VERSE 1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered (rm;aYOw: ytim'[]N:h; rp;co ![;Y:w: [waw w/Qal impf.3.m.s. anah answer + proper noun Zophar + def.art.w.proper noun Naamathite + waw w/Qal impf.3.m.s. amar say]),

1. The major thrust of this opening speech of Zophar is conveyed precisely through its key statement: "Know then that God overlooks part of your sin" (v.6c).
2. Whereas for Eliphaz Job’s suffering is brought about by some relatively trifling sin and is therefore bound to be soon relieved (4:5-6), and for Bildad also Job’s essential righteousness is confirmed by the fact that he, unlike his children, has not been cut off from life (8:4-6), for Zophar Job’s suffering is nothing but deserved suffering.
3. Both Eliphaz and Bildad set the suffering of their friend in a particular context: Eliphaz in the context of Job’s evident near-blameless life, Bildad in the context of the fate of Job’s children.
4. For either perspective, Job’s suffering is qualified and thus¾ to the satisfaction of the first two friends¾ suitably mollified.
5. Zophar perceives no such context for Job’s pain.
6. The fact is, he would say, that Job is suffering, and suffering is inevitably the product of sin.
7. To contextualize Job’s and try to see in it proportion is ultimately to trivialize it.
8. If, like Eliphaz, you compare it with his many years of prosperity this calamity is a mere pinprick, however painful at the instant; and if, like Bildad, you compare Job’s continuing life with the unalterable fact of his children’s death, whatever discomfort Job is experiencing is negligible.
9. Those were reasonable points of view; but Zophar is for principle rather than proportion, and that is reasonable too.
10. For the bottom line in each friend’s accounting is that Job is a sinner¾ not much of a sinner, perhaps, in Eliphaz’s book and Bildad’s, but a sinner suffering hard at this moment for his sin.
11. Every other consideration is extraneous to Job’s present condition.
12. Zophar strikes the readers as the least sympathetic of the friends, but it is just because he so determinedly refuses to take other factors into account that he actually stands the closest to Job.
13. For Job also rejects out of hand any argument that does not address itself directly to his present situation; and though he cannot for a moment assent to Zophar’s analysis, he must agree with him that sin is the principal¾ or rather, the only issue.
14. The structure of this speech is self-evident, and is indicated by the RSV:

1. Vv.2-6 (6 lines)
2. Vv.7-12 (6 lines)
3. Vv.13-20 (8 lines)

15. Each strophe can be perceived as containing two smaller units: vv.2-4 (3 lines), 5-6 (3 lines), 7-9 (3 lines), 10-12 (3 lines), 13-16 (4 lines), 17-20 (4 lines).
16. In vv. 2-6 Zophar reproaches Job for his claim to innocence; in vv. 7-12, he affirms the inscrutability of God; in vv.13-20 he counsels Job on the proper way to behave and offers him hope if he will take Zophar’s advice.

VERSE 2 "Shall a multitude of words go unanswered (hn<['yE al{ ~yrIb'D> broh] [interrog.part. ha w/noun m.s.abs. robh multitude + noun m.p.abs. dabar word + neg. lo + Niphal impf.3.m.s. anah answer]),

And a talkative man be acquitted (qD'c.yI ~yIt;p'f. vyai-~aiw> [waw w/part. im + noun m.s.abs. ish man + noun f. dual abs. shaphah language, speech; "talkative" + Qal impf.3.m.s. tsadaq be just; "acquitted"])?

VERSE 3 "Shall your boasts silence men (wvyrIx]y: ~ytim. ^yD,B; [noun m.p.constr.2.2.m.s.suff. badh lie; its basic meaning is empty, idle talk; "boasts" + noun m.p.abs. mat; one of the 5 words in OT for "man"; its idea is lord or master + Hiphil impf.3.m.p. charesh be silent])?

And shall you scoff and none rebuke (~lik.m; !yaew> g[;l.Tiw: [waw w/Qal impf.2.m.s. la-ag mock, deride + waw w/neg ayin none + Hiphil part.m.s.abs. kalam be reproached])?

ANALYSIS: VERSES 2-3

1. Zophar begins with the conventional language of disputation, in which the opponent’s arguments are decried as mere words, but needing reply by the present speaker nevertheless.
2. Yet Zophar’s rhetoric has its own special point to make, especially in distinction from Eliphaz (cf. on 4:2) and Bildad (cf. on 8:2).
3. Whereas Eliphaz professed himself hesitant to intrude upon Job’s grief, and Bildad had gone no further than to pronounce himself affronted, on God’s behalf, by Job’s tempestuous speech, Zophar judges it his moral duty to silence Job.
4. The more aggressive tone of Zophar’s speech is designed to be climatic to the other friends’ addresses: Eliphaz and Bildad, he implies, should have said enough to quiet Job’s ravings against heaven.
5. Since Job nevertheless has gone on answering back, stronger measures are called for.
6. We note that the stylized pattern of chaps. 4-11¾ a speech by a friend, followed by a speech by Job¾ is not a simplistic literary structure but, under cover of its "false" naivete, build tension toward a climax of anger on the friends’ part.
7. Zophar’s first assessment is that he has heard nothing but "a multitude of words."
8. This does not only mean that he has not heard the man, has been unable to penetrate beyond Job’s words to his real self, but also that he has take Job’s refusal to be silent as itself evidence of guilt.
9. He may indeed have in mind the principal of Prov.10:19: "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise" (cf. also Eccl.5:2).
10. It is not so much the length of Job’s previous speech (chaps. 9-10), which is little longer than his first speech (chap. 6-7) or than Eliphaz’s speech (chaps. 4-5), that earn Zophar’s disapproval, but his continued speaking.
11. This what requires to be "answered"¾ or rather, since it is the legal idiom that is in place here, "rebutted," (v.3b) proved to be in the wrong.
12. Likewise, on his conventional principles, Zophar cannot allow that a man should win legal acquittal ("be acquitted" v.2b) if he will not be silenced by convincing proofs of his guilt.
13. It is not a question whether "the garrulous man [must] necessarily be right" (NAB; NEB), but whether anyone should be allowed to put himself in the right by going on talking after his guilt has been established.
14. That is contrary to natural justice.
15. Of course, the setting of the Joban speeches is not a law court, but the friends no unnaturally use the formal idioms and rhetoric of the lawsuit in the arguments against Job, and Job¾ even more naturally¾ views his controversy with God as essentially a legal one, since he is serving a sentence when no crime has been committed and no due process of law against him as even been set in motion.
16. Moving from the general (v.2) to the particular (a similar rhetorical move in 5:17-18; 7:1-3; 8:20-21), Zophar continues his point; it is outrageous that Job should not be silenced by the refutations proffered by the friends.
17. The whole process of legal arguments is that the disputants should continue talking until one or the other concedes the issue.
18. If Job has not conceded the points of Eliphaz and Bildad, but has gone on speaking, he must be attempting to reduce them to silence, putting them in the wrong.
19. Zophar’s complaint is not that Job simply talks too much, speaks falsehoods, or even filibusters in an attempt to drown out all arguments but his own; it is rather that he is not playing by the fair rules of legal disputation.
20. Job’s speaking is of course wrong not just because he does not accept the friends’ position: it is wrong in itself.
21. It is "prattle," "babbling" (dB;), a term used elsewhere in the context of proud boasting (Isa.16:6; Jer.48:30)¾ which is just the term in Zophar’s book for Job’s defense of his innocence against God.
22. But more, it is "mockery" (g[l) against God; for not to accept the rightness of God’s punishment is to challenge God’s morality, to belittle God.
23. Such impiety should not be allowed to pass unchallenged, "with none to rebuke"; Zophar believes he owes it to God to take up the cudgels on God’s behalf and to defend God’s integrity.
24. The impropriety of Job’s arguments against God convinces Zophar of the propriety of his speech against Job.
25. In the name of theological correctness and the avoidance of blasphemy, Job’s "friend" becomes his legal opponent whose endeavor will be to "shame" or "humiliate" him by proving him in the wrong (for the use of ~lK in a legal context, cf. Prov.25:8; see also on Job.19:3).

VERSE 4 "For you have said, 'My teaching is pure (yxiq.li %z: rm,aTow: [waw w/Qal impf.2.m.s. amar say + adj.m.s.abs. zak pure, clean, bright + noun m.s.constr.w/1c.s.suff. leqach learning; "teaching"]),

And I am innocent in your eyes (^yn<y[eb. ytiyyIh' rb;W [waw w/adj.m.s.constr. bar pure, clean; vb. barar purge, purify + Qal perf.1c.s. hayah to be + prep.w/noun f.dual.constr.w/2.m.s.suff.]).'

ANALYSIS: VERSE 4

1. If no one takes up God’s cause, says Zophar, Job will continue his mockery of the divine honor (v.3), protesting both to humans (v.4a) and to God (v.4b) that it is he¾ and not God¾ who is in the right.
2. It is a characteristic of the legal speech of controversy that the opponent’s words are cited (cf. Isa.40:27; Ezek.12:21-22, 26-27).
3. This quote is obviously Zophar’s own construction.
4. My doctrine is pure (zak) or unadulterated.
5. The word for "teaching" (leqah) stands for the beliefs received through the teachings of the fathers.
6. Hebrew leqah means literally "what is received" (from the verb laqah take, receive).
7. It is a body of knowledge acquired by instruction (Prov.16:21, 23).
8. Persuasion to a wrong action constitutes seductive speech (e.g., the argumentation of the adulteress in Prov.7:21).
9. Perhaps a slight tinge of the negative aspect of this words attaches itself to Zophar’s composed quote.
10. Although this quotation approximates Job’s position, Zophar is caricaturing Job’s view in an attempt to make it look even more absurd.
11. Job never claims that his words are "pure," in fact, he characterized much of what he said as "rash" (6:3) and a venting of his bitterness of soul (10:1).
12. Zophar exaggerates the case and accuses Job of advancing a new doctrine.
13. Zophar accuses Job in line 1 of advancing new doctrine before his friends.
14. Zophar is guilty of mischaracterization of Job’s words and taking his words out of context.
15. Job never said his "wild words" were "pure."
16. It is to his friends that Job has been addressing (according to Zophar), that "my doctrine is pure."
17. The Job of these agonizing speeches has been anything but didactic and careful to represent the teachings handed down by the fathers.
18. Again, it is the gravest misapprehension for Zophar to cast Job’s speeches as classroom lectures on theological matters.
19. The 2^nd line of this verse is clearly represented as addressed to God: "I am clean in Your sight."
20. I am clean (bar) in Your sight represents another mischaracterization of Job’s claim to innocence.
21. Zophar uses the perfect form of the verb "be" to add put a spin on Job’s claim.
22. Hebrew bar refers to that which "shines" after being polished and, by derivation, to that which is "clean, pure, and spotless."
23. Job holds to his innocence but prefers to use the word tam, "blameless" (9:20-21), a word that means personal integrity rather than spotless purity.
24. Job never says that he never sins.
25. His position is that he has not committed any transgression worthy of the treatment he has received from God.
26. Zophar is guilty of misrepresentation and exaggeration with respect to Job’s intent and words.

VERSE 5 "But would that God might speak (rBeD; H;Ala/ !TeyI-ymi ~l'Waw> [waw w/part. ulam denoting strong contrast + interrog. mi who + Qal impf.3.m.s. nathan give + noun m.s.ab.s Eloah + Piel infin.constr. dabar speak]),

And open His lips against you (%M'[i wyt'p'f. xT;p.yIw> [waw w/Qal impf.3.m.s. pathach open + noun f. dual constr.w/3.m.s.suff. shaphah lip + prep. im w/2.m.s.suff. im with; "against you"]),

VERSE 6 And show you the secrets of wisdom (hm'k.x' tAmlu[]T; ^l.-dG<y:w> [waw w/Hiphil impf.3.m.s. nagad make known + prep. l w/2.m.s.suff. + noun f.p.constr. ta-alumma hidden thing + noun f.s.abs. chokhmah wisdom])!

For sound wisdom has two sides (hY"viWtl. ~yIl;p.ki-yK [part. ki for + noun m. dual abs kephel a double + prep. l w/noun f.s.abs. tushiya, sound wisdom; or wisdom the produces results]).

Know then that God forgets a part of your iniquity (^n<wO[]me h;Ala/ ^l. hV,y:-yKi [d;w> [waw w/Qal imper.m.s. yada know + part. ki then + Hiphil impf.3.m.s. nashah lift up; "forgets" + prep. l w/2.m.s.suff. + noun m.s.abs. Eloah + prep. min w/noun m.s.constr.w/2.m.s.suff. aon iniquity]).

ANALYSIS: VERSES 5-6

1. Job’s assertion of innocence (v.4) would be silenced if God could tell Job the truth about Himself and about Job.
2. It is that God is merciful as well as righteous.
3. If He were merely righteous, who can doubt that Job would be suffering even more?
4. If has been left to Zophar, the last of Job’s friends, to direct Job to the mercy of God.
5. For the import is that not only is Job being treated fairly¾ as Eliphaz and Bildad have argued¾ but more than fairly: he is actually getting off lightly!
6. This demonstrates another example of the friends’ cruelty toward Job.
7. Zophar says straight out what Job has been feeling his way toward: a clearly expressed wish that God would Himself speak.
8. In chap. 3 Job has voiced rhetorical questions (e.g., "Why is light given to him that is in misery?" v.20) which expect no answer, but are nevertheless questions directed toward heaven.
9. In chap. 7 he has more openly addressed God with questions that are not purely rhetorical but carry reproof ("Am I the sea...that You set a guard over me?" "What is man, that You make so much of him,...examine him every morning?," "How long will You not turn You gaze away from me?," vv.12,17-19).
10. In chap. 9 he has contemplated the anguish of a legal disputation that would compel God to speak (vv. 3, 14, 16, 35), and in chap. 10 he has announced that he "will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me’" (v.2), and has directed disputatious arguments toward God (vv. 3-22).
11. But nowhere has he seriously envisaged the possibility of God answering him.
12. That is yet to come, 13:22, where he will invite God to "call" him to disputation, in 23:5, where he imagines God "answering" him, and ultimately in 31:35 where he will call on the Almighty to "answer" his protestation of innocence (chap. 31).
13. In the end, Job will rest his case and challenge God to answer him.
14. But at this point in chap. 11, though Zophar wishes it could be God who speaks ("Eloah" in the emphatic position), he does not for a moment imagine that God actually will address Job.
15. There is no need for that, in fact, for Zophar has appointed himself God’s spokesman.
16. The secret wisdom of God, with which He could put Job in his place, is a rather open mystery.
17. For Zophar knows it, and he here communicates it to Job.
18. It is that God, being merciful as well as just, allows his mercy to temper his just retribution against sinners (thrust of 6c).
19. The balance between mercy and justice is not for humans to determine, however; it lies in the unfathomable freedom of God to "pass over" transgression and not exact full punishment that is deserved (cf. Amos.7:1-9; Micah.7:18; Ezek.11:3; 20:17; Jer.4:27; 5:10,18; 30:11; 46:28; Ezra.9:13).
20. Job himself has expressed the forlorn wish that God would forgive (lit. "make pass over," rb[ hiph) his presumed transgression (7:21), but on the whole it is evident that Zophar is appealing to a tradition that should be familiar to Job and the others.
21. The concept of forgiving mercy was surely not foreign to the wisdom thinker of Job’s time.
22. The fact Zophar depicts mercy as one of the "secrets" of God’s wisdom only means that it is hidden from the unschooled not that there is some hidden aspect of God’s dealings with men that is known only to God.
23. If there is a hidden aspect it is the inscrutable actions of God with respect to His dealings with men when it comes to justice and mercy.
24. In v.6b Zophar makes mention of these two aspects (or opposites) within the "sound wisdom" of God: the revealed side of things and the hidden side of things.
25. The principle of mitigated retribution applies to Job’s sufferings, concludes Zophar.
26. This is another example of the cruelty of Job’s friends in the name of comfort!
27. In a bold move Zophar picks up on Job’s plea (7:21) that his "transgression" should be pardoned, with the assurance that it has been pardoned, in part at least.
28. Zophar is the most original theologian of the three friends of Job.
29. But more original does not necessarily mean more correct, and the conclusion he reaches is self-evidently absurd.
30. From 1:1 and 1:8 we know the neither God’s mercy nor His justice has anything to do with Job’s suffering in the mystery of God.
31. Zophar is right in locating the suffering of Job in the mystery of God, and for Job that will be the only explanation he ever gets, even from God.
32. But Zophar is wrong¾ and so comes nowhere near preempting the divine speeches of chaps. 38-41¾ in supposing that the only mystery in God is how He mixes justice and mercy in His dealings with humans.

VERSE 7 "Can you discover the depths of God (ac'm.Ti h;Ala/ rq,xeh; [interrog.part ha w/noun m.s.constr. cheqer inquiry; or better its object; "depths" + noun m.s.abs. Eloah + Qal impf.2.m.s. matsa find; "discover"])?

Can you discover the limits of the Almighty (ac'm.Ti yD;v; tylik.T;-d[; ~ai (part. im whether + prep. adh perpetuity + noun f.s.constr. taklith end; "limits" + noun m.p.abs. Shadday self-sufficient one; translated as far back as the LXX as ‘Almighty + Qal impf.2.m.s. matsa find; "discover"])?

VERSE 8 "They are high as the heavens, what can you do (l['p.Ti-hm; ~yIm;v' yheb.G" [noun m.p.constr. gobah height + noun m.p.abs. shamayim heavens + interrog.part. mah what + Qal impf.2.m.s. pa-al do])?

Deeper than Sheol, what can you know ([d'Te-hm; lAaV.mi hQ'mu[] [adj.f.s.abs. amoq deep + prep. m w/noun c. both s.abs. sheol + interrog. mah what + Qal impf.2.m.s. yada know])?

VERSE 9 "Its measure is longer than the earth (HD'mi #r,a,me hK'rua] [adj.f.s.abs. arok length + prep. m w/noun both s.abs. eretz + noun m.s.constr.w/3.f.s.suff. madh measure])

And broader than the sea (~y"-yNImi hb'x'r>W [waw w/adj.f.s.abs. rachab broad + prep. min than + noun m.s.abs. yam sea]).

ANALYSIS: VERSES 7-9

1. Job is not in the least interested in discovering the totality of God’s knowledge; and it comes as no surprise to him to learn that it is beyond human comprehension.
2. The only relevance of this statement of God’s unfathomable wisdom is that God’s knowledge must be presumed to contain special knowledge of Job’s guilt (cf. 10:7 "According to Your knowledge I am indeed not guilty.").
3. Zophar does not himself lay claim to any superior acquaintance with God’s wisdom than Job has; he only argues that, since God’s knowledge is immense, there is room in it for knowledge of sins which Job himself does not remember or acknowledge.
4. God’s knowledge is beyond human knowledge, one that cannot be probed to its fullest extent (cf. 5:9, where God does "marvelous deeds, that cannot be fathomed"; there it is said there was no possibility of fathoming it, whereas here cheqer ["depths"] means the object of fathoming).
5. Humans can "do" nothing to acquire full knowledge of God’s ways and wisdom; they cannot "know" God’s wisdom in its entirety (though they can of course know it in part).
6. Neither is it true that Zophar affirms that God is unknowable.
7. Neither is he affirming the incomprehensibility of God’ essence, but simply His wisdom.
8. The dimensions of the human world are here fourfold: heaven, underworld, sea, land.
9. They represent the totality of human space, in three dimensions.
10. If humans cannot reach to these extremities of their own natural world, how much less can they attain something that is beyond them in scope?
11. God, being higher than the heavens and deeper than the lowest parts of the universe, transcends the extraterrestrial realm.
12. The created order, though too large for a human being to explore its extremities, is too small to house God.
13. The similarity worded passages, Jer.23:24; Amos.9:2-4; Ps.139:8-10 are not to do with the wisdom of God but His presence (or omnipresence) and capacity for intervention in human affairs.
14. The question from used by Zophar, with its fourfold short unanswerable interrogations are the questions of academic disputation such as wisdom teachers will have engaged in.
15. Here the rhetorical questions are employed to extol the majesty of God (cf. Ps.113:5-6; 139:7).
16. To gain a full perspective about God’s ways (wisdom) a person must have insight into the center of God’s being along with the knowledge as to the outermost limits of the divine influence.
17. A human being has a difficult time comprehending God’s ways, for he observes them only in part.
18. He lacks the full picture that is necessary to understand how a particular occurence fits within God’s comprehensive plan (cf. 1Sam.20:12).
19. Therefore, to discuss ultimate questions, as Zophar thinks Job wishes to do, he needs to know the hidden ways of God.
20. In relationship to these extremities Job is asked, "what can you do?...what can you know?"
21. There is nothing Job can do or know that could ever approach, let alone challenge, God’s knowing or doing.
22. How then can Job entertain the idea that he could dispute his case with God?
23. This aspect of Zophar’s case against Job is often used by people to avoid facing that that is known to be true about God.
24. In this case, the doctrine of undeserved suffering is not on the horizon of Job and his three friends.
25. None of them considered the possibility of such a thing and each went off into their own reality.
26. The issue here is not what cannot be fathomed about God’s ways but what was revealed with respect to the doctrine of suffering.
27. While the circumstances surrounding Job’s case were exceptional if not unique the individuals grappling with the situation should have brought this aspect of the doctrine to the table.

VERSE 10 "If He passes by or shuts up (ryGIs.y:w> @l{x]y:-~ai [part. im if + Qal impf.3.m.s. halak pass by + waw w/Hiphil impf.3.m.s. sagar shut, close; "shuts up"]),

Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him (WNb,yviy> ymiW lyhiq.y:w> [waw w/Hiphil impf.3.m.s. qalal assemble; "call an assembly" + waw w/interrog.pro. mi who + Hiphil impf.3.m.s.w/3.m.s.suff. shub turn; "restrain"])?

VERSE 11 "For He knows false men (aw>v'-ytem. [d;y" aWh-yKi [part. ki for + indep.pro.3.m.s. hu he + Qal perf.3.m.s. yada know + noun m.p.constr. math man; this substantive for "man" occurs 23x; most often in Deut. and Job (6x each); root means master + noun m.s.abs. shaw emptiness, falsehood]),

And He sees iniquity without investigating (!n"ABt.yI al{w> !w<a'-ar>Y:w: [waw w/Qal impf.3.m.s. ra-ah see + noun m.s.abs. awen iniquity; word denotes the planing and expression of deception and points to the painful aftermath + waw w/neg. lo + Hithpolel impf.3.m.s. bin understand; "without investigating" with the neg.]).

VERSE 12 "An idiot will become intelligent (bbeL'yI bWbn" vyaiw> [waw w/noun m.s.abs. ish man + adj.m.s.abs. nabub from vb. "to hollow out"; also at Jer.52:21 + Niphal impf.3.m.s. labab become intelligent in niphal])

When the foal of a wild donkey is born a man (dleW"yI ~d'a' ar,P, ryI[;w> [waw w/noun m.s.abs. ayir male donkey; "foal" + noun m.s.abs. pere wild donkey + noun m.s.abs. adam man + Niphal impf.3.m.s. yalad bear, be born]).

ANALYSIS: VERSES 10-12

1. The implication of God’s superhuman knowledge is that God knows the truth even about covert sinners¾ like Job.
2. Humans may not be able to detect fault in Job, but if God is punishing him it proves simply that he as¾ in His superior knowledge¾ discovered something.
3. What kind of "hindering," or "restraining" of God has Zophar in mind (v.10)?
4. Job has already used the same word in 9:12 (WNb,yviy>, lit. "turn him back"), but there it concerned the impossibility of preventing God¾ by legal means or otherwise¾ from exercising the anger to which He is permanently committed: "If He should snatch away, who could restrain (or dissuade) Him?"
5. Zophar, who is not exactly refuting Job but rather setting him straight, refers to the impossibility of proving that God has no right to act as He does; no one can hinder or dissuade God from His acts of rightful judgment because He operates on the basis of superhuman knowledge, to which every human’s is inferior.
6. He knows who is righteous and who "worthless," and judges on the basis of that knowledge.
7. We note, that the concept of God’s mercy tempering the process of retribution (as in 6c) seems to have faded from Zophar’s consciousness; if reminded of it he might respond that even mercy must know the facts.
8. Though to know all would certainly not be to forgive all, in Zophar’s book, to forgive (or mitigate) anything at all God would need to know all that was deserved.
9. God’s "passing by" (v.10a) is in itself of no special consequence: it is part of His routine governance of the world that he passes to and fro among humans, His eyes ever open for misdemeanors.
10. Job has just now used this word "pass by" of God (9:11), but he has invested the term with a special significance: for him the God he craves to enter into dialogue with will never stop to listen or reply.
11. He hurriedly "passes by" without Job gaining so much as a glimpse of a figure he cannot "see" or "recognize."
12. From Job’s perspective, when God "passes by," Job suffers personal loss and deprivation of the one relationship that would be meaningful to him; from Zophar’s perspective, when God "passes by" in the course of His unceasing scrutiny of human affairs, Zophar rejoices that the moral order of the universe is being faithfully upheld by God’s diligence.
13. In the course of such investigation, God’s far-seeing wisdom may have cause to call someone to account.
14. It will not be His unbridled power but here His "wisdom" (cf. 11:6-9) that will bring the guilty to task.
15. Legal processes are duly observed by this wise ruler comparable to an "intelligent and conscientious sheik (Terrein): first he "shuts up" (rgs) the guilty man in custody until it should be plain what is to be done with him (as in Lev.24:12 and Num.15:34, in the cases of a rebellious man and of a man found breaking the sabbath) or until the fault should be confirmed (as in Lev.13:4 where leprosy is suspected).
16. Then, as part of the same proceeding (the connective is a simple waw "and"), he summons a legal assembly to inquire into the facts a make a legal judgment (as in Neh.5:7; Ezek.16:30; 23:46).
17. That all is metaphor, of course.
18. In fact God is Himself investigator, prosecutor, legal assembly (jury) and judge, and needs no earthly court nor lengthy process of law before He can act upon what He has discovered.
19. For by Himself (aWh, "he," is emphatic position) He recognizes an evildoer when He sees one, and wherever He lights upon iniquity He marks it well.
20. Probably the particular kind of iniquity Zophar has in mind as detected by God is lying, for the term "false men" is elsewhere used in parallelism with "deceitful" (Ps.26:5; cf. Ps.24:4).
21. Certainly the "worthlessness" belongs to the semantic realm of falsehood.
22. The implication is that Job is a dissembler, knowing well enough what his sins are for which he is suffering God’s punishment.
23. Not for the first time in the book, a generalization is uttered not for its own sake but primarily for its applicability to Job (cf. e.g., 8:20; 9:22).
24. This sentence of praise for the unflagging watchfulness of God over the moral order is in function a sentence of condemnation against the man who has dared to affirm "I am clean in Your sight (v.4b).
25. Job, in challenging the doctrine of retribution, has challenged the moral order, and in so doing put himself in the wrong as a "hollow man" ("an idiot").
26. Zophar does not speak of the end of the wicked but of their detection.
27. He will not utter a word about their end until he has done his best to encourage Job to move back into the sphere of the righteous (vv. 13-19).
28. But first a proverb-like saying will conclude Zophar’s excursus on the wisdom of God.
29. On the surface it is not a very difficult proverb: "A hollow man will not get understanding; and the colt of a wild donkey will be born a tame."
30. Formally, the sentence has something in common with 5:7, "Man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward"¾ another proverbial saying which the two halves of the verse are joined by a simple "and."
31. Here rather than an act and its consequences we seem to have two statements of impossibility which we could well represent as: "An idiot will get understanding, when a wild ass’s colt is born a man"¾ "when pigs fly."
32. The exact meaning of the Hebrew has been variously understood, but one suggestion commends itself as superior to the conventional interpretation (as per the above translation).
33. The rendering, "a will ass will be born tame," is admittedly not as striking as "...born a man."
34. But the phrase usually translated "a wild ass’s colt" can mean no such thing, since ry[ is always used for the domesticated ass (e.g., Gen.32:15; Judg.10:4; Zech.9:9) and does not indicate a young animal, while arp is always used for the wild ass (e.g. Job.24:5; Isa.32:14; Jer.2:24).
35. Further, the phrase "wild ass of a man" (Gen.16:12) appears to be a fixed phrase: if adham in this context is understood as adhama, "earth, land, steppe" the "man" disappears from the verse, and the "wild ass of the steppe" takes its place.
36. The more difficult issue is how the proverb is related to the context.
37. If Job is a "hollow " man, the proverb means that there is no hope for him; but the verses that immediately follow (vv. 13-19) show that Zophar believes there is.
38. What we must note is that Zophar has not actually called Job a spiritually "hollow" man.
39. He believes Job has committed some wrong, and that God is punishing him for it as he punishes all evildoers (v.11); but he also retains more than a streak of confidence in Job, as his acceptance of the possibility of Job’s repentance (vv.13-14) makes plain.
40. So Job cannot be wholly "worthless," beyond redemption, incapable of gaining moral "understanding" that leads to right behavior.
41. But you, Job (not the emphatic "you" in v.13), are not so stupid; you are teachable, and I will teach you!

VERSE 13 "If you would direct your heart right (^B,li t'Anykih] hT'a;-~ai [part. im if + indep.pro.2.m.s. attah you + Hiphil perf.2.m.s. kun make ready; "direct...right" + noun m.s.constr.w/2.m.s.suff. leb heart)

And spread out your hand to Him (^P,K; wyl'ae T'f.r;p'W [waw w/Qal perf.2.m.s. parash stretch + prep. el w/3.m.s.suff. + noun f. dual constr.w/2.m.s.suff. kaph hand]),

ANALYSIS: VERSE 13

1. Zophar now offers Job conditional advice, persuading him of the blessings or repentance (reversion recovery).
2. Both Eliphaz and Bildad have already offered similar encouragement; it is the manner of expression they attach to the promise of future restoration that differs.
3. Eliphaz in 5:8-26 approaches Job so delicately that he does not even presume to tell Job that he must "seek" God, but simply testifies to what he himself would do, as some kind of model for Job’s imitation.
4. Bildad, for his part, expresses two conditions as indispensable for God’s favor: prayer and a blameless life (8:5-6).
5. Now Zophar in more direct terms speaks plainly of prayer and separation from evil.
6. Job, for all his undoubted sinfulness, is not beyond the pale of restoration, says Zophar.
7. Even he, he also (the "you" is emphatic), can attain restoration to God’s favor.
8. Of course, as with Bildad (8:5), the restoration envisaged by Zophar is reward for confession and righteous behavior.
9. Two interconnected conditions are expressed in v.13.
10. First Job is to "direct [his] mind" toward God.
11. His thoughts are to focus on the righteous demands of God who has brought wrath upon Job for gross violation of the spiritual and moral order.
12. The believer under reversion recovery is to focus on the directive will of God and not rationalize STA behavior.
13. The believer must determine to break the cycle of the sinning that got them in the mess that they are in.
14. This includes all the sins associated with their fall (MASins, etc.).
15. Next Job should spread out his hands in prayer.
16. To judge from Near Eastern iconography, this conventional gesture of prayer consisted of raising the hands, palms outward and close together, to face level.
17. The symbolic significance is a gesture of surrender (and dependency).

VERSE 14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away (Whqeyxir>h; ^d>y"B. !w<a'-~ai [part. im if + noun m.s.abs. awen root meaning is "trouble"; closer to our "mischief" + prep.w/noun f.s.constr.w/2.m.s.suff. yad hand + Hiphil imper.m.s.w/3.m.suff. rachaq be (come) far; be removed]),

And do not let wickedness dwell in your tents (hl'w>[; ^yl,h'aoB. !Kev.T;-la;w> [waw w/neg. al + Hiphil impf.2.m.s. jussive in form and meaning shakan dwell + prep. b w/noun m.p.constr.w/2.m.s.suff. ohel tent + noun f.s.abs. awlah injustice, unrighteousness]);

ANALYSIS: VERSE 14

1. Hands that are unclean cannot be presented to God in prayer.
2. The "if" is more likely a "since" as Zophar believes Job to have serious STA activity in his life; the kind that has brought him to his present sorry state.
3. How does Zophar propose Job can get rid of the consequences of his sin?
4. He proposes that Job renounces it and distances himself from it, putting himself far from it.
5. Sin of this nature is something to be disassociated from (cf. Ps.1:1; Prov.1:10-15; 4:14, 24; 5:8; 30:8).
6. Job can only "renounce" his present evil, and, to use a metaphor familiar to the world of oriental hospitality, give it no house room as a guest "(let iniquity not dwell in your tent").
7. The image is that of Jer.4:14, where evil thoughts and ambitions "lodge" within Jerusalem.
8. The reference to Job’s "tents" does not imply that he is a tent-dweller; it is a metaphor from a more archaic life-style.
9. Certain types of STA activity requires disconnecting or distancing oneself from the overt evil once the mental attitude is purged.

VERSE 15 "Then, indeed, you could lift up your face without moral defect (~WMmi ^yn<p' aF'Ti za'-yKi [part. ki for + adv. az then + Qal impf.2.m.s. nasha lift + noun both p.constr.2.m.s.suff. peh face + prep. min w/noun m.s.abs. mum blemish, defect]),

And you would be steadfast and not fear (ar'yti al{w> qc'mu t'yyIh'w> [waw w/Qal pf.2.m.s. hayah be + Hophal part.m.s.abs. yatsaq cast (metal); "steadfast" + waw w/neg. lo + Qal impf.2.m.s. yare fear]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 15

1. The upshot (or blessings) associated with rebound and separation from evil is addressed by Zophar in vv.15-19.
2. What follows is the rewards of confession and separation from evil.
3. If Job deals honestly with his sin he "could lift up [his] head (lit. "face") with confidence in his newfound spiritual momentum and favor with God and man.
4. This is the blessing for having a good conscience. (as 2Sam.2:22).
5. He now could look upon life without the "defect" associated with his hidden sin.
6. This would of course be a source of happiness to him whereas before he had to put on an act.
7. This blessing is only for those who maintain the good conscience based on the norms and standards of sound doctrine.
8. It is worth more than external wealth.
9. He could again associate with the righteous on an equal footing.
10. Job will become "firm," lit. "cast" (as of metal); hence NEB "a man of iron."
11. His firmness lies in his freedom from "fear" (cf. 5:21,22) in that he knows he is doing nothing to call down upon him major divine discipline and also that he is not engaged in an activity that would disqualify him for Ph3 distinction.
12. For the imagery of the strength of metal for fearlessness, cf. Jer.1:17-18; Ezek.3:8-9.
13. His confidence will be in that fact he is not longer in violation of essentials regarding the running of the race and the doctrine that tells him he is requalified based on confession and separation from debilitating evil.

VERSE 16 "For you would forget your trouble (xK'v.Ti lm'[' hT'a;-yKi [part. ki for + indep.pro.2.m.s. you + noun m.s.abs. amal labor; "trouble" + Qal impf.2.m.s. shakach forget]),

As waters that have passed by, you would remember it (rKoz>ti Wrb.[' ~yIm;K. [part. ki as w/noun m.p.abs. mayim water + Qal pf.3.c.p. abar pass by + Qal impf.2.m.s. zakar think (about); remember]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 16

1. The climatic element in feeling secure is being able to contrast it with the experience of insecurity, says Zophar.
2. Job will "remember" his "suffering" (physical and mental; cf. 3:10; 7:3) only as a pain that is past and gone; he will "forget" it not in the sense of losing it completely from his memory, but in the sense of its no longer having any power over him to bring him mental anguish.
3. There is a close parallel in Gen.41:51 where Joseph, in naming his first born Manasseh "[God causes to forget"], explains the name as meaning "God has caused me to forget all my suffering and all my father’s house."
4. Of course, in the very act of naming the child "Forgetting" Joseph is remembering.
5. Here,t he very parallelism of "forget" and "remember" is a striking confirmation of a psychological truth, that pain that has been thoroughly worked through is not totally forgotten¾ as it might be if it were merely repressed¾ but is remember as powerless.
6. What renders the painful past powerless is the blessings associated with a change of mind and willingness to apply BD at a high level.
7. Joseph’s painful past was offset by his Ph2 rewards in Egypt.
8. Waters, especially flood-waters are frequent images for troubles.
9. But the time will come when they will pass by.
10. When they are passing by that is the very time of distress.
11. Here the figure that reinforces the 1^st line of the verse is of that which is out of sight and out of mind, and gone irrevocably.

VERSE 17 "Your life would be brighter than noonday (dl,x' ~Wqy" ~yIr;h\C'miW [waw w/prep. min than w/noun m.p.abs. tsohar noon, midday + Qal impf.3.m.s. qum rise + noun m.s.abs. cheledh duration of life; "life" + Qal impf.3.f.s. be]);

Darkness would be like the morning (hy<h.Ti rq,BoK; hp'[uT' [Qal impf.3.f.s. cohorative in form and meaning uph fly + prep. k w/noun m.s.abs. boqer morning + Qal impf.3.f.s. to be]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 17

1. Job has pictured himself as bound for the "land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like blackness" (10:21-22), but Zophar dismisses such extravagance, projecting a future of light, the most evident symbol of life.
2. The life that lies before him if he will just get a handle on things will be so bright that midday will pale by comparison (v.17a).
3. Line 2 seems to be not so much a question of present darkness becoming bright, but rather that the darkest phase of the life that still lies ahead of Job will be like morning light¾ which is to say that he will be perpetually bathed in light in Ph2.
4. The condition is: a return to his former righteous state.

VERSE 18 "Then you would trust [be secure], because there is hope (hw"q.Ti vyE-yKi T'x.j;b'W [waw w/Qal perf.2.m.s. batach trust + part. ki because + adv. yesh there is + noun f.s.abs. tiqewah hope]);

And you would look around and rest securely (bK'v.Ti xj;b,l' T'r>p;x'w> [waw w/Qal perf.2.m.s. chapar dig, search; "look around" + prep. l w/noun m.s.abs. betach safety + Qal impf.2.m.s. shakabh lie down]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 18

1. There is no real security in the present that does not include the confidence that it will continue: "you will be secure, because there is hope."
2. Hope refers to the promises of God with respect to those who consistently adhere to sound wisdom.
3. It is for time and eternity.
4. Job’s past prosperity was based on hope realized.
5. Job’s consistency led to his phenomenal Ph2 blessings.
6. Such a concept of hope (Ph2) is formulated differently by Job’s three conversation-partners.
7. Eliphaz has located a ground for "hope" in the universally acknowledged fear of God and uprightness of Job: "It not your piety your source of confidence, and the itegrity of your ways your hope?" (4:6).
8. Bildad in more cautious mood depicts in metaphors of papyrus reeds and spider’s web the hope of the godless perish" (8:13).
9. He means: Hope exists wherever a person is righteous but where there is wickedness there is truly only room for despair.
10. Zophar convinced of Job’s present revisionism can only project "hope" as a concomitant of future righteousness; if, conditionally, Job enters the sphere of blessedness, he will be "secure because there is hope (Ph2).
11. Even in sleep Job’s "hope" will be secure because its very existence in the first place was tied to the mercy of God (v.18b).

VERSE 19 "You would lie down and none would disturb you (dyrIx]m; !yaew> T'c.b;r'w> [waw w/Qal perf.2.m.s. rabats lie down + waw w/neg.adv. ayin none + Hiphil part.m.s.abs. charad quake, tremble]),

And many would entreat your favor (~yBir; ^yn<p' WLxiw> [waw ww/Piel perf.3.c.p. chalah become sick, weak; of physical and psychological sickness; here, as in feel sorry for; "entreat" + noun both p.constr.w/2.m.s.suff. paneh face; "favor" + adj.m.p.abs. rab many]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 19

1. Security is obviously the chief attraction of the blessed life from Zophar’s perspective.
2. For the image is continued in yet another verse, in language seen in "lie down with none making afraid" of Isa.7:12; Zeph.3:13, and "none making afraid" in Lev.26:6; Deut.28:26; Jer.7:33; 30:10; 46:27; Ezek.34:28; 39:26 (with the last two with "dwell safely" as well); Nah.2:12.
3. The irony is that the man of chap. 1, "none like him on earth," and fulfilling to the last detail Zophar’s prescription, had had his security shaken to its foundations.
4. Line 1 is the security of protection even when most vulnerable from the assaults of enemies.
5. Line 2 is the sympathy of those who knew the man and his history.
6. Whereas under DD his friends and acquaintances withdrew from him; now there is a desire to be in his presence.
7. Another blessing is reversion recovery is renewed acquaintances; especially those who share the same viewpoint of life.
8. The particular phase used here¾ "many would entreat your favor"¾ is used also of entreating the favor of God (e.g., Ex.32:11; Jer.26:19; 1Kgs.13:6) and here also the giving of gifts (sacrifices) is sometimes mentioned (1Sam.13:12; Mal.1:9).
9. At Job’s restoration, indeed, such a scene will be enacted, with all his relatives and acquaintances bringing gifts as tokens of congratulation and also, no doubt, as a means of self-ingratiation (42:11).
10. The full restoration of Job’s fortunes (which took some time after his deliverance from his disease) was celebrated by the formal presentation of gifts.
11. This was icing on the cake for the man of wealth and dignity.
12. The phrase "will seek your face" lit., " will make soft, or, sweet, your face."
13. The idiom is found in Prov.19:6 (cp. Ps.45:12).

VERSE 20 "But the eyes of the wicked will fail (hn"yl,k.Ti ~y[iv'r> ynEy[ew> [waw w/noun m. dual constr. ayin eye + adj.m.p.abs. rasha wicked + Qal impf.3.f.p. kalah cease, fail]),

And there will be no escape for them (~h,n>mi db;a' sAnm'W (waw w/noun m.abs. manos refuge + Qal perf.3.m.s. abad perish + prep. min w/3.m.p.suff.]);

And their hope is to breathe their last (vp,n"-xP;m; ~t'w"q.tiw> (waw w/noun f.s.constr.w/3.m.p.suff. tiqewah hope + noun m.s.constr. mapach breathing out + noun f.s.abs. nephesh soul; they literally breath out their soul])."

ANALYSIS: VERSE 20

1. Zophar is not quite done, however.
2. Since his whole speech functions as an incentive to Job to forsake his present evil-doing, Zophar cannot conclude simply by detailing the happiness of the adjusted but must also allude to the dark alternative: the fate of the wicked.
3. This theme explained by Eliphaz (4:8-11) and Bildad (7:11-19), in the latter case by contrast to the theme of the fortune of the righteous, is here briefly stated.
4. This does not mean that Zophar is less severe than Bildad, however; for his attitude to Job has already been stated clearly in the key verse 6: Job is indeed already headed for the sin unto death if he doesn’t repent.
5. The fate of the wicked is the total absence of security.
6. For Zophar in this speech, it is not stated in terms of death, not even premature death, it is that, unlike the righteous man of vv.18-19, they lose confidence.
7. Their eyes fail, which is to say, they abandon hope for what they had looked for longingly (for the idiom, cf. 31:16, where it is parallel t "withheld desire"’ Deut.28:32, 65; Ps.69:3).
8. Flight or escape "perishes" from them; with all security gone the merest trifle can pose a life-destroying threat (cf. 5:4; Jer.25:35; Amos.2:14; Ps.142:5).
9. When death comes knocking the hope that sustained them in the good times is but an exhaled breath; a kind of a final gasp.
10. The hope of the wicked is but a mere breath, says Zophar.
11. In other words, it is nothing.
12. The righteous has a refuge in time of trouble.
13. Our "eyes" by contrast are strong and firm with respect to the promises of God.
14. Even death does not unsettle us.
15. The focus ("eyes") of the wicked is fed by dreams of success but when death threatens their focus dims.
16. It (their hope) does not sustain them and they lose their pseudo-sense of security that buoyed them in this life.
17. This sober warning is indirectly presented to Job so that he will reconsider and regain his security in God.
18. Zophar shows sensitivity by casting this verse about the wicked in generalities.
19. Nevertheless, this portrait of the wicked serves as a threat to Job.
20. While Job is not and cannot be classified with the wicked/unbeliever he can lose his inner security and his overt blessings if he continues implies Zophar.