Zophar’s Second Speech: Another Portrait of Hell: Job: The Wisdom of the Cross [Job 20]

{pray}

The interactions continue with another speech by Zophar. As we have seen the frustration of Job’s “friends” is evident and continuing to grow. We’ve established several times now the the friends, comforters, or whatever you want to call them are wrong and useless in their attempts to bring comfort and healing to Job…so the question is...

Why go on listening to the comforters?

Why do we have to go on and on listening to these dreadful speeches? After all, God is going to tell us at the end of the book that they are wrong (42:7). So what is the point of listening to them? What benefit can they possibly have for us? Sure, we are told that “all Scripture” is “profitable” to us and points us to faith in Christ (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). But in what way are these seemingly endless and repetitive speeches profitable, and how do they point us to faith in Christ?

This is a natural question. One general answer is presumably to warn us not to be like them when our natural pharisaism causes grace to be leeched out of our conversation and we lapse into the religious certainties of grace-free philosophy or grace-free religion. These speeches stand as a warning to us to guard grace jealously.

But the question is intensified after we have heard Bildad’s spine-tingling description of Hell in chapter 18 and when we are about to hear Zophar’s equally terrifying description of judgment here in chapter 20. What specifically is the benefit to us of having to listen to these detailed and deeply vivid descriptions of Hell?

To answer this question we need to acknowledge that the fault with these speeches or sermons is not only in their content but in their misapplication (as we saw with Bildad in Job 18). They describe life under the judgment of God and then implicitly note the parallels with Job’s experience before drawing the conclusion that Job is under the judgment of God. Their deduction is false. Their sin lies in maligning God’s chosen servant Job. But their descriptions of Hell are entirely accurate. And in that we have the clue we need.

These sermons, like some of the laments in the Psalms, help us feel and experience through poetry just how dreadful it will ultimately be to fall under the wrath of God. In helping us enter into that experience through poetry, they benefit us in at least three ways.

First, they terrify us and move us to warn unbelievers that unless they repent, Hell will indeed be their destiny.

Second, they help us grasp the depth of darkness and suffering that the Lord Jesus experienced on the cross. On the cross he was indeed under the wrath of his Father as he became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). The narrative accounts of the crucifixion in the Gospels only go so far in helping us know what he suffered for us. Although the old hymn is right to say that ultimately “we may not know, we cannot tell, what pains he had to bear,” nevertheless we are given these poetic insights, and they are enough to deepen our gratitude to “the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

But there is a third benefit. If it is true, as we have seen that it is, that disciples of Christ in this age do have in some measure to drink the cup that he drank, that we do suffer with him in order that in the end we may be glorified with him (Romans 8:17), then these descriptions describe in some measure what we may expect to be our experience in this age (though not in the next). In all three ways we may expect to profit by listening to this next speech by Zophar.

Context

In chapter 18 Bildad has described life under judgment and implied that Job himself must be under the judgment of God. Job has agreed, at the start of chapter 19, but insists that he does not deserve it and believes that in the end he will be vindicated as a believer. Zophar is furious. The main thrust of his speech is a reaffirmation of what Bildad said, but the imagery is different.

Zophar describes the fate of the wicked in three main ways. The wicked person, he says, will be disappointed by fading joy, poisoned by sweet evil, and overwhelmed by inescapable wrath.

The Wicked Person Will Be Disappointed by Fading Joy (vv. 1–11)

Human happiness is terribly short-lived. Zophar begins with an angry reassertion of a core element of The System (vv. 1–5) before developing his point with vivid imagery (vv. 6–11).

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

“Therefore my thoughts answer me,

because of my haste within me.

I hear censure that insults me,

and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

Do you not know this from of old,

since man was placed on earth,

that the exulting of the wicked is short,

and the joy of the godless but for a moment?” (vv. 1–5)

Zophar begins by telling Job that he is deeply upset by Job’s assertions that he, Job, will be vindicated (19:23–27) and—perhaps even more—that Zophar and his friends are liable to judgment (19:28, 29). It is outrageous of Job to say this! Verse 2 may be paraphrased, “So—because you have said these outrageous things—my troubled thoughts prompt me to answer you, and quickly because I am very disturbed by them.” That is, “You have insulted me [v. 3], and I must respond.” [sounds like people today] Verse 3b does not mean that Zophar hears some other “spirit,” but that his own spirit or breath (ruach), which is a spirit of understanding, prompts him to give the answer he is about to speak.

And here it is, in essence: “Do you not know [or “Surely you know”] that right from the beginning of creation [“since man was placed on earth”] there has been an immutable spiritual law? This law is supported by the universal tradition of morally serious religious people” (vv. 4, 5). Bildad (8:8) and Eliphaz (15:18, 19) have already appealed to long tradition, and Zophar agrees.

So here is the law: “the exulting [the happiness, joy, laughter] of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment” (v. 5). The System understands that godless people may, and often do, have times of happiness, but it is very short-lived, “short … but for a moment.” It simply will not last. He now develops this theme:

Though his height mount up to the heavens,

and his head reach to the clouds,

he will perish forever like his own dung;

those who have seen him will say, “Where is he?”

He will fly away like a dream and not be found;

he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

The eye that saw him will see him no more,

nor will his place any more behold him.

His children will seek the favor of the poor,

and his hands will give back his wealth.

His bones are full of his youthful vigor,

but it will lie down with him in the dust. (vv. 6–11)

Wicked people are proud (v. 6). Their metaphorical “height” (that is, their self-regarding greatness) climbs up to Heaven, and their heads touch the clouds, like Adam in the garden (Genesis 3) or the builders of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9). But however successful they may become for a while, it will not last. They came from dust, and they will become dust (Job 20:7a), buried or washed away (as we would say, washed down the sewer).

They were visible, both to the watching eyes of people and to the watchful eye of God, but they will disappear utterly from this age (vv. 7b–9). People will look for him but will ask, “Where is he?” (v. 7). They will disappear just as a dream “dies at the opening day.” This closely echoes what Job has said of himself in 7:7–10. Any day now he will disappear. “Exactly,” says Zophar, “and you need to understand that this is the destiny of the wicked!”

What is more, he will leave so little behind. This is the significance of “his children” in verse 10. There is some question as to whether verse 10a means that his children will be so poor that they have to beg from the poor (ESV) or that his children will have to pay back to the poor what their father stole from them. But the thrust is clear: he leaves behind no lasting memorial. He may have been young and strong, but he will die prematurely (v. 11); he came from dust, and he will return to dust, just as Job lamented he would do (7:21).

All this is true. It is what Moses laments in Psalm 90:3–6. This terrible disappearance will be the fate of the wicked. When they look back with regret on their wasted lives, their happiness, however long it may have seemed at the time, will be seen to be just a passing moment (Job 20:5).

But the implication that Job is suffering this because of his own sin is false [misapplication]. When Jesus Christ suffered and died, the times of happiness he may have enjoyed, perhaps with Mary in childhood, must have felt like a short-lived joy. Christ’s life is summed up not as a man of happiness but as “a man of sorrows … acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). He was cut down in his prime, but for our sin, not his. Job foreshadows this redemptive suffering. Those who walk in Jesus’ footsteps must expect to experience in some measure this same sadness of happiness cut short in this age.

Zophar goes on with this theme of judgment taking what was good and turning it to misery.

The Wicked Person Will Be Poisoned by Sweet Evil (vv. 12–19)

The image now is of food that tastes good but turns out to be poison. This is an unnatural image. In nature poison generally tastes horrible, to warn us not to consume it. But sin is an unnatural poison; its sweet taste disguises its disgusting nature.

Though evil is sweet in his mouth,

though he hides it under his tongue,

though he is loath to let it go

and holds it in his mouth,

yet his food is turned in his stomach;

it is the venom of cobras within him.

He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;

God casts them out of his belly.

He will suck the poison of cobras;

the tongue of a viper will kill him.

He will not look upon the rivers,

the streams flowing with honey and curds.

He will give back the fruit of his toil

and will not swallow it down;

from the profit of his trading

he will get no enjoyment.

For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;

he has seized a house that he did not build. (vv. 12–19)

The imagery is simple and hard-hitting; the theological point is powerful. Evil tastes good, but evil always leads to nausea and vomiting. Evil is so deliciously enjoyable that the wicked person rolls it around in his mouth, savoring its taste and making it last as long as he can (vv. 12, 13), as we might do with a tasty chocolate. But the delicious taste of evil disguises its sting. The moment we swallow it, as we ingest it and it becomes a part of ourselves, we discover we have swallowed venomous snake poison (vv. 14–16).

Verse 15 makes it clear that the delicious food Zophar has in mind is “riches” gained unjustly. The wicked person gets them, swallows them, and then “vomits them up again” because “God casts them out of his belly.” God is “the ultimate emetic” for evildoers. The man whose “tongue” savored evil (v. 12) will be killed by that same evil, which is the “tongue” (that is, fangs) of a viper (v. 16).

This is the wisdom of Proverbs (“Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel,” Proverbs 20:17) and reflects the language of Deuteronomy about the enemies of God’s people, whose “grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of vipers” (Deuteronomy 32:32, 33).

Although wickedness promises so much and dangles before us a land flowing with milk and honey, echoing and imitating the promises of God (e.g., Exodus 3:8, 17), it will never deliver what it promises (Job 20:17). Just as poison is vomited up, so “the fruit of [the wicked man’s] toil” is sure to be given back; he cannot “swallow it down” and keep it down (v. 18a). He trades (unjustly) and makes big profits, but he will never live to enjoy them for long (v. 18b).

The reason is that the riches he is trying to swallow are the result of oppression, crushing the poor and leaving them destitute (v. 19). Although Zophar only implicitly links Job to this oppression, his friend Eliphaz will soon do so to his face (22:5–9), and Job will defend himself vigorously against it (Job 29–31).

As with verses 1–11, Zophar’s description of crime and punishment is ultimately true. Hell is the place where all evil enjoyment is turned to endless nausea. We must be warned by this that the lure of wickedness is deceitful. What is more, Job’s sufferings do mirror this description. He was full of riches but is now emptied of those riches. But again the implication that Job is suffering this fate because of his wickedness is deeply flawed. We learn from this yet more of the depth of the sufferings of the cross, and we learn to expect that disciples of Jesus will experience in some measure this same sense of nauseous loss.

The Wicked Person Will Be Overwhelmed by Inescapable Wrath (vv. 20–28)

In Zophar’s final section he becomes more blunt than ever. He has explicitly named God in verse 15 as the author of punishment. Now he emphasizes that these griefs are more than the inevitable results of evil; they are the hot personal wrath of God against sinners.

Because he knew no contentment in his belly,

he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.

There was nothing left after he had eaten;

therefore his prosperity will not endure.

In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;

the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.

To fill his belly to the full,

God will send his burning anger against him

and rain it upon him into his body.

He will flee from an iron weapon;

a bronze arrow will strike him through.

It is drawn forth and comes out of his body;

the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder;

terrors come upon him.

Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;

a fire not fanned will devour him;

what is left in his tent will be consumed.

The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

and the earth will rise up against him.

The possessions of his house will be carried away,

dragged off in the day of God’s wrath. (vv. 20–28)

Here is a man with an insatiable appetite (vv. 20, 21). He is never content or satisfied with his riches; he is always coveting and grasping after more. How much money is enough? an interviewer asked a billionaire. A little bit more than you have, came the famous reply. But however bloated he may be (“the fullness of his sufficiency,” v. 22) he will be miserable with it. God will fill him not with satisfaction but with “his burning anger,” which will “rain … upon him into his body” (v. 23; an awkward translation, having the sense of God pouring his anger down on this man so that it goes right into his body and heart).

The hot anger of God will be inescapable (vv. 24, 25). Job has complained of God’s poisoned arrows (6:4). Zophar describes them with intense power. Here is a wicked man who flees from an iron-tipped arrow but is struck by a bronze-tipped arrow, which goes right into him. He pulls it out (this is the sense of “it is drawn forth,” 20:25), and when he pulls it out of his body, “the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder,” and the bile or gall (symbolic of the corruption within him) pours out of him as the “terrors” of the underworld “come upon him” and he is dragged down into Hell (v. 25).

The destiny for him and his ill-gotten gains is “utter darkness” (v. 26) where a flame that comes from the wrath of God, a flame so hot that it has no need to be “fanned” by human hands, “will devour him,” and all that he is and has (“what is left in his tent”) will be utterly consumed by fire (v. 26).

There will be no escape from this fate, and there can be no appeal. “The heavens” and “the earth” unite in witness “against him” (v. 27). In Zophar’s view, there will be, and can be, no witnesses for the defense, despite what Job hopes and believes will happen for him (16:19; 19:25–27) a witness standing in his defense. His “possessions” will be taken away (20:28), indeed violently “dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.”

Conclusion (v. 29)

This is the wicked man’s portion from God,

the heritage decreed for him by God. (v. 29)

Zophar sums up in verse 29, which ties back to verses 4, 5. It is very clear, very simple, very accurate, and completely misapplied. Yes, this is “the wicked man’s portion from God”; this is ultimately what will happen to all who do not love and trust God; this is a description of Hell.

But no, this does not mean that Job, who is suffering these things, is himself wicked. Job in his innocent suffering foreshadows the Lord Jesus Christ and his substitutionary and redemptive sufferings.

Zophar’s description, strangely enough, helps us grasp more deeply what Jesus did for us. And furthermore it helps shape our expectations of what the Christian life will be like this side of the resurrection.

“Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Zophar has described some of them.

When the Christian experiences short-lived joy cut off by grief, he or she is following in the footsteps of Christ.

When disciples of Jesus feel their life poisoned by the fruits of the wickedness of others, they are walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

When we live as forgiven and justified men and women in a world under judgment, we remember that Job has walked there before us. And we are not surprised.

The world says, “do what ever makes you feel good and makes you happy...”

To the world the book of Job, the story of Christ, innocent redemptive suffering, and undeserved grace makes no sense…but to us who have been born again it’s reassurance and help in times of trouble… we have the words of our Lord Jesus who told his disciples and holds true to us today. “In this world you will have trouble…but take heart, I have overcome the world.”