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.