Job 11:1

JOB 11

ZOPHAR'S FIRST SPEECH:

ZOPHAR HAS THE SAME OLD THEORY BUT A WORSE ATTITUDE;

ZOPHAR CHARGES JOB WITH GROSS WICKEDNESS

Job 11:1-6

"Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said,

Should not the multitude of words be answered?

And should a man full of talk be justified?

Should thy boastings make men hold their peace?

And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?

For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure,

And I am clean in thine eyes.

But oh that God would speak,

And open his lips against the,

And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom!

For he is manifold in understanding.

Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less

than thine iniquity deserveth."

"Thou sayest, My doctrine is pure" (Job 11:4). Job had not promulgated any new doctrine, "But Zophar's point in this seems to be that, in rejecting the theology of his friends, Job was implicitly claiming to have superior understanding."[1]

With a friend like Zophar no man would need an enemy. These brutal words, addressed without feeling either of compassion or sympathy, to Job, of whom Zophar claimed to be a friend, are unsurpassed for sheer stupidity and cruelty. If his words had even been true, which they were not, he should have had the grace to keep his mouth shut instead of telling Job that his terrible sufferings were not only deserved, but that Job's wickedness demanded even worse sufferings than he was enduring.

Note progression in the speeches of the three friends. Eliphaz spoke only in generalities, implying that Job was a sinner but not actually saying so. Bildad went further and flatly declared that Job's children had been destroyed because of their sins. To all of this, Job replied emphatically that he was not wicked. Then here Zophar the third friend, "Made a direct attack against Job."[2] He called him a long winded talker that mocked God, accusing him of gross sin and wickedness.

Some scholars have viewed Zophar as "a profound theologian,"[3] but this writer finds no evidence whatever of any such excellence in Zophar. He was not wise, but ignorant. He pretended to know God's wisdom, but he didn't. As a personal representative of the devil in this encounter he adopted the guise of "the roaring lion," one of the masks of the evil one; and it is not hard to believe that his attack upon Job's integrity represented the worst that Satan could bring against God's "perfect man," Job.