Job 20
McGeeCHAPTER 20THEME: The second discourse of ZopharZophar is the last man to speak in this round. We are in the second round of the debate, and Zophar is the third man in this round. We find that there will be a third round and that it is going to be a brief one. Zophar won’t even get in on the third round. It will simply end in a standoff before Zophar has another chance to speak. Remember that Zophar is the legalist. He believes that God works according to law and order. That is true, of course, but that throne of law and order in judgment has become a throne of grace. Zophar knew nothing about that. I suppose today we would say that Zophar has the scientific mind. He thinks you pour life into the test tube and it will always come out a certain way. He is the one who says that things can never be changed, that all things continue as they have from the foundation of the world. He knows nothing of the grace of God. He comes on strong. He is actually less impressive this time around than he was before, although he is more brutal and cruel than he was before. He is a hard slugger. He hits Job hard because he realizes this may be his last time around. Although he introduces nothing new, he pours out all that he has to pour out. He rests upon his seniority, and he resorts to the same legalism. He holds to the theory that Job is a very wicked person because of the law that the wicked must be punished. That will be his emphasis here.
Job 20:1
He sounds like a politician running for office. He says he is capable of answering. I never heard of a man running for office who didn’t say he was more qualified than his opponent; he doesn’t mind telling you that. When a man says that, he does lack modesty! Now this man Zophar comes on like a politician. He is going to present his case with the same type of an argument which he had used before. He says that he is going to repeat an age-established fact. Well, what is it?
Job 20:4
Here it is. Here is his specific conclusion, which he poured into the test tube of the past and found to be true.
Job 20:5
This is his age-established fact. May I say to you, how short is short and how long is long? How long is the moment of the hyprcrite? Sometimes it seems that the wicked hang on for a mighty long time. But it is true that finally they do come to judgment.
Job 20:6
He can get dramatic, too. “Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds.” The language is tremendous in this book. As I have said, people will read the Book of Job for its expressive language, even though they may not read any other book in the Bible. Eventually the wicked perish. Some of our contemporary young people hear about Hitler and they do not simply say, “Where is he?” but they even ask, “Who was he?” They don’t even recall him. I remember that when I was a little boy, people spoke of Kaiser Wilhelm as though he were the Devil incarnate. He is gone. All of them are gone. They had a long moment, but now they are gone.
Job 20:8
Very candidly, it seems to me that man is the greatest failure in God’s universe. Consider the brevity of man. They tell us how old the rocks areeven the rocks that came from the moon. Man hasn’t been around that long; he is a Johnny-come-lately in the universe. Friends, if there is not an eternity ahead of us, man is the most colossal failure that God has ever made. His life is brief. He flies away as a dream. Dr. Bill Anderson, a great preacher in Dallas, Texas, was a tremendous inspiration to me when I was a student. He met one of his deacons on the street and somewhat surprised him with this unusual question: “Suppose when we get to heaven into the presence of God, we find that the Christian life wasn’t essential to our getting there. What would be your viewpoint?” This deacon looked him straight in the eye and said, “If we get to heaven and find that all this business of the Christian life was nothing in the world but our own imagination, I’m going to say to the Lord that it was very much worthwhile. It was worth it all.” Now while I believe that is truethat the Christian life is worth it all for the here and noweven then there is a little tug of disappointment at our hearts if that is all there is. Why? Because we want eternity. God has set eternity in our hearts because it is there, and man is going to move on into eternity. Zophar is calling Job not only wicked, but a hypocrite. His whole speech describes the fall of a wicked man. He says such a man may attain eminence, but that just simply means that his fall is going to be greater. His implication is that that is what has happened to Job.
Job 20:11
He suggests that such a man is like fuel which will be consumed. He is like an evil vision which will disappear. His evil is like a sweet morsel that he keeps under his tongue, but it will turn to gall within him. It is like food that he eats, but God will compel him to disgorge his unjustly amassed fortune and will force him to make restitution to his victims.
Job 20:15
He suggests that such a man is like fuel which will be consumed. He is like an evil vision which will disappear. His evil is like a sweet morsel that he keeps under his tongue, but it will turn to gall within him. It is like food that he eats, but God will compel him to disgorge his unjustly amassed fortune and will force him to make restitution to his victims.
Job 20:19
He suggests that such a man is like fuel which will be consumed. He is like an evil vision which will disappear. His evil is like a sweet morsel that he keeps under his tongue, but it will turn to gall within him. It is like food that he eats, but God will compel him to disgorge his unjustly amassed fortune and will force him to make restitution to his victims.
Job 20:23
Although nothing could escape his greed, he will be reduced to poverty. Worst of all, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him.
Job 20:26
“A fire not blown shall consume him.” In other words, he will become a raging flame, and all his prosperity will go up in flamesthere will be no avenue of escape. He sums it by saying,
Job 20:29
His implication, of course, is that the “wicked man” is Job. That is a pretty bitter dose for a man in Job’s condition, but Job is ready to answer him. He is going to defend himself, and he comes on strong, as we shall see.