Job Chapter 11
1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
2 "Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified?
3 Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, will no man make you ashamed?
4 For you say, 'My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.'
5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you,
6 that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.
7 "Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
10 If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
11 For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it.
12 An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild donkey's colt.
13 "If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands towards him.
14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don't let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
15 Surely then you will lift up your face without spot; Yes, you will be steadfast, and will not fear:
16 for you will forget your misery. You will remember it like waters that have passed away.
17 Life will be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it will be as the morning.
18 You will be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you will search, and will take your rest in safety.
19 Also you will lie down, and no one will make you afraid. Yes, many will court your favour.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail. They will have no way to flee. Their hope will be the giving up of the spirit."
Footnotes
- Verse 8 (Sheol)
- Sheol is the place of the dead.
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Job Chapter 11 Guide
When Job had ceased, Zophar, the last of the three friends, answered him. His method was characterized by even greater plainness than that of Bildad. Indeed, there was a roughness and directness about him absent from his friends' manner. This may either reveal a man of different temperament, or that now, with greater definiteness and daring, Job had denied their philosophy by affirming his innocence.
He first affirmed the necessity for answering, describing Job as "a man full of talk," and declaring that his boastings could not silence his friends. Zophar's complaint against him is expressed in the words:
Thou sayest, my doctrine is pure, And I am clean in thine eyes.
He wished that God would speak. If He would, then Job would know that all his suffering was less than his iniquity. Job had affirmed the wisdom of God, and yet, in the thinking of Zophar, had questioned it. Therefore, in a passage full of beauty, he reaffirmed it, and insisted that this God of wisdom knows men. He intended to declare to Job that even though he might not be conscious of his own sin, yet sin was there, and God saw it.
This is again a restatement of the same philosophy as that of his friends. He was arguing from the suffering of Job to his sin. If Zophar was rough of manner, his desire and hope for Job may be observed, for his description of the prosperity which will come if he but set his heart right is longer and more beautiful than that of either Eliphaz or Bildad.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Job Chapter 11 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Zophar reproves Job. -- (1-6)
- God's perfections and almighty power. -- (7-12)
- Zophar assures Job of blessings if he repented. -- (13-20)
Verses 1-6
Zophar attacked Job with great vehemence. He represented him as a man that loved to hear himself speak, though he could say nothing to the purpose, and as a man that maintained falsehoods. He desired God would show Job that less punishment was exacted than he deserved. We are ready, with much assurance, to call God to act in our quarrels, and to think that if he would but speak, he would take our part. We ought to leave all disputes to the judgment of God, which we are sure is according to truth; but those are not always right who are most forward to appeal to the Divine judgment.
Verses 7-12
Zophar speaks well concerning God and his greatness and glory, concerning man and his vanity and folly. See here what man is; and let him be humbled. God sees this concerning vain man, that he would be wise, would be thought so, though he is born like a wild ass's colt, so unteachable and untameable. Man is a vain creature; empty, so the word is. Yet he is a proud creature, and self-conceited. He would be wise, would be thought so, though he will not submit to the laws of wisdom. He would be wise, he reaches after forbidden wisdom, and, like his first parents, aiming to be wise above what is written, loses the tree of life for the tree of knowledge. Is such a creature as this fit to contend with God?
Verses 13-20
Zophar exhorts Job to repentance, and gives him encouragement, yet mixed with hard thoughts of him. He thought that worldly prosperity was always the lot of the righteous, and that Job was to be deemed a hypocrite unless his prosperity was restored. Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; that is, thou mayst come boldly to the throne of grace, and not with the terror and amazement expressed in ch. 9:34. If we are looked upon in the face of the Anointed, our faces that were cast down may be lifted up; though polluted, being now washed with the blood of Christ, they may be lifted up without spot. We may draw near in full assurance of faith, when we are sprinkled from an evil conscience, Heb 10:22.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.