Continuing a Bible study of Job, one of Job's friends speaks again:
(Job 22:1) Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, (2) "Can a man be profitable to God, as he who is wise may be profitable to himself?"
A man's wisdom may be an advantage to himself and to other men, perhaps, but it is of no advantage to God.
(3) "Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways perfect? (4) Will He reprove you for fear of you? Will He enter with you into judgment?"
Paraphrased, "Do you really help God out by being so righteous? Does He reprove you because He is afraid of you? Will He argue His case with you?"
(5) "Is your wickedness not great, and your iniquities infinite?"
We can assume that Eliphaz means that in the way all men are evil and fall short of the glory of God, so Job must see that he himself does, too.
(6) "For you have taken a pledge from your brother for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing. (7) You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry."
However, as a godly friend of a righteous man, it seems to me that Eliphaz goes too far when he accuses Job of these actions. Eliphaz truly believes that Job's afflictions must have come as a result of his wickedness, therefore Job must have been unfair in his dealings that resulted in oppression of the poor, and he surely must have neglected the weary and the hungry.
(8) "But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honorable man dwelt in it."
It seems Eliphaz may be speaking of a respectable man, a man of wealth, stating that Job was a friend to the rich and great, while he was an enemy to the poor and needy.
(9) "You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken."
My, but that Job is a wicked fellow, seen only through this description by Eliphaz!
(10) "Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden fear troubles you, (11) Or darkness so that you cannot see; and abundance of waters cover you."
Therefore, as a result of Job's unfair and oppressive dealings, Eliphaz concludes that troubles have now come upon him.
(12) "Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!"
Eliphaz creates an image of God as high up on a tower, higher than the stars, looking down upon men and able to see everything.
(13) "And you say, 'How does God know? Can He judge through the dark cloud? (14) Thick clouds are a covering to Him, so that He does not see, and He walks in the circle of heaven.'"
Eliphaz accuses Job of thinking that God does not see his actions.
(15) "Have you marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? (16) Who were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood; (17) Who said to God, 'Depart from us! And what can the Almighty do to us?'"
Eliphaz throws another accusation to Job, and likens him to the evil men in the days of Noah who lived ungodly lives and were destroyed before their time.
(18) "Yet He filled their houses with good things; but the counsel of the wicked is far from me."
Eliphaz admits that God did prosper the wicked, at least for a time. Interestingly, he uses Job's very words that he in no way is to be an advocate for the wicked. He probably means this sarcastically with reference to Job as he believes he has proven Job is not unlike the wicked who prospered, whom Job had previously described.
(19) "The righteous see it and are glad, and the innocent mock them; (20) Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the fire consumes the remnant of them."
Eliphaz means that the righteous and innocent are glad when the wicked are destroyed, as indicated by the next verse when he draws a distinction between the wicked who are cut down, and himself and the other righteous men who are not cut down.
(21) "Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. (22) Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. (23) If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; you will remove iniquity far from your tents."
Eliphaz insinuates Job has been living apart from God and His ways, and encourages him to return to His Lord, and then peace and goodness will come to him.
(24) "Then you will lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. (25) Yes, the Almighty will be your gold defense, and you will have plenty of silver."
Then, Eliphaz says, when Job has returned to the Lord, he will have treasures in abundance. The word I have transcribed as "gold defense" is "betser" and it does indeed mean "gold defense", according to Strong's. The same word is used in verse 24 and transcribed as "gold" there, while it is transcribed as "defence" in verse 25 in the KJV. I conclude it more completely means a gold defense, a stock, a security.
(26) "For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God. (27) You will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you, and you will pay your vows."
Eliphaz continues his theory that if Job will only return to the Lord, God will hear his plea, answer him favorably, and Job will happily offer the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving which he had undoubtedly promised in his pleas to God.
(28) "You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you; and the light will shine on your ways."
Paraphrased, "Your plans will be fulfilled and God will give you the light of His direction in all your ways."
(29) "When men are cast down, then you will say, 'There is exaltation', and He will save the humble person. (30) He will deliver the island of the innocent; and it is delivered by the pureness of your hands."
Eliphaz continues that when Job returns to the Lord, he will uplift those who are cast down. Specifically, he will uplift the humble, meaning either those who humble themselves before the Lord, or it could mean when they have been cast down by trials and affliction, he will tell them there is hope.
The last verse is a little more difficult. The KJV is as I have transcribed above, except for shall/will and thine/your. But what is the island of the innocent? The NKJV translates the verse, "He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands." Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries show the original word "iy" can mean "island", but it also suggests that it is "probably identical with 'ay' (through the idea of a query)" and means "not". "Ay" means "Where? Which? When? or How?" Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions also gives the meaning of the word "iy" as "not". The theologian Albert Barnes explains it a little further:
"The word rendered island (iy) commonly means, indeed, an island, or a maritime country...It is, however, used as a 'negative' in 1 Samuel 4:21, in the name 'I-chabod' (iy-kabod). 'And she named the child I-chabod (margin, that is, "where is the glory?" or, there is "no glory"), saying, the glory is departed from Israel.' This sense is frequent in the Rabbinic Hebrew, where it is used as connected with an adjective in a privative sense, like the English 'un'. It is probably an abbreviated form of 'ayin', 'not, nothing'; and is used here as a 'negative' to qualify the following word, 'He shall deliver even him that is not innocent.'"
Therefore, the sense of the last scripture is that when a man returns to God and becomes a friend of God, he will be able to intercede for the not-so-innocent and save them from the punishment they deserve. Albert Barnes pointed out, in his study on this scripture, that unbeknownst to Eliphaz, his words are rather ironically prophetic. Since I have not yet come to this part of my study of Job, I will quote Albert Barnes, until I reach the scripture he quotes in my in-depth study and form my own thoughts.
"The sentiment, also, had a beautiful illustration, though one which Eliphaz did not here think of, in his own case and that of his friends, where this very Job, to whom he was giving this counsel, was directed to intercede for them; Job 42:7-8. The sentiment, indeed, is found every where in the Scriptures, that the righteous are permitted to pray for others, and that they are thus the means of bringing down important blessings on them. In answer to those prayers, multitudes are saved from calamity here, and will be brought to eternal life hereafter."
Friday, October 28, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Will Anyone Teach God Knowledge?
Continuing a Bible study of Job, now Job speaks again:
(Job 21:1) But Job answered and said, (2) "Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your consolation."
If his friends will just listen carefully to Job, in that way they can comfort and console him, because they surely have not done it with their own words.
(3) "Bear with me that I may speak, and after I have spoken, keep mocking. (4) As for me, is my complaint to man? And if it were, why shouldn't my spirit be troubled?"
The early commentaries show two different schools of thought on the meaning of verse 4. One, paraphrased, is: "Isn't my complaint to man? And if it is, why then may I not have the privilege of complaining to creatures like myself?" I think knowing what I have learned about Job thus far, I tend to agree with other commentators who believe something like the following. It's more of a facetious question, "Is my complaint to you?" And if it were to man only, then why wouldn't his spirit be troubled? But Job takes his grievances to a much higher power, and it is God's answer he seeks.
(5) "Look at me and be astonished; and lay your hand upon your mouth. (6) Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling takes hold of my flesh."
Merely the remembrance of what has happened to him, fills Job with fear.
(7) "Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, are mighty in power? (8) Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. (9) Their houses are safe from fear; neither is the rod of God upon them. (10) Their bull breeds and does not fail; their cow calves and does not lose her calf. (11) They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. (12) They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. (13) They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave."
I believe Job means this last statement to be a good thing. It's not so much that they are suddenly taken away from their good life, but when that happens, they do not have a long and suffering death. After all, all men will eventually die.
(14) "Therefore they say to God, 'Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. (15) Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?'"
Because of their prosperity, they don't believe they need God. What more profit could they have if they prayed to Him?
I can't help but feel a pang of emotion with this thought. I have found myself a little sad lately because of the state of our country. We are truly becoming a country that thinks she does not need God. We have always been a blessed country, the richest country, and the envy of the world. But now people want no part of God or religion in the public square. They want to do as they please and have their actions accepted and promoted to "rights", even those things which are abominations to our Lord. The poorest among us are among the richest in the world. Because of our prosperity, have we come to think we don't need God? Or is it we just don't want Him? God may get in the way of many of the "rights" to which many people want to cling.
It occurs to me what a blessing it may be from the merciful God when times are tough and we do have to rely on our heavenly Father. How easy it is for the rich to forget Him, but the poor desperately need Him. How sad that the rich don't realize how much they need Him, too.
(16) "Lo, their goodness is not in their hands; the counsel of the wicked is far from me."
Job makes a distinction between the wicked and himself.
(17) "How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? And how often comes their destruction on them? God distributes sorrows in His anger."
In asking these questions, I believe Job may be reinforcing his statement that often the wicked prosper. He is implying that it is not a universal fact that the wicked are always brought to ruin. Therefore, his friends are wrong in their assumption that the wicked are always snuffed out, and it follows that they are also wrong in their assumption that afflictions only come upon the wicked. I believe the last part of the passage above may be a continuation of the question, and asks, "How often does God distribute sorrows in his anger?" How often did God, in fact, give the wicked what they deserved? It was not true that He always did it in this world, so to make it a certain rule in judging character was erroneous.
(18) "They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carries away."
It is difficult to know exactly when Job stops asking questions and starts making statements, but at this point, I believe Job is continuing his pondering about how often the wicked actually get what they deserve in this lifetime. Maybe he is exclaiming it as a fact maintained by his friends, but he seeks to poke holes in that theory.
(19) "God lays up his iniquity for his children; He rewards him, and he will know it."
Once again, Job may be stating a fact maintained by his friends, or it could be his own statement used to poke holes in their theory that affliction only comes to the wicked. God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, according to His word in Exodus 20:5; therefore Job may be describing a way in which his friends would err if they insisted that calamities only happen to the wicked. The word translated as "rewards" more completely means completes or finishes and reciprocates, so I believe the sense is that there will be a final just recompense of reward for their wicked ways. At that point, the wicked man will know the penalty for rejecting God, but it will be too late.
(20) "His eyes will see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. (21) For what pleasure has he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?"
These two verses could almost be a contradiction, but maybe that is Job's point. On the one hand, according to his friends, a wicked man's eyes will see his destruction, but then again he will know nothing of his household after he is cut off. Maybe Job's point is to show that it is not always as clear-cut as his friends seem to want to make it.
(22) "Shall anyone teach God knowledge, seeing He judges those that are high?"
I think Job is saying in essence that you can't put God in a box with the set of rules that his friends have tried to give Him, that He must not afflict righteous men and prosper the wicked, that He must always punish the wicked and reward the righteous in this world. Job realizes God is a sovereign God who judges beings and matters higher than the men who pretend to know His actions and motives with certainty.
(23) "One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. (24) His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. (25) And another dies in the bitterness of his soul, and never eats with pleasure. (26) They will lie down alike in the dust, and the worms will cover them."
These scriptures are pretty self-explanatory. Job describes the inequality of health and fortunes with which different people die; they all die alike and return to the dust, and no man can know with certainty the state of their eternal souls.
(27) "Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me. (28) For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? And where are the dwelling places of the wicked?'"
Paraphrased, "I know what you are thinking; you ask 'Where are the houses of the tyrants and oppressors?', to try to prove your point that God destroys them."
(29) "Have you not asked those who go by the road? And do you not know their signs? (30) That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath."
Paraphrased, "But consult those who have traveled and seen more than you have, and they will tell you that there are some examples of wicked who have prospered in this life, but who will be judged in the end at the day of judgment."
(31) "Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him for what he has done?"
That is, who shall rise up and openly charge the wicked with his guilt? Who is able to make him pay for what he has done in this life?
(32) "Yet he will be brought to the grave, and will remain in the tomb. (33) The clods of the valley will be sweet to him; and every man will follow him, as have innumerable before him. (34) How then can you comfort me in vain, seeing there remains falsehood in your answers?"
Even though no one on this earth may be able to make the wicked pay for his deeds, he will be brought to death, like every other man, before and after him. When he is dead and buried, wherever he is buried is a sweet resting place to him, even the "clods" of the valley.
Job concludes by asking how his friends think they can comfort him with their empty words that hold no truth.
(Job 21:1) But Job answered and said, (2) "Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your consolation."
If his friends will just listen carefully to Job, in that way they can comfort and console him, because they surely have not done it with their own words.
(3) "Bear with me that I may speak, and after I have spoken, keep mocking. (4) As for me, is my complaint to man? And if it were, why shouldn't my spirit be troubled?"
The early commentaries show two different schools of thought on the meaning of verse 4. One, paraphrased, is: "Isn't my complaint to man? And if it is, why then may I not have the privilege of complaining to creatures like myself?" I think knowing what I have learned about Job thus far, I tend to agree with other commentators who believe something like the following. It's more of a facetious question, "Is my complaint to you?" And if it were to man only, then why wouldn't his spirit be troubled? But Job takes his grievances to a much higher power, and it is God's answer he seeks.
(5) "Look at me and be astonished; and lay your hand upon your mouth. (6) Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling takes hold of my flesh."
Merely the remembrance of what has happened to him, fills Job with fear.
(7) "Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, are mighty in power? (8) Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. (9) Their houses are safe from fear; neither is the rod of God upon them. (10) Their bull breeds and does not fail; their cow calves and does not lose her calf. (11) They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. (12) They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. (13) They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave."
I believe Job means this last statement to be a good thing. It's not so much that they are suddenly taken away from their good life, but when that happens, they do not have a long and suffering death. After all, all men will eventually die.
(14) "Therefore they say to God, 'Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. (15) Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?'"
Because of their prosperity, they don't believe they need God. What more profit could they have if they prayed to Him?
I can't help but feel a pang of emotion with this thought. I have found myself a little sad lately because of the state of our country. We are truly becoming a country that thinks she does not need God. We have always been a blessed country, the richest country, and the envy of the world. But now people want no part of God or religion in the public square. They want to do as they please and have their actions accepted and promoted to "rights", even those things which are abominations to our Lord. The poorest among us are among the richest in the world. Because of our prosperity, have we come to think we don't need God? Or is it we just don't want Him? God may get in the way of many of the "rights" to which many people want to cling.
It occurs to me what a blessing it may be from the merciful God when times are tough and we do have to rely on our heavenly Father. How easy it is for the rich to forget Him, but the poor desperately need Him. How sad that the rich don't realize how much they need Him, too.
(16) "Lo, their goodness is not in their hands; the counsel of the wicked is far from me."
Job makes a distinction between the wicked and himself.
(17) "How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? And how often comes their destruction on them? God distributes sorrows in His anger."
In asking these questions, I believe Job may be reinforcing his statement that often the wicked prosper. He is implying that it is not a universal fact that the wicked are always brought to ruin. Therefore, his friends are wrong in their assumption that the wicked are always snuffed out, and it follows that they are also wrong in their assumption that afflictions only come upon the wicked. I believe the last part of the passage above may be a continuation of the question, and asks, "How often does God distribute sorrows in his anger?" How often did God, in fact, give the wicked what they deserved? It was not true that He always did it in this world, so to make it a certain rule in judging character was erroneous.
(18) "They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carries away."
It is difficult to know exactly when Job stops asking questions and starts making statements, but at this point, I believe Job is continuing his pondering about how often the wicked actually get what they deserve in this lifetime. Maybe he is exclaiming it as a fact maintained by his friends, but he seeks to poke holes in that theory.
(19) "God lays up his iniquity for his children; He rewards him, and he will know it."
Once again, Job may be stating a fact maintained by his friends, or it could be his own statement used to poke holes in their theory that affliction only comes to the wicked. God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, according to His word in Exodus 20:5; therefore Job may be describing a way in which his friends would err if they insisted that calamities only happen to the wicked. The word translated as "rewards" more completely means completes or finishes and reciprocates, so I believe the sense is that there will be a final just recompense of reward for their wicked ways. At that point, the wicked man will know the penalty for rejecting God, but it will be too late.
(20) "His eyes will see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. (21) For what pleasure has he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?"
These two verses could almost be a contradiction, but maybe that is Job's point. On the one hand, according to his friends, a wicked man's eyes will see his destruction, but then again he will know nothing of his household after he is cut off. Maybe Job's point is to show that it is not always as clear-cut as his friends seem to want to make it.
(22) "Shall anyone teach God knowledge, seeing He judges those that are high?"
I think Job is saying in essence that you can't put God in a box with the set of rules that his friends have tried to give Him, that He must not afflict righteous men and prosper the wicked, that He must always punish the wicked and reward the righteous in this world. Job realizes God is a sovereign God who judges beings and matters higher than the men who pretend to know His actions and motives with certainty.
(23) "One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. (24) His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. (25) And another dies in the bitterness of his soul, and never eats with pleasure. (26) They will lie down alike in the dust, and the worms will cover them."
These scriptures are pretty self-explanatory. Job describes the inequality of health and fortunes with which different people die; they all die alike and return to the dust, and no man can know with certainty the state of their eternal souls.
(27) "Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me. (28) For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? And where are the dwelling places of the wicked?'"
Paraphrased, "I know what you are thinking; you ask 'Where are the houses of the tyrants and oppressors?', to try to prove your point that God destroys them."
(29) "Have you not asked those who go by the road? And do you not know their signs? (30) That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath."
Paraphrased, "But consult those who have traveled and seen more than you have, and they will tell you that there are some examples of wicked who have prospered in this life, but who will be judged in the end at the day of judgment."
(31) "Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him for what he has done?"
That is, who shall rise up and openly charge the wicked with his guilt? Who is able to make him pay for what he has done in this life?
(32) "Yet he will be brought to the grave, and will remain in the tomb. (33) The clods of the valley will be sweet to him; and every man will follow him, as have innumerable before him. (34) How then can you comfort me in vain, seeing there remains falsehood in your answers?"
Even though no one on this earth may be able to make the wicked pay for his deeds, he will be brought to death, like every other man, before and after him. When he is dead and buried, wherever he is buried is a sweet resting place to him, even the "clods" of the valley.
Job concludes by asking how his friends think they can comfort him with their empty words that hold no truth.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The Fate of a Wicked Man
After a long break full of distractions with traveling out of town and visiting my ill mother, the wedding of my niece there and then the birth of my first grandchild back home, I am ready to get back to my Bible study. Although the distractions were all wonderful things, they were distractions all the same, and I am happy to get back to the study of God's word once again!
Continuing with a study of Job, another friend answers Job:
(Job 20:1) Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, (2) "Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. (3) I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer."
Zophar makes haste, speaking sooner than he had intended, maybe even interrupting Job. He has heard Job's reproach of his friends, and believes he has the knowledge to refute him.
(4) "Do you not know this of old, since man was placed on earth, (5) That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? (6) Though his excellency mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds, (7) Yet he will perish forever like his own dung; they who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?' (8) He will fly away like a dream, and will not be found; yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. (9) The eye also that saw him will see him no more; neither will his place behold him anymore."
I wonder if Zophar is purposely using the same phrases Job used before about himself to prove that he is a hypocrite? In Job 7:8-10, Job said "The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more...neither shall his place know him any more."
(10) "His children will seek to please the poor, and his hands will restore their goods."
I believe this means they will seek to give back to the poor what his hands must have taken from them.
(11) "His bones are full of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust."
Paraphrased, "Though his bones are full of vigor and strength, they will die with him."
(12) "Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue; (13) Though he spares it and does not forsake it, but keeps it still within his mouth, (14) Yet his food in his stomach is turned; it is the gall of asps within him."
Though he seeks to savor wickedness as long as he possibly can, and what may have seemed exceedingly pleasant, turns sour and bitter, even poisonous.
(15) "He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly. (16) He will suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue will slay him. (17) He will not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. (18) He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down; according to his substance will the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice in it."
Though he has devoured riches, he will be forced to lose them; that which he swallowed as pleasant will become poisonous to him. He will not be allowed to enjoy abundance and prosperity. All that he labored for he will be forced to give back to the poor.
(19) "Because he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, because he has violently taken away a house which he did not build, (20) Surely he will not feel quietness in his belly; he will not save of that which he desired. (21) There will be nothing left for him to eat; therefore no man will look for his goods."
Because he has oppressed and plundered the poor, taking what he did not build, he will have no peace. The word translated as "save" literally means to escape. I believe the sense here is that he will not escape the unrest; he will not have the security and happiness that obtaining all that he desired was supposed to bring him. Because it will be well-known that nothing is left, no one will even look for anything of his possessions.
(22) "In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; every hand of the wicked will come upon him. (23) When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fury of His wrath on him, and will rain it on him while he is eating."
In the height of his prosperity, he will be in distress. Interestingly, the word "amel" translated as "wicked" above is only translated as such in this one scripture. In other scriptures it means toiling, labored, taken, misery, or workmen. Therefore I believe that this may mean that he will have only toil and trouble. In the midst of his expected pleasure, God will rain down His wrath upon him.
(24) "He will flee from the iron weapon; the bow of steel will strike him through. (25) It is drawn, and comes out of the body; yes, the glittering sword comes out of his gall; terrors come upon him."
Although he tries to flee, the terrors of death will be upon him.
(26) "All darkness will be hid in his secret places; an unfanned fire will consume him; it will go ill with him who is left in his tent."
Darkness, as in death and destruction, will be found in all his secret places, where he may have thought he was safe. An unfanned flame might be as a lightning strike, needing no help from man to instantly consume him. It will also go ill with anyone, presumably family, left in his tent after him.
(27) "The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. (28) The increase of his house will depart, and his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath. (29) This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God."
God will make the man's iniquity known, and all in the earth will rise up against him. He will lose everything. Zophar sums up that what he has described is the fate of a wicked man. Once again, a friend of Job's intends that Job should apply this to himself, that one who had been treated in the manner as Job had been treated, must be a wicked man.
Continuing with a study of Job, another friend answers Job:
(Job 20:1) Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, (2) "Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. (3) I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer."
Zophar makes haste, speaking sooner than he had intended, maybe even interrupting Job. He has heard Job's reproach of his friends, and believes he has the knowledge to refute him.
(4) "Do you not know this of old, since man was placed on earth, (5) That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? (6) Though his excellency mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds, (7) Yet he will perish forever like his own dung; they who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?' (8) He will fly away like a dream, and will not be found; yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. (9) The eye also that saw him will see him no more; neither will his place behold him anymore."
I wonder if Zophar is purposely using the same phrases Job used before about himself to prove that he is a hypocrite? In Job 7:8-10, Job said "The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more...neither shall his place know him any more."
(10) "His children will seek to please the poor, and his hands will restore their goods."
I believe this means they will seek to give back to the poor what his hands must have taken from them.
(11) "His bones are full of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust."
Paraphrased, "Though his bones are full of vigor and strength, they will die with him."
(12) "Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue; (13) Though he spares it and does not forsake it, but keeps it still within his mouth, (14) Yet his food in his stomach is turned; it is the gall of asps within him."
Though he seeks to savor wickedness as long as he possibly can, and what may have seemed exceedingly pleasant, turns sour and bitter, even poisonous.
(15) "He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly. (16) He will suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue will slay him. (17) He will not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. (18) He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down; according to his substance will the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice in it."
Though he has devoured riches, he will be forced to lose them; that which he swallowed as pleasant will become poisonous to him. He will not be allowed to enjoy abundance and prosperity. All that he labored for he will be forced to give back to the poor.
(19) "Because he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, because he has violently taken away a house which he did not build, (20) Surely he will not feel quietness in his belly; he will not save of that which he desired. (21) There will be nothing left for him to eat; therefore no man will look for his goods."
Because he has oppressed and plundered the poor, taking what he did not build, he will have no peace. The word translated as "save" literally means to escape. I believe the sense here is that he will not escape the unrest; he will not have the security and happiness that obtaining all that he desired was supposed to bring him. Because it will be well-known that nothing is left, no one will even look for anything of his possessions.
(22) "In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; every hand of the wicked will come upon him. (23) When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fury of His wrath on him, and will rain it on him while he is eating."
In the height of his prosperity, he will be in distress. Interestingly, the word "amel" translated as "wicked" above is only translated as such in this one scripture. In other scriptures it means toiling, labored, taken, misery, or workmen. Therefore I believe that this may mean that he will have only toil and trouble. In the midst of his expected pleasure, God will rain down His wrath upon him.
(24) "He will flee from the iron weapon; the bow of steel will strike him through. (25) It is drawn, and comes out of the body; yes, the glittering sword comes out of his gall; terrors come upon him."
Although he tries to flee, the terrors of death will be upon him.
(26) "All darkness will be hid in his secret places; an unfanned fire will consume him; it will go ill with him who is left in his tent."
Darkness, as in death and destruction, will be found in all his secret places, where he may have thought he was safe. An unfanned flame might be as a lightning strike, needing no help from man to instantly consume him. It will also go ill with anyone, presumably family, left in his tent after him.
(27) "The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. (28) The increase of his house will depart, and his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath. (29) This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God."
God will make the man's iniquity known, and all in the earth will rise up against him. He will lose everything. Zophar sums up that what he has described is the fate of a wicked man. Once again, a friend of Job's intends that Job should apply this to himself, that one who had been treated in the manner as Job had been treated, must be a wicked man.
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