Job 20 Study Notes: Zophar on the Short Joy of the Wicked
Zophar, stung by what he hears as an insulting rebuke, gives his second speech, insisting that the success of evil people has always been brief. He pictures the wicked man’s gains turning to poison, his oppression of the poor bringing ruin, and heaven and earth testifying against him as God’s anger falls.
General
According to Zophar, what will heaven and earth do to the wicked man (Job 20:27)?
Answer: Heaven will reveal his guilt while the earth turns against him
Zophar piles up pictures of sudden ruin: God’s fury falls on the wicked man amid all his abundance, he escapes one weapon only to be struck by another, and a fire no one kindled burns up whatever remains in his tent (20:22-26). Then he says that the heavens will bring the wicked man’s guilt to light while the earth stands up against him (20:27). The image stands in contrast to Job’s earlier cry, when he begged the earth not to cover his blood and said that his witness was in heaven (16:18-19). Job hoped heaven would speak for him, while Zophar insists heaven and earth will testify against the wicked. Nothing is hidden from God (Hebrews 4:13), but Zophar wrongly assumes that Job is the guilty man in his picture (42:7).
- Job 20:27 (BSB)“The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.”Zophar says heaven and earth will act as witnesses against the wicked man.
- Job 16:18-19 (BSB)“O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest. Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.”Job had appealed to the earth and claimed a witness in heaven on his side.
- Hebrews 4:13 (BSB)“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”Everything is exposed before God, the truth Zophar’s image draws on.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD rejects the friends’ words about Him.
Theological
What role does Zophar give to heaven and earth in the wicked man’s downfall (Job 20:27)?
Answer: Heaven will reveal his guilt while the earth turns against him
After images of God’s fury falling on the wicked man amid his plenty, of a weapon he cannot escape and of an unkindled fire consuming his tent (20:22-26), Zophar enlists heaven and earth as witnesses for the prosecution: the heavens disclose the wicked man’s guilt while the earth rises against him (20:27). The line stands in contrast to Job’s appeal in 16:18-19, where Job asked the earth not to cover his blood and claimed a witness and advocate in heaven. God’s omniscience is certain (Hebrews 4:13), but Zophar presumes that Job stands among the guilty, a presumption the LORD’s verdict overturns (42:7).
- Job 20:27 (BSB)“The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.”Zophar says heaven and earth will act as witnesses against the wicked man.
- Job 16:18-19 (BSB)“O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest. Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.”Job had appealed to the earth and claimed a witness in heaven on his side.
- Hebrews 4:13 (BSB)“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”Everything is exposed before God, the truth Zophar’s image draws on.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD rejects the friends’ words about Him.
General
True or False: Zophar pictures the wicked man’s evil as food that tastes good to him but turns to poison inside him, so that God makes him give up the riches he gulped down (Job 20:12-15).
Answer: True
This is true. Zophar uses a picture taken from eating. The wicked man enjoys his evil and keeps it hidden in his mouth, unwilling to give it up, but inside him it turns into snake venom (20:12-14). He gulps down riches, yet he has to bring them back up, because God forces them out of him (20:15). Proverbs uses a similar picture: food gained by cheating tastes good at first and later fills the mouth with gravel (Proverbs 20:17), and Paul says a person reaps what he sows (Galatians 6:7). As a general truth about sin, this is sound. But Job’s wealth had not been lost through wrongdoing: the LORD Himself said Job was blameless and had been ruined without cause (2:3).
- Job 20:12-15 (BSB)“Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him. He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.”Zophar describes evil as sweet food that becomes poison and riches that God forces out.
- Proverbs 20:17 (BSB)“Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.”Gain by fraud is pleasant at first but ends in bitterness.
- Galatians 6:7 (BSB)“Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.”God is not mocked; a person reaps what he sows.
- Job 2:3 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.””The LORD says Job was ruined without cause, so Zophar’s picture does not explain Job’s losses.
Theological
True or False: In Job 20:12-15, Zophar portrays evil as a pleasant morsel that turns to poison within the wicked man, and God forces him to disgorge the riches he has gulped down.
Answer: True
This is true. Zophar’s imagery is gustatory: evil is savored and held under the tongue, but in the stomach it turns to serpent poison (20:12-14); the riches swallowed must be vomited up, for God expels them (20:15). The image parallels the proverb that dishonest gain tastes pleasant at first but ends as gravel (Proverbs 20:17), and the apostolic principle of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7). As a statement about sin’s bitter end it is true. As an account of Job’s losses it fails, for the LORD declared Job blameless and his ruin without cause (2:3).
- Job 20:12-15 (BSB)“Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him. He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.”Zophar describes evil as sweet food that becomes poison and riches that God forces out.
- Proverbs 20:17 (BSB)“Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.”Gain by fraud is pleasant at first but ends in bitterness.
- Galatians 6:7 (BSB)“Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.”God is not mocked; a person reaps what he sows.
- Job 2:3 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.””The LORD says Job was ruined without cause, so Zophar’s picture does not explain Job’s losses.
General
According to Zophar, what has been true ever since people first lived on the earth (Job 20:4-5)?
Answer: The success of the wicked lasts only a short while before it ends
Zophar appeals to what he says has always been so: the wicked man’s triumph is short and the godless man’s joy lasts only a moment (20:4-5). Even if his pride rises as high as the sky, he will vanish like a dream and people will ask where he has gone (20:6-8). Scripture elsewhere does say that evildoers fade quickly like grass (Psalm 37:1-2). Yet the writer of Psalm 73, troubled by the prosperity of the wicked, found his answer only when he came into God’s sanctuary and understood their final end (Psalm 73:16-17). Zophar turns the principle into a rule that is always seen quickly in this life and points it at Job, which the LORD later rejects (42:7).
- Job 20:4-5 (BSB)“Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth, the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?”Zophar states the thesis of his second speech.
- Job 20:6-8 (BSB)“Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’ He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.”However high the wicked man rises, Zophar says he will vanish like a dream.
- Psalm 37:1-2 (BSB)“Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong. For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.”Scripture affirms that evildoers wither quickly like grass.
- Psalm 73:16-17 (BSB)“When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.”The psalmist understood the end of the wicked only when he entered God’s sanctuary.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the friends did not speak about Him accurately.
Theological
What principle does Zophar claim has held since ancient times (Job 20:4-5)?
Answer: The success of the wicked lasts only a short while before it ends
Zophar grounds his speech in what he presents as ancient, universal experience: the gladness of evildoers is short-lived and the delight of the ungodly fleeting (20:4-5), however high his arrogance may climb (20:6-8). Scripture does affirm that the wicked fade quickly (Psalm 37:1-2), but the psalmist of Psalm 73 found the resolution in their final end, revealed in God’s sanctuary, not in an immediately visible pattern (Psalm 73:16-17). Zophar converts the principle into a rigid, observable timetable and aims it at Job, and the LORD’s verdict on the friends shows the misapplication (42:7).
- Job 20:4-5 (BSB)“Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth, the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?”Zophar states the thesis of his second speech.
- Job 20:6-8 (BSB)“Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’ He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.”However high the wicked man rises, Zophar says he will vanish like a dream.
- Psalm 37:1-2 (BSB)“Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong. For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.”Scripture affirms that evildoers wither quickly like grass.
- Psalm 73:16-17 (BSB)“When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.”The psalmist understood the end of the wicked only when he entered God’s sanctuary.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the friends did not speak about Him accurately.
General
What reason does Zophar give for answering Job a second time (Job 20:2-3)?
Answer: He took a rebuke he had heard as an insult and felt driven to reply
Zophar says his troubled thoughts press him to speak because of the agitation inside him. He takes a rebuke he has heard as an insult to himself, and his own understanding pushes him to answer (20:2-3). Zophar does not say which words he means. Job had just warned the friends that if they kept hounding him as though the cause of the trouble was in him, they should fear judgment themselves (19:28-29), and that warning may be what he has in mind. Zophar does not take up Job’s plea for pity (19:21-22). Instead he turns to the swift ruin of the wicked man. At the end of the book the LORD says that the three friends did not speak accurately about Him (42:7).
- Job 20:2-3 (BSB)““So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me. I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.”Zophar explains the inner pressure and the sense of insult that drive his reply.
- Job 19:28-29 (BSB)“If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’ then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.””Job’s warning at the end of his previous speech, which may be the rebuke Zophar means.
- Job 19:21-22 (BSB)“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?”Job’s plea for pity from his friends goes unanswered in Zophar’s speech.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD later says the friends did not speak accurately about Him, unlike Job.
Theological
In Job 20:2-3, what prompts Zophar to take up his second speech?
Answer: He took a rebuke he had heard as an insult and felt driven to reply
Zophar’s second speech opens with personal agitation: his disturbed thoughts urge him on, and he answers because he has taken a rebuke as an insult, with his understanding compelling a reply (20:2-3). Zophar does not identify the rebuke; it may be Job’s warning that the friends’ pursuit of him would bring the sword of judgment on themselves (19:28-29). Zophar passes over Job’s cry for pity (19:21-22) and turns to the wicked man’s sudden downfall. The LORD’s closing verdict, that the three friends did not speak accurately about Him, frames everything Zophar now says (42:7).
- Job 20:2-3 (BSB)““So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me. I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.”Zophar explains the inner pressure and the sense of insult that drive his reply.
- Job 19:28-29 (BSB)“If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’ then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.””Job’s warning at the end of his previous speech, which may be the rebuke Zophar means.
- Job 19:21-22 (BSB)“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?”Job’s plea for pity from his friends goes unanswered in Zophar’s speech.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD later says the friends did not speak accurately about Him, unlike Job.
General
What wrongdoing does Zophar give as the reason the wicked man cannot hold on to his riches (Job 20:19-21)?
Answer: He crushed and abandoned the poor and took homes that others built
Zophar says the wicked man oppressed and abandoned the poor and grabbed houses he had not built. Because his greed has no limit, he cannot get away with his treasure, and his good fortune cannot last (20:19-21). Scripture does warn that the LORD will defend the poor against anyone who plunders them (Proverbs 22:22-23). But Job’s actual life was the opposite of this portrait: he came to the aid of the needy who called for help and the fatherless (children without a father) who had no one to help them (29:12-13). Eliphaz will soon take the hint further and accuse Job outright of mistreating the needy (22:6-9).
- Job 20:19-21 (BSB)“For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build. Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure. Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.”Zophar names the wicked man’s oppression of the poor and his endless greed.
- Proverbs 22:22-23 (BSB)“Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.”The LORD takes up the cause of the poor against those who rob them.
- Job 29:12-13 (BSB)“because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper. The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.”Job describes how he rescued the poor and the fatherless.
- Job 22:6-9 (BSB)“For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing. You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished, while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it. You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.”Eliphaz later turns this kind of description into a direct accusation against Job.
Theological
In Job 20:19-21, what sin does Zophar identify as the cause of the wicked man’s lost prosperity?
Answer: He crushed and abandoned the poor and took homes that others built
Zophar names social oppression as the wicked man’s crime: he crushed and forsook the poor and took over homes built by others, and his insatiable appetite ensures that his wealth cannot last (20:19-21). The LORD does indeed champion the poor against those who plunder them (Proverbs 22:22-23). Yet the profile does not fit Job, who rescued the crying poor and the helpless fatherless (29:12-13). What Zophar implies, Eliphaz will state as a direct charge in his next speech (22:6-9).
- Job 20:19-21 (BSB)“For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build. Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure. Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.”Zophar names the wicked man’s oppression of the poor and his endless greed.
- Proverbs 22:22-23 (BSB)“Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.”The LORD takes up the cause of the poor against those who rob them.
- Job 29:12-13 (BSB)“because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper. The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.”Job describes how he rescued the poor and the fatherless.
- Job 22:6-9 (BSB)“For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing. You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished, while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it. You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.”Eliphaz later turns this kind of description into a direct accusation against Job.
General
True or False: At the end of the book, the LORD declares that Zophar and the other two friends had spoken accurately about Him.
Answer: False
This is false. Zophar closes his speech by calling his description of ruin the portion God has assigned to the wicked (20:29), evidently with Job in view. But at the end of the book the LORD tells Eliphaz that His anger burns against him and his two friends, because they had not spoken accurately about Him as Job had (42:7). Zophar is named among the three who carried out the LORD’s instructions, and the LORD received Job’s prayer on their behalf (42:9). Jesus also corrected the idea that every great suffering is caused by that person’s own sin (John 9:2-3).
- Job 20:29 (BSB)“This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.””Zophar concludes that ruin is the portion God appoints for the wicked.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the three friends did not speak accurately about Him.
- Job 42:9 (BSB)“So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.”Zophar is named among the friends who obeyed the LORD and depended on Job’s prayer.
- John 9:2-3 (BSB)“and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.”Jesus denies that a man’s blindness was caused by his own or his parents’ sin.
Theological
True or False: In the epilogue, the LORD affirms the speeches of Zophar and his two companions as accurate speech about Him.
Answer: False
This is false. Zophar seals his speech by naming the wicked man’s ruin as the portion and inheritance God appoints for him (20:29), evidently with Job in view. The LORD’s verdict in the epilogue reverses this: His wrath burns against Eliphaz and his two friends for not speaking accurately about Him as Job had (42:7), and Zophar is named among those who carried out the LORD’s instructions and on whose behalf the LORD received Job’s intercession (42:9). Christ likewise refused the inference that a particular affliction must trace back to the sufferer’s own sin (John 9:2-3).
- Job 20:29 (BSB)“This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.””Zophar concludes that ruin is the portion God appoints for the wicked.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the three friends did not speak accurately about Him.
- Job 42:9 (BSB)“So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.”Zophar is named among the friends who obeyed the LORD and depended on Job’s prayer.
- John 9:2-3 (BSB)“and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.”Jesus denies that a man’s blindness was caused by his own or his parents’ sin.