Job 11
OGCTODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION
Zophar
1-2Will no one answer all this nonsense?
Does talking so much put a man in the right?
3 Job, do you think we can-’t answer you?
That your mocking words will leave us speechless?
4 You claim what you say is true;
you claim you are pure in God’s sight.
5 How I wish God would answer you back! 6 He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom;
there are things too deep for human knowledge.
God is punishing you less than you deserve.
7 Can you discover the limits and bounds
of the greatness and power of God?
8 The sky is no limit to God,
but it lies beyond your reach.
God knows the world of the dead,
but you do not know it.
9 God’s greatness is broader than the earth,
wider than the sea.
10 If God arrests you and brings you to trial,
who is there to stop him?
11 God knows which men are worthless;
he sees all their evil deeds.
12 Stupid men will start being wise
when wild donkeys are born tame.
13 Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God. 14 Put away evil and wrong from your home. 15 Then face the world again, firm and courageous. 16 Then all your troubles will fade from your memory,
like floods that are past and remembered no more.
17 Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon,
and life’s darkest hours will shine like the dawn.
18 You will live secure and full of hope;
God will protect you and give you rest.
19 You won-’t be afraid of any enemy;
many people will ask you for help.
20 But the wicked will look around in despair,
and find that there is no way to escape. Their only hope is that death will come.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 11:1-20
Zophar is the least helpful and least original. Why do we say this?
This comforter tells Job that he should at least be glad for one thing. What was it?
Zophar’s speech falls into three sections. What are they?
To what authority does Zophar appeal in his advice?
Bildad defended divine justice. Zophar defends what?
All of Job’s words were wasted on Zophar. Why?
Notice and discuss the problems of verse four. If Job is saying he is pure in the eyes of God, why is he complaining about injustice?
Zophar believes that if God spoke he would say something Job needed to hear. Zophar knows what it would be. What would it be?
How should the first line of Job 11:7 be translated?
Zophar and Job agree on something. Compare Job 9:11-12 and verse ten of this chapter.
What is the meaning of the reference to a wild ass’s colt?
The pronoun in Job 11:13 is emphaticit is a contrastwith what? Name the four things Zophar calls upon Job to do.
Job 11:1-6
F. PIETY AND PROSPERITYZOPHAR’S RECOMMENDATION: REPENTANCE (Job 11:1-20)
- Job’s punishment is less than he deserves. (Job 11:1-6)
TEXT 11:1-6
1 1Then **answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be Justified?
3 Should thy boastings make men hold their peace?
And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
4 For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure,
And I am clean in thine eyes.
5 But oh that God would speak, And open his lips against thee, 6 And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom!
For he is manifold in understanding. Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.**
COMMENT 11:1-6
**Job 11:1Zophar, the third of Job’s friends, enters. He is the **least original and most vitriolic of Job’s counselors. He is more intense in asserting Job’s guilt than Job is his innocence. In fact, Zophar claims that Job should be thankful that he does not get all the suffering that he deserves. His speech falls into three sections: (1) Zophar wishes that God would break His silenceJob 11:2-6; (2) God’s wisdom is beyond human comprehensionJob 11:7-12; and (3) Restoration from Job’s present situation is contingent on repentanceJob 11:13-20. He neither appeals to personal experience, as does Eliphaz, nor to the wisdom of the ancients, as does Bildad. His authority is identical with God’s authority; and his wisdom is self-authenticating. Therefore, Job fails to heed his advice at his own peril. The literary form of his speech is similar to that of Bildad, esp. Job 11:2-6 to Job 8:2; Job 11:7-12 to Job 8:3-4; and Job 11:13-19 a to Job 8:5-7. A thematic difference is that Bildad defended divine justice, while Zophar defends divine wisdom which must be defended against Job’s scandalous criticism. But like the other two friends, he, too, suggests that Job’s repentance is imperative if restoration to a happy prosperity is to be anticipated. His fundamental heresy, which is shared by contemporary western man, is that happiness will elude all non-prosperous persons.
**Job 11:2**Zophar is annoyed by Job’s long speech.
**Job 11:3**The word boasting, which is found in the A. V., comes from a Hebrew word generally meaning idle talk, i.e., babbling. Job has denied the doctrine of retributive justiceJob 6:28; Job 6:30; Job 9:21; Job 10:15; and in Zophar’s theology this means mocking at religion (A. V. when thou mockest)Isaiah 16:6; Jeremiah 48:30.
**Job 11:4**My doctrine is pure was understood by his friends to be an attack on their wisdom, by claiming a superior understanding. The phrase in thine eyes refers to God’s eyes. The problem isIf Job is saying that he is pure in God’s eyes (the Hebrew says I am pure in your eyes), why is he complaining about God’s injustice?[145]
[145] Some suggest a solution by changing one vowelhayitiI am, to hayita you are.
Job 11:5Zophar believes that if God would break His silence, then Job would hear his indictment from God Himself.
Job 11:6God’s wisdom is beyond the human mind’s comprehension. The Hebrew word hisplayim means double, not manifold. A. V. the sense is that God knows both the hidden and non-hidden. The last line declares that God gives Job less than he deserves.[146]
[146] E. F. Sutcliffe, Biblica. XXX, 1949, p. 67important discussion of the last line of verse six.
Job 11:7-12
- The Almighty is not fooled; He recognizes iniquity. (Job 11:7-12)
TEXT 11:7-12
**7 Canst thou by searching find oat God?
Canst **thou find **out the **Almighty unto perfection?
**8 It is **high as heaven; **what **canst **thou **do?
**Deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?
9 The **measure thereof is longer than the earth,
**And **broader than the sea.
**10 If he pass through, and shut **up,
**And call **unto judgment, then who can hinder him?
11 **For **he knoweth false men:
**He seeth **iniquity **also, even **though he consider it not.
12 But vain man is void of understanding,
**Yea, **man is born as a wild ass’s colt.
COMMENT 11:7-12
**Job 11:7**Driver claims that by searching is grammatically impossible. He suggests the translation Canst thou find out the immensity of God? The R. S. V. accepts Driver’s criticism. Zophar is affirming that God’s mind and purpose are beyond human capacity to measure. Job’s friends are surely correct in this judgment, though he draws a false conclusion from his premises. Job does the same thing, i.e., draws wrong conclusions from true premises. In all probability, the translation canst thou find out, should be can you reach God from your sinful human vantage point.[147]
[147] For this suggestion, see M. Dahood’s article in The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, ed. by J. L. McKenzie (Herder & Herder, 1962), p. 57.
**Job 11:8-9**God has no limitsIsa 7:11.
**Job 11:10**Compare this verse with Job 9:11-12. Job has already declared that God’s power is limitless, and that it is futile for man to oppose HimJob 9:2 ff. The meaning here is that God does not need to investigate man’s condition in order to understand it; He knows immediately.
**Job 11:11**God knows (men of emptinessPsa 26:4). The only ultimate knowledge available in the universe is God’S, so men ought not to revolt against God for this reason.
**Job 11:12**Hollow men or men without hearts will not understand their need and return to God. The A. V. is misleading. The R. S. V. seems most likely.[148] The meaning is probably a stupid man will get understanding, when a wild ass’s colt is born a manRowley.
[148] For the technical issues involved, see Dhorme, Job, p. 163; Pope, Job, p. 86; and M. Dahood, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 25, 1963, 123-4.
Job 11:13-20
- The penitent will prosper; for the wicked there is no hope. (Job 11:13-20)
TEXT 11:13-20
13 If thou set thy heart aright,
And stretch **oat thy hands toward him;
14 If iniquity be in thy hand, put It far away,
And let not **unrighteousness **dwell in thy tents.
15 Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot;
Yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:**
16 **For **thou shalt forget thy misery;
**Thou shalt **remember it as waters that are passed away.
17 **And **thy **life shall be clearer than the **noonday;
Though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.
18 **And thou shalt be **secure, because there is hope;
**Yea, thou shalt search **about thee, **and shalt take thy rest in safety.
19 Also thou **shalt **lie down, and none shall make thee afraid;
Yea, **many shall make suit unto thee.
20 **But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, And they shall have **no **way to flee;
And **their hope **shall **be the **giving **up **of **the **ghost.
COMMENT 11:13-20
Job 11:13**The pronoun you is emphatic in the text and contrasts Job with the hollow man of Job 11:12. Zophar calls Job to do four things: (1) Get his heart right with God; (2) Pray to God for forgiveness; (3) Reform his life style to conform to God’s expectations; and (4) Set his entire household in order.
**Job 11:14**Put evil far away from you. Do not permit it to exist in your household.
**Job 11:15**Job’s face will no longer bear the marks of the guilty. The word translated steadfastsecurecomes from a verb used for describing the pouring of molten metalJob 28:2; Job 37:18.
**Job 11:16**Here the phrase waters that are passed away is a metaphor for oblivian; in Job 6:15 it is a metaphor for treachery. Zophar has also promised Job restoration to his former prosperous state. Ultimately, Job’s restoration did not come as a result of following any of the advice of his friends. You is emphatic. You will certainly forget all your misery.
**Job 11:17**Hope and security will be Job’s once more. Your life (heledmeans durable, vigorous) will last into advanced age. The imagery of noonday is derived fromsohorayimzenithnoon. Compare this with Job’s descriptions in Job 10:22of the darkness of Sheol as light.
**Job 11:18**Job’s security (Hebrew verb means to search or dig about), Zophar claims, will be based on his removing the guilt. When Job’s guilt is removed, restpeacewill result.
**Job 11:19**God will grant Job confidence. This same phrase none will make you afraid is also found in Micah 4:4. When Job lived in the good graces of God, he was famousJob 29:7-10, Job 21:5; compare with Job 19:18 and Job 30:1-10. When he is restored to God, his fame and respectability, social influence, will also returnIsa 17:2 and Zephaniah 3:13.
**Job 11:20**The highest hope of the unrighteous is death. The ultimate goal should be to give up the spirit, i.e., lit. to breathe out of the soul. This assertion is Zophar’s not so subtle final suggestion to Job. In response, Job lashes out at his vehement sarcastic attack in Chapter s 1214.