be destroyed, and so shall his prosperity to, even all at once, with a sudden ebb, in the day that God visiteth him with his wr... [ Continue Reading ]
This [is] the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. Ver. 29. _This is the portion of a wicked man from God_] A portion God alloweth the wicked in this life, Psalms 17:14; as a king, when he reprieveth a traitor, alloweth him a subsistence, prisoner's pittance... [ Continue Reading ]