Heritage Reformed Baptist Mission
Job
Chapter 20
Job 20:1-29
I. ZOPHAR SAYS THE JOY OF THE WICKED IS SHORT LIVED - vv. 1-9
v. 1 - Here begins the second speech of Zophar.
v. 2 - "thoughts" = Heb = divided in mind; i.e., thoughts, opinions that are not well considered; in Zophar's case, those that were the result of emotion within him because of his disagreement with what Job was saying, and which he was anxious to speak out.
v. 3 - "check" = chastisement; reproof
Zophar has been stirred by the fact Job has reproved him and his friends and supposes he can answer that rationally.
vv. 4-9 - It is an eternal principle that whatever joy a wicked person and a hypocrite have is short-lived.
"Hypocrite" = a wicked person who pretends to be righteous.
There is pleasure in sin for a season. However long that season is in relation to this life, it is but nothing in relation to eternity..
II. ZOPHAR DESCRIBES THE MISERY OF THE WICKED - vv. 10-22
v. 10 - The children of wicked people who oppress and rob from the poor will be reduced to poverty, either by their parents being forced to make restitution and thus have nothing to leave to the children, or else by the children being themselves forced to make the restitution and become beggars of beggars.
It is most likely that the forced restitution will be through an act of God. Cf. Job 27:16-17; Pro 22:22-23; Ecc 2:26
v. 11 - "of the sin" is not in the original Hebrew, but is supplied by the translators. Without the supplied words, the verse may be understood to declare a wicked man cannot rely on the strength of his body to preserve him from death.
Job believed God was using the sins of his youth against him (cf. Job 13:26) and so the supplied words may very well be proper since there is no question Zophar along with the other two were alluding to Job in all that they said.
vv. 12-14 - The pleasures of sin are physically sweet and invigorating, but spiritually fatal.
v. 15 - Ill-gotten gains (those obtained through covetousness [which is idolatry {cf. Col 3:5}], whether honestly or deceitfully) shall be forced from the grasp of those who get them, whether in life or in death.
v. 16 - Ill-gotten gains are like the deadly poison of vipers. They wreck havoc with the conscience and even the bodily functions, providing misery.
v. 17 - Ill-gotten gains will not be enjoyed.
v. 18 - Ill-gotten gains will be restored in one way or another, and the restorer will not enjoy the way it is done, whether by law or by an act of God. cf. Psa 37:11
vv. 19-20 - See comment on v. 16.
v. 21 - The ruin of the wicked is complete, leaving nothing for anyone to find.
Though Zophar implies this to be the case in this life, Job later shows and experience bears witness that it most often applies in death and the judgment of God thereafter.
v. 22 - Though prosperous, a wicked man has no rest of conscience or from the threat of having his prosperity removed. Misery comes upon him from every direction.
ZOPHAR SPEAKS OF THE WICKED'S PORTION FROM GOD - vv. 23-29
v. 23 - cf. Num 11:33
v. 24 - Though he escape one danger, another shall overcome him. cf. Amos 5:19; Isa 24:17-18
v. 25 - A description of the certainty of death for the wicked.
v. 26 - "All darkness" = calamities of every kind
"hid in his secret places" = EITHER, there's no place the wicked can hide that calamities will not find him; OR, the punishments of God stored up for him that will fall upon him in due time - cf. Rom 2:5.
Both are equally true.
"fire not blown" = not kindled by man, but by God
"ill with him . . . tabernacle" = Those left behind in his house will also suffer. No one sins in a vacuum. Others are always affected in some way, especially members of one's own house.
v. 27 - cf. Num 32:23; Ecc 10:20
v. 28 - "his wrath" = God's
Prosperity taken away and destroyed.
v. 29 - This is indeed the portion of a wicked man from God, and since much of it has already happened to Job, therefore he must be a wicked man, which Zophar no doubt means for Job to see and understand and stop proclaiming his innocence.
Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied. - Matthew Henry