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. read more
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 day, who believe that the wicked shall be annihilated, and the bodies of the righteous only be raised from the dead; but I know of no scripture by which such a doctrine is confirmed. Like his own dung - His... read more
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer . Zophar "has heard the check of his reproach" ( Job 20:3 ), i.e. the reproach contained in the last words of Job in the preceding chapter. Therefore his thoughts rise up within him, and com-psi him to make a reply. He cannot allow Job to shift the onus of guilt and the menace of punishment on his friends, when it is he, Job, that is the guilty person, over whom the judgments of God impend. And... read more
Zophar's second speech is even more harsh than his first ( Job 11:1-20 .). He adds coarseness and rudeness to his former vehement hostility ( Job 20:7 , Job 20:15 ). His whole discourse is a covert denunciation of Job as a wicked man and a hypocrite (verses 5, 12, 19, 29), deservedly punished by God for a life of crime. He ends by prophesying Job's violent death, the destruction of his house, and the rising up of heaven and earth in witness against him (verses 24-28). read more
Zophar to Job: an orthodox champion to the rescue. I. AN IMPETUOUS ORATOR PERTURBED . Threatened with Divine vengeance, Zophar advances to the combat in hopes of utterly confounding his antagonist. His appearance, manner, and address are characterized by: 1 . Bold defiance. "Therefore," i.e. in view of what you have just spoken; nay, "nevertheless," i.e. in spite of all your grandiloquent talk about a sword. Zophar had been unmoved, equally by Job's pathetic wail depicting... read more
Godless prosperity short-lived. Here we have a new variation on the favourite theme of the friends—the inconstancy of godless prosperity. "The jubilation of the wicked is but of short duration, and the joy of the profligate but a moment." The wicked man is specially here described as a rich man, who greedily snatches at others' property, and whose ill-gotten gains become a deadly consuming fire to him and all his. It is related to Eliphaz's speech ( Job 15:1-35 .) as the superlative to the... read more
I have heard the check of my reproach ; or, the reproof which putteth me to shame (Revised Version). Some suppose an allusion to Job 19:2 , Job 19:3 ; but it is better to regard Zophar as enraged by Job 19:28 , Job 19:29 of Job 19:1-29 . And the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer . This claim is not quite consistent with the acknowledgment of hastiness in Job 19:2 . But it is no unusual thing for an impetuous and hasty man to declare that he speaks from the... read more
Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth? These words scarcely "imply cognizance of the record (of the creation of man) in Genesis," as Canon Cook suggests; but they do imply belief in a creation of man, not an evolution; and in the existence of a continuous tradition, extending from that time to Job's. The passage is among those which make for the high antiquity of the book. read more
That the triumphing of the wicked is short (comp. Psalms 37:35 , Psalms 37:36 ; Psalms 51:1-5 ; Psalms 73:17-19 , etc.). This is one of the main points of dispute between Job and his opponents. It has been previously maintained by Eliphaz ( Job 4:8-11 ; Job 5:3-5 ; Job 15:21 , Job 15:29 ) and by Bildad ( Job 8:11-19 ), as it is now by Zophar, and may be regarded as the traditional belief of the time, which scarcely any ventured to question. His own observation, however, has... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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 the fall, wickedness and hypocrisy have existed; but they have never triumphed long. Thou hast lately been expressing confidence in reference to a general judgment; but such is thy character, that thou hast little... read more