Job 11--Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse

Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse
11 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 “Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
    and a man full of talk be judged right?
3 Should your babble silence men,
    and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure,
    and I am clean in God's eyes.’
5 But oh, that God would speak
    and open his lips to you,
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
    For he is manifold in understanding.
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

7 “Can you find out the deep things of God?
    Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
    Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
    and broader than the sea.
10 If he passes through and imprisons
    and summons the court, who can turn him back?
11 For he knows worthless men;
    when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
12 But a stupid man will get understanding
    when a wild donkey's colt is born a man!

13 “If you prepare your heart,
    you will stretch out your hands toward him.
14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
    and let not injustice dwell in your tents.
15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
    you will be secure and will not fear.
16 You will forget your misery;
    you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
    its darkness will be like the morning.
18 And you will feel secure, because there is hope;
    you will look around and take your rest in security.
19 You will lie down, and none will make you afraid;
    many will court your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
    all way of escape will be lost to them,
    and their hope is to breathe their last.”

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The last of Job's friends speaks now (well, at least the three primary ones--we meet one other who will keep silent until the end of the book later).  He decides that Job doesn't need any sympathy and decides to come at him hard and fast.

Again, what Zophar says isn't completely wrong.  Man, apart from being in Christ, is not guiltless and deserves much more wrath than God will ever pour out on us in this lifetime.  The fact that God calls Job blameless and upright seems to indicate to me that God is not judging Job by Job's righteousness but on the righteousness of Christ and even as an Old Testament saint, Job was "in Christ."  Job's friends are those who look at the "spiritual man" and try to say that he is worthy of the wrath that the "natural man" deserves, but we know that God loves and reproves His children but does not pour out His wrath on them.

Zophar seems to play the role of the agnostic here--God is mysterious and unknowable to him.  Zophar claims that it is impossible for a man to understand God as it is for a donkey to give birth to a man and only a stupid (insert the word "ignorant") man would imagine such a thing could happen.

Zophar then preaches a gospel of works.  He tells Job that he needs to clean himself up before he tries to approach God, and that way Job won't need to be afraid of God.  Is that what the Bible teaches us about God and how to approach Him?  Surely it does teach us to consecrate ourselves and the people of Israel were taught to bathe and put on clean clothes before meeting with God, but it was by being sprinkled with blood that atonement was made for them and that they were made people of the covenant and received a new identity and were made "clean."  Even when a man was "unclean" from leprosy (a picture of our sin nature in the Old Testament), it required a blood sacrifice to be declared "clean" and "righteous" and to be able to enter the Tabernacle or Temple again and be part of the covenant community.  While none of that has yet entered into history (the Law of Moses), it seems that Job, by way of the Holy Spirit, has an understanding of substitutionary atonement and regeneration that his friends are missing.

Zophar then reveals that he truly believes in a different kind of god and a false gospel that we could call the "health and wealth" or "prosperity" gospel.  He says that if Job would just clean his life up, everything will be bright and beautiful in the here and now.  But we know that God doesn't promise that.  In fact, He promises much the opposite of that--"In this world you will have trouble."  We can go through this life despite the trials and tribulations because we know God allows it all to touch us and He will not allow anything to touch us that is not for our good and for His glory, but we also know that this world is not our home and one day we will be beyond the reaches of sin and the pain and suffering that it causes.  Until then, we faithfully follow our Good Shepherd, "even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death."  (see Psalm 23).