Zophar's Second Speech Zophar breaks in upon the close of Job's speech with a fiery haste and passionateness not quite easy to account for. No doubt Job had spoken of his friends as persecuting him and devouring his flesh. Then he had turned away from them and appealed to posterity against them (ch... [ Continue Reading ]
Zophar is roused to indignation by Job's perverse blindness to unalterable principles experienced since the world was. The verses should perhaps read, 2. Therefore do my thoughts make answer to me, And because of this have I haste within me: 3. I hear the rebuke that putteth me to shame But the... [ Continue Reading ]
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 "hypocri... [ Continue Reading ]
_his excellency_ Or, _his height_, or rising up (Psalms 89:9); cf. Isaiah 14:13-15, Obad. Job 20:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_like his own dung_ Zophar is not the most refined of the three, cf. 2 Kings 9:37. On the last words of the verse cf. ch. Job 14:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_as a dream_ Comp. Psalms 73:20, "As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image"; Isaiah 29:8, of the enemies of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
See ch. Job 7:8-10; Job 8:18; Psalms 103:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_His children shall seek to please_ Or, _seek the favour of_. The margin is possible, The poor shall oppress his children, but less suitable. _restore their goods_ Rather, HIS GOODS. He shall give back his wealth which he has gotten by unlawful and violent means. The first clause of Job 20:10 is cl... [ Continue Reading ]
_full of the sin of his youth_ Rather, HIS BONES AXE FULL OF HIS YOUTH, BUT IT SHALL LIE DOWN, &c.; in the midst of his years, when his bones are full of his youthful strength, like a vigorous marrow, he shall be cut off, and his youth go down to the grave with him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Sin is spoken of under the figure of a dainty which tickles the palate, and which one retains and turns in his mouth with delight.... [ Continue Reading ]
His sin changes into his punishment.... [ Continue Reading ]
_forsake it not_ i. e. _do not let it go_do not swallow it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_is turned_ i. e. is changed, it becomes the poison of asps in his belly.... [ Continue Reading ]
The same general figure of a delightful food particularized. The ill-gotten riches which he amassed do not abide with him; the wealth that he swallowed up he must disgorge. The figure is perhaps that of a food which the stomach cannot retain.... [ Continue Reading ]
A slight change of the figure. The meaning is: that which he sucks shall prove the poison of asps.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the floods, the brooks of honey_ The marg. _the streaming brooks_is unnecessary. The words "honey and butter" apply both to "floods" (streams) and brooks. The figure is common for fulness of blessings. Cf. Exodus 3:8, "A land flowing with milk and honey.... [ Continue Reading ]
That long time of enjoyment which he promised himself shall never come; according to his insatiable lust and greed shall be his utter destitution at last.... [ Continue Reading ]
_That which he laboured for_ i. e. that which he has acquired the fruit of his labour; this he shall restore and shall not swallow down, or enjoy. _according to his substance_ This half verse reads: according to the wealth which he has gotten he shall not rejoice, lit. _according to the wealth of h... [ Continue Reading ]
_and hath forsaken_ Abandoned them, after oppressing them, to their destitution. Thus, though joining house to house (Isaiah 5:8) and dispossessing the poor, the houses which he robs he shall not build up as Is. says, Many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair without inhabitant (ch. Job 5:9... [ Continue Reading ]
_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.... [ Continue Reading ]
_his goods_ This may mean his prosperity. In all these verses the retribution corresponds to the sin the insatiable greediness is recompensed by utter loss and want.... [ Continue Reading ]
In the moment of his great abundance his straitness comes suddenly upon him. _every hand of the wicked_ Rather, OF THE WRETCHED (ch. Job 3:20, him that is in misery). All those in destitution, and the lawless, both those whom he has oppressed and those perhaps who make common cause with them, shall... [ Continue Reading ]
His belly shall be filled! God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, And shall rain upon him his food. The food which the sinner shall be sated with is the terrible rain of judgments which God shall shower upon him; cf. Psalms 11:6, Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone an... [ Continue Reading ]
His insatiable greed shall be satisfied at last. God shall fill him full of his judgments.... [ Continue Reading ]
His inevitable destruction: seeking to escape one form of death he shall flee into another. The figure changes. The judgment of God is no more a rain from heaven, it is an attack on all hands of armed inexorable foes; cf. the same idea of inevitable destruction set forth under different figures, Amo... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is drawn_ Rather, HE DRAWETH IT FORTH that is, the arrow (Job 20:24). _the glistering sword_ Rather, the glittering SHAFT (Isaiah 49:2), or, more generally, the glittering steel; what is meant is the arrow that strikes the sinner through (Job 20:24). He draws it out hoping to save himself, not... [ Continue Reading ]
All darkness is laid up for his treasures; A fire not blown shall consume him, It shall devour him that is left in his tent. "Darkness" is a figure for calamity; cf. ch. Job 15:22-23. "Laid up," i. e. reserved, destined, for. "Him that is left" may also mean "that which is left," Job 20:21. A fir... [ Continue Reading ]
Heaven and earth conspire together against the sinner. There may be allusion to Job's appeal to the earth, ch. Job 16:18, and his pretended assurance of having a witness in heaven, ch. Job 16:19; Job 19:25. Heaven "reveals" his iniquity in the chastisements, e.g. the fire of heaven, ch. Job 1:16, th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The increase_ i. e. the gain, possessions. _his goods shall flow away_ lit. _things washed away_; his possessions shall be swept away with a flood in the day of God's wrath.... [ Continue Reading ]
Like all the speakers in this second round of debate Zophar concludes by pointing with an impressive gesture to the picture he has drawn. Job should see himself there. He finishes by saying "from God." This forces Job into the arena; he has no help, however unwilling he may be, but face this argumen... [ Continue Reading ]