#655 They All Thought They Were Saying Something

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 “Therefore my thoughts answer me,

because of my haste within me.

3 I hear censure that insults me,

and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

4 Do you not know this from of old,

since man was placed on earth,

5 that the exulting of the wicked is short,

and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6 Though his height mount up to the heavens,

and his head reach to the clouds,

7 he will perish forever like his own dung;

those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found;

he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,

nor will his place any more behold him.

10 His children will seek the favor of the poor,

and his hands will give back his wealth.

11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor,

but it will lie down with him in the dust.

12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,

though he hides it under his tongue,

13 though he is loath to let it go

and holds it in his mouth,

14 yet his food is turned in his stomach;

it is the venom of cobras within him.

15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;

God casts them out of his belly.

16 He will suck the poison of cobras;

the tongue of a viper will kill him.

17 He will not look upon the rivers,

the streams flowing with honey and curds.

18 He will give back the fruit of his toil

and will not swallow it down;

from the profit of his trading

he will get no enjoyment.

19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;

he has seized a house that he did not build.

20 “Because he knew no contentment in his belly,

he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.

21 There was nothing left after he had eaten;

therefore his prosperity will not endure.

22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;

the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.

23 To fill his belly to the full,

God will send his burning anger against him

and rain it upon him into his body.

24 He will flee from an iron weapon;

a bronze arrow will strike him through.

25 It is drawn forth and comes out of his body;

the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder;

terrors come upon him.

26 Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;

a fire not fanned will devour him;

what is left in his tent will be consumed.

27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

and the earth will rise up against him.

28 The possessions of his house will be carried away,

dragged off in the day of God's wrath.

29 This is the wicked man's portion from God,

the heritage decreed for him by God.” Job 20 ESV

Zophar has heard Job speak and is offended, but assures us that his answer won't be from his hurt, but rather in the spirit of understanding. Then as pretty as it is, it is still the same premise as before. Job has been convicted by a jury here of his peers and the evidence is his present poor circumstances under the scope of a traditional interpretation of such as his just reward. He presents his case that this is an old story, we have seen the wicked come into power before, but their end is not good. I agree with him, it is better to be humble and poor here, then wicked and rich. Job has not been brought low for his wickedness, but it is not in the realm of Zophar's ideology to venture that all these things may be working to the good of one who loves God. Did Christ go straight to a throne, or did He not first crush all this line of thinking, when God place His eternally begotten inside of the womb of a young girl? He took on the form of sinful man, as Adam and Eve put on the skins of animals. He, Who knew no sin, became sin for us. If it is mercy that you seek then you may see this, if it is riches in the finite, the pleasures of a season, or the applause of men, then you may be offended by all of this.

What could put you here Job? Well let's see, you have probably stolen the lunch of the poor man and it was sweet going down, but now it is sour in your belly. You obviously took what didn't belong to you and that is how you became rich, you enjoyed your season, but now it is time to pay for your crimes against humanity.

Job is again a straw man before so many true sayings that are not here applicable. Zophar has little in the way of compassion, but it becomes even sadder, that all he knows of God's blessing seems to be bound only to this time, the material, the breadth of a man's life here. Gold is the only measure of God's blessing, health is owed to the righteous, and if Job enjoyed it, it was a deception, that this is your only reward. It is cruel because it speaks lightly of the things that happened to Job as well, your friend looking down his nose at the loss of your children. Where are the facts of what you say, Zophar? Who has Job mistreated, stolen from, taken advantage of? We need apply everything we say to ourselves first, remove that moat from our own eyes, before we go after that splinter in our friend's. Don't hate them, hate their hypocrisy so much so that you will not tolerate it in yourself.