That the triumphing of the wicked is short. Job 20:4, 5 The triumph of the wicked George Wagner. The words of the text are indisputably true, though misapplied. In the world there is, alas! very often a triumphing of the wicked. Sometimes We see it on a grand scale, as in the cases of Pharaoh, or of Nero. Sometimes we see it on a small scale. There is great mystery in this apparent triumph of evil. Many a suffering saint has been perplexed by this feature of the Divine government ( Psalm 23 ). I. Some thoughts as to WHY THE WICKED SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO TRIUMPH FOR A SEASON. 1. God is a God of patience and long-suffering. He does not cut short the day of grace, even of the most ungodly, but gives them space for repentance. And even if this is of no avail, yet it is a display of His own attributes, and leaves the impenitent more completely without excuse. 2. This triumph may be permitted for a time, as a chastisement to His people, or to His world. God uses the wicked as unconscious instruments in executing His will, and especially in inflicting chastisement on His backsliding people. II. There is another, and how different a triumph, THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHRISTIAN. His triumph is not over the weak and suffering, but over the strong — the world, the flesh, the devil. ( George Wagner. ) The triumphing of the wicked short F. Rogers Blackley. I. THE TRIUMPH MENTIONED. The term used by Zophar is of very general meaning. It signifies the joy which is displayed by the conqueror on account of the successes which have attended him. It is to be understood as referring to the boast which ungodly men often make of their achievements. The term applies to the general conduct of all those who set God's laws at defiance, and by their life show who take pleasure in the ways of sin. The enjoyment of transgression is the triumph of ungodliness. II. THE SHORTNESS OF THE TRIUMPHS OF MAN. 1. In regard to the object itself. It is a conquest which circumstances put into their hands. But see how unstable is war. 2. The expression is also true as it regards the term of human life. The period allotted to man, even the longest period, is only a small portion of time. Death will soon overtake the ungodly, and put a final termination to all his plans and purposes; he will hurry the soul before the Judge of quick and dead, to give account of the deeds done in the body. Then will appear the value of the one thing needful. This subject teaches the people of God not to despond, not to judge or conclude that the wicked are happy, because they seem to prosper and triumph. It teaches the believer the obligations under which he lies to God for grace — grace which has enlightened his mind — grace which has led him to Christ, to believe in Him, and find mercy and peace — grace which has guided his steps, and enabled him to bear patiently all the ills of life, in the hope of a triumph forever. ( F. Rogers Blackley. ) And the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. Against hypocrisy Sketches of Sermons. Prejudice or passion will miserably warp the judgment. It will hide from us what we know not, and cause us to pervert what we do know. This is exemplified in the friends of Job. Job had hinted to them the evil and danger of their conduct ( Job 19:28, 29 ). And Zophar, irritated at the caution, replies with great severity. His words, however, though misapplied, suggest to us two very important truths respecting sinners. I. THEIR PROSPERITY IS TRANSIENT. Of sinners, some make no profession of religion, and others a false profession. Each of these characters may enjoy, for a while, great prosperity. the profane are often exalted to places of dignity and power. They prosper in all their labours for wealth and preferment. They "triumph," as though no evil should ever happen unto them ( Psalm 73:3-12 ). Hypocrites also frequently are held in estimation ( Revelation 3:1 ). They are objects of envy to many an humble and contrite soul. They will boast of experiences which might well be coveted. And even attain considerable heights of joy ( Matthew 13:20 ). But their prosperity will be of short duration. The hypocrite shall have a period put to his dissimulation. He shall soon appear in his proper character ( Deuteronomy 32:35 ). In comparison of eternity, the duration of his joy will be "but a moment." II. THEIR RUIN WILL BE TREMENDOUS. The ungodly will in due time be visited for their offences. They will then "perish." 1. To their own eternal shame. 2. To the astonishment of all that knew them. The question "Where is he?" refers primarily to the utter extinction of the ungodly. Address — "Know you not this?" Know you not that this has been so from the beginning of the world? Does not the Word of God assert that" it shall be ill with the wicked"? ( Isaiah 3:11 ; Psalm 9:17 .) Does not the most authentic history in the world prove it to have been so? ( Sketches of Sermons. ) He shall fly away as a dream. Job 20:8 The dream of life Homilist. Job, in the text, speaks of life as a "dream," a mere passing phantom of the brain. I. A DREAM IMPLIES A DORMANCY IN CERTAIN FACULTIES OF OUR NATURE. The flitting visions of the brain at night always imply the slumbering state of certain powers of the soul. The will has but little to do with the creations of the dream world. In what sense is the soul asleep? What are the faculties that lie dormant within us? There are those that consciously connect the spirit with the spiritual universe — God and moral responsibilities. But spiritual sleep is unnatural and injurious. II. A DREAM FILLS THE MIND WITH ILLUSIVE VISIONS. The mind sees things in the dreams of the night that never will and that never can have any actual existence. Like dreams, our life here is full of fictions and fancies. 1. Man's notions as to what his life here will be are illusions. 2. Man's notions as to what constitutes the dignities and blessedness of life are illusions. Compare the world's ideas of dignity with the dictates of common sense, the teaching of philosophy, to say nothing of the higher light of revelation. All notions of dignity and happiness are illusive which have not — (1) To do more with the soul than the senses. (2) To do more with the character than the circumstance. (3) To do more with the present than the future. (4) To do more with the absolute than with the contingent. III. A DREAM IS OF VERY SHORT DURATION. The night dreams of men are very brief, compared with the regular thoughts of their waking hours. Like a dream, life too is brief. This life dream will soon be over. ( Homilist. ) His bones are full Of the sin of his youth. Job 20:11 The sins of youth T. Horton, D.D. I. THE STATE OR CONDITION OF A WICKED MAN. "His bones are full of the sin of his youth." 1. The sin. "Youthful pranks." By youthful sins we may understand either kinds of sin, or the time of sin. Corrupt nature, though it cleave to all conditions of life, does not put forth itself alike in all. There are lusts that youth is more especially subject unto. Such as vanity both of spirit and conversation. Flexibility to evil. Easily wrought upon, and drawn away and enticed to that which is evil. Unteachableness. Wax to temptation and flint to admonition. Impetuousness; intemperance; uncleanness. 2. The punishment of sin. "His bones are full of them." The Spirit of God would hereby signify to us the sad and miserable condition of an obdurate and impenitent sinner that has lived for a long time in a course of sin. The word "bones" may be taken either in a corporal or in a spiritual sense. There are many in old age who feel the sins of their youth in their body, their "bones." There are diseases which attend on vicious courses, and hasten bodily destruction. Some kinds of sin God punishes even in this present life. But by "bones" we may understand the spirit, and more particularly the conscience. There is the remembrance of sin in the soul. Sin will stick in the conscience for a long while after the commission of it. God charges the guilt of the sins of youth upon men's souls when the things themselves are past and gone. He rubs up their memories and brings their sins to remembrance. He convinces the judgment as to the nature of the sins themselves. He afflicts them also for them. This is all as true of secret as of open sins. The reasons why God proceeds against sins of youth are these:(1) Because He will maintain His own right and interest in the world.(2) Because sins of youth are commonly acted with greater violence and vehemency of spirit. 3. The sins of youth are a foundation of more sin. Various improvements of the subject. To those who are young, that from hence they would be so much the more careful and watchful of themselves. We should all study to consecrate and devote our best time to God and to His service. Those who have the care of youth should have a more watchful eye upon them. The aged may well pray with the Psalmist, "Remember not the sins of my youth." Take up a general lamentation of the great exorbitancies and irregularities of youth, especially in these days. Notice the extent or amplification of the condition in these words, "Which shall lie down with him in the dust." This denotes the continuance of a wicked man's sin. It begins with him betimes, for it is the sin of his youth, and it lasts with him a long while; for it follows him even into another world. Two ways in which sin is said to "lie down in the dust." First, in regard to the stain of it, and then with regard to the guilt of it. There are two things in Christ which are great arguments for closing with Him. There is holiness answerable to pollution, and there is pardon answerable to guilt. ( T. Horton, D.D. ) Youth the root of age H.W. Beecher. It should be borne in mind that in old age it is too late to mend, that then you must inhabit what you have built. Old age has the foundation of its joy or its sorrow laid in youth. You are building at twenty. Are you building for seventy? Nay, every stone laid in the foundation takes hold of every stone in the wall up to the very eaves of the building; and every deed, right or wrong, that transpires in youth, reaches forward, and has a relation to all the after-part of man's life. ( H.W. Beecher. ) Sins and their punishments Joseph Caryl. There are seven sorts of special sins. 1. Such as appertain to and most commonly show themselves in this or that age of man's life. 2. There are sins more proper to some countries and places. 3. To the season or times wherein we live. 4. There are special sins of men's special callings, dealings, and tradings in the world 5. Of their conditions, whether poor or rich, great or small. 6. There are special sins following the constitution of the body, whether sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, or melancholy. 7. There are special sins hanging about our relations. The bones of some are full of the sins of their relations and constitutions; the bones of others are full of the sins of their conditions and callings; the bones of not a few are full of the sins of the place, time or age wherein they live. The bones of many are full of that special age of their lives, their youth. The sins of their youth age are visible in their old age, and the sins of their first age prove the sorrows of their last. Till sin be repented of and pardoned, the punishment of it remains. The punishment of sin reacheth as far as sin reacheth. All the sins of youth remain in and upon the oldest of impenitent persons. It is the greatest misery to persevere in sin. ( Joseph Caryl. ) The sin of youth J. Burroughs. We commonly say, it is not the last blow of the axe that fells the oak; perhaps the last may be a weaker blow than any of the former, but the other blows made way for the felling of it, and at length a little blow comes and completes it. So our former sins may be the things that make way for our ruin, and then at length some lesser sins may accomplish it. ( J. Burroughs. ) The enduring effects of early transgression Henry Melvill, B.D. The season of youth should be passed religiously, if old age is to be honourable, and if death is to be conquered. The sins of our younger days pursue us through life, and even "lie down with us in the dust." 1. How difficult and almost impossible it is, in reference to the present scene of being, to make up by after diligence for time lost in youth. It is appointed by God that one stage of life should be strictly preparatory to another. It is also appointed that neglect of the several duties of any one stage shall leave consequences not to be repaired by any attention, however intense, to those of a following. If there have been neglected boyhood, so that the mind's powers have not been disciplined, nor its chambers stored with information, the consequences will propagate themselves to the extreme line of life. Just because there has been negligence in youth, the man must be wanting to the end of his days in acquirements of whose worth he is perpetually reminded, and which, comparatively speaking, are not to be gained except at one period of his life. The same truth is exemplified in reference to bodily health. The man who has injured his constitution by the excesses of youth, cannot repair the mischief by after acts of self-denial. The seeds of disease which have been sown whilst passions were fresh and ungoverned, are not to be eradicated by the severest moral regimen which may afterwards be prescribed and followed. The possession of the iniquities of youth which we wish most to exhibit is that which affects men when stirred with anxiety for the soul, and desirous to seek and obtain the pardon of sin. Take the case of a man who spends the best years of his life in the neglect of God, and the things of another world. It is not necessary that we suppose him one of the openly profligate. If awakened to a sense of sin, such a man is very likely to defer resolute action till death overtakes him. On the most favourable supposition the mind finds it most difficult to forsake sin and change his conduct. The carelessness of today inevitably adds to the carelessness of tomorrow. Beginning with attachment to this world, men bind themselves with a cord to which every hour will weave a new thread. And however genuine and effectual the repentance and faith of a late period of life, it is unavoidable that the remembrance of misspent years will embitter those which are consecrated to God. By lengthening the period of irreligion, and therefore diminishing that of obedience to God, we almost place ourselves amongst the last of the competitors for the kingdom of heaven. If we devote but a fraction of our days to the striving for the reward promised to Christ's servants, there is an almost certainty that only the lowest of those rewards will come within our reach. The iniquities of youth will hang like lead on the wings of his soul, restraining its ascendings, and forbidding its reaching those loftier points in immortality which might have been attained by a longer striving. ( Henry Melvill, B.D. ) The sin of youth in the bones of age Francis Jacox. Expositors differ in their exposition of a text in which so material a word as "the sin" is supplied by our translators. "His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust" — the italicised words not occurring in the original. The Vulgate version is in favour of ours, "His bones are full of the sins of his youth"; while the Septuagint has it, "His bones are full of his youth"; in accordance with which rendering, Gesenius and others take the passage to mean, full of vigour, so that the man is cut off in his physical prime. Dr. Good's reading is, "His secret sins shall follow his bones, yea, they shall press upon him in the dust." Others take the literal Hebrew, "His bones are full of secret things," to refer to the hidden, long-cherished faults of his life — the corrupt habits secretly indulged, which would "adhere to him, leaving a withering influence on his whole system in advancing years." "His secret lusts would work his certain ruin," the effect being that which, as a popular commentator says, is so often seen, when vices corrupt the very physical frame, and where the results are seen far on in future life. In this sense be the text accepted here. Graphic, after the manner of the man, is Dr. South's picture of the old age that comes to wail upon what he calls a "great and worshipful sinner," who for many years together has had the reputation of eating well and doing ill. "It comes (as it ought to do to a person of such quality) attended with a long train and retinue of rheums, coughs, catarrhs, and dropsies, together with many painful girds and achings, which are at least called the gout. How does such a one go about, or is carried rather, with his body bending inward, his head shaking, and his eyes always watering (instead of weeping) for the sins of his ill-spent youth: In a word, old age seizes upon such a person like fire upon a rotten house; it was rotten before, and must have fallen of itself, so that it is no more but one ruin preventing another." Virtue, we are admonished, is a friend and a help to nature; but it is vice and luxury that destroy it, and the diseases of intemperance are the natural product of the sins of intemperance. "Chastity makes no work for a chirurgeon, nor ever ends in rottenness of bones." Whereas, sin is the fruitful parent of distempers, and ill lives occasion good physicians. ( Francis Jacox. ) Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth. Job 20:12-14 The woe of the wicked T. Horton, D.D. I. THE DISPOSITION OF A WICKED MAN IN REGARD TO SIN. 1. His complacency in it. "It is sweet to his mouth." A metaphor taken from natural food, which is pleasing and delightful to the taste, which is seated in the mouth or palate. So is sin to the carnal heart. It is very sweet and refreshing to it. Especially in the first embracing or entertaining of it. The ground hereof is this. It is suitable and connatural to him. We may judge of the delight which a wicked person has in sin, by the measure of a gracious person's delight in goodness. Satan enlarges and advances things to them, and makes them seem greater than they are. 2. His concealment of it. "He hides it under his tongue." This wicked persons do, either by speaking for sin, or by speaking against it. They speak for it by denying it, or diminishing it, or defending it. 3. His indulgence or favourableness towards it. He spares it, and does not forsake it. He spares it, as to matter of search and inquiry; as to matter of resistance and opposition; as to matter of expulsion, and ejection, and mortification. He does not forsake it. He never forsakes his sin, till his sin forsake him, and he can keep it no longer. A man cannot be said to forsake any sin in particular, who does not forsake the way of sin in general. II. THE EFFECT OF SIN TO A WICKED MAN. "Yet his meat," etc. In the general, "His meat within his bowels is turned." In the particular, "It is as the gall of asps within him." This figure represents the bitterness and the perniciousness of sin. Use and improvement. 1. Beware of being taken with any sinful way or course whatsoever, from the seeming sweetness that is in it. 2. Do not please thyself in the covering and concealing of sin. 3. Or in self-security and presumption. 4. Use Christian prudence to see the plague afar off, to hide yourselves from it. ( T. Horton, D.D. ) Because he hath oppressed, and hath forsaken the poor. Job 20:19 Social wickedness Joseph Parker, D.D. What is it that excites all this Divine antagonism and judgment? Was the object of it a theological heretic? Was the man pronounced wicked because he had imbibed certain wrong notions? Was this a case of heterodoxy of creed being punished by the outpouring of the vials of Divine wrath? Look at the words again. His philanthropy was wrong. The man was wicked socially — wicked in relation to his fellow men. All wickedness is not of a theological nature and quality, rising upward into the region of metaphysical conceptions and definitions of the Godhead, which only the learned can present or comprehend; there is a lateral wickedness, a wickedness as between man and man, rich and poor, poor and rich young and old; a household wickedness, a market place iniquity. There we stand on solid rock. If you have been led away with the thought that wickedness is a theological conception, and a species of theological nightmare, you have only to read the Bible, in its complete sense, in order to see that judgment is pronounced upon what may be called lateral wickedness — the wickedness that operates among ourselves, that wrongs mankind, that keeps a false weight, and a short measure, that practises cunning and deceit upon the simple and innocent, that fleeces the unsuspecting, — a social wickedness that stands out that it may be seen in all its black hideousness, and valued as one of the instruments of the devil. There is no escape from the judgment of the Bible. If it pronounced judgment upon false opinions only, then men might profess to be astounded by terms they cannot comprehend: but the Bible goes into the family, the market place, the counting. house, the field where the labourer toils, and insists upon judging the actions of men, and upon sending away the richest man from all his bank of gold, if he have oppressed and forsaken the poor. ( Joseph Parker, D.D. ).

Benson Commentary Job 20:1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Job 20:1 . Then answered Zophar — Here Zophar, although he had nothing new to advance, hastily interrupts Job, being extremely provoked by his threatening them with the judgments of God, and in his speech appears to be hurried by his passion beyond all bounds. He tells him it is in vain to tax their suspicions with unkindness; for it was of public notoriety, agreeable to the universal experience of mankind, ever since the creation, that suffering was the portion of the wicked. He then, under colour of describing the wicked man, and his destiny, charges Job with the most enormous crimes, and marks him out as a person in whom God had given an example of the justice of his providence; and concludes with a plain intimation, that he was thoroughly persuaded that Job was that very wicked man, that oppressor of the poor, which they had from the beginning suspected him to be. Job 20:2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. Job 20:2 . Therefore — For this thy severe sentence; do my thoughts cause me to answer — I thought to have troubled myself and thee with no further discourses, but these words of thine make my former thoughts to return again, and so provoke me, that I am not able any longer to forbear speaking. Job 20:3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. Job 20:3 . I have heard — Or, Shall I hear? Namely, with patience, and without a reply? Who can endure it? The check of my reproach — That is, thy shameful and opprobrious reproofs of us, as if we, and all thy friends, were void of all humanity and natural affection toward thee, and were haters and persecutors of thee; and as if we were guilty of very heinous crimes, and might expect God’s vengeance upon us. And the spirit of my understanding — That is, my soul or mind, causeth me to answer — Constraineth me to speak. Or, the words ??? ?????? , ruach mibbinathi, may be rendered, my spirit, or mind, because of my understanding, that is, out of, or because of, that certain knowledge which I have of this matter from consideration and experience. I speak not from passion, but from certain knowledge. Job 20:4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, Job 20:4-5 . Knowest thou not this — Which I am now about to say; of old — From the experience of all former ages; since man was placed upon the earth — Since the world was made, and there were any men to observe God’s government of it; that the triumphing of the wicked is short — Hebrew, ????? , mikarob, is from near, that is, from, or for a little time; they have not long enjoyed it, and it will shortly vanish. And the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment — This he adds by way of reflection upon Job, who, though he cleared himself of gross wickedness, yet, he judged, was guilty of deep hypocrisy. Job 20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Job 20:6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; Job 20:6-9 . Though his excellency mount up to the heavens — Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority in the world. He shall perish like his own dung — Which men cast away with contempt and abhorrence. They who have seen him — With admiration at his felicity; shall say, Where is he? — He is nowhere to be found; he is utterly gone and lost. He shall fly away as a dream — Which, for the present, affects the fancy, but hath nothing solid or permanent in it, for as soon as a man awakes all vanishes, and the remembrance of it is quickly lost. Neither shall his place any more behold him — That is, it shall not acknowledge or contain him. A figure called prosopopœia, as Job 7:10 . Or, neither shall it (that is, the eye, last mentioned) behold him any more in his place. Job 20:7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? Job 20:8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. Job 20:9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. Job 20:10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. Job 20:10 . His children shall seek to please the poor — Either, 1st, To get some small relief from them in their extreme necessity. Or, rather, 2d, Lest they should revenge themselves on them for the great and many injuries which their father did them, or should seek to the magistrate for reparation. His hands shall restore their goods — By the sentence of the judge, to whom the oppressed poor will appeal, notwithstanding all the endeavours of their oppressors to dissuade them from so doing. Job 20:11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. Job 20:11 . His bones — That is, his whole body, even the strongest parts of it; are full of the sin of his youth — Of the punishment of it. He shall feel the sad effects of his youthful sins in his riper years, as riotous sinners commonly do. Which shall lie down with him in the dust — He shall carry his diseases and pains, brought upon him by his sins, to the grave: or, rather, they will carry him thither, and prove the causes of his immature death; and the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to him the effect of sin, so that his iniquity is upon his bones even there. Job 20:12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; Job 20:12-14 . Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth — Though it greatly please him while he is committing it; though he hide it under his tongue — As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Though he be highly pleased with the gratification of his lusts, and cleave to his sinful pleasures in hearty love, resolving to hold them fast, and improve them to the greatest delight and advantage; though he spare it — Will not part with his sin, but gratifies and obeys his sinful inclinations, instead of subduing and mortifying them; but keeps it still within his mouth — That he may enjoy all the sweetness of it. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned — From sweet to bitter; it is the gall of asps within him — Exceeding bitter and pernicious. Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of asps is most dangerous, and, within a few hours, kills without remedy. Job 20:13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: Job 20:14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. Job 20:15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. Job 20:15-16 . He hath swallowed down riches — He hath got possession of them, and thought them to be as much his own as the meat he had eaten. But he is deceived. He shall vomit them up again — Shall be compelled to restore them: his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten, that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but with the utmost reluctancy, like the pain produced by an emetic. God shall cast them out of his belly — If he do not himself voluntarily refund what he has violently taken away, God, by his providence, shall force him to do it, and bring it about, one way or other, that his ill-gotten goods shall return to their right owners. If man’s hand cannot reach him, God shall find him out. He shall suck the poison of asps — What he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, shall, in the issue, prove most ungrateful and destructive, as the poison, or head (for the Hebrew ???? , rosh, signifies both, and the poison lies in the head) of asps would be to one that sucked it. Such is sin; such especially will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue will prove the viper’s tongue. All the charming graces that are thought to be in sin will turn, when the conscience is awakened, into so many raging furies. Job 20:16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. Job 20:17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. Job 20:17 . He shall not see the rivers, the floods, &c. — “He shall not see them with any pleasure. The most delightful things of this world, and the greatest affluence and plenty of them, shall afford him no enjoyment.” — Dodd. Or, rather, he speaks metaphorically, and means, he shall not enjoy that abundant satisfaction and comfort, which he promised himself from his great riches, or which good men, through God’s blessing, commonly enjoy. Job 20:18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be , and he shall not rejoice therein . Job 20:18 . That which he laboured for shall he restore — Expressed in Hebrew by only two words, ????? ??? , meshib jagang, literally, restituens laborem, restoring labor: that is, the goods which were gotten with labour, that of others, or his own. It may refer either to the goods of others, of which he had obtained possession, not without pains and difficulty; or to his own goods, honestly gotten by the sweat of his brow. And this may be intended as an aggravation of his misery, that he is compelled, not only to restore other men’s goods, which were in his hands, but to part with his own also, to make reparation for damages. And shall not swallow it down — So as to hold it: he shall not possess it long, nor to any important purpose. According to his substance shall the restitution be — That is, he shall be forced to part with all his property to make compensation for his wrongs. And he shall not rejoice therein — He shall not enjoy what he had gotten, because it shall be taken from him. Houbigant’s translation of this verse is, He shall restore what he gained by his labour, and shall not consume it. His merchandise was abundant, but he shall not enjoy it. Job 20:19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; Job 20:19 . Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor — By his oppression he brought men to utter poverty, and then forsook them in that destitute state, affording them no mercy nor help. Or, the meaning is, He made some poor by his oppressions, and others, that were poor, he suffered to perish for want of that relief which he might have afforded them. He hath violently taken away a house, &c. — Namely, for his own use; which he builded not — Which was none of his. Job 20:20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. Job 20:20 . Surely he shall not feel quietness, &c. — He shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his mind, in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty conscience assures him he deserves, and partly because they shall be speedily taken away from him. He shall not save of that which he desired — That is, any part of his good and desirable things, but he shall forfeit and lose them all. Job 20:21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. Job 20:21-22 . There shall none of his meat be left, &c. — For his future use; but he shall be stripped of all, which being publicly known, none of his kindred or friends shall trouble themselves to seek for any relics of his estate. But the Hebrew, ??? ????? ????? , een shorid leachlo, rather means, There shall none be left for his meat, that is, he shall leave no heir who shall possess or enjoy his goods. In the fulness of his sufficiency, &c. — In the height of his prosperity he shall be distressed. Every hand of the wicked shall be upon him — So his wickedness shall be punished by those as wicked as himself. Job 20:22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. Job 20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. Job 20:23 . When he is about to fill his belly — That is, when he has enough to satisfy all his appetites, and shall design to indulge them in the pleasurable enjoyment of all his gains, and to spend his days in sensuality; God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him — Some dreadful and destructive judgment. And shall rain it upon him — This phrase denotes both the author of his plagues, God, and the nature and quality of them, that they shall come upon him like rain, with great vehemence, so that he cannot prevent or avoid them; while he is eating — As it fell upon thy sons, Job 1:18-19 . Job 20:24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. Job 20:24-25 . He shall flee from the iron weapon — That is, from the sword or spear; and so shall think himself out of danger. The bow of steel — Which is of great strength, and therefore sendeth forth the arrow with greater force; shall strike him through — Shall mortally wound him. He shall flee from one danger, but another, still greater, shall overtake him. It is drawn — Namely, the arrow which had entered into his body, and now is drawn out of it, either by himself or some other person. Yea, the glittering sword — Hebrew, ???? , ubarak, literally, the lightning, and thence a glittering weapon, the bright sword, or spear; as Deuteronomy 32:41 . By this it is implied he was doubly wounded, first with the arrow, and then with the sword or spear: cometh out of his gall — Into which it had entered, and wherewith it was coloured. This shows that the wound was both deep and deadly, as wounds are in that part. It is probable he mentions this in reference to a similar expression of Job 16:13 . Terrors are upon him — Namely, the terrors of death; because he perceives, by the tincture of his gall upon the weapon, that his wound is incurable. Or horrors of conscience, because he cannot live, and dare not die. Job 20:25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. Job 20:26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. Job 20:26 . All darkness — All sorts of miseries, of soul, and body, and estate; shall be hid — Or laid up by God for him. They are reserved and treasured up for him, and kept as in a sure place, and shall infallibly overtake him: in his secret places — In those places where he confidently hoped to hide and secure himself from all evils and enemies; yet even there God shall find him out. A fire not blown — By man, but kindled by God himself; shall consume or destroy him — He thinks, by his might and violence, to secure himself from men; but God, by his own immediate hand, or in some unknown and unexpected manner, will find him out. It may be understood of the fire of hell; see Isaiah 30:33 . It shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle — With his family, or posterity, who shall inherit his curse, as well as his estate. Heath translates this verse, All manner of calamity is laid up in store for him: an unquenchable fire shall consume him: it shall devour all that remaineth in his stead. Job 20:27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. Job 20:27-28 . The heaven shall reveal his iniquity — God shall be a swift witness against him by extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job’s case, and the fire from heaven. And the earth shall rise up against him — All creatures upon earth shall conspire to destroy him. If the God of heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will show him any kindness, but all the hosts of both are, and will be, at war with him. The increase of his house — ???? , jebul, proventus, his income, revenue, or his estate got by the labour, and employed for the use of his family; shall depart — Shall be lost or taken away from him: shall flow away — Like waters, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return no more: in the day of his wrath — That is, of God’s wrath; when God shall come to execute judgment upon him. The abundance of his house, Heath renders it, shall roll away like the torrents in the day of his fury. Job 20:28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. Job 20:29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. Job 20:29 . This is the portion of the wicked man from God — Allotted to him, designed for him, as his portion: and he will have it for a perpetuity; it is what he must abide by. And the heritage appointed unto him by God — Hebrew, ???? ???? , nachalath imro, the heritage of his word; that is, appointed by the word or sentence of God; and termed a heritage, to signify the stability and assurance of it; that it is as firm and certain to him as an inheritance to the right heir; and in opposition to that inheritance which he had gotten by fraud and violence. Though impenitent sinners do not always fall under such temporal judgments as are here described, and in that Zophar was mistaken; yet the wrath of God abides upon them: and they are made miserable by spiritual judgments, which are much worse; their consciences being either, on the one hand, a terror to them, and then they are in continual amazement; or, on the other hand, seared and silenced, and then they are given up to a reprobate mind, and bound over to eternal ruin. “Never was any doctrine better explained,” says Henry, “nor worse applied, than this here by Zophar: who intended by all this to prove Job to be a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explication, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves to stand in awe and not to sin.” Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Job 20:1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, XVII. IGNORANT CRITICISM OF LIFE Job 20:1-29 ZOPHAR SPEAKS THE great saying that quickens our faith and carries thought into a higher world conveyed no Divine meaning to the man from Naamah. The author must have intended to pour scorn on the hide bound intelligence and rude bigotry of Zophar, to show him dwarfed by self-content and zeal not according to knowledge. When Job affirmed his sublime confidence in a Divine Vindicator, Zophar caught only at the idea of an avenger. What is this notion of a Goel on whose support a condemned man dares to count, who shall do judgment for him? And his resentment was increased by the closing words of Job:- "If ye say, How may we pursue him? And that the cause of the matter is in me- Then beware of the sword! For hot are the punishments of the sword. That ye may know there is judgment." If they went on declaring that the root of the matter, that is, the real cause of his affliction, was to be found in his own bad life, let them beware the avenging sword of Divine justice. He certainly implies that his Goel may become their enemy if they continue to persecute him with false charges. To Zophar the suggestion is intolerable. With no little irritation and anger he begins:- "For this do my thoughts answer me, And by reason of this there is haste in me- I hear the reproof which puts me to shame, And the spirit of my understanding gives me answer." He speaks more hotly than in his first address, because his pride is touched, and that prevents him from distinguishing between a warning and a personal threat. To a Zophar every man is blind who does not see as he sees, and every word offensive that bids him take pause. Believers of his kind have always liked to appropriate the defence of truth, and they have seldom done anything but harm. Conceive the dulness and obstinacy of one who heard an inspired utterance altogether new to human thought, and straightway turned in resentment on the man from whom it came. He is an example of the bigot in the presence of genius, a little uncomfortable, a good deal affronted, very sure that he knows the mind of God, and very determined to have the last word. Such were the Scribes and Pharisees of our Lord’s time, most religious persons and zealous for what they considered sound doctrine. His light shone in darkness, and their darkness comprehended it not; they did Him to death with an accusation of impiety and blasphemy-"He made Himself the Son of God," they said. Zophar’s whole speech is a fresh example of the dogmatic hardness the writer was assailing, the closure of the mind and the stiffening of thought. One might not unjustly accuse this speaker of neglecting the moral difference between the profane whose triumph and joy he declares to be short, and the good man whose career is full of years and honour. We may almost say that to him outward success is the only mark of inward grace, and that prosperous hypocrisy would be mistaken by him for the most beautiful piety. His whole creed about providence and retribution is such that he is on the way to utter confusion of mind. Why, he has said to himself that Job is a wicked and false man-Job whose striking characteristic is outspoken truthfulness, whose integrity is the pride of his Divine Master. And if Zophar once accepts it as indisputable that Job is neither good nor sincere, what will the end be for himself? With more and more assurance he will judge from a man’s prosperity that he is righteous, and from his afflictions that he is a reprobate. He will twist and torture facts of life and modes of thought, till the worship of property will become his real cult, and to him the poor will of necessity seem worthless. This is just what happened in Israel. It is just what slovenly interpretation of the Bible and providence has brought many to in our own time. Side by side with a doctrine of self-sacrifice incredible and mischievous, there is a doctrine of the earthly reward of godliness-religion profitable for the life that now is, in the way of filling the pockets and conducting to eminent seats-an absurd and hurtful doctrine, forever being taught in one form if not another, and applied all along the line of human life. An honest, virtuous man, is he sure to find a good place in our society? The rich broker or manufacturer, because he washes, dresses, and has twenty servants to wait upon him, is he therefore a fine soul? Nobody will say so. Yet Christianity is so little understood in some quarters, is so much associated with the error of Zophar, that within the church a score are of his opinion for one who is in Job’s perplexity. Outside, the proportion is much the same. The moral ideas and philanthropies of our generation are perverted by the notion that no one is succeeding as a man unless he is making money and rising in the social scale. So, independence of mind, freedom, integrity, and the courage by which they are secured, are made of comparatively little account. It will be said that if things were rightly ordered, Christian ideas prevailing in business, in legislation and social intercourse, the best people would certainly be in the highest places and have the best of life, and that, meanwhile, the improvement of the world depends on some approximation to this state of affairs. That is to say, spiritual power and character must come into visible union with the resources of the earth and possession of its good things, otherwise there will be no moral progress. Divine providence, we are told, works after that manner; and the reasoning is plausible enough to require close attention. There has always been peril for religion in association with external power and prestige-and the peril of religion is the peril of progress. Will spiritual ideas ever urge those whose lives they rule to seek with any solicitude the gifts of time? Will they not, on the other hand, increasingly, as they ought, draw the desires of the best away from what is immediate, earthly, and in all the lower senses personal? To put it in a word, must not the man of spiritual mind always be a prophet, that is, a critic of human life in its relations to the present world? Will there come a time in the history of the race when the criticism of the prophet shall no longer be needed and his mantle will fall from him? That can only be when all the Lord’s people are prophets, when everywhere the earthly is counted as nothing in view of the heavenly, when men will seek continually a new revelation of good, and the criticism of Christ shall be so acknowledged that no one shall need to repeat after Him, "How can ye believe which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour: that cometh from God only?" By heavenly means alone shall heavenly ends be secured, and the keen pursuit of earthly good will never bring the race of men into the paradise where Christ reigns. Outward magnificence is neither a symbol nor an ally of spiritual power. It hinders instead of aiding the soul in the quest of what is eternally excellent, touching the sensuous, not the divine, in man. Christ is still, as in the days of His flesh, utterly indifferent to the means by which power and distinction are gained in the world. The spread of His ideas, the manifestation of His Godhead, the coming of His Kingdom, depend not the least on the countenance of the great and the impression produced on rude minds by the shows of wealth. The first task of His gospel everywhere is to correct the barbaric tastes of men; and the highest and best in a spiritual age will be, as He was, thinkers, seers of truth, lovers of God and man, lowly in heart and life. These will express the penetrating criticism that shall move the world. Zophar discourses of one who is openly unjust and rapacious. He is candid enough to admit that, for a time, the schemes and daring of the wicked may succeed, but affirms that, though his head may "reach to the clouds," it is only that he may be cast down. Knowest thou not this from of old, Since man was placed upon earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless but for a moment, Though his excellency ascend to heaven, And his head reach to the clouds, Yet he shall perish forever like his own dung: They who saw him shall say, Where is he? Like a dream he shall flee, no more to be found, Yea, he shall be chased away like a night vision. As a certainty, based on facts quite evident since the beginning of human history, Zophar presents anew the overthrow of the evildoer. He is sure that the wicked does not keep his prosperity through a long life. Such a thing has never occurred in the range of human experience. The godless man is allowed, no doubt, to lift himself up for a time; but his day is short. Indeed he is great for a moment only, and that in appearance. He never actually possesses the good things of earth, but only seems to possess them. Then in the hour of judgment he passes like a dream and perishes forever. The affirmation is precisely that which has been made again and again; and with some curiosity we scan the words of Zophar to learn what addition he makes to the scheme so often pressed. Sooth to say, there is no reasoning, nothing but affirmation. He discusses no doubtful case, enters into no careful discrimination of the virtuous who enjoy from the godless who perish, makes no attempt to explain the temporary success granted to the wicked. The man he describes is one who has acquired wealth by unlawful means, who conceals his wickedness, rolling it like a sweet morsel under his tongue. We are told further that he has oppressed and neglected the poor and violently taken away a house, and he has so behaved himself that all the miserable watch for his downfall with hungry eyes. But these charges, virtually of avarice, rapacity, and inhumanity, are far from definite, far from categorical. Not without reason would any man have so bad a reputation, and if deserved it would ensure the combination against him of all right-minded people. But men may be evil hearted and inhuman who are not rapacious; they may be vile and yet not given to avarice. And Zophar’s account of the ruin of the profane, though he makes it a Divine act, pictures the rising of society against one whose conduct is no longer endurable-a robber chief, the tyrant of a valley. His argument fails in this, that though the history of the proud evildoer’s destruction were perfectly true to fact, it would apply to a very few only amongst the population, -one in ten thousand, leaving the justice of Divine providence in greater doubt than ever, because the avarice and selfishness of smaller men are not shown to have corresponding punishment, are not indeed so much as considered. Zophar describes one whose bold and flagrant iniquity rouses the resentment of those not particularly honest themselves, not religious, nor even humane, but merely aware of their own danger from his violent rapacity. A man, however, may be avaricious who is not strong, may have the will to prey on others but not the power. The real distinction, therefore, of Zophar’s criminal is his success in doing what many of those he oppresses and despoils would do if they were able, and the picturesque passage leaves no deep moral impression. We read it and seem to feel that the overthrow of this evildoer is one of the rare and happy instances of poetical justice which sometimes occur in real life, but not so frequently as to make a man draw back in the act of oppressing a poor dependant or robbing a helpless widow. In all sincerity Zophar speaks, with righteous indignation against the man whose rum he paints, persuades that he is following, step for step, the march of Divine judgment. His eye kindles, his voice rings with poetic exultation. He hath swallowed down riches; he shall vomit them again: God shall cast them out of his belly. He shall suck the poison of asps; The viper’s tongue shall slay him. He shall not look upon the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and butter. That which he toiled for shall he restore, And shall not swallow it down; Not according to the wealth he has gotten Shall he have enjoyment, There was nothing left that he devoured not; Therefore his prosperity shall not abide. In his richest abundance he shall be in straits; The hand of every miserable one shall come upon him. When he is about to fill his belly God shall cast the fury of His wrath upon him And rain upon him his food. He has succeeded for a time, concealing or fortifying himself among the mountains. He has store of silver and gold and garments taken by violence, of cattle and sheep captured in the plain. But the district is roused. Little by little he is driven back into the uninhabited desert. His supplies are cut off and he is brought to extremity. His food becomes to him as the gall of asps. With all his ill-gotten wealth he is in straits, for he is hunted from place to place. Not for him now the luxury of the green oasis and the coolness of flowing streams. He is an outlaw, in constant danger of discovery. His children wander to places where they are not known and beg for bread. Reduced to abject fear, he restores the goods he had taken by violence, trying to buy off the enmity of his pursuers. Then come the last skirmish, the clash of weapons, ignominious death. He shall flee from the iron weapon, And the bow of brass shall pierce him through. He draweth it forth; it cometh out of his body: Yea, the glittering shaft cometh out of his gall. Terrors are upon him, All darkness is laid up for his treasures; A fire not blown shall consume him. It shall devour him that is left in his tent. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity, And the earth shall rise against him. The increase of his house shall depart, Be washed away in the day of His wrath. This is the lot of a wicked man from God, And the heritage appointed to him by God. Vain is resistance when he is brought to bay by his enemies. A moment of overwhelming terror, and he is gone. His tent blazes up and is consumed, as if the breath of God made hot the avenging flame. Within it his wife and children perish. Heaven seems to have called for his destruction and earth to have obeyed the summons. So the craft and strength of the freebooter, living on the flocks and harvests of industrious people, are measured vainly against the indignation of God, who has Ordained the doom of wickedness. A powerful word picture. Yet if Zophar and the rest taught such a doctrine of retribution, and, put to it, could find no other; if they were in the way of saying, "This is the lot of a wicked man from God," how far away must Divine judgment have seemed from ordinary life, from the falsehoods daily spoken, the hard words and blows dealt to the slave, the jealousies and selfishness of the harem. Under the pretext of showing the righteous Judge, Zophar makes it impossible, or next to impossible, to realise His presence and authority. Men must be stirred up on God’s behalf or His judicial anger will not be felt. It is however when we apply the picture to the case of Job that we see its falsehood. Against the facts of his career Zophar’s account of Divine judgment stands out as flat heresy, a foul slander charged on the providence of God. For he means that Job wore in his own settlement the hypocritical dress of piety and benevolence and must have elsewhere made brigandage his trade, that his servants who died by the sword of Chaldaeans and Sabeans and the fire of heaven had been his army of rievers, that the cause of his ruin was heaven’s intolerance and earth’s detestation of so vile a life. Zophar describes poetic justice, and reasons back from it to Job. Now it becomes flagrant injustice against God and man. We cannot argue from what sometimes is to what must be. Although Zophar had taken in hand to convict one really and unmistakably a miscreant, truth alone would have served the cause of righteousness. But he assumes, conjectures, and is immeasurably unjust and cruel to his friend. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.