CHAPTER XX _Zophar answers Job, and largely details the wretchedness of_ _the wicked and the hypocrite; shows that the rejoicing of_ _such is short and transitory_, 1-9. _That he is punished in his family and in his person_, 10-14. _That he shall be stripped of his ill-gotten wealth, and shall_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:2. _THEREFORE DO MY THOUGHTS_] It has already been observed that Zophar was the most inveterate of all Job's _enemies_, for we really must cease to call them _friends_. He sets no bounds to his invective, and outrages every rule of charity. A man of such a bitter spirit must have been,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:3. _I HAVE HEARD THE CHECK OF MY REPROACH_] Some suppose that Zophar quotes the words of Job, and that some words should be supplied to indicate this meaning; e.g., "I have heard (sayest thou) the check or charge of my reproach?" Or it may refer to what Job says of Zophar and his compan... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:4. _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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:6. _THOUGH HIS EXCELLENCY MOUNT UP TO THE HEAVENS_] Probably referring to the original state of Adam, of whose fall he appears to have spoken, Job 20:4. He was created in the _image of God_; but by his sin against his Maker he fell into wretchedness, misery, death, and destruction.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:7. _HE SHALL PERISH FOR EVER_] He is _dust_, and shall return to the dust from which he was taken. Zophar here hints his disbelief in that doctrine, the resurrection of the body, which Job had so solemnly asserted in the preceding chapter. Or he might have been like some in the present... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:8. _HE SHALL FLY AWAY AS A DREAM_] Instead of rising again from corruption, as thou hast asserted, (Job 19:26,) with a new body, his flesh shall rot in the earth, and his spirit be dissipated like a vapour; and, like a vision of the night, nothing shall remain but the bare impression th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:10. _HIS CHILDREN SHALL SEEK TO PLEASE THE POOR_] They shall be reduced to the lowest degree of poverty and want, so as to be obliged to become servants to the poor. _Cursed be Ham, a servant_ _of servants shall he be_. There are cases where the poor actually serve the poor; and this is... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:11. _HIS BONES ARE FULL_ OF THE SIN _OF HIS YOUTH_] Our translators have followed the VULGATE, _Ossa ejus implebuntur_ _vitiis adolescentiae ejus_; "his bones shall be filled with the sins of his youth." The SYRIAC and ARABIC have, _his bones are full_ _of marrow_; and the TARGUM is to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:12. _THOUGH WICKEDNESS BE SWEET IN HIS MOUTH_] This seems to refer to the _secret sins_ mentioned above. _HIDE IT UNDER HIS TONGUE_] This and the _four_ following verses contain an allegory; and the reference is to a man who, instead of taking wholesome food, takes what is _poisonous_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:15. _HE SHALL VOMIT THEM UP AGAIN_] This is also an allusion to an effect of most ordinary _poisons_; they occasion a nausea, and often excruciating _vomiting_; nature striving to eject what it knows, if retained, will be its bane.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:16. _HE SHALL SUCK THE POISON OF ASPS_] That delicious morsel, that _secret, easily-besetting sin_, so palatable, and so pleasurable, shall act on the life of his soul, as the poison of asps would do on the life of his body. The poison is called _the gall of asps_, it being anciently... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:17. _HE SHALL NOT SEE THE RIVERS_] Mr. _Good_ has the following judicious note on this passage: "Honey and butter are the common results of a rich, well-watered pasturage, offering a perpetual banquet of grass to kine, and of nectar to bees; and thus loading the possessor with the most... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:18. _THAT WHICH HE LABOURETH FOR SHALL_ HE _RESTORE_] I prefer here the reading of the _Arabic_, which is also supported by the _Syriac_, and is much nearer to the _Hebrew_ text than the common version. _He shall return to labour, but he shall not eat; he shall_ _toil, and not be permit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:19. _HE HATH OPPRESSED_ AND _HATH FORSAKEN THE POOR_] Literally, _He hath broken in pieces the forsaken of the poor_; כי רצץ עזב דלים ki ritstsats azab dallim. The poor have fled from famine, and left their children behind them; and this hard-hearted wretch, meaning Job all the while, h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:20. _SURELY HE SHALL NOT FEEL QUIETNESS IN HIS BELLY_] I have already remarked that the word בטן _beten_, which we translate _belly_, often means in the sacred Scriptures the whole of the human trunk; the regions of the _thorax_ and _abdomen_, with their contents; the heart, lungs, live... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:21. _THERE SHALL NONE OF HIS MEAT BE LEFT_] _Coverdale_ translates thus: _He devoured so gredily, that he left nothinge_ _behynde, therefore his goodes shal not prospere_. He shall be stripped of every thing.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:22. _IN THE FULLNESS OF HIS SUFFICIENCY HE SHALL BE IN_ _STRAITS_] This is a fine saying, and few of the menders of Job's text have been able to improve the version. It is literally true of every great, rich, wicked man; he has no God, and anxieties and perplexities torment him, notwith... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:23. WHEN _HE IS ABOUT TO FILL HIS BELLY_] Here seems a plain allusion to the _lustings of the children of Israel in the desert_. God showered down _quails_ upon them, and showered down his wrath while the flesh was in their mouth. The allusion is too plain to be mistaken; and this gives... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:24. _HE SHALL FLEE FROM THE IRON WEAPON_] Or, "Though he should flee from the iron armour, the brazen bow should strike him through." _So that yf he fle the yron weapens, he shal be shott_ _with the stele bow_. - _Coverdale_. That is, he shall most certainly perish: all kinds of deaths... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:25. _IT IS DRAWN, AND COMETH OUT_] This refers to _archery_: The arrow is _drawn out_ of the sheaf or quiver, and discharged from the bow against its mark, and pierces the vitals, and passes through the body. So _Coverdale_. - _The arowe shal be taken forth, and_ _go out at his backe_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:26. _A FIRE NOT BLOWN SHALL CONSUME HIM_] As Zophar is here showing that the wicked cannot escape from the Divine judgments; so he points out the different instruments which God employs for their destruction. The _wrath of God _- any secret or supernatural curse. The _iron weapon _- th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:27. _THE HEAVEN SHALL REVEAL HIS INIQUITY; AND THE EARTH_ _SHALL RISE UP AGAINST HIM._] Another allusion, if I mistake not, to the destruction of Korah and his company. The heaven revealed their iniquity; God declared out of heaven his judgment of their rebellion. "And the glory of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:28. _THE INCREASE OF HIS HOUSE SHALL DEPART_, AND HIS GOODS _SHALL FLOW AWAY IN THE DAY OF HIS WRATH._] A farther allusion to the punishment of the rebellious company of Korah, who not only perished _themselves_, but their _houses_ also, and their _goods_. Numbers 16:32. These examples... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 20:29. _THIS_ IS _THE PORTION_] As God has dealt with the _murmuring Israelites_, and with the _rebellious sons_ of _Korah_, so will he deal with those who _murmur_ against the _dispensations_ of his _providence_, and rebel against his _authority_. Instead of an _earthly portion_, and an _... [ Continue Reading ]