Lenten Study Job Ch 20
Zophar is not as hard on Job this go-round as one might expect. His words aren’t terribly comforting for Job, but we can find comfort in them from our perspective if we can incorporate some of his lessons into our lives.
"There was a man in the land of Uz" by andrevanb is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.Caption
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
Job 20:1 (NASB)
We have a back and forth in Job but remember it is three to one.
2 “Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond, Even because of my inward agitation.
Job 20:2 (NASB)
Zophar cannot help himself. I wonder how much of that still small voice inside the heads of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar is Satan’s hand moving their minds to speak out against Job? God has allowed Satan a free hand in Job’s life so long as Satan doesn’t kill Job. Is the disquiet Zophar is feeling and the words he is saying to Job Satan’s words? I have to think that at least some of them, if not all, are from the Devil.
3 “I listened to the reproof which insults me, And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
Job 20:3 (NASB)
I feel a little bad for Zophar. He is only doing what his life experience has taught him. I believe he really does want to help his friend, and all he’s gotten for his troubles of coming to the aid of his friend is attacked. It is not unlike what Job has received at the hands of his friends. It seems they are all in the same boat. Sort of a “two-for” for Satan getting not only Job but his godly friends as well.
4 “Do you know this from of old, From the establishment of man on earth,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless momentary?
Job 20:4-5 (NASB)
Satan is the father of the wicked. You would think as many times as the Devil has been beaten back by God that he would learn this lesson, but he hasn’t.
6 “Though his loftiness reaches the heavens, And his head touches the clouds,
7 He perishes forever like his refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
Job 20:6-7 (NASB)
“Where is he?” When we have good times, do we forget that Satan is out there, that evil is out there? I think we do. I think there are people out there, both Christian and non-Christian, who do not believe that evil is real. Why do bad things happen to good people? Sometimes for no other reason than we forget evil exists, and it wants to remind us it is still out there.
8 “He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; Even like a vision of the night he is chased away.
9 “The eye which saw him sees him no longer, And his place no longer beholds him.
Job 20:8-9 (NASB)
Speaking of the triumphs of the wicked here, those of us who wonder why bad people have good things happen to them sometimes wonder why God blesses them at all? The timeframe here might not be Man’s timeframe at all either.
6 “Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
7 “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
Luke 12:6-7 (NASB)
To God, our lives are lived out in the blink of an eye. In God’s perspective and the grand scheme of the universe, individuals are a spec of dust blown away in an instant. That level of insignificance makes the fact that God cares about each of us as the individual created creatures, He made more special.
10 “His sons favor the poor, And his hands give back his wealth.
Job 20:10 (NASB)
This seems more like a problem of the individual not making his children aware of how they became wealthy in the first place. It isn’t a statement of giving to the poor, donating to help them. This is a statement about the sons of the favored one surrounding themselves with people poor in spirit and or ability. There are many ways to be “poor.” In this case, the wealthy man’s sons have chosen poorly with regard to their character, skills, and abilities.
11 “His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it lies down with him in the dust.
Job 20:11 (NASB)
This situation for the wealthy person is irrespective of bodily health. The problem isn’t a healthy body. The problem is a sick spirit.
12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth And he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it in his mouth,
14 Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him.
15 “He swallows riches, But will vomit them up; God will expel them from his belly.
16 “He sucks the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue slays him.
Job 20:12-16 (NASB)
So much going on here. Justification means twisting words to make them say what we want rather than what God said, the light of the eye tainting the soul, and not living by bread alone. All scriptural references. The wicked might prosper for a moment, even for the full length of their lives here on earth, but it is a momentary prosperous state. In the eternal state, the true value of things is discovered.
Justifying actions to twist them into compliance with God’s Word
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.
28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Hebrews 10:26-28 (NASB)
Isaiah 26:11
The Eye is the Lamp to the Soul
33 “No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.
34 “The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
35 “Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness.
36 “If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”
Luke 11:33-36 (NASB)
Do Not Live by Bread Alone
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”
Matthew 4:1-4 (NASB)
Deuteronomy 8:3
17 “He does not look at the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and curds.
18 “He returns what he has attained And cannot swallow it; As to the riches of his trading, He cannot even enjoy them.
Job 20:17-18 (NASB)
More. Ever we want more. Never satisfied with what we have. Contentment. Ambition isn’t necessarily an evil trait. Desiring more than we have right now isn’t bad. The heart-position we hold for our desires is what makes it good or bad.
11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11-13 (NASB)
When we internalize the idea that God is the source of everything for us, things change. That is an easy statement to make but a hard principle to live out. It isn’t the concept of just being satisfied with what we have, though that is part of it. Seeking God in all things and growing from it both physically and spiritually is a source of fulfillment in and of itself. The contentment of God is that state where we trust God in our condition regardless of what it is. Even if that condition is a downward spiral that culminates at the end of our life, we have to trust God that His Word is true, that there is a place for us in His kingdom.
19 “For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; He has seized a house which he has not built.
20 “Because he knew no quiet within him, He does not retain anything he desires.
Job 20:19-20 (NASB)
The wicked man is never happy with what he has; he is never content. That state of agitation and need for more makes his happiness fleeting, if it exists at all.
21 “Nothing remains for him to devour, Therefore his prosperity does not endure.
Job 20:21 (NASB)
The wicked man doesn’t know what to do with himself, with nothing left to conquer, acquire, or defeat. The people around him are there for what he can provide to them, not for the man himself. Thus, when all his challenges have fled, so have his friends, and he is left alone with nothing but himself and the material goods he has amassed with no one to share them.
22 “In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped; The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.
23 “When he fills his belly, God will send His fierce anger on him And will rain it on him while he is eating.
Job 20:22-23 (NASB)
At some point, the wicked man realizes those people around him aren’t there because they like him. They are there because they like what he can give them. No one likes him for himself, and that realization strikes the man’s heart like a blow from a sword.
24 “He may flee from the iron weapon, But the bronze bow will pierce him.
25 “It is drawn forth and comes out of his back, Even the glittering point from his gall. Terrors come upon him,
Job 20:24-25 (NASB)
A bow was a ranged weapon capable of killing a warrior at a great distance. These were typically made of wood, but the metalsmithing of the day was capable of turning out bows made of soft bronze. The softness of the metal made it flexible enough for the limbs of a bow but still stiff enough to give the weapon considerable force. A warrior had to be exceptionally strong to draw this bow, but more importantly, the arrow fired from such a weapon was capable of piercing any armor of the day. Zophar’s point here is that the wicked man cannot obtain armor thick enough to stop God’s truth from striking him down in the end.
26 Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures, And unfanned fire will devour him; It will consume the survivor in his tent.
27 “The heavens will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him.
28 “The increase of his house will depart; His possessions will flow away in the day of His anger.
29 “This is the wicked man’s portion from God, Even the heritage decreed to him by God.”
Job 20:26-29 (NASB)
Nothing a wicked person has survives their passing. These people are surrounded by other people who are only there for their possessions. When the wicked die, those left behind being wicked themselves divide up the dead person’s possessions, and they are gone as though devoured in fire, leaving nothing behind. This includes the salvation promised by faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. There is no universal entrance into Heaven for all people. The only way a person enters into Heaven is by faith in Jesus that Christ died on the cross as the final sin-offering to wash a believer clean. That is the only path to God, through the son.
6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
John 14:6 (NASB)