Job 27:8

WHAT IS THE HOPE OF THE GODLESS?

"For what is the hope of the godless though he get him gain,

When God taketh away his soul?

Will God hear his cry

When trouble cometh upon him?

Will he delight himself in the Almighty,

And call upon God at all times?

I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it;

Why then are ye become altogether vain."

"Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times" (Job 27:10)? Job here points out the fundamental difference between himself and the wicked, that difference being simply that Job delights in the Almighty and calls upon God at all times. Such things the wicked do not. "Job's friends should have recognized that in Job's persistent crying to God there was the proof that their identification of Job with the godless was false."[7]

"I will teach you concerning the hand of God" (Job 27:11) Job here proposes to teach his friends some basic truths concerning God. Why do they need teaching? "They have become altogether vain" (Job 27:12). They have wickedly judged Job; and throughout this whole section Job emphasizes the fate of the wicked, because by their evil words against Job they have themselves joined the forces of wickedness. Thus his friends need the warning.

Of course, this chapter is disputed, some claiming that it is actually a mislabeled speech of Zophar, not pertaining to Job at all. Franks called Job 27:7-23 of this chapter, "The missing third speech of Zophar";[8] and Watson also accepted the authorship of Zophar for this passage as, "By far the best explanation of an otherwise incomprehensible passage."[9] Anderson noted that this device of making the passage the speech of Zophar, "Has enjoyed considerable prestige among scholars for two centuries."[10]

Nevertheless, this writer rejects this explanation as being unproved and unprovable. Furthermore, there is not anything that Job said in this chapter that is inconsistent either with the truth or with what Job had previously said. The critical scholars have simply misunderstood what Job is saying here, and throughout the Book of Job.

"Job's prediction here of the judgment of God upon the godless is not a belated conversion to his friends' point of view .... Nowhere has Job denied the justice of God; and it is not inconsistent for him to affirm it here."[11] In fact, throughout Job's speeches, the one thing that has separated Job from his friends is their neat little system of making Job a gross sinner because of his sufferings. The two great errors in their allegations were (1) that God punishes all wickedness in this life, and does so immediately after the sins are committed, and (2) that any sufferer, from what ever disease or calamity, is suffering the just reward of his sins. Job never denied either that righteousness tends toward happiness or that wickedness tends in the other direction.

Dr. Hesser stressed these same facts as follows: "Job believed that the wicked will pay for their sins, that sins lead to misery; but what he did not believe was that neat little formula in which exactly the right amount of suffering is immediately dealt out to all sinners. There is therefore no good reason for assigning this passage to Zophar instead of to Job."[12] Jamieson was in full agreement with this.[13]

Matthew Henry also noted another reason why Job in this passage spoke so dramatically about God's judgment of the wicked. "It was fittingly brought in here as a reason why Job would not deny his integrity."[14] We have already noted that it was likewise a fitting warning to his friends who had so wickedly accused him.