Job Twenty
by Dr. Henry M. Morris
(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)
Job 20:1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
Job 20:2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
my reproach. Job had just warned his “comforters” that they themselves would face God's wrath because of their baseless charges against himself (Job 19:28, 29). Zophar, stung by this warning, proceeded to excoriate Job more bitterly than ever.
Job 20:4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
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 20:10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
Job 20:11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
Job 20:12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
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 20:16 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.
taken away an house. There is no evidence whatever that Job had been guilty of “oppressing the poor.”
Job 20:21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
Job 20:24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
iron weapon. The so-called “iron age” is believed by evolutionists to have come after the “bronze age,” but there were expert craftsmen in both brass and iron even before the Flood (Genesis 4:22).
bow of steel. Some translations prefer “brass” or “copper” instead of “steel” here. However, this is not the usual Hebrew word for “brass” or “copper,” and there is good reason to believe men knew how to produce and fabricate fine steel from very ancient times.
his gall. That is, “his gall-bladder.”
Job 20:27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
reveal his iniquity. Zophar is so furious at Job's responses to their unjust criticisms and rejected advice that he even calls on heaven to rebuke him in a future judgment. These were his final words to his erstwhile friend.
Job 20:29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.